Berry Hill Road megapark lands mega grant

The Berry Hill Road industrial megapark got a boost from the Virginia Tobacco Commission Thursday when it approved a $6.2 million grant for the park.

Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, who serves on the commission’s Southside Economic Development Committee, helped push for the grant’s approval.

“This megapark site could be a game changer for all of Southside Virginia,” Marshall said, pointing to high unemployment in the region, which also includes Martinsville and Henry County.

The proposed 3,700-acre megapark is a joint project between Pittsylvania County and the city of Danville, and they submitted a joint grant application to the commission. The tract is the largest in Virginia and the fifth-largest along the East Coast, Marshall said.

County and city officials hope to attract a large manufacturer to the site that would provide thousands of jobs.

County Administrator Dan Sleeper said the grant would pay for the first three years of debt service toward a seven- or eight-year, $10 million to $13 million revenue bond. The bond will pay for the land purchase, a master plan, wetlands, historic preservation and phase I environmental work, Sleeper said. 

Ken Bowman, the county’s director of economic development, called the grant a “shot in the arm for that park.”

Bowman said the city and the county will launch a marketing campaign for the megapark after completion of the master plan in December and the park’s certification, which is expected in January. The marketing campaign would include putting the megapark on the city’s and county’s Web sites and working with the state to get the megapark put on the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Web page.