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Welcome to Virginia's e-Region
We hope you enjoy our electronic newsletter giving you news and business development updates from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority. Don't forget to sign up to be included on our mailing list! |
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VCEDA joins Clintwood, Dickenson County and other officials to break ground June 7 for a new 55-room Sleep Inn in the heart of Clintwood. From left, Jackie Stump, representing the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development; Del. Bud Phillips; Glenn Gordon, Choice Hotels; Mark Kinser, Unlimited Construction; Clintwood Mayor Donald Baker, also vice chairman of VCEDA; Roger Stanley, chairman of Dickenson County Board of Supervisors; Donnie Rife, member of Dickenson County Board of Supervisors and VCEDA board; Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA executive director; Sen. Phillip Puckett; and Allen Compton, vice chairman of the Dickenson County IDA.
For more details, click here. |
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VCEDA approves $8 million in funding for economic development projects
At its May 25 meeting, the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority approved nearly $8 million in funding for several economic development projects in the region including further infrastructure development at Southern Gap Business Park in Buchanan County and a new aquatics facility at Breaks Interstate Park.
VCEDA approved a $1 million increase to a $5.6 million grant to the Buchanan County IDA, approved in 2009, for additional road work and utilities at Southern Gap Business Park near Grundy. The board also approved $500,000 grants each to the Dickenson County IDA and the Buchanan County IDA towards the cost of constructing an aquatics water park facility at the Breaks Interstate Park.
In other action, the VCEDA board approved nearly $6 million in funding and two other requests to assist with four business locations to four separate counties in the VCEDA region. The Clintwood hotel project (see above) was one of these, and the other three projects are as yet unannounced.
The VCEDA board also approved converting two loans into grants at this meeting and approved a resolution endorsing access to the Career Readiness Certificate program in our region. The program provides a system for those who need skills training and for businesses that need to hire qualified people to be successful in a global economy.
For more details, click here.
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VCEDA Executive Advisory Board members, L to R: George Mason, Tommy Hudson, Daniel Smith, James Martin, Ford Quillen, Mark Dempsey, Jeff Anderson, Don Green, Anna DeFazio Gadbois, Michael King, Linwood Holton, and Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA executive director . Not pictured are Cheryl Janey and Robert Woltz Jr. |
Executive Advisory Board holds annual meeting May 4 at VCEDA office
Mary Rae Carter, Virginia's first Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade for Rural Economic Development, was the keynote speaker at the May 4 annual meeting of the Executive Advisory Board of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority.
Carter said Governor Bob McDonnell and his administration are focusing on economic development and are working with VCEDA and local economic developers to showcase the region in a tour for potential businesses later this year.
Martin Kent, chief of staff to Governor McDonnell, and Jasen Eige, counselor and senior advisor to the governor, addressed the advisory board and discussed the governor's commitment to economic development in southwest Virginia.
Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA executive director, told the advisory group the national recession had a delayed impact on the region's economy, with activity now beginning to increase and 2011 already looking better than 2010. Belcher said the region's average unemployment rate, which was 7.59 percent in February, is below the national average. He also provided the advisory board with an update on recent VCEDA activities and events.
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From left, George Cridlin, VCEDA Chairman, Jeff Anderson, President and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA Executive Director. |
Jeff Anderson, a member of the advisory board and president & CEO, Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), told of Governor McDonnell's plans to travel to China to open the state's first economic development office there. VEDP has offices in London, Belgium and Mexico and will be opening an office in India. VCEDA also honored Anderson, who is leaving VEDP, with a special plaque recognizing his service to VCEDA and to economic development in the region.
Tommy Hudson, vice chairman of the VCEDA Executive Advisory Board, and president of the Virginia Coal Association, offered remarks on the state of the coal industry, and Preston Sloane, station director of the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County, gave an update on progress of the new facility and said it is on schedule for beginning operation in July 2012.
The annual meeting included a roundtable discussion about issues and trends in board members' industries. The advisory board also elected Tommy Hudson as chairman and Daniel Smith, senior vice president of energy and properties for Norfolk Southern Corp., as vice chairman.
For more details, click here.
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VCEDA closes $5.6 million loan April 20 for Appalachian College of Optometry
VCEDA closed a loan on April 20 for $5.6 million to the Buchanan County IDA for the Appalachian College of Optometry project, which will be located in the Buchanan information Park in Grundy. The loan will be used to pay toward renovating and equipping the
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From left, front row, Patricia Fletcher, Buchanan County IDA; Jay Rife, Buchanan County IDA and VCEDA board member; Carroll Branham, Chairman, Buchanan County Board of Supervisors; and Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA Executive Director. From left, back row, Steve O'Quinn, Buchanan County Board of Supervisors; Michael Deel, Chairman, Buchanan County IDA; W. J. Caudill, Buchanan County Administrator; and Craig Horn, Executive Director, Buchanan County IDA. |
existing building at the Buchanan Information Park that formerly housed the Appalachian College of Pharmacy prior to its move to the Oakwood campus. The optometry school is projected to employ over 66 jobs with a payroll of $7.8 million by the seventh year of operation according to the feasibility study. The first class of optometry students is expected August 2013.
For more details, click here.
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e-Region news briefs...
On June 21, NanoQuantics, a new advanced materials company focused on developing solutions to tomorrow's energy and environmental challenges, announced it has located in the Appalachia America Energy Research Center in the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park in Wise. "Our mission is to reduce the environmental and economic burden of energy production through the development of green, high yield, and sustainable advanced materials," said Tim Hopkins, NanoQuantics' Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The Appalachia America Energy Research Center (AAERC) is a 25,000 sq. ft, LEED-certified facility built by the Wise County IDA with funding from VCEDA and the Virginia Tobacco Commission, for advanced clean and renewable energy research. VCEDA and the Wise County IDA also provided funding for a portion of the laboratory equipment NanoQuantics will place into service at the AAERC facility. NanoQuantics' corporate offices are located in Blacksburg, VA. www.nanoquantics.com
On April 18, VCEDA closed the file on the first loan or grant ever approved by VCEDA. The Dickenson County IDA and VCEDA held a ceremony to accept the payoff on the Donnkenny building loan approved in 1988 and formalize a transfer of the building to SFG Leasing LLC, which is the new company formed by the owners of Superior Fabrication to own the building. This closed the file on the first loan or grant ever approved by VCEDA and helped retain 11 jobs at this facility in Haysi.
During its May 25 board meeting, VCEDA honored two long-time contributors to economic development in the coalfield region. VCEDA Chairman George Cridlin presented lifetime achievement awards to Andrew Chafin, retired Executive Director of Cumberland Plateau Planning District Commission and former VCEDA board member, and Jim Gillespie, who retired earlier this year after many years as Russell County Administrator and Secretary/Treasurer of the Russell County IDA.
VCEDA exhibited and attended several events this spring. Jean Jordan and Susan Copeland manned the VCEDA exhibit booth at the June 9 Southwestern Virginia Technology Council's annual awards banquet. On March 21, Jim O'Quinn and Susan Copeland staffed the VCEDA booth at the Southwestern Virginia Technology Council's annual Energy Technology Summit held at UVA-Wise, and on March 17, Jim O'Quinn and Marketta Horton represented VCEDA and manned the exhibit booth at the Russell County Business Showcase held at the Russell County Governmental Center in Lebanon. |
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