Rolls-Royce, provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea, and in the air, will build an aero engine facility in Prince GeorgeCounty. Initially, the company will invest $100 million to establish an assembly and test facility for its civil aerospace operations. Over time, the company has options to invest up to $500 million to support future advanced manufacturing. The projects will create 500 new jobs.
To secure these projects, Virginia successfully competed against Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, as well as locations around the world. “From the beginning of this competition, Virginia understood our business needs and worked hard to put forward a world-class proposal,” said Sir John Rose, Rolls-Royce chief executive.
The financial package that encouraged Rolls-Royce to locate in Virginia included the following elements: performance-based grants for investment, job attainment, and supplier cluster locations; infrastructure grants; workforce grants; a higher education initiative; the donation of a 1,000-acre site with a shovel-ready pad; and property tax rebates. This package represented a combination of federal, state and local inducements.
Dr. Joseph A. Leming, chairman of the Prince George County Board of Supervisors, said, “In addition to the creation of 500 jobs, the capital investment Rolls-Royce is making in Prince George will bring us closer to the 70/30 percent residential/industrial tax base ratio necessary to stabilize the tax base.” In addition, Rolls-Royce projects could attract a variety of suppliers, similar to the way automobile assembly plants establish a cluster of suppliers.