Economic development director reports growth, data-center interest and cluster activity

Brandon Turner, director of Hanover County Economic Development, presented the annual report for fiscal year 2025 and told supervisors the county's economy is roughly $8.676 billion and grew about 7.8% over the previous year. "We're now about an $8,676,000,000 economy," Turner said, noting GDP data will be finalized in December.

Turner reviewed labor-market changes: unemployment was about 2.5% at calendar-year end and had risen to about 3.4% by the fiscal-year end, still below national and state averages. He said the county lost roughly 937 jobs over the year — the largest contributor being Owens & Minor relocating some management operations to neighboring Henrico County — but that over five years jobs are up significantly.

Turner highlighted commercial assessed value (~$4.56 billion) and a strong industrial/logistics market: North Lake 2 and Lakeridge Logistics Center have new buildings and several leases, and he said the Richmond market (including Hanover) is among the U.S. leaders in co-location inventory for data centers. Turner also described local small-business outreach and events (Heart of Hanover awards, business visits) and said a hotel/meeting-space study is underway to assess demand for mid-size meeting space tied to potential hotel development.

Supervisor comments praised the department's outreach and programs. Turner said the department will continue marketing efforts regionally and internationally and will share the hotel/meeting-space study results when available.