Whenever they are out in the community, Bob Stoddart and Tom Loehr get questions, especially if they are wearing anything that identifies them as Rolls-Royce employees.

"We literally can't walk out of the building without people asking us, 'When are you opening?'" said Stoddart, a Rolls-Royce executive who wears shirts with a company logo that prompts some of the inquiries from residents.

Stoddart, a native of Scotland, moved to the Richmond area this spring to help oversee the company's project in Prince George County.

Rolls-Royce, which has a North American headquarters in Chantilly, announced in November that it had chosen a site in Prince George to build a $100 million plant to assemble and test aircraft engines. The investment could reach $500 million and create 500 jobs within several years.

The questions from local residents, many of whom are interested in jobs or business opportunities with the company, are a good sign, said Loehr, another Rolls-Royce manager. He moved here recently from the company's Indianapolis operations.

"It is a reflection of the general interest and welcoming of Rolls-Royce that we are seeing in the community, and that is very positive," he said.

Stoddart is the executive vice president, and Loehr is the deputy executive vice president, of what Rolls-Royce calls its Crosspointe project, named for the 1,000-acre plot that will be its home.

State and local officials announced the project with much fanfare, touting the impact it is expected to have as a high-tech manufacturer that will attract suppliers and create jobs.

Yet the project is still in its early stages, which means Stoddart and Loehr have to explain to their questioners that it will be some time before the company is hiring.

"We're not at the point where we are building anything yet, but we are defining the process," said Stoddart, who has worked for the company since 1983, previously as a manager in its United Kingdom defense aerospace operations.

He jokes that his biggest adjustment to the Richmond area has been the heat. "There is nothing in a Scottish background that prepares you for 100-degree weather," he said.

Loehr and Stoddart are leading a handful of Rolls-Royce employees in Prince George who are working out of a 4,500-square-foot office on Corporate Road not far from the plant site. For most of the year, the local staff will consist of six or seven people, but area residents should not be misled by the small staff, the two executives said.

"There are dozens of people across Rolls-Royce who are engaged in this project -- they are just not based here," said Loehr, who previously worked as a vice president of purchasing for the company. He joined Rolls-Royce in 2000 after 16 years with Allied Signal in Greer, S.C.

Stoddart said other Rolls-Royce employees will be rotating in and out of Prince George during various phases of the project. The company also has made some adjustments to its construction plan.

The company is still planning to complete the first part of the plant in late 2009. For now, however, the site remains largely a wooded area not far from Interstate 295.

Because of market demands, the company moved construction of the components manufacturing piece ahead of the engine assembly portion.

"We will continue to fine-tune it" as those demands change, Stoddart said. The engine portion will assemble and test the RB282 engine for midsize corporate and regional jets.

Under an agreement with the company, the county is preparing the site for construction. Land clearance is scheduled to start this month for a 60-acre site that will house the first phase of the project, a 250,000-square-foot facility for components of the F136 engine for the Joint Strike Fighter.

"A lot of what has been going on since April has been invisible, but come the week of July 14th [contractors] will begin to take down some trees," said Cindy Cave, county economic development director.
Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.