Featured in Inside Nielsen Magazine
Winter 2012
By Joseph S. Paxton, Rockingham County Administrator
Rockingham County is a feast for the eyes. With the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east, the Allegheny Mountains to the west and the verdant agricultural vistas of the Shenandoah Valley stretching for miles, one tends to equate the county with its natural beauty, agriculture, Civil War history and many tourism destinations.
But looks can be deceiving.
Rockingham County also is focused on reinventing itself as a high-tech and biotech hub. And it’s putting its money behind a master plan to fully develop the Rockingham Center for Research and Technology as a mecca for scientific research and innovation.
As envisioned under the master plan approved in December 2011, the 365-acre Class-A technology park will offer scientists and researchers ample space and facilities where they can collaborate, innovate, create their own businesses and work toward solving some of the world’s most formidable problems. The Center will be developed in three phases, allowing for the establishment of new facilities or campuses customized for each individual company’s specific needs. The Center’s protective covenants will ensure long-term, quality development.
The first phase is anchored by SRI International, a California-based nonprofit research institute that conducts client sponsored research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses, foundations and other organizations.
At its 43,000-square-foot building overlooking the Valley and the Center’s main entrance on North Valley Pike (U.S. Route 11), SRI has assembled some of the brightest minds in research to improve the productivity of the pharmaceutical industry, help the nation respond to bio-threats, and develop life-saving treatments for neglected and orphan diseases.
SRI’s Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE) is the anchor tenant for SRI in this facility. SRI recently announced plans to complete the $2.1 million build-out of the facility to grow its staff from 45 members to 100 and add laboratories. It also is conducting joint research and training projects with students and faculty at nearby James Madison University (JMU).
At present, SRI is the only company with an address in the Center, but that will change soon. Under Phase II of the master plan, the county will begin to construct the pad site, design the landscaping and extend utilities for a new building near SRI and the Center’s entrance. This new structure is envisioned to be built in collaboration with a private developer. It will be flexible in its design to allow for multiple uses in the building and will consist of potentially two or three stories.
The plan envisions that this facility will provide a link between the community and the Center. As conceived by a team headed by the Timmons Group, Richmond, Virginia, which wrote the master plan, the new building will be the “strategic lynchpin between SRI, the proposed mixed-use development along Route 11” and a new second entrance to the Center.
When Phase II is fully constructed, it will accommodate approximately 975,000 square feet of additional research and development facilities. Phase III will add additional roadways and pad sites, accommodating another 420,000 square feet of available space with the opportunity to expand up to 778,000 square feet.
To promote the Center to developers, builders and technology companies, the county will establish a permanent office within the SRI building and launch a new marketing campaign. It also has appointed Dr. Phillip Stone, president emeritus of Bridgewater College, to serve on a volunteer basis as an economic adviser and “champion” for the Center.
The Center contains the infrastructure necessary for the location of most business and research companies, including a four-lane divided roadway, all major utilities and access to fiber-optics. The plan provides for the construction of additional mixed-use buildings to provide housing and support services, such as banks, restaurants and retail space. Pedestrian trails, picnic areas and a venue for concerts and events are amenities to be created to make the Center a great place to work, live and play.
To enhance the Center’s attractiveness, green space and naturally flowing creeks are being preserved, and manmade lakes have been constructed to serve as a stormwater management system. Parking lots are proposed to be placed strategically behind buildings so all views from the roadways will be attractive, and all structures are schematically designed to fit within the natural environment and the contours of the land.
It is impossible to overstate the significance of the Center to Rockingham County’s future. William B. Kyger Jr., current chairman and a County Board member for 24 years, recently compared the investment in the Center and its potential impact on the community to the completion of the new Rockingham Memorial Hospital complex. Referring to the Center, he said nothing has been “more important than … this project.”
Although the build-out of the Center won’t be completed for many years to come, the benefits of the county’s new vision already are being felt. New jobs are being created, new opportunities for students and faculty at the area’s four colleges and universities are developing, and the county’s diverse and stable economy is continuing to grow.
Located just off Interstate 81 and between I-66 and I-64, the Rockingham Center for Research and Technology is within a two-hour drive of Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia. Space is available for technology-based industries in biotechnology, homeland security, engineering, nanotechnology, information technology and energy.
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