Berry Hill finishes runner-up for another large facility

Another near miss for the Berry Hill Megapark.  The Southern Virginia Mega Site at Berry Hill was a finalist for a car battery plant. 

But last week chemical firm Albemarle Corporation chose a site in Chester County, S.C. for a new processing facility, investing $1.3 billion and creating 300 jobs.

Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler, chairman of the Regional Industrial Facilities Authority, admits it’s frustrating, but he says they’ll land the big one eventually.  “When we constantly have these large-scale projects that are looking at Southern Virginia and looking at the megasite, it speaks to the quality and to how good (Berry Hill) really is,” Vogler said.

Earlier this year, Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed Berry Hill from consideration for a Ford electric battery plant because of his concerns over Chinese ownership. Vogler says the governor was actively involved in the most recent recruitment effort. “He (Youngkin) made several personal phone calls to try and land this thing.”

Vogler says Albemarle ultimately chose the South Carolina site because it was closer to their main facility in Charlotte, N.C. “But they loved the (Berry Hill) site, we got nothing but positive feedback from them,” said Vogler.

Last year, Berry Hill finished runner-up for a $5.5 billion Hyundai EV battery plant that went to Savannah, Ga.