For the Record – Southwest Virginia, June 2013

August hearings are set on proposed rate increases sought by Appalachian Power Co. The State Corporation Commission will hold a hearing Aug. 28 on the utility’s request to recover more than $11 million in costs associated with its natural gas-fired power plant in Dresden, Ohio. The deadline for public comments is Aug. 21. (The Roanoke Times)

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine formed a partnership with a cancer research laboratory through its campus in Spartanburg, S.C. The newly renovated 7,500-square-foot laboratory is located at the Gibbs Cancer Center, an entity of the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System. The laboratory offers “significant opportunities for continuing medical education and research” at VCOM’s Carolinas campus, the Blacksburg school said in an announcement. The facility, which cost $2 million, is a shared investment between Spartanburg Regional and VCOM. (The Roanoke Times)

Chateau Morrisette, one of Virginia’s oldest wineries, has signed a five-year agreement to export its wine to China. The Floyd County winery sent more than 1,150 cases of its 2011 Merlot to Tianjin, China. The agreement with the Tianjin Commodity Exchange Company Ltd. is the winery’s first foreign export. Chateau Morrisette was established 37 years ago and is one of Virginia’s largest wineries, producing 60,000 cases of wine each year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

A furniture store carrying samples from High Point, N.C., furniture showrooms is set to fill a large vacancy at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke. Furniture Outlet is opening in a 36,000-square-foot space inside the mall across from A.C. Moore. The store will occupy the space where Stein Mart was located before it moved to its current location at Tanglewood. (The Roanoke Times)

Moog Inc., a New York industrial manufacturer with operations in Blacksburg, announced that it has paid $34 million for Radford technology company Aspen Motion Technologies Inc. Aspen Motion Technologies designs and manufactures “high-performance, permanent magnet brushless DC motors, integrated digital controls and motorized impellers for motors,” according to a statement from Moog, which said it wanted Aspen to plug a hole in Moog’s lineup of precision motion control products and systems. (The Roanoke Times)

Fairlawn-based Nuvotronics LLC’s expansion will shift 25 of the company’s 58 local employees to North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. The producer of radio frequency hardware plans to open a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Durham with a 10,000-square-foot clean room in which the company will place an 8-inch wafer fabrication line. Nuvotronics’ CEO Noel Heiks said the company considered building its own clean room in the New River Valley but decided that would take too long. Instead, the company settled on leasing a room in North Carolina. (The Roanoke Times)

The rehabilitation of The River House project in Roanoke’s historic Wasena District is complete. Commonwealth Architects in Richmond, the architect on the project, said the 144,000-square-foot building that formerly served as the site for Roanoke Ice and Cold Storage has been transformed into a contemporary mix of apartments and commercial spaces. The developer was Ed Walker of River House Landlord LLC, who has done several renovation projects in downtown Roanoke, including the Kirk Avenue Music Hall and the former Patrick Henry Hotel. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Radford University and Virginia Tech were featured in The Princeton Review’s “Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition.” This year’s green colleges guide profiles 320 institutions of higher education in the United States and two in Canada that demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation. Eight other colleges in Virginia were also featured on the list. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

By the end of summer, the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg will be without one of its oldest tenants. Sears, which opened with the mall in 1988, will close in mid-July, Sears spokesman Howard Riefs wrote in an email. The store’s lease was not renewed as part of a series of actions the company is taking to reduce expenses, adjust its asset base and accelerate the transformation of the company’s business model, according to Riefs. The location occupies 57,200 square feet and currently employs 59 people, who Riefs said will have an opportunity to apply for positions at other Kmart or Sears stores. (The Roanoke Times)