For the Record September 2024

CENTRAL 

The City of Richmond is progressing on the new Diamond District baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The city announced July 25 it had sold about $130 million worth of bonds to fund construction of the stadium, a pivotal step toward building the minor league ballpark that will anchor the new district. The tax-exempt general obligation bonds will carry an interest rate of 3.99%, lower than the 4.25% officials expected, which will save Richmond $11.5 million in costs over the next 32 years, according to the city. On Aug. 14, the economic development authority’s board approved a lease and stadium development agreement between the EDA and the Flying Squirrels, the last major step before construction could begin. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

The Henrico Economic Development Authority has purchased the 268-acre The Crossings Golf Club for $3 million, and with partners Pros Inc. and the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority, it plans to pitch the course as the new home for a PGA Tour Champions golf event held at The Country Club of Virginia. Pros Inc. expects to invest $11 million to renovate the Glen Allen course. In December 2023, Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility Dominion Energy and the country club announced they would end their involvement with the PGA Tour Champions’ Dominion Energy Charity Classic after its 2025 event. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Three of the top 25 Virginia companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list are based in Richmond. Inc. magazine released the list of the fastest-growing privately held companies on Aug. 13. Richmond-based IT services firm Servos ranked No. 99 overall with a 3,249% three-year average growth rate and was the third highest-ranking Virginia company of the 265 that made the list. Summit Human Capital, a business products and services firm in Richmond, was No. 536, with an 829% three-year average growth rate. At No. 607, Top Line Growth Partners, another Richmond-based business products and services company, had a three-year average growth rate of 749%. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

LL Flooring has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and is pursuing a sale of its business, the Henrico County flooring company previously known as Lumber Liquidators announced Aug. 11. Also, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the company has received a non-binding letter of intent to sell its Henrico County distribution center for approximately $100 million. LL Flooring plans to close 94 of its more than 300 stores across the country. In 2019, the company was forced to pay $33 million to settle allegations of securities fraud. LL Flooring’s sales fell from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2022 to $904.7 million in fiscal 2023. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Glen Allen-based Fortune 500 health care equipment supplier Owens & Minor is acquiring Florida-based Rotech Healthcare Holdings for $1.36 billion. Rotech’s products to treat respiratory syndromes, sleep apnea, diabetes and wounds will complement Owens & Minor’s home health services, the company said. The acquisition also gives the company access to the durable medical equipment market. Rotech has more than 4,200 employees and operates in 46 states. Its annual revenue is approximately $750 million. Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the transaction, and Owens & Minor has fully committed financing in place for it. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

The Piedmont Housing Alliance and the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, with assistance from the City of Charlottesville, bought the Carlton Mobile Home Park in the city’s Belmont neighborhood. The organizations made a counteroffer to the Bolton family, which owns the 6-acre, 66-trailer park property, less than 60 days after residents were informed an undisclosed private entity offered $7 million for the property. The Bolton family accepted the counteroffer Aug. 6, relieving fears that the trailer park would be redeveloped into apartments, ousting current residents. (The Daily Progress)

EASTERN

A Dominion Energy subsidiary won provisional rights to a 176,505-acre lease area off Virginia Beach’s coast in a federal wind lease auction held in August. The utility bid $17.65 million for the area about 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and adjacent to the section of the ocean where the $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is being constructed. The area leased by Dominion could support between 2.1 gigawatts and 4.0 gigawatts of offshore wind energy generation, in addition to CVOW’s 2.6 gigawatts of electricity. The lease provides Dominion the right to submit a project plan for federal approval. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Walt Dannenberg became acting executive director of the Hampton VA Medical Center in August, after a major shakeup prompted by an independent U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general’s report. The report was prompted by a call to the VA inspector general hotline, with initial complaints about patient care surrounding the assistant chief of surgery at Hampton and surgery involving the hospital’s robotic arm. The inspector general’s office interviewed staff and found that the chief of surgery, chief of staff and the VA director were each unaware of how to properly discipline staff, the principal investigator said. (WHRO)

Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water music festival is making its return to Virginia Beach on Oct. 12 and 13, with concerts on the beach both days. According to 13News Now’s source, the festival will be combined with the world premiere of the movie “Piece by Piece,” a Lego animated film that chronicles Williams’ childhood in Virginia Beach, set to be released Oct. 1. The third SITW festival took place in April 2023 on the Oceanfront, but the festival’s third day of concerts was canceled due to the threat of a tornado. As of mid-August, details about performers and tickets had not been posted. (13News Now)

Chicago-based Verano plans to purchase The Cannabist Co.’s entire Hampton Roads medical marijuana operation in a $90 million deal, according to a July 29 announcement. If finalized, the deal would make Verano the sole company allowed to operate as a medical marijuana provider in the region, per Virginia law. The deal includes one cultivation and production facility and six dispensaries in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton and Williamsburg. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Virginia Beach officials are scrutinizing travel expenses of the city’s former economic development director, Charles “Chuck” Rigney, who resigned July 24, less than six months after taking on the role. City Manager Patrick Duhaney said that a review of department financial records found that some travel expenses did “not align with our policies.” Deputy City Manager Amanda Jarratt is serving as interim economic development director while a national search takes place for Rigney’s replacement. Duhaney has said that the city’s auditor will investigate Rigney’s travel expenses, and findings will be shared publicly. (The Virginian-Pilot)

The Virginia Port Authority in August announced the completion of the $83 million expansion of the central railyard at Norfolk International Terminals. The expansion allows the terminal to process the equivalent of 2 million TEUs by rail annually and expands the Port of Virginia’s annual on-dock rail capacity by 31%. Rail carriers Norfolk Southern and CSX provide service to the terminal. The authority reported it processed 784,597 rail containers in the last fiscal year, a 13% increase from the previous year. (The Virginian-Pilot)

NORTHERN

The corporate espionage civil case between rivals Appian and Pegasystems is heading back to court, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in late July. A three-judge panel ordered a new trial, saying that McLean cloud computing firm Appian, which was awarded a landmark $2.03 billion judgment by a Fairfax County Circuit Court jury, was improperly relieved of the burden of proving that Pega financially benefited from misappropriating Appian’s trade secrets. Appian says it plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Virginia. The case hedges on Appian’s allegations that Pega used multiple methods to spy on its rival for more than eight years, while Pega argues that Appian’s software coding is available to all of its users. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Beleaguered Fortune 500 aerospace and defense contractor Boeing announced the hiring of Robert K. “Kelly” Ortberg as its new president and CEO, effective Aug. 8, succeeding Dave Calhoun, who previously announced his intention to step down after a turbulent, nearly four-year tenure at the Arlington County company. Ortberg, who told employees he will be based in Seattle, is the former president and CEO of aerospace and defense contractor Rockwell Collins, now part of RTX. In July, Boeing finalized a guilty plea to a federal criminal fraud conspiracy charge under which it will pay at least $243.6 million in fines related to Boeing’s violation of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that stemmed from Boeing’s role in two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. (VirginiaBusiness.com) 

CGI Federal, the U.S. arm of Montreal-based IT and professional services consultancy CGI, announced plans in August to acquire Aeyon, a Vienna-based federal IT consulting firm. The purchase, for which terms were not disclosed, is expected to close by Sept. 30. With 725 employees, Aeyon is being sold by Enlightenment Capital, a Maryland investment firm that invests in middle-market companies in aerospace, defense, government and technology. CGI Federal officials noted the purchase will complement and expand its relationships with critical national security clients, U.S. military agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration
and NASA. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

With the data center industry continuing to expand throughout Virginia, Fairfax County government is working to adopt policies meant to avoid problems with noise, proximity to homes and power lines that have afflicted other communities. A vote by the county’s board of supervisors and a public hearing on data centers are scheduled Sept. 10, after a delay caused by a new state law requiring more public notice before local government decisions and hearings. (The Washington Post)

