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Norfolk, VA
The Hampton Roads Economic Alliance (HREDA), formed in 1997, consists of six southern Virginia cities (Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and the County of Isle of Wright) that pooled their resources and agreed to market the region nationally and internationally under the Hampton Roads banner. NCDS conducted a very successful $10 million fundraising campaign to kick off the new initiative. In February 2001, NCDS helped HREDA draft a successor five-year strategy that would capitalize on gains from the previous program and generate additional economic momentum.
The Momentum Initiative: The Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance initiated a funding campaign to successfully support the $5.5 million necessary to insure another five years of aggressive business attraction to the Hampton Roads region. It was determined that HREDA would for the next five years; focus on the following goals:
- Create 15,500 new primary jobs associated with new business locating in collaborating municipalities.
- Generate $640 million in capital investment dollars in partnering municipalities.
- Increase average salaries of new primary jobs to $35,000.
The Challenges: When work began on a second initiative in 2001, despite the original program’s success, NCDS discovered that key investor sources were reluctant to match or exceed their previous pledges. Other challenges faced NCDS as well. The seven municipalities served by HREDA suffered at the time from a sense of competitive mistrust regarding economic development, and the private sector leaders insisted on a public sector support level of slightly less than 50% of the total goal or $5 million. Yet another potential stumbling block for the campaign was the loss of key investors as a result of bank consolidations in the area at the time.
The Campaign: NCDS and the HREDA tackled these challenges with two strategies. First, the results of the previous program were carefully analyzed and then presented to prospective investors as validation of the notable returns that were realized on their original pledges. Second, strong measures were taken to attract and secure new investors. As a result, the private sector total reached just over $6.2 million.
The Results: Since the conclusion of the campaign, the alliance has been capitalized sufficiently to attract several new businesses to the Hampton Roads area including:
- Target Corporation, investing $65 million on a new import warehouse creating 500 new jobs.
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Flexa Furniture Inc., a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of children’s furniture. Investing $1 million for capital improvements and the creation of 20 new jobs.
- TDS US Automotive, will support the expansion of nearby Ford plant. Investing $2.4 million and creating 210 new jobs.
- SafeCard ID Systems, a manufacturer of secure photo ID cards, invested $10 million and formally established its headquarters in the City of Virginia Beach and created 55 jobs.
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