The coming Microporous facility at the Berry Hill megasite in Pittsylvania County will now invest more money into the project and pay workers a higher salary, but the minimum number of jobs will be fewer than initially promised.
At its Monday meeting, the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facilities Authority unanimously approved a change in the performance metrics for the Microporous development.
In 2024, Microporous announced that it would become the first tenant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, which is the largest industrial park in the state at 3,528 acres.
The company, a Tennessee-based lithium-ion battery separator manufacturer, initially promised $1.3 billion in investment and a minimum of 2,015 new jobs with a yearly average wage in the mid-$50,000 range.
Instead, Microporous will now invest $1.6 billion and create a minimum of about 1,700 jobs. These jobs will have a higher wage than initially expected, at about $61,000 yearly.
“Their goal is still that 2,015 [jobs] that was announced, but their minimum commitment that they’re looking at is 1,732,” Matt Rowe, economic development director for Pittsylvania County, said at the RIFA meeting.
The employment figure decreased because Microporous is now planning to use more automated equipment, Rowe said.
“The equipment is actually being able to run faster, which means more output, and that’s what has caused the increase in investment because they are utilizing newer, more advanced equipment,” Rowe said. “That decreases man-hours, but it also results in a pretty substantial wage increase.”
The newly approved performance metrics will be the new benchmarks that Microporous needs to meet to receive incentives, Rowe said in an interview. And because the investment, jobs and wages figures have changed, so will the incentive amounts.
Microporous will still receive $1,000 for every job created, but with minimum employment lowered, that amount will be about $238,000 less.
“Because there’s less job creation, the jobs creation grant will decrease,” Rowe said. “And then on the flipside, we were giving them a 12-year 70% tax rebate. By them investing more, the amount that they’ll receive will increase, and the amount that we receive will also increase.”
Michael Guanzon, the attorney for the RIFA board, said he received a request from Microporous to modify the performance agreement about a week ago and has been “working frantically” since.
The RIFA meeting agenda was updated “sometime after midnight,” said the board’s chairman, Vic Ingram, at the meeting.
Microporous plans to close on financing by the end of this week. Through that process, “they told us that they had a better handle” on what their performance metrics would be, Guanzon said.
Rowe said that local economic development staff believes that the increase in investment and pay offsets the decrease in employment. The new metrics are “honestly, probably a better deal,” for Danville and Pittsylvania County, he said.
“You’re looking at an increase of almost $300 million and a decrease of less than 300 jobs,” he said.
Local officials have said they expect the plant to open in early 2028.
