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Affordability and push to attract technology lands Luna
nanoWorks
by
John Hale
Virginia Business
March
2005
Danville is a long way from Greenwich Village, but for
a scientist it offers something New York can’t:
spacious homes at affordable prices. Stephen Wilson,
president and chief technology officer for one of the
city’s newest technology tenants, Luna nanoWorks,
bought a home on Millionaire’s Row — a section
of Victorian-era mansions along Main Street in Danville’s
historic district. Wilson jokingly refers to his street
as “quarter millionaire’s row,” because
these sprawling homes with gables and gingerbread scrollwork
are affordable for people like him who aren’t
millionaires.
Being an affordable place to live and conduct business
is helping Danville attract technology jobs, offsetting
losses from its manufacturing sector. Luna Innovations,
a Blacksburg-based company that specializes in nanotechnology
research and commercialization, picked the city for
its sixth spinoff enterprise over other competing locations,
because of its business climate, quality of life and
technology initiative, with Danville building its own
broadband, fiber-optic network.
Luna nanoWorks will operate from a circa-1870s historic
tobacco warehouse downtown. It plans to use cutting-edge
technology created at Virginia Tech to produce commercial
products in such areas as cancer therapy, electronics,
and chemical and biological warfare testing. When it
becomes fully operational by the end of next year, Luna
will employ more than 50 people, creating jobs primarily
for technicians with a high school education or a two-year
associate’s degree.
A handful of scientists will be imported to work on
the complex chemistry involved in nanomaterial manufacturing.
Eventually, the company hopes to expand beyond the 24,000-square-foot
warehouse that it’s renovating. “You cannot
beat this area for doing business. The cost of doing
business … the turnkey approach with the city
as far as the utilities. This renovation has been the
most trouble free that I’ve worked with,”
says Charles Gause, vice president of Luna nanoWorks.
Also impressive, he adds, is the friendly atmosphere.
“You actually get to know people here, which is
something you don’t get in a large city.”
Danville takes pride in promoting Luna nanoWorks. Jobs
such as the ones offered by Luna require a post high-school
graduate level education, and increased education levels
are frequently cited as drivers for economic development.
Attracting companies such as Luna and enterprises like
the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research brings
other benefits as well. Gause’s wife is a physician’s
assistant. The institute’s executive director,
Tim Franklin, works in tandem with his wife, Nancy,
who is senior director for technology and community
development. The presence of tech-savvy, college-educated
professionals will help attract others of similar ilk,
the city hopes.
Before Danville can become a magnet for the creative
class, though, it needs places where people can gather.
Gause discusses the potential of a side project —
establishing a microbrewery and bar where intellectual
discourse accompanied by appropriate reverie can occur.
“I think we can find someone to go have a beer
with. The problem is finding some place to have it,”
he says.
In the meantime, Franklin characterizes the quality
of life on Virginia’s Southside as “far
better than the market perceives it to be.” But,
he adds, “You need places to eat and drink. You
need places to exercise. You need places to be entertained.
You need excellent K-through-12 education. What Southside
offers is great housing, easy commutes, outdoor recreation,
beautiful countryside, warm people and very solid educational
institutions, schools and colleges.”
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