Economic development officials in Albemarle County have been busy in the 22 months since the Board of Supervisors authorized the $58 million purchase of 462 acres of land around the U.S. Army’s Rivanna Station.
Last June, Albemarle County was successful in their application before the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to rezone a portion of the land for a future project called the Intelligence and National Security Innovation Acceleration Campus. The working project is called Rivanna Futures.
Today Albemarle announced they have received funding to help pay for design of some of the infrastructure required.
“Albemarle County has been awarded a $613,570 grant through the GO Virginia Region 9 Council to support the continued development of the Rivanna Futures site,” reads an information release sent out at 3:19 p.m.
GO Virginia Region 9 Council is a division of Growth and Opportunity Virginia, a program that has connections to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
The website describes GO Virginia as “a bipartisan, business-led economic development initiative that is changing the way the Commonwealth’s diverse regions collaborate on economic and workforce development activities.”
The GO Virginia Region 9 Council consists of 23 people from the public and private sector. One of its local members is Pace Lochte, the University of Virginia’s Assistant Vice President for Economic Development. Another is Albemarle Ned Gallaway of the Rio District.
This particular award will pay for the design for road access, stormwater, site grading, and extending utilities for the first 50 acres to be developed.
“This funding moves us one step closer to making Rivanna Futures a location of choice for companies developing services and technologies that advance national security interests,” the release quotes Emily Kilroy, Albemarle’s director of economic development.
The goal is to bring the property to a higher tier under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s characterization of available sites.
Learn more in this video:
Before you go: Albemarle County is putting a lot of resources into developing an intelligence and defense security innovation center around the Rivanna Station military base. This is the latest in a series of articles that date back to May 2023 when Supervisors agreed to buy 462 acres around the Rivanna Station base for $58 million. This story is from the March 27, 2025 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter and posted here on the first of the new month.
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I understand the that the Rivanna Futures site purchase price of $58 million was financed by issuing bonds. How much in interest does the County pay out each year to bond holders? Thank you.