Real Estate 2024: DONNA MacMILLAN-WHITAKER

MacMillan-Whitaker has a history of working on major projects. As the development partner to Virginia Beach-raised music and fashion superstar Pharrell Williams, she’s been in the news most recently for the Atlantic Park project near the Oceanfront, the largest public-private partnership in Virginia Beach’s history.

The $350 million mixed-use entertainment project, scheduled to open in spring 2025, will include an indoor/outdoor 3,500-seat concert venue, apartments, office space, restaurants and retail space. Its crowning glory will be a surf park that’s said to be the first of its kind in the United States.

Construction was temporarily halted after groundwater inside the lagoon that will become the surf park showed high levels of iron and arsenic. New equipment was secured, and the problem was apparently fixed, but questions were raised about who should pay for it. To minimize delays and keep the project on track, Venture opted to front the dewatering cost, with the intention of reconciling with the city later.

MacMillan-Whitaker previously worked in the commercial retail industry and founded Commercial Real Estate Services, which merged with Ellis-Gibson Development Group in 2016 to form Venture Realty.