Legos will soon be made underfoot in Virginia.
The Lego Group and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday that the beloved Danish toymaker will invest $1 billion to construct a 1.7 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park.
It will be the company’s seventh factory across the globe and its only one in the United States, where Legos have been sold since the 1960s. Currently, Legos marketed in the U.S. are primarily made at a company factory in Monterrey, Mexico.
“The Lego Group's decision to establish its U.S. manufacturing plant in Virginia shines a global spotlight on the advantages that make the commonwealth the best business location in the nation, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with this iconic company,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “This transformational project will create more than 1,760 jobs and bolster Virginia's manufacturing industry, which continues its renaissance with major investments by high-caliber corporate partners like the Lego Group.”
The announcement is another economic development win for Youngkin, who recently announced The Boeing Co. was moving its corporate HQ to Arlington County. Defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp. also recently announced it was moving its HQ to Arlington.
“I am proactively recruiting companies to come to Virginia,” Youngkin said at a recent Boeing event in Northern Virginia. “It’s one of the things we started on day one when we said Virginia is open for business.”
Lego said in an announcement it will begin construction on the facility in the fall, with production of Lego blocks to begin in the second half of 2025. Jobs at the facility are expected to be posted late this year or in early 2023. A temporary packaging site will open in a nearby building in early 2024 and create up to 500 jobs, Lego said.
The state said the Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked in tandem with Chesterfield County, the Greater Richmond Partnership and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission to secure the Lego project.
Lego will be eligible to receive a $56 million performance grant from the state based on the side of its investment and the creation of the anticipated jobs. State lawmakers have also proposed $19 million in site development improvements to the development site, subject to approval.
The state said it will also support Lego’s job creation efforts through a VEDP workforce initiative that was created in conjunction with the state’s community college system and other higher education institutions. The governor’s office and General Assembly also pledged undisclosed funding for the hiring efforts.
Lego CEO Niels Christiansen said in a statement the company was drawn to Virginia by its “skilled workforce, support for high-quality manufacturers and great transport links.”
Carsten Rasmussen, Lego’s chief operations officer, said in a statement the company builds its factories in its biggest markets, which “shortens the distance our products have to travel.” The Virginia factory, he said, will help the company “respond to changing consumer demand” and helps Lego manage its carbon footprint. Lego said the plant will operate as a carbon-neutral facility with renewable energy produced at an on-site solar park.
“We are fortunate to find a location where we can begin construction quickly and create temporary capacity in under two years,” Rasmussen said.
The company said it is also expanding operations at its Mexico facility.
Lego currently employs about 2,600 people in the U.S. Its U.S. office is in Enfield, Connecticut, and the company operates 100 Lego-branded stores across the country.
Staff reporter Hannah Denham contributed to this report.
