The Newport News Economic/Industrial Development Authority is helping shape Newport News, Virginia as the Southeast’s Hi-tech Hometown. Located in Hampton Roads, a metropolitan region of 1.6 million people in the middle of the East Coast, Newport News combines technology resources, a vibrant quality of life and a moderate cost of doing business. Newport News is the ideal location for technology-based manufacturers, corporate and district headquarters, and research and development, particularly in the areas of photonics, aeronautics, nanotechnology, advanced materials, sensors, and modeling and simulation.

The Newport News Economic Development Authority developed a seven-story office/lab building—the Applied Research Center—near the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in 1997. The Applied Research Center houses scientists from Jefferson Lab, researchers from four area universities and private companies to work collaboratively to develop new products from research and technology originating at Jefferson Lab. Technologies being developed and marketed at the Applied Research Center include medical imaging, smart cards, software for wireless communication and cryogenic cavities. The National Science Foundation’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Lasers and Plasmas for Advanced Manufacturing and the regional office of the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology are also located at the Applied Research Center.

Besides operating one of the world’s newest particle beam accelerators to study “quark sociology,” Jefferson Lab has developed some exciting technologies that could help revolutionize the future. One is the Free Electron Laser, a tunable high-intensity light source that can be used to modify surfaces, etch silicon, purify ground water or slice through steel. Jefferson Lab’s Free Electron Laser already holds the world record for laser power hands down. It has also helped produce the world’s largest/highest quality batch of nanotubes to date. To further explore the commercial potential of the Free Electron Laser, Jefferson Lab hosts a Laser Processing Consortium that includes several Fortune 500 technology companies.

The Economic Development Authority also developed the Virginia Advanced Shipbuilding and Carrier Integration Center (VASCIC), a 250,000 square foot office/lab/prototyping building on the James River near Northrop Grumman Newport News. Northrop Grumman is Virginia’s largest single-site employer, with 19,000 workers, half of them engineers and other white-collar employees. The research, design and integration of systems for the next generation nuclear aircraft carrier are being done at VASCIC. The Economic Development Authority owns and leases three other office buildings in the City’s Downtown filled with Northrop Grumman engineers. Northrop Grumman Newport News is the only shipyard in the U.S. capable of building nuclear aircraft carriers and only one of two capable of building nuclear submarines.

Besides the research and technology resident in Newport News itself, there are several research institutions nearby within Hampton Roads. These include NASA’s Langley Research Center, the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center and the Virginia Institute for Marine Science. Besides Northrop Grumman, technology-based companies located in Newport News include Symantec, Siemens VDO Automotive, Synerject and Dilon Technologies.

The Newport News Industrial Development Authority manages Oakland Industrial Park, the region’s premier industrial park for medium-size and international manufacturers. Located in a Virginia Enterprise Zone, Oakland has cleared and wooded sites ranging from three to twenty-five buildable acres. Oakland contains several architecturally designed buildings and covenants maintain a high standard of quality. Occupants of the park include the Army/Air Force Exchange Service, Canon Virginia, Iceland Seafood, Kinyo Virginia, Newport News Industrial Corp., Pliant and Printpack.

The Newport News Economic Development Authority is also working to create an environment that is attractive to both businesses and business executives, professionals and knowledge-based workers. City Center at Oyster Point is a public-private partnership between the EDA and Newport News Town Center LLC, a group of local leaders and investors. The LLC, in turn, has partnered with Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, which has found City Center to be a place providing excellent upside investment potential. Surrounding a magnificent 5-acre fountain plaza in Oyster Point—the central business district for Hampton Roads’ Peninsula submarket—City Center will ultimately boast one million square feet of class A offices space, 250,000 square feet of mixed-use retail space, luxury residential, entertainment and lodging. Providing a walk-to-work/ dining/shopping environment, City Center will be supported by four public parking garages. With about half the project either constructed or under development—including a 256-room Marriott Hotel and Conference Center—City Center is enjoying extremely high lease-up rates.

Nearby, is another new urbanist development, Port Warwick, which has become a model for developers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Port Warwick is a mixed-use residential community built around a series of public squares and public art. Wildly successful, Port Warwick has attracted some of the finest restaurants and specialty shops in town. Port Warwick and City Center are a part of a wider quality of life explosion taking place in mid-Newport News. The Virginia Living Museum, the Mariners Museum, Riverside Regional Health Center and Christopher Newport University have all spent tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in expansions and upgrades. This includes CNU’s Ferguson Center for the Arts, a new performance center designed by I.M. Pei.

Toward Williamsburg, Virginia, the Newport News Economic Development Authority is advancing the development of a transformative new community to be developed on three properties it owns. Centering on the historic Endview House (circa 1740) and Lee Hall Manor (circa 1840), a mixed-use traditional neighborhood development is expected to provide additional opportunities for those seeking an amenity-rich lifestyle in the Newport News region.

Managing incentives in three Virginia Enterprise Zones and a real estate portfolio valued at $100 million, the Newport News Economic/Industrial Development Authority is at the cutting edge of economic development in Virginia.

The Newport News Economic/Industrial Development Authority is a cutting edge economic development organization that has transformed the economic landscape of Newport News, Virginia. Once considered a “blue collar town,” Newport News is now billed as Virginia’s Hi-Tech Hometown. This white paper discusses how the Economic/Industrial Development Authority has fostered the growth of technology, created quality industrial environments and transformed the quality of life in Newport News. Creative yet judicious in its use of incentives, the Authority has done everything from innovative real estate development to fostering new urbanist communities.

URL link – www.newportnewsva.com