CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Albemarle County Executive Jeff Richardson called the AstraZeneca plant being built in Albemarle County “transformative” for the community in a meeting with local General Assembly leaders Monday, and County Economic Development Director Emily Kilroy broke some of the potential impact down Tuesday on WINA Morning News.

Kilroy said county leaders are starting to learn some details as the company heads toward the start of construction, one of them being there will be two buildings.

Kilroy revealed one building will be the actual manufacturing facility that has a targeted opening date in early 2028 or early 2029.

A second facility will actually be larger with more of the warehousing and offices with a target opening late 2029 or early 2030.

“By the nature of those types of jobs, these are going to be hired predominantly out of our region,” Kilroy said. “There’ll be some top-level folks who are running the facility, and some of the administrative aspects of the operation hear that may be recruited from further out, but they’re really focused on what does local recruitment of talent look like.”

She noted the state is putting in the effort to make sure recruits are local by building the workforce training center in the Richmond area that will train workers for the three plants in Goochland, Albemarle, and Augusta counties.

“You have to be able to work in a clean environment, you have to be very careful and precise with the work you’re doing, and they will provide the upskilling for you to be successful with that,” Kilroy said. “We’re just very excited the opportunity this brings to our community.”

Additionally, Kilroy told Morning News, “We feel so fortunate that we are the geographic middle of all three of those facilities, as well as being the home to one of them, for a ton of opportunities for our local workforce to use the next couple of years to getting themselves in the right spot with the right skills to be good candidates for these jobs.”

And she adds these are fantastically good paying jobs starting at $125,000-a-year.

At the meeting with legislators, Kilroy told the gathering Albemarle’s efforts toward sustainable energy the past several years was an attraction for AstraZeneca here.

She said the buildings will have green aspects, using renewables wherever possible.