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Gov. Glenn Youngkin today awarded a total of $126 million in Virginia Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP) development grants for 23 sites across the Commonwealth, including the City of Suffolk. Youngkin announced the $3.5 million VBRSP grant for the Port 460 Logistics Center on Thursday via press release.

Administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), this discretionary program partners with localities, utilities, and state agencies to fund infrastructure improvements that build operations-ready sites for employers and manufacturers ready to expand in the Commonwealth. In addition to developing project-ready sites, the program assembles permits and approvals to make way for a smooth construction process. VBRSP identifies, assesses, and improves industrial sites with at least 100 contiguous, developable acres, or 50 acres in the western part of the Commonwealth and in areas with other qualifying conditions.

“Business-ready sites drive and accelerate economic growth, and our continued investments in site development position the Commonwealth to compete to win transformative projects that will bring hundreds and thousands of jobs to Virginia,” Youngkin said. “A growing inventory of project-ready sites is a huge competitive advantage, and our investments in the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program were a big factor in Virginia being named America’s Top State for Business. Before we took office, Virginia was significantly behind our competitor states. We must continue the concerted effort we’ve made to invest in sites over the course of my administration and we’re looking forward to Virginians seeing the benefits of this work in the future.”

The VBRSP has two components: (1) site characterization to assess and designate a site’s current level of development, and (2) site development to further develop a pool of potential sites across the Commonwealth. Localities can apply for matching grants to assist with the costs associated with the initial assessment and the development required to increase a site’s current designation level.

For the first time in its study of state competitiveness, CNBC weighted infrastructure — including availability of shovel-ready sites — as the most important factor for businesses when deciding on investment and cited the VBRSP, in addition to Virginia’s world-class port, rail, roadway, and air transportation ecosystem, as major contributors to the Commonwealth’s No. 1 ranking.

According to the release, Virginia has only invested in site development at substantial levels for the last two years, however, the state’s investments are already generating results that will produce a “strong and increasing” return on investment to the state general fund. Since the program’s inception, 45 sites have received funding, and to date, 3,720 direct jobs have been announced on sites that have received VBRSP grants. This year, 23 sites representing over 10,000 acres of developable land are receiving VBRSP funding.

Other projects receiving funding: