Jul 24, 2017   SOURCE: BusinessWire

New Businesses Bring $746 Million of Intended Capital Investment and 636 New Jobs to Prince William County in First Half 2017

Prince William County, Virginia’s second-largest locality, today announced it has logged $746 million in intended capital investment from nine projects during the first six months of 2017. Those projects are expected to bring approximately 636 new jobs to the County.

The nine projects, all of which represent new and diverse businesses, will operate across a broad spectrum of industries including manufacturing, data centers, commercial real estate, outdoor retail and utility support services. In March, the County welcomed Cabela’s, which opened the doors to its only store in the Metro D.C. Area, bringing close to 200 jobs to the County. Earlier in the year, Dulles Glass and Mirror, Inc., announced that it had decided to move its corporate headquarters along with its research and development, manufacturing and warehousing operations to Prince William County, bringing a total of 136 jobs to the County.

“We are very proud of our economic development achievements to date,” said Jeffrey Kaczmarek, Executive Director, Prince William County Department of Economic Development. “It is a testament to the innovative and vibrant business community we have here in Prince William County.”

“We anticipate even more exciting developments during the second half of 2017. Look out for the grand opening of the Iron Mountain Data Center Campus (VA-1) this fall and the opening of the highly anticipated Farm Brew Live – Prince William County’s first destination brewery at Innovation Park,” added Kaczmarek.

In the last five calendar years (2012-2016), projects closed by the Prince William County Department of Economic Development alone intend to invest a record of nearly $4.0 billion and create approximately 2,600 new jobs.

As of December 2016, the County was home to over 9,100 businesses providing jobs for approximately 128,000 people. As a result, the (unadjusted) unemployment rate was at 3.5% - 0.6% lower than the national rate. Prince William County’s business community is largely comprised of small businesses (over 65% employ 20 people or less). That notwithstanding, several of our local companies have been blazing a trail within their respective industries and have been earning the recognition of their industry peers and the wider region. Over forty Prince William County businesses topped the 2017 Washington Business Journal Book of Lists. Three Innovation Park enterprises were recognized at this year’s Greater Washington Innovation Award Ceremony. Scriyb LLC, a Virginia Serious Game Institute-based startup, won the ‘Public Service Innovator of the Year’ award and George Mason University (Mason) and Ceres Nanosciences, Inc. were recognized as finalists in Public Service and Health & Life Sciences categories, respectively. Ceres Nanosciences was successful in raising funding of $3.8 million to further its groundbreaking work on Lyme disease, Zika, and other infectious diseases; and was named among Biz Wire’s Game Changers.

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