From 'Image Vacuum' to Regionally Competitive

Over the past 14 years, economic development in Greater Richmond has traditionally emphasized business attraction by highlighting the region’s current positive business climate.

The ‘big fish’ may land more headlines in the newspapers, but allocating resources for retaining businesses and working with entrepreneurs is also vital. The Greater Richmond Partnership’s efforts have broadened by partnering with the Greater Richmond Chamber, in creating Business First Greater Richmond and new workforce initiatives. This homegrown approach seeks to assist small businesses, help regional businesses thrive and expand, and develop a qualified workforce.

These programs didn’t always exist and neither did Richmond’s globally recognized business reputation.

In the early 1990s, a survey asked corporate executives across the country what they perceived to be the “best city” in the Southeast for business. Respondents ranked Greater Richmond at the bottom of the listed areas. The survey concluded that the Richmond region “exists in an image vacuum” and was relatively unknown to executives outside Virginia.

Prior to the Partnership, the region’s economic development organization was the Metropolitan Economic Development Council (MEDC). Formed in the late 1970s, MEDC relied on limited local government funding. By the early 1990s, local leadership realized a crucial ingredient was missing — the involvement of the business community.

Forming a Partnership

A remedy was put in place on July 14, 1994, with the founding of the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. Led by the Greater Richmond Chamber, business coupled with government in what was one of North America’s first public-private regional economic development initiatives. Launched as one of the best per-capita funded organizations in the nation, the Partnership has become a pioneer for multi-jurisdictional cooperation.

Positive results were immediate and dramatic.

A cornerstone to new business attraction was a Motorola-Siemens joint venture semiconductor plant (now known as Qimonda Richmond). The company has invested $3.5 billion and offered jobs to more than 2,500 people. Qimonda’s announcement also made big news around the world and spotlighted Greater Richmond — for the first time — as a major player in national and international economic development circles. It also set the stage for a new high-tech component to the region’s economy.

The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park in downtown Richmond was beginning to take shape at the same time. Initial leases were signed in 1995 by nine biotech companies and state agencies. The expansion and growing stature of the Research Park would later provide an ideal setting for Philip Morris USA’s Center for Research and Technology, which today has an impressive presence at downtown Richmond’s northern gateway.

Additional highlights of the initial 14 years of the Partnership’s life include:

• Assisting four Fortune 1000 corporate headquarters locations — MeadWestvaco, The Brink’s Company, Altria Group and Genworth.

• Philip Morris USA’s corporate headquarters relocation from New York.

• K-Line’s North American headquarters.

• Alfa Laval’s North American headquarters.

• Wyeth’s (formerly Whitehall-Robins) $40 million pharmaceutical research center.

• Hewlett-Packard’s $25 million LaserJet printer facility.

• Major expansion projects by area companies including Capital One, CarMax, HCA and LandAmerica.

In total, the Greater Richmond Partnership has assisted 361 companies that have invested $6.2 billion in the area.

A Ripple Effect

This kind of development has lifted every segment of the region’s economy, providing business opportunities for firms large and small, new and established. Community development, quality of life and the arts have all benefited, along with the quality of jobs and employment opportunities. In only three years after the Partnership’s formation, Greater Richmond was named as one of the nation’s Top 10 “Most Improved” communities in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Cities for Business” survey.

Greater Richmond has received more than 50 accolades from the media in the last five years, including high marks from Dow Jones MarketWatch as the third best metro center for business. The Richmond region has tremendous strengths and assets that opens the door to the global marketplace.

Our next five-year cycle is built around an aggressive $18 million plan to attract new business, retain and expand existing business, assist entrepreneurs and small businesses, develop a knowledge generation workforce and focus on the infrastructure needed for growth. Our plan is “Globally focused; regionally competitive.”