Region 2000

ASSETS
- From 1994 to 1999, there have been 49 company expansions.

- Quality of life is high. A Reader’s Digest poll placed the Lynchburg metropolitan statistical area in the top 50 best places to raise a family.

- Rural property is available for development, and several new industrial parks are just opening or slated for construction.

LIABILITIES
- The low unemployment rate — 2 percent — means finding employees can be a challenge.

- The region lacks easy access to a major interstate or port, and critics point to the high cost of air travel.

- The area does not have a major university, which makes it harder to lure high-tech firms interested in academic research partners.