McLean-based snack and pet care giant Mars announced in August it entered into a $35.9 billion deal to purchase Kellanova, maker of food brands like Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Pringles and Eggo. Created in 2023 when Kellogg split into two companies, Kellanova had net sales of more than $13 billion in 2023, while the privately owned Mars had net sales exceeding $50 billion. The all-cash deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, and Kellanova’s brands will become part of the Mars Snacking division headquartered in Chicago. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Primis Financial, Tysons-based parent of Primis Bank, plans to reinstate earnings for five of the last six quarters as well as full-year 2023 financials to reflect changes in its accounting for certain consumer loans made through a third party. The company said in August that the accounting adjustment could reduce net income by about $30 million, potentially wiping out profits for those periods. At issue are loans Primis originated through an unnamed third party starting in 2021. In 2022, Primis changed its method in accounting for these loans. (Washington Business Journal)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY

The Augusta County Board of Supervisors rejected in a 5-1 vote a permit application for a proposed 1,600-plus-acre solar energy project on July 24, following a roughly four-hour long public hearing and discussion. The proposed project, Augusta Solar, would have been divided into five sites and been operated by Arlington County-based Fortune 500 global electric utility AES, which operates solar projects in Spotsylvania, Isle of Wight and Charles City counties. In 2019, county supervisors rejected an earlier version of the project, then a 2,700-acre proposal, on a 4-3 vote. Augusta Solar LLC and 13 landowners then filed a lawsuit, which was dismissed in February 2023. (News Leader)

The Clarke County Industrial Development Authority adopted a resolution on July 25 to buy 40.6 acres of the former Camp 7 state prison property, with plans to start work to develop the site into a business park by the end of this year. The IDA is buying the property, located off U.S. Route 340/522 near White Post, from the Virginia Department of General Services for $100,000. The county’s only current business park, Clarke County Business Park, is almost at capacity. The former prison site property could be suitable for one larger business or up to eight smaller ones. (The Winchester Star)

Framebridge, a Washington, D.C.-based direct-to-consumer custom framing company, is opening its second East Coast manufacturing hub in Frederick County. (Its first is in Richmond, Kentucky.) Located at 155 Aviation Drive, the studio will create a total of 65 full- and part-time jobs and will create products that customers design and request online or at one of the company’s 28 retail stores. The studio’s general manager, Parker Burton, said in a statement that the operation will have opportunities for people with backgrounds in the arts to create custom frame designs, as well as manufacturing jobs in warehousing or operating light machinery. (The Winchester Star)

The Showalter family pledged $1 million over the next several years to support the newly created Twila Showalter Supportive Care Clinic at the Sentara RMH Hahn Cancer Center, Sentara RMH announced Aug. 1. The pledge is a lead gift for RMH Foundation’s fundraising campaign for its Hope Fund for Cancer Care, which will allow the clinic to serve more patients and provide additional services. Twila Showalter died in December 2017 from colon cancer at age 58. She received care for 3½ years at the Sentara RMH cancer center. This year, the Showalter Cancer Fund donated $25,000 to the Sentara center, bringing its total contributions since 2018 to $100,000. (Daily News-Record)

Two localities in the Shenandoah Valley received Virginia Business Ready Sites Program development grants in the most recent round of the state program administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, which helps localities perform initial site assessments and develop sites to make them project-ready. Statewide, grants totaled $126 million across 23 industrial sites, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in early August. The City of Staunton received $9 million for the Staunton Crossing industrial site, and Rockingham County received $4.5 million for the Innovation Village at Rockingham project. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In a response filed July 23, the Virginia Military Institute’s alumni association said a group of 29 alumni had no grounds for the federal civil rights lawsuit it filed in June, and the association asked for the case to be dismissed. In their suit, the plaintiffs alleged violations of their civil rights and claimed the state-run military college and its alumni association had become so intertwined that the college in Lexington essentially controls the alumni association. The alumni association defended its status as a private entity in its response. (Cardinal News)

ROANOKE/LYNCHBURG/NEW RIVER VALLEY

California’s Applied Materials has canceled its plans to build a lithium-ion battery components plant in Lynchburg that would have been supported by a $100 million federal grant. The U.S. Department of Energy confirmed in an August statement that it and the company had mutually agreed to terminate the grant, though it’s unclear when that happened. As of April, the project was listed as an active investment on the portfolio website of the Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. By August, it was no longer listed. (Cardinal News)

