Greater Richmond - East Coast Technology Center

Richmond has twice been named the Top Major Market
in the South by Southern Business & Development.
Pictured is Greater Richmond's economic development team.

Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. is the regional public-private economic development team that serves the City of Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico. It was launched in 1994 and is funded by the four jurisdictions and by more than 300 businesses.

Ranked as one of the top economic development groups in the nation for the past five years, the Partnership has led Greater Richmond into the new economy.

An early achievement was the attraction of the region's first semiconductor-manufacturing complex, a joint venture of Siemens and Motorola. Opened in 1996 and operated today by Infineon Technologies Richmond, the complex has received "Top Fab of the Year" honors and has established itself as a world-class manufacturer of memory devices for personal and notebook computers, work stations, servers and communications applications.

The complex is now undergoing a major expansion to outfit a new module with 300mm equipment. At full buildout, the expansion is expected to create more than 1,100 jobs, bringing total employment to approximately 2,800 people.

The new jobs are part of an all-time record 10,000 new jobs announced for Greater Richmond during the first quarter of 2000. The announcements involve a near record $1.8 billion in new investment for Greater Richmond.

A major portion of this increase came from 7,000 new jobs announced by Capital One. The company's expansion program, including a new 1.5-million-square-foot operations complex, is the largest in the history of Virginia. Capital One's rapid growth in Greater Richmond has made it the region's largest private-sector employer, surpassing Philip Morris, which held the title for many years.

Greater Richmond, long known as a corporate headquarters center, today also is the home of the fast-growing Virginia BioTechnology Research Park and has seen a series of expansions by high-tech companies, including Hewlett-Packard's LaserJet printer assembly and distribution centers. The center city is alive with investment and construction, including a new convention center, new high-end housing, a new Canal Walk and riverfront development, new buildings of Virginia Commonwealth University, and a new intermodal transportation center. The transportation center will be a crossroads for high-speed rail service being planned to link Washington, D.C. and the Northeast Corridor with rail lines in eastern Virginia and points south.

Greater Richmond's population has grown to 996,512 -- nearly 1 million -- according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau figures. This is a 15 percent increase from 1990.

The Partnership's current five-year plan calls for recruiting a new semiconductor fabrication plant, assistance in the relocation of 200 new corporations including 40 foreign-owned firms, creation of 50,000 new jobs, attraction of $2 billion in new investment, assistance in the expansion of 400 area businesses, and the counseling and training of 2,000 small businesses and 7,500 small-business owners and executives.

The Greater Richmond Partnership's staff, headed by Gregory H. Wingfield, president, provides a full range of economic development and site-selection services free of charge. Information and assistance can be obtained by calling 1-800-229-6332 or by visiting the Partnership's Website http://www.grpva.com.