A New Jersey-based nutritional supplement retailer announced last week that it is putting a distribution warehouse in Hanover County and will hire about 175 workers over the next several years.
Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Friday that the Vitamin Shoppe is opening a distribution center in Ashland that will add 174 jobs over three years. The governor’s office chipped in about $200,000 from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to make the deal happen, according to a news release.
Edwin Gaskin, head of economic development for Hanover County, said Friday that the site is at the northern edge of Ashland near the intersection of Route 1 and Ellett’s Crossing Road with frontage on Interstate 95.
Although the final plans haven’t been released, Gaskin said he thought the distribution center would be between 350,000 and 400,000 square feet.
Gaskin said that the Vitamin Shoppe was moving quickly.
“They want to be open as soon as possible. I think they are out there right now cutting the road,” he said. “They hope to be up and running by late summer next year. They’ve got an aggressive timetable, and they’ve been very proactive about getting permits.”
Gaskin said he did not even know Hanover was in the running until the final eight sites were announced. The publicly traded company is leasing and building on a site owned by Johnson Development Associates of Spartanburg, S.C., which initially pitched the site.
“It’s kind of a newer model that we’ve been seeing more of,” Gaskin said. “We got to work with the developer and the corporate client. They had separate but related inquiries and, like any successful business enterprise, we had to make the priorities align.”
Johnson Development did not return a call for comment.
Gaskin said that, in addition to the jobs announced by the governor’s office, the Vitamin Shoppe has said it would be adding an additional 81 jobs over five years for a total of 255 jobs at the center.
The county committed to run water and sewer to the site.
That “allowed us to get utilities to two adjoining sites,” Gaskin said. “So we hope to have some neighbors for Vitamin Shoppe soon.”
The supplement store has 552 locations nationwide. According to the governor’s news release, the company is investing about $40 million on the project.
The company’s stock has risen from $25 a share in 2009 to about $55 a share.
A New Jersey-based nutritional supplement retailer announced last week that it is putting a distribution warehouse in Hanover County and will hire about 175 workers over the next several years.
Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Friday that the Vitamin Shoppe is opening a distribution center in Ashland that will add 174 jobs over three years. The governor’s office chipped in about $200,000 from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to make the deal happen, according to a news release.
Edwin Gaskin, head of economic development for Hanover County, said Friday that the site is at the northern edge of Ashland near the intersection of Route 1 and Ellett’s Crossing Road with frontage on Interstate 95.
Although the final plans haven’t been released, Gaskin said he thought the distribution center would be between 350,000 and 400,000 square feet.
Gaskin said that the Vitamin Shoppe was moving quickly.
“They want to be open as soon as possible. I think they are out there right now cutting the road,” he said. “They hope to be up and running by late summer next year. They’ve got an aggressive timetable, and they’ve been very proactive about getting permits.”
Gaskin said he did not even know Hanover was in the running until the final eight sites were announced. The publicly traded company is leasing and building on a site owned by Johnson Development Associates of Spartanburg, S.C., which initially pitched the site.
“It’s kind of a newer model that we’ve been seeing more of,” Gaskin said. “We got to work with the developer and the corporate client. They had separate but related inquiries and, like any successful business enterprise, we had to make the priorities align.”
Johnson Development did not return a call for comment.
Gaskin said that, in addition to the jobs announced by the governor’s office, the Vitamin Shoppe has said it would be adding an additional 81 jobs over five years for a total of 255 jobs at the center.
The county committed to run water and sewer to the site.
That “allowed us to get utilities to two adjoining sites,” Gaskin said. “So we hope to have some neighbors for Vitamin Shoppe soon.”
The supplement store has 552 locations nationwide. According to the governor’s news release, the company is investing about $40 million on the project.
The company’s stock has risen from $25 a share in 2009 to about $55 a share.