Vint Hill transforming from military ghost town to bustling community center

Editor’s note: This post is unlocked for 48 hours beginning Sunday, May 12, 2019.

A lot has been happening in Vint Hill over the past five years. Its growth from military ghost town to a thriving entrepreneurial village is impressive, to say the least.

Acres of abandoned barracks buildings and barns have been transformed into a bustling community center, which now includes a brewery, salon, Kombucha store, natural makeup manufacturer, yoga studio, catering company, farm-to-table restaurant, and more.

“[A] strong economic base supports a high quality of life,” Miles Friedman, director of economic development for Fauquier County, told Potomac Local. “Vint Hill is a great example of a community where businesses and residents live side by side, literally as well as figuratively.”

Vint Hill is gaining new tenants at an impressive rate. The Puller Veterans Care Center — a state-run, long-term facility for veterans — is anticipated to open next year. OVH — one of the largest providers of cloud services in the world — will be moving in as well. Nathan’s Dairy Bar, a popular ice cream spot that has served Manassas for years, is opening a second location in Vint Hill this summer.

The Inn at Vint Hill has expanded its operations and will soon be able to accommodate overnight guests, Friedman shared. “The growth of the business park helps to support additional amenities, and to support numerous infrastructure enhancements,” he said.

What sparked such a dramatic transformation? Ike Broaddus, co-owner of Old Bust Head Brewery in Vint Hill and former chairman of the Vint Hill Economic Development Authority (EDA), told Potomac Local that there were three primary catalysts for the town’s growth: road improvement, land sales to enthusiastic developers, and business clustering.

From 2009 to 2012, Vint Hill received $12 million in updating major road infrastructure, bringing accessibility and travel ease to the region that it had lacked.

Situated 15 miles west of Manassas, Vint Hill was originally composed of 700 acres of farmland which the EDA sold and rented to individual builders and developers. In 2014 Broaddus and his wife, Julie Broaddus, bought six acres from the EDA, renovated the buildings, and launched Old Bust Head Brewery.

The brewery went into a 1952 post-and-beam warehouse with no windows that had laid unused for 20 some years. Today it has been completely transformed with seating for 600 people, a beer hall style taproom, and a brewhouse that can brew 10,000 barrels a year.

Other businesses immediately moved into the buildings the Broadduses had renovated. The brewery became a catalyst for a new little “village” of retailers.

“The brewery created a community center,” said Broaddus. He and his wife soon bought more of the abandoned barns and renovated them, being careful to “maintain the original character” while making them modern and energy-efficient.

Their devotion to maintaining authenticity and natural beauty is echoed throughout their county, Broaddus noted. “Fauquier County tends to attract people who care about the environment,” he said. “It’s all the rural beauty here. When you’re surrounded by it, you want to protect it.”

Warrenton-Fauquier Airport’s “green terminal” has also been very successful, made possible in part by a $1 million donation from a local benefactor who owns MTO Kombucha, right next to Old Bust Head Brewery.

Since the brewery opened its doors in 2014, more than 20 businesses have moved into renovated buildings nearby.

“The business park is adding new jobs on a regular basis as more and more businesses locate there,” Friedman said.

Broaddus said that more exciting developments are on the way. He noted that Vint Hill lacks available housing, especially for first-time buyers. A “millennial housing” development project is in the works to fill that need.

The intersection of Route 29 and Vint Hill Road is also in the process of being improved with VDOT’s help, “which will make access to the park easier and safer and enhancements to the internal road structure will make it easier to navigate Vint Hill.”