Enterprise Zone

Local Incentives

Local incentives have been developed to complement the state enterprise zone incentives. Examples of the local incentives offered by the City of Martinsville and Henry County include:

• Real Estate IDA Grants: (Investment with $51,000 assessed value required, County only; no minimum for City)
• Machinery and Tools IDA Grants: (Investment with $102,000 assessed value required, County only; no minimum for City)
• Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment IDA Grants: (Investment with $153,000 assessed value required, County only; no minimum for City)
• Building Permit Fee Waivers: (Does NOT include sign permits in City)
• City Water Connection Fee Waivers: (Fees waived for domestic and processed water only)
• Public Service Authority Fee Waivers: (Fees waived for water and sewer connections and facilities)
• City Business Professional Occupation License (BPOL) Fee Rebate: (50% of fees rebated based on gross receipts, maximum of five years, and not-retroactive) 
• Partial exemption from taxation of substantially rehabilitated real estate, pursuant to Virginia Code section 58.1-3221 (Structure must be no less than 15 years of age, 100% for 1st tax year, 50% for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th tax year)

Enterprise Zone Incentives

Program Description

The Enterprise Zone Program is a Commonwealth of Virginia economic development program managed by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The State's Enterprise Zone Program is designed to provide incentives for businesses to locate or expand in designated zone areas. The City of Martinsville and Henry County have two joint zone designations consisting of 7,921-plus acres of commercial, retail, office, and industrial properties.

Find More Information on Enterprise Zones via Henry County's Geographic Information System website. On this page, select the plus-sign beside Zones and Districts, check Enterprise Zones, and then select the plus-sign to display a legend.

State Incentives

Real Property Investment Grants

Real Property Investment Grants are available for investments made in industrial, commercial, or mixed-use property in an enterprise zone. A mixed-use property is a building incorporating a business in which a minimum of 30% of the useable area shall be devoted to commercial, office, or industrial space. Investments can be towards existing structures or new construction.

In order to qualify for rehabilitation or expansion of existing structures, an investor must spend at least $100,000 in qualified real property improvements. In order to be eligible for new construction, the investor must spend at least $500,000.

Grants are calculated at a rate of 20% of the amount of the investment in excess of the specified amount. Projects under $5 million will receive a maximum of $100,000 over a five-year period. Projects over $5 million are eligible to receive a maximum amount of $200,000 over a five-year period.

Wage-Based Job Creation Grants

• Offered for new permanent full-time positions created by business start-ups and expansions by firms
• Wage-based grants are available to any business firms that are not personal service, food/beverage establishments
• Awarded in amounts up to $503 per grant-eligible position filled by an employee earning 150% (Martinsville-Henry County is a high-unemployment area) of the federal minimum wage and up to $803 per grant-eligible position filled by an employee earning 200% of the federal minimum wage. Firms must offer health benefits.
• Firms can receive grants for up to 350 grant-eligible positions per year for up to five consecutive years from the first year of eligibility
• A business firm must be located in a Virginia Enterprise Zone and must increase permanent full-time positions by four permanent full-time position threshold jobs over one year. Grants are only available for new permanent full-time positions created above this four-job threshold.

General Provisions - State Enterprise Zone

Applications for the Real Property Investment Grants and the Wage-based Job Creation Grants must be submitted to the DHCD by April 1. Notification of grant award will be no later than June 30.

Should the total amount of qualified grant requests exceed the state's annual available funding, each qualified business will receive a prorated portion of its Real Property Grant. Grants shall be counted against the cap for the fiscal year in which the grant was allocated.