THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610050660
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
LENGTH: 85 lines
The city of Suffolk recently named Thomas A. O'Grady, director of development at Forward Hampton Roads, to the new post of economic development director. For the past seven years with Forward Hampton Roads, O'Grady has helped prospective businesses find suitable land or building space around the region. Although he doesn't begin his new job until Oct. 16, O'Grady this week shared some of his thoughts about selling Suffolk with staff writer Mylene Mangalindan. The interview has been edited for clarity and space.
What's the image outsiders have of Suffolk?
Some people perceive Suffolk as being out of the mainstream of the region, locationwise, being too far west. I think that's a perception that people incorrectly have. My challenge will be to help people understand that Suffolk is very well-connected to the region. There are many large employers like Allied Colloids and QVC and Planters Peanuts that attract workers from Virginia Beach, from North Carolina, from the Peninsula. Future employers can do the same.
Why were you interested in the Suffolk job?
I think there's great opportunity in Suffolk. I think it's going to be the future growth corridor of the region, especially with Interstate 664 opening up. Suffolk has great transportation access, being relatively close to the ports, yet also has good access to Route 58, to Interstates 95 and 85 to the south.
What are some of Suffolk's other assets?
They can tap the Peninsula labor market as well as the South Hampton Roads labor market. The land costs are a little less than it is currently in the other cities. From all indications, Suffolk's got a very bright future.
Will it be difficult to move from a regional sales approach to selling a city?
Instead of knowing a little about five different cities, I need to know a lot about one in particular. I have to do a lot of homework to understand all the resources available in Suffolk. Now I will be one of those city economic development directors and will have to be able to know what resources I can bring to the table to close the deal for Suffolk.
Do you have other goals?
A variety of goals: to help develop industrial parks that have just gotten the infrastructure in place to market themselves; to help master plan and develop future industrial parks as they are needed. That may mean building a shell building within an industrial park, looking at other innovative ways to bring industrial parks to the forefront. There's also great opportunity with the enterprise zones in Suffolk and foreign trade zones.
Are some of those goals regional?
Another goal would be to work closely with Forward Hampton Roads. Naturally I'm a big proponent of regional economic development. Business people view our area as one market. We should continue to sell our area as such and not try to compete Suffolk against Newport News or Virginia Beach against Hampton. Rather our competition is Richmond, Raleigh or Charlotte or Jacksonville or Dublin or Singapore. There are companies that look globally for opportunities to find the best labor mix, the best transportation and the best use of raw material and final product. We have to make sure that companies fully understand all the assets we have. The port is a great asset. I think Suffolk can capitalize on those port users that want to be no more than 30 minutes drive from the port and have easy access to either 664 or 58.
So you're more interested in getting involved in economic development from a more specific approach, as opposed to a regional perspective?
Definitely. I'm familiar with most of the industrial parks, the proposed industrial parks, the existing buildings and the largest available industrial buildings, but don't know the business base as much as I'd like to. I'd like to take the time to learn more about the business community in Suffolk.
Are there business prospects that Suffolk is interested in acquiring?
Suffolk is interested in looking at business in general. There's a lot of variety available in Suffolk in terms of office and industrial parks. I think Suffolk has a lot of diversity in the sites they have to offer. Virginia Beach or Chesapeake or Norfolk may have more available existing buildings so I'm going to have to put my salesman hat on to convince prospects that we can build the buildings for them in a timely manner.
Are there other future challenges, either regionally or city-specific, that you need to face like infrastructure or water?
Naturally a challenge for any growing city or county would be to keep up with the utilities and schools and roads to make sure they're ahead of the curve and fully expect the growth that's going to occur. City planners need to be very aware of that and plan for the industrial growth to develop a healthy mix of industrial and residential growth. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW SUFFOLK by CNB