Development Report for Richmond, VA

Richmond, Virginia's biggest wins this year were Wachovia Securities and Philip Morris USA. It lost Louisiana-Pacific Corp., which chose Nashville a few months ago for its relocated headquarters over Richmond and Charlotte. Morgan Stanley considered Richmond for some of its operations. Baltimore won that bid. On the plus side, Wachovia Securities decided to stay in Richmond after forming a venture with Prudential Securities of New York. Philip Morris is moving here from New York.

The Richmond area is building a record of economic development. Since 1994, more than 250 new or expanded companies have invested $5 billion and created 80,000 jobs, said, Gregory Wingfield, CEO of the Greater Richmond ED Partnership.

The number of company announcements about moves and expansions was 342 this year, compared with 409 last year. The amount invested was $3.5 billion this year, compared with $3.9 billion last year. And 28,116 jobs were created, compared with 37,613 jobs last year.

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