Regional Business Climate

Central Virginia

Central Virginia is powered by the vision and passion of entrepreneurs, the strength of top-ranked University of Virginia and a first- rate location. With a well-educated workforce and room for growth and expansion, Central Virginia is the ideal place to locate or expand businesses.

Strategic Location

Bordered on the west by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Counties of Albemarle, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange and the City of Charlottesville are clustered in the geographic center of the Commonwealth. Within a state renowned for its advantageous pro-business climate, Central Virginia offers easy access to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and other points along the Mid-Atlantic corridor.

I-64 offers excellent connectivity to points east/west and three interstates — I-66, I-81, and I-95 — surround the region. More than 50 daily flights are offered at Charlottesville Albemarle Airport. Central Virginia also offers excellent technology infrastructure, rail freight service, Foreign Trade Zone #185, and access to the Port of Virginia, the deepest shipping channel on the East Coast.

Room to Grow

The Central Virginia region offers a great variety of greenfield development opportunities, incubator and lab space, and downtown offices. Existing buildings in established industrial parks are ready for new tenants, and large assemblages of land are available for development.

Vibrant Businesses

The region is very attractive for business and financial services companies including LexisNexis, SNL Financial and CFA Institute and for information technology companies such as Verizon, Terremark Worldwide, Inc., GE Intelligent Platforms, and WillowTree. The National Ground Intelligence Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency anchor a robust defense sector which includes Aerojet, Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, and Battelle.

The region’s beauty compliments award-winning agribusinesses including Devil’s Backbone Brewery, Early Mountain Vineyard, Battlefield Farms, and Relay Foods.

Successful advanced manufacturers have found a home here including Continental Automotive, Euro-Composites, Klockner Pentaplast,Northrop Grumman, Ashbury International, TE Connectivity, RIDGID, California Sidecar, and MicroAire.

Ready Access to Research and Development

Central Virginia is home to the University of Virginia, one of the nation’s premier public universities. Consistently ranked the No. 1 or No. 2 public university by U.S. News & World Report, UVa attracts top students from across the nation.

With sponsored research awards totaling more than $300 million annually, the University’s world-class faculty experts — in medicine, engineering, life science, education, and business — collaborate to find solutions to the most important challenges of our time.

Entrepreneurial Strength

Central Virginia nurtures innovation and advanced technologies. UVA Innovation partners with start-ups and businesses to commercialize breakthroughs in technology. This dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem attracts the best and the brightest and offers opportunities for companies seeking access to expert faculty and advanced research and technology.

Intellectual Firepower

Central Virginia workers comprise a labor-pool of educated and motivated workers. The region’s skilled and diverse workforce provides businesses with a significant competitive advantage.

Central Virginia businesses also benefit from the outstanding programs of Germanna Community College and Piedmont Virginia Community College. Both colleges are actively engaged in workforce development and successfully partner with regional businesses to customize training.