Health care, manufacturing and recreation are top-performing industries in the Valley.
The Roanoke Valley’s economic outlook is sunny. Tourism is up. Housing is affordable and available. The region is riding a bit of a buzz.
The secret to the success? Moving forward on many fronts. Giving the area a new, authentic identity. And collaboration.
“I see a very stable economic outlook with growth in particular sectors, especially the life sciences with the Virginia Tech Carilion campus,” says Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, a joint-venture among eight governments and hundreds of area businesses dedicated to regional growth.
Manufacturing, too, has been a bright light for the region. In Botetourt County, where the manufacturing sector has been especially strong since 2016, companies such as Pratt Industries and Eldor Corporation have opened new operations. Established businesses, like Metalsa and Altec, are expanding.
In Botetourt County alone, nearly $200 million worth of capital investment and 900 jobs are expected once recent corporate announcements are complete.
“I think it’s having available land and a pro-business environment,” says county administrator Gary Larrowe, explaining how Botetourt has landed so much investment in so short a time.
Business leaders are doing everything they can to keep the chart lines pointing skyward.
Think: connecting with the 25 colleges and universities in a 60-mile radius of Roanoke; creating workforce training programs in high schools, Virginia Western Community College and the Roanoke Higher Education Center; and working with area governments to identify buildings and land suitable for interested industries. The establishment of business startup support groups such as the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council’s RAMP and The Advancement Foundation’s Gauntlet Business Program are also key.
Perhaps the biggest boon has been a regional rebranding that has taken root over the past decade.
“Ten years ago, when someone asked about Roanoke, people said: ‘It’s an old railroad town.’ Now they say: ‘It’s an outdoors town,’” explains the Partnership’s Doughty. “That’s really changed how we look at our own community.”
That outdoors identity has helped spark eight straight years of growth in the tourism industry. In 2017, the region collected some $850 million in travel expenditures, according to the U.S. Travel Association. The number of hotel rooms, restaurant tables and craft brewery barstools has only risen since then.
The outdoors vibe has also helped grow small businesses. Roanoke Mountain Adventures, UnderDog Bikes and Twin River Outfitters are all startups that have bloomed because of Roanoke’s hiking-biking-paddling scenes.
The recreation industry is boosting the local economy in surprising ways, too. Events like the Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon and the newly landed Carilion Clinic IRONMAN 70.3 raise Roanoke’s recognizability. As today’s workforce increasingly seeks jobs based on where they want to live, the region’s breathtaking vistas and clean creeks have become something of a currency — but only if people know they exist.
“Livability … is more and more a part of the equation,” says Doughty. “If you’d asked me this 20 years ago, I would have said, ‘No, that doesn’t really matter.’ There’s now more of an emphasis on work-life balance and our area is conducive to this.”
That has helped attract new talent to Carilion Clinic, an organization that, with Virginia Tech and Radford University, is powering a transformation of Roanoke. In 2019 alone, Carilion announced a $300 million expansion of its flagship hospital, Roanoke Memorial; Virginia Tech unveiled a record-breaking $50 million donation to the newly renamed Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; and a new partnership between Carilion Clinic and Radford University welcomed its first class of students at Radford University Carilion.
The area’s natural beauty even helps land multimillion dollar manufacturing plants.
“There’s an incredible aesthetic here,” says Ken McFadyen, director of Botetourt County’s Department of Economic Development.
He tells the tale of wooing Eldor Corporation’s executives. One of the factors that convinced them to base their East Coast headquarters in Greenfield industrial park was that when Eldor’s leaders stood on the site where they would be building, they said they felt like they were back in their native Milan.
“We’re offering just really a full package.”
But economic development leaders say the Roanoke region would not be thriving if it didn’t have the basics needed for business bottom lines.
Location is key, and the Roanoke Valley sits within a day’s drive of two-thirds of the U.S. population. Business costs are low — 11% lower than the national average. The workforce is educated: within 60 miles of Roanoke, there are nearly 100,000 college students, giving the area a higher per capita percentage of undergrads than Boston, Raleigh or Austin, according to State Council for Higher Education numbers.
For workers, the region’s cost of living is affordable, commutes are short and there are plenty of ways to play. In addition to Roanoke’s proximity to the Appalachian Trail and Blue Ridge Parkway, the region boasts art museums, ballet companies, top-rated community theater and music venues that book national acts.
Highlighting these strengths is the focus of Roanoke Regional Partnership’s newest effort, its Talent Solutions program. Last year, the Partnership hired two employees to connect undergraduates to jobs and area amenities in a variety of ways.
The program brings employers to universities to match workforce with jobs. It hosts professional development and social events to ensure that 20somethings have ways to mingle. A newly created website, get2knownoke.com, features job boards, event listings and practical information to attract young workers to the region.
The idea is to land recent graduates here and keep them. “We’re trying to create a stickiness to the area,” Doughty explains.
Economic leaders are also practicing tried-and-true techniques to keep businesses happy.
“It’s not all about attracting new names,” Botetourt’s McFadyen says. “It’s about taking care of businesses who are here.”
His economic development office regularly checks in with corporate leaders, helps to navigate regulations, identifies federal programs and local employee training opportunities.
“We go above and beyond on a daily basis,” McFadyen says.
Which might just be the most important item on the checklist for keeping the region on the rise.
