ICE to purchase 500,000-square-foot warehouse near Ashland for immigration detention facility
The 552,000-square-foot building is across Lakeridge Parkway from the Bass Pro Shop beside Interstate 95 south of Ashland. (Image courtesy JLL Properties)
A half-million-square-foot warehouse in Hanover’s Winding Brook development along Interstate 95 appears set to become a hub for area immigration enforcement that’s been ramping up in recent weeks.
Hanover County announced Thursday that it received a letter that morning from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirming its intent to purchase the 43-acre property at 11525 Lakeridge Parkway to support operations of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Hanover said in its announcement that the building would be used as an ICE processing facility and that the project was not initiated by the county. It also posted on its website a copy of the DHS letter, which is titled in part: “ICE Washington DC Processing Facility.”
The letter is dated Jan. 21 and addressed to Hanover planning director Jo Ann Hunter. It describes work that is planned for the property and requests comment from the county within 30 calendar days about the project and that it will not have an impact on any historic properties. The letter says comment is also sought from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and four federally recognized Native American tribes.
The county said it intends to respond to the letter and provide comments within the requested time frame. It said the board of supervisors has not convened to discuss the notice and will consider it and any potential next steps at its regularly scheduled meeting next Wednesday. A subsequent statement from the county would be made after that meeting.
Reached Thursday, Board of Supervisors Chairman Sean Davis referred to the county’s statement and said the board would have more information after the Jan. 28 meeting.
The warehouse was built in 2024. (Hanover property record photo)
The DHS letter comes as ICE has been increasing its operations in the Richmond area in recent weeks.
Last Thursday, Rep. Jennifer McClellan posted on social media that she was aware of ICE agents conducting operations in the Petersburg area, and last Friday, Henrico Supervisor Misty Roundtree said in a video that residents had reported seeing ICE agents in the western part of the county and in a parking lot at Short Pump Town Center, the Henrico Citizen reported.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger mentioned the ICE activity in her inauguration address Saturday, just before she rescinded an executive order by predecessor Glenn Youngkin that required state police and corrections officers to support ICE and encouraged local law enforcement agencies to participate in immigration enforcement.
At Hanover supervisors’ Jan. 15 meeting, a county resident told the board during public comments that the Hanover ICE facility was listed on a spreadsheet posted on Reddit that was part of a recent DHS data breach. The resident added that the spreadsheet indicated the facility would have 1,500 beds and operate in connection with an ICE processing site in Stafford. The meeting was mentioned in a Times-Dispatch report Thursday.
Last year, DHS included Hanover on a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” that “are deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws and endangering American citizens,” according to a May 30 release from the county.
The release said that the county did not know why it was on the list and that the Hanover sheriff’s office “cooperates fully” with ICE whenever assistance is requested. It added that Hanover “follows all federal laws” and that the county, the board of supervisors, the sheriff’s office and the commonwealth’s attorney’s office had taken no action that would interfere with immigration enforcement.
In its letter to the county, DHS says ICE would purchase and rehab the 43-acre property with modifications to the building and parking areas, as well as fencing, lighting, landscaping, drainage, stormwater, recreation areas and cameras. Tenting and a guard shack may be installed, and any improvements would be no taller than the existing structure. A purchase price was not disclosed.
The site in development in 2023. (File photo courtesy Holladay Properties)
The 552,000-square-foot warehouse was built in 2024 as a distribution center for Genpak, a food packaging firm owned by Canadian conglomerate Jim Pattison Group, which owns the property.
Located across Lakeridge Parkway from the Bass Pro Shop beside I-95 south of Ashland, the site was developed by Indiana-based Holladay Properties, which has been driving the Winding Brook development for over two decades. Jim Pattison Developments purchased the property from Holladay in 2022 for $7.6 million. Hanover has assessed the property around $11 million.
The property is zoned M-2 Light Industrial. A county spokesperson said federal facilities are exempt from local zoning regulations.
The processing facility would add to ICE’s physical presence in Virginia, where it operates detention centers in Farmville and Bowling Green.
In a statement to BizSense Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine criticized the immigration enforcement under the Trump administration and called for public engagement on the proposed Hanover facility.
“Virginians and Americans across the country want the law to be enforced in a way that actually makes our communities safer and doesn’t waste taxpayer dollars. The Administration has yet to share a shred of information about how this reported ICE facility in Ashland would further that mission,” the Virginian said in the statement.
“There needs to be a meaningful opportunity for community engagement on this proposal. In the meantime, I will be pressing for answers, and pushing for more guardrails against this Administration’s lawlessness, including in immigration-related operations.”
BizSense also requested comment from the governor’s office and Hanover’s other state and federal representatives. An email to the media offices for DHS and ICE was returned as undelivered because of server errors.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the warehouse at 11525 Lakeridge Parkway houses a Rush Truck Centers dealership. The Rush dealership is located nearby at 11525 N. Lakeridge Parkway.
The story has also been updated with information about the property’s zoning.
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