|
Greater Richmond
‘Maybe the best business
environment in the U.S.’
“From a business perspective,
Greater Richmond and the Commonwealth of Virginia may
well offer the best business environment in the United
States.” That’s the assessment of John A.
Luke Jr., chairman and CEO of MeadWestvaco Corp., which
moved its corporate headquarters to Greater Richmond
from Stamford, Conn. a year ago.
He says the company “looked
closely at the area’s key attributes: talented
work force, education system and the cost of doing business.
But we also considered the ‘intangibles’
— Richmond’s unique character, its diversity
and charm, its small-city-big-town environment, and
above all, the positive spirit that pervades the community.”
Greater Richmond’s Fortune
500 corporate headquarters community today includes
MeadWestvaco, Dominion Resources, Circuit City, Genworth
Financial, CarMax, Performance Foods and Owens &
Minor.
These seven corporate headquarters,
plus six others — LandAmerica Financial, Universal
Corp., Brink’s, Markel, Albemarle and Massey Energy
— give Greater Richmond a total of 13 top-ranked
firms on the latest Fortune 1000 list.
Among metropolitan areas with more
than five Fortune 500 headquarters, Greater Richmond
has the second-highest number per capita in the nation.
This roster of major corporations does not include the
headquarters of Philip Morris USA, which is part of
Altria Group. Philip Morris USA moved its headquarters
to Greater Richmond from New York City four years ago.
Greater Richmond’s position
as a corporate headquarters center is a testimonial
to the quality of the community’s business environment
for companies large and small. It has been ranked as
one of America’s best metro areas for small business
and Forbes this year ranked Greater Richmond as one
of the top 15 out of 200 large metro areas in the magazine’s
annual “Best Places for Business and Careers.”
Foreign Direct Investment (fDi) magazine,
an international publication of the United Kingdom’s
Financial Times group, ranks the region among the top
large metro areas in three categories in its “North
American Cities of the Future 2007/08” evaluation.
The pace of economic growth is evident
throughout the region, which includes the counties of
Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico and the City of Richmond.
This includes the center city, which is attracting a
steady stream of new condo and apartment dwellers. The
successful downtown Virginia BioTechnology Research
Park is providing an ideal setting for Philip Morris
USA’s new, $350 million Center for Research and
Technology with its imposing presence at the city’s
eastern I-64 gateway.
Over the past decade or so, Greater
Richmond has seen a strong expansion in the knowledge
sector of its economy, with significant development
in the area’s semiconductor and biotechnology
industries. The region has long been a traditional base
for pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Semiconductor fabricator
Quimonda has rounded out a $1 billion expansion.
The region vigorously promotes and
supports business and offers a solid infrastructure
for growth and success. With more than a million residents,
Greater Richmond is at the junction of I-95 and I-64
within easy reach of I-85. Richmond International Airport,
with its recently expanded terminal, is served by major
airlines and low-cost cost carriers such as AirTran,
Skybus and JetBlue.
The regional economic development
organization, the Greater Richmond Partnership Inc.,
is an initiative funded 50-50 by the business community
and local governments. It provides free-of-charge assistance
to domestic and foreign companies looking to relocate
or expand, or to establish new U.S. subsidiaries. It
has overseas representatives in Europe, the United Kingdom
and the Far East and its Web site, www.grpva.com, is
a great place to start for information about the Greater
Richmond area and Partnership services. The Web site
includes a user-friendly “Business Report Builder”
feature which makes it easy to compile an initial site-evaluation
analysis.
|
