Lynchburg Reporter

City of Lynchburg Awarded Funding for Site Development in Ivy Creek Innovation Park

On January 16, 2023, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced $90 Million in Virginia Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP) Grants to develop industrial sites across the Commonwealth. The VBRSP development grants were awarded to 21 sites, including the Ivy Creek Innovation Park, located in Lynchburg. 

The City of Lynchburg was awarded $261,750 towards site development for “Sites A & B” in the Ivy Creek Innovation Park, which are currently owned by the Economic Development Authority of the City of Lynchburg. The funding will help support preliminary engineering report, boundary and topographic survey, environmental site assessment and preparation of construction and permit documents for road access, water lines and wastewater advancing the sites from a Tier 2 project to a Tier 4 in Virginia’s industrial site characterization system. 

VBRSP is administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP). This discretionary program helps characterize and develop sites to enhance the Commonwealth’s infrastructure with more competitive project-ready sites, to attract new business and accelerate expansion in Virginia. The program has two components: 1) Site characterization to assess and designate a site’s current level of development; and 2) Site development to further develop a pool of potential sites across the Commonwealth. Localities can apply for grants to assist with the costs associated with the initial assessment and the development required to increase a site’s current designation level.

“Ivy Creek Innovation Center is one of the City of Lynchburg’s top performing industrial parks. The park is home to major companies such as BWXT, Frito Lay, L3 Harris, Total Plastic Solutions and Boxley. With this grant, the City of Lynchburg’s Economic Development Authority has taken steps to ensure the park is a top priority for site development,” City of Lynchburg Director of Economic Development & Tourism, Marjette Upshur said. 

“The City of Lynchburg is challenged with low inventory of business ready sites. The ability to advance Ivy Creek will greatly increase the marketability of Lynchburg’s industrial offerings making it more competitive for economic development projects that support our targeted industries such as advanced manufacturing, nuclear technology and engineering services,” said Upshur.   

“The leading priority of the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program is to increase our project-ready sites portfolio across the Commonwealth, and this unprecedented site development funding is an important step forward in strengthening Virginia’s infrastructure,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Prepared sites drive economic growth, and we have to move faster to attract new businesses. We are hitting the accelerator to build a best-in-class business environment so the Commonwealth can compete to win, and I have included the necessary additional funding for the VBRSP in my proposed budget.”

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