Gypsum Plant Will Receive $132M Modernization

NORFOLK, VA-Big changes are in store for United States Gypsum Co.’s plant on Buchanan Street now that the building materials producer’s home has been slated for reinvention. Chicago-based parent company USG Corp. is calling the redevelopment of the 280,000-sf facility a “modernization project” that will replace the existing 58-year-old building with a new state-of-the-art production plant.

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.