The Fredericksburg region has gotten large enough to start comparing itself to some of Virginia’s urban giants. There are more than 350,000 people in this region, which is the fastest-growing area in Virginia.

Stafford County is the northernmost locality of the region, which makes it most likely to lure companies from the Northern Virginia and Washington-area market. It doesn’t expect to compete for the corporate headquarters of major players in the defense and government contractors that dominate those markets.

“We’re going for the divisional and regional offices,” says Richard Cobert, business development administrator with Stafford’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

The county is laying the groundwork for those kinds of employers. This year it set aside $500,000 to help launch the Stafford Research and Technology Park, which is setting up shop in the Quantico Corporate Center, an office park at the county’s northern boundary near Marine Corps Base Quantico. In October, the center hired its first director and plans to lease some space at the office park. It will  be an incubator for entrepreneurs, with a focus on cybersecurity.

Two years ago Northern Virginia-based SummitIG laid dark fiber (fiber infrastructure not currently being used) along the Interstate 95 corridor, which borders the corporate center, and this summer Yyotta LLC set up an exchange point and a data center there. It’s a big step for the region because without that infrastructure in place, companies needing that kind of connectivity would just look elsewhere. “It’s a great opportunity for the next phase of growth,” Cobert says.

The current phase of growth in the region is more about new housing and transportation. A 2.2-mile extension of the Interstate 95 Express Lanes is under construction and should be completed in 2018. It will bring the southernmost point of the lanes deeper into Stafford.

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