Glass panels have dropped off the 15-floor Carilion Administrative Services Building in downtown Roanoke five times during the past seven years, according to its owner, Carilion Clinic. The glass panels look like windows but are actually opaque glass sheets that conceal the space between floors. Each time the building lost a panel, Carilion said, it responded immediately, repaired the opening and took other measures. Roanoke city officials found no citable offense. An estimated $2 million
in repairs was slated to begin in August. (The Roanoke Times)

In July, Liberty University and Jerry Falwell Jr. reached a global resolution agreement that settled all three lawsuits between the Lynchburg private Christian university and Falwell, Liberty’s former president and chancellor, who was forced to resign in 2020. Falwell, in a federal lawsuit filed in March 2023, sued the university and the board’s executive committee for $8.58 million over retirement payments. He filed a second federal lawsuit in July 2023 over what Falwell said was the university’s misuse of the image of his father. Liberty sued Falwell in Lynchburg Circuit Court in April 2021, claiming he had breached his contract and fiduciary duty. In a statement, both parties expressed regret for the litigation. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Solar energy startup Solarix plans to invest $63 million to start a solar module manufacturing facility in eastern Bedford County, creating 104 jobs. Solarix, which bills itself as a 100% American-owned, SBA-certified, disabled veteran-owned company, purchased a 423,553-square-foot building at 2150 Perrowville Road that was used by Teva Pharmaceuticals until the company ceased operations in that facility in 2020. Solarix bought the building for $16.5 million in July from AVET, a Henrico County-based entity that purchased the building in 2021 for $7 million. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Virginia Credit Union’s merger with Roanoke-based Member One Federal Credit Union was finalized in August, following a vote by Member One’s customers to approve the deal announced in January. The combined institution has $7 billion in assets, 1,100 staff members and approximately 500,000 members with 37 branch locations. It’s expected to be the third largest credit union based in Virginia.  Member One members will continue to use existing platforms, ATM networks and branch locations for the time being, and full systems integration is expected to conclude in 2026. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Kevin Ilcisin became president and CEO of Luna Innovations on Aug. 1, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ilcisin has been a top consultant to the embattled fiber-optic sensing company since April. Luna’s former top leader, Scott Graeff, retired in March, following the company’s disclosure that earnings reporting discrepancies had caused it to indefinitely delay annual and quarterly reports. Richard Roedel, the company’s longtime board chair, had stepped in as interim executive director and interim president after Graeff, but the company announced in July that Roedel too was leaving. (Cardinal News)

SOUTHERN

Danville’s Center for Early Success received $2.77 million from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation to help families with child care, an industry experiencing struggles locally and across the nation. The funds were part of $37.36 million in funding from the Virginia Department of Education dispersed in July by the VECF, a public-private partnership. The Center for Early Success serves the cities of Danville and Lynchburg along with 14 other counties in Virginia. (Danville Register & Bee
and news release)

A lawsuit filed in federal court against Carter Bank & Trust by West Virginia Gov. James C. Justice II, his wife, Cathy, and his son, James C. Justice III, and related entities was dismissed with prejudice earlier this year. The Justice Entities entered into an agreement to pay off outstanding loans with Carter Bank and have begun the process of curtailment. The nonperforming balance associated with the Justice Entities has been reduced from $301.9 million as of March 31 to $294.1 million as of June 30, according to second quarter 2024 financial results by Carter Bankshares, the bank’s holding company. (Martinsville Bulletin)

The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors voted down a proposed deal with solar developer Longroad Energy to build its planned 80-megawatt Seven Bridges facility near Chase City. By a 7-to-2 vote, supervisors extended the embargo on solar power in Mecklenburg County despite requests by officials in Chase City for the board to green-light the project. A siting agreement for Seven Bridges included a pledge by Longroad Energy to donate $500,000 to Chase City, which town leaders said they might put toward the construction of a swimming pool. (The Mecklenburg Sun).

