A manufacturer with a Pittsylvania County location has repaid a $500,000 state economic development grant after it failed to maintain enough new jobs to satisfy the grant’s conditions.
The Virginia Port Authority awarded the company, Morgan Olson, the grant in 2022 but, on Sept. 25, told the firm to give the money back within 60 days in light of the company’s announcements last year and this year of two rounds of layoffs affecting 574 employees in all.
The grant was one of five of its kind that the port authority has awarded from 2022 through 2024. Grant amounts are based on the number of jobs a company creates, and in 2019, officials announced that Morgan Olson would bring 703 new jobs as it set up shop in Pittsylvania County.
Morgan Olson repaid the full $500,000 on Nov. 20, Virginia Port Authority spokesperson Joe Harris confirmed Monday.
Morgan Olson makes walk-in step vans, the boxy trucks commonly used by package delivery companies, bakeries and other industries. A company spokesperson did not respond to a message Monday afternoon seeking comment.
The Sturgis, Michigan-based company has a location in Loudoun, Tennessee. When it notified Virginia officials last year of its first round of 435 layoffs, it told Tennessee officials it would cut 290 jobs there.
