The endeavor, which will allow the company to increase its manufacturing capacity by about 180%, carries a price tag of $132 million. The cost includes infrastructural upgrades.

Located across the Elizabeth River from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, USG occupies a 70-acre parcel just a stone's throw from the border separating Norfolk and Chesapeake. USG's existing building will not undergo a full-fledged demolition, but a "rebuilding," USG's Robert Williams explains to GlobeSt.com. "The nature of the project is to dismantle the existing plant and build a new one. Some of the plant's structure will stay in place." The square footage of the building will remain nearly the same.

While USG has a long history in Norfolk, the company also looked beyond the Commonwealth of Virginia when plotting this expansion effort; sites in Maryland and South Carolina were also considered. "The fact that a major Fortune 500 company is making this kind of commitment is one more indication of Norfolk's growing reputation as a great place to do business," Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim says in a statement.

It was the City of Norfolk, as well a handful of other local and state officials, that helped influence USG's decision to expand at this location. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, and the city worked as a team to produce an incentive package; Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner signed off on a $500,000 Virginia Investment Partnership performance-based grant; and the Virginia Department of Business Assistance has agreed to provide training for company employees, new and existing. With the plant scheduled for completion just before the end of 2006, construction activity is on track to begin any day now.