The planning process for a new shell building in Halifax County for economic development purposes is underway.
The proposed location of the shell building is a 14.7-acre plot of land in the Southern Virginia Technology Park owned by the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority, IDA executive director Kristy Johnson told the Halifax County Board of Supervisors at a recent meeting.
“We’re very excited to get moving forward with the process,” Johnson told the supervisors.
Johnson explained that the proposed site of the new shell building, which she termed “Site B” is the IDA’s largest “shovel-ready” site. She said the IDA owns another site in the SVTP, “Site C,” which is 17 acres and could accommodate a 100,000-square-foot shell building; however, the site needs a significant amount of grading.
Sometime this month, there will be a design kickoff meeting for the shell building project. Johnson estimates completion of the building design in January 2025. The construction timeline is nine to 12 months.
The IDA is applying for a grant from the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission for the project. The estimated cost to construct a 50,000-square-foot shell building is $6 million, while the estimated cost to construct a 100,000-square-foot shell building is $11 million.
Once completed, the shell building will be the second of its kind in the SVTP. The first shell building on a 16-acre site in the technology park fronting Highway 58 is 50,000 square feet but is expandable to 150,000 square feet. The building is made of tilt-up concrete with a concrete floor.
The titanium company IperionX has started a manufacturing operation in that building, bringing an $82.1 million investment and 108 jobs to Halifax County. Construction of the shell building was completed in November 2020 and the IperionX’s announcement came in September 2022.
“It was two years of marketing the shell building before securing a tenant,” Johnson related. “Prospect activity more than doubled with an available shell building. It was crazy successful from a recruitment standpoint. The leads were higher than I’ve ever seen them here in Halifax County with the availability of a new shell building.”
Johnson noted that the goal of economic development is to spur further economic development and investment, in the form of “spin-off projects,” whether that is business expansions or “the ability to attract suppliers and customers who want to be close to the new business.” She pointed out the IDA has already seen an additional investment from IperionX since they first announced their intention of starting a manufacturing operation in the first shell building.
“We have already reaped the benefits of the initial relationship with IperionX. They are now occupying a second building (in the SVTP), the former Virginia Employment Commission call center building right next to IDA’s office building,” Johnson said. “They invested another $1 million of their money into this facility, and they’ve been able to hire people faster. They already have 17 people here working every single day.”
The need for a second shell building was identified during a strategic planning process that the IDA began in 2022. During that process, the IDA identified four main goals, and one of those goals is real estate and infrastructure, Johnson shared. As part of that strategic planning process, Economic Leadership conducted a market analysis, and determined that Halifax County is “hampered in its economic development efforts” by a lack of industrial land availability,” Johnson reported. A shell building of 50,000 square feet which is expandable like the first shell building, with 28 to 32-foot ceilings, was determined to be suitable for the market.
The need for a shell building to promote economic development in Halifax County brings the need for additional infrastructure and other types of development, namely housing and community development.
“We need to invest in our community and ourselves to have a place where people want to live, work and play,” Johnson pointed out, regarding community development.
One of the infrastructure needs to consider in the process of constructing the new shell building is a Halifax County Service Authority water loop to serve the SVTP, at a cost of $4 million, according to Johnson.
Original Article from: The Gazette-Virginian by Miranda Baines