Step-van manufacturer Morgan Olson in July announced its second round of job cuts in less than a year at its Pittsylvania County facility. The company will lay off 139 people there, beginning Sept. 27 and finishing by the end of the year. The company saw 435 layoffs at the Pittsylvania County location and 290 at its Loudon, Tennessee, site in December. It was unclear how many employees will remain at the Pittsylvania facility after the layoffs. The company makes walk-in step vans commonly used by package delivery companies and others. (Cardinal News)

Five years have passed since RiverStreet Networks, a North Carolina-based internet service provider, placed the winning bid to install broadband in Mecklenburg, Halifax and Brunswick counties. Since then, more than 3,700 locations in those three counties have waited for high-speed internet, with no work apparent done on the project. But the Federal Communications Commission in July finalized a move that gives residents and local officials hope for connectivity. The FCC granted RiverStreet Networks’ request for another provider, Empower Broadband, a subsidiary of Chase City-based Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative, to take over the work. (Cardinal News)

PEOPLE

In July, Danville Tourism Manager Lisa Meriwether was appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to the Virginia Tourism Authority Board of Directors, the governing board for the Virginia Tourism Corp. Meriwether, who manages Danville’s and Pittsylvania County’s regional tourism brand, Visit SoSi, will serve a six-year term on the board. She joined the Danville Office of Economic Development and Tourism as tourism manager in November 2021, bringing more than 35 years of experience in Virginia hospitality, sales and tourism to the city. (News release)

SOUTHWEST

Texas-based Catalyst Energy canceled plans to address officials in Washington County in late August. A company representative alerted Stephen Richardson, the county’s zoning official, saying the company plans to reassess its plan to build a solar farm near Wyndale. Catalyst Energy previously proposed constructing a solar farm on as much as 2,000 acres, with plans to sell excess energy on the electrical grid. In June, the Washington County Planning Commission unanimously rejected the company’s proposal on a motion by Commissioner Dulcie Mumpower, who said the public was against it. (Bristol Herald Courier)

Brewing company C & H Solutions’ new distillery in St. Paul will be bigger than previously expected. The company is locating its distillery in the Deen Building, which once held a saloon-type business and is the last-standing historic structure on the Western Front. The reconstruction project is mostly funded by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, but the nonprofit overseeing it, St. Paul Tomorrow, recently secured $600,000 through a Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission program. The additional funding will allow the contractor to build an add-on with more seating and storage space. The project’s second phase, including facade work, began in July. (The Coalfield Progress)

A $10.4 million EarthLink call center that will create as many as 285 jobs became the first business to open in the new Project Intersection industrial park in Norton. EarthLink, an internet service provider headquartered in Atlanta, called the Aug. 9 opening of the center a “significant milestone” in its efforts to expand its footprint in the U.S. Although the facility is new, EarthLink has been operating in Wise County for more than two years, working temporarily at the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park in Wise while the new facility was under construction. (Cardinal News)

On the first day of August, Emory & Henry College became Emory & Henry University. The name change reflects that over the last decade, the school’s footprint has expanded to include four campus locations, and that it now offers master’s and doctorate degrees. The Class of 2024 was the final one to graduate with Emory & Henry College on their diplomas. Signage along Interstate 81 will soon change. New online programs for adult degree completion are planned for 2025, as well as certificate programs. (The Roanoke Times)

In August, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced $126 million in Virginia Business Ready Sites Program development grants, including $5.1 million to develop a graded, build-ready site on Lot 10 in Progress Park in Wythe County. Operations already located at the more than 1,200-acre park include Somic America, Gatorade and Lane Enterprises. More than 1,100 employees work at those businesses, according to Wythe County’s Joint Industrial Development Authority. The Virginia Business Ready Sites Program is administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. In January, 21 projects received $90 million in grants for site preparation. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission is launching a $2 million incentive program to encourage local governments and businesses in Southern and Southwest Virginia to develop affordable housing. The goal of creating the Economic Development Workforce Housing Incentive Pilot Program is to make the region more attractive to employers considering investing in a region or expanding a business already there by boosting the supply of housing affordable to people who make too much to qualify for affordable housing programs. The maximum incentive award is $35,000 per housing unit. (Bristol Herald Courier)