300+ Jobs coming to Waynesboro

WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) - A new Northrop Grumman facility is coming to Waynesboro, creating more than 300 jobs for the Shenandoah Valley.

After Waynesboro City Council was notified of the project on Nov. 13; Northrop Grumman will start building their new facility near Nature’s Crossing Technology Center in the city. The new project will be an aerospace and defense research/testing center for the global company.

Greg Hitchin, director of economic development in Waynesboro, said the building will add over 300 jobs in the next five years. Most of which are high-paying and attractive for people to settle down in the Valley.

”These are real high-paying jobs, many of them are engineering jobs,” Hitchin said. “We think it will be an attractive opportunity for people to move into the valley. It coincides with our pretty significant residential single-family and multi-family boom that’s going on presently.”

Hitchin praised the elected officials who have come before the current city council. He said the projects they have laid the work for and approved have made Waynesboro a better place for new businesses to come to.

According to Waynesboro Economic Development, the city beat many in-state and out-of-state competitors to be selected for the new research center. Hitchin said the culmination of housing improvements, cleared land and the Southern Corridor VDOT project helped sway Northrop Grumman’s decision.

“Building opportunities for employment, finding places for employees to live and then finding the right mix of quality of life that all of those other things fit into. All will make for a great community and a great opportunity for future businesses,” He said.

Along with this project, many cultural projects like improvements to the Wayne Theatre will help bring new people to Waynesboro and convince them to stay here. Hitchin said he is hopeful that this project will start a snowball effect for aspiring businesses to settle in both Waynesboro and the Shenandoah Valley.

Earthwork for the project has already begun, and the facility is expected to be completed around the same time the Southern Corridor project will be. The Southern Corridor project will give the building an additional entrance for employees and trucks.

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