ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding are coming to Roanoke County in an effort to help develop a technology park that’s been in the works for several years.
Roanoke County was awarded $820,000 from a federal grant to improve the Wood Haven Technology Park.
To make an even greater impact, Western Virginia Water Authority provided an additional $670,000 to the project, bringing the grand total to nearly $1.5 million.
The goal of the money is to bring a larger supply of water to make the land more attractive to potential businesses.
“This opens up our region for investment for opportunities that we would not have otherwise,” said Roanoke Regional Partnership Executive Director, John Hull.
“We are going to be installing a new water line going underneath the interstate with a boring to get under the interstate and providing a redundant supply of water to the Wood Haven industrial area,” said Western Virginia Water Authority Director of Public Relations, Sarah Baumgardner.
With the million-dollar investment, officials hope it will attract a wider variety of businesses, which in turn will bring even more job opportunities and tax revenue for the region.
“When a business does locate here, it will kind of be the front door to the Roanoke Valley, so we want to attract a quality business, hopefully, someone that will employ a lot of folks with good jobs and be a really good economic investment for the region,” said Roanoke County Administrator, Richard Caywood.
The significant supply of water could attract a number of industries to the valley.
“Semiconductors or data centers, or food and beverage operations and frankly a number of other uses,” said Hull.
They expect the water pipe project to be completed within the year.