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Virginia Business// October 30, 2024//
Altria Group and Virginia Commonwealth University are discussing the possibility of the university buying the 450,000-square-foot Altria Center for Research and Technology in downtown Richmond, the two parties acknowledged in October. The East Leigh Street building is assessed at $275 million. If the deal comes to fruition, Altria plans to build a new research facility in Richmond, a spokesperson said. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Siemens Energy pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $104 million on Sept. 30 to settle a federal criminal investigation into stealing trade secrets to undercut competitors’ bids in 2019 to build a Dominion Energy gas turbine “peaker” power plant in the Richmond metropolitan area. The settlement comes after three former Siemens employees and a former Dominion employee pleaded guilty to various charges related to part of a scheme to help Siemens prevail over two competitors in winning the contract to build the plant, a deal valued upwards of $500 million. Siemens is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 5. Dominion was not accused of any wrongdoing. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
After Hurricane Helene disrupted supply chains and cut hospitals off from IV fluids necessary for many procedures, the University of Virginia Health System canceled certain nonurgent surgeries scheduled for Oct. 7 and Oct. 11 at the U.Va. Medical Center in Charlottesville, The health system also rescheduled elective surgeries at UVA Health facilities in Culpeper, Haymarket and Manassas. The health system said it was working to reduce any unnecessary waste of IV products, including IV fluids, dialysis fluids, parenteral nutrition and irrigation fluids. The hurricane shut down operations at a Baxter International factory in Marion, North Carolina, that is the nation’s largest supplier of IV fluids. (The Daily Progress)
The Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors approved a 16% raise and a contract extension for VCU President Michael Rao during its Sept. 13 meeting. With the raise, Rao’s base pay increases to roughly $821,000, and his total compensation is now worth roughly $1.5 million. His contract extends from June 2026 to June 2030. Rao also lost the title of VCU Health System president. Though Rao faced criticism following a development deal that VCU Health paid $73 million to exit, the university’s graduation rate has improved under his tenure, and its research efforts and fundraising have increased. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
White Oak Village, a shopping center in eastern Henrico County, sold for $63.5 million in mid-September. Triple Bar White Oak LLC purchased the 397,605-square-foot property from a limited liability company based in Ohio, which had owned it since November 2014. The buyer’s address matches that of J.C. Bar, a Pennsylvania-based commercial real estate company that specializes in grocery-anchored shopping centers. Publix is the anchor tenant of White Oak Village, which also has JCPenney, Michaels and PetSmart tenants and is 94% leased. The Target and Lowe’s Home Improvement stores on the site, along with several other parcels, were not part of the sale. (Henrico Citizen; Virginia Business)
PEOPLE
Gregory Trepp stepped down as CEO of Glen Allen-based Hamilton Beach Brands at the end of September. Following the company’s longstanding succession plan, Hamilton Beach Brands President R. Scott Tidey took on the additional role of CEO. Trepp is serving as an adviser to Tidey and will retire at the end of the year. He served as president and CEO of the company from 2017 until February, when Tidey was appointed president. Tidey joined Hamilton Beach in 1993 and was senior vice president for global sales before becoming president. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
On day three of a massive dockworkers’ strike that resulted in a shutdown of work at the Port of Virginia and other major ports on the East and Gulf coasts in October, the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance announced a temporary agreement Oct. 3, allowing work to resume in ports from Maine to Texas. The tentative agreement, in which port employers offered the union dockworkers a 62% increase in wages over the next six years, will extend the workers’ master contract until Jan. 15, 2025. About 45,000 ILA union members hit picket lines Oct. 1 in the ILA’s first U.S. port strike since 1977. The strike sparked fears of long-term supply chain disruptions and economic stress. The two sides still need to reach a compromise on port automation. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Sentara Health announced in late September it would cut approximately 200 positions from its workforce, with most of the affected employees working for insurance subsidiary Sentara Health Plans and based in Virginia. The cuts are due to declines in Medicaid membership, according to the Norfolk health system. “For Sentara Health Plans, this has resulted in a loss of over 115,000 members, which is approximately 16% of our Medicaid membership, in the past year.” Other affected jobs are in the corporate shared services department that support Sentara’s health insurance operations. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Sirius Analysis, a defense management software consulting company headquartered in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, plans to establish its U.S. operations in Virginia Beach, bringing with it an estimated 105 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in late September. The company plans to invest $305,000 to open its first U.S. office at the city’s international incubator in Virginia Beach Town Center. Youngkin said in a statement that the move “bridges U.K.-U.S. defense collaboration.” (The Virginian-Pilot)
Suffolk-based TowneBank signed a definitive agreement to acquire Midlothian’s Village Bank and its parent company, Village Bank and Trust Financial, a deal worth approximately $120 million, the banks announced in late September. The merged banks will have total assets of $17.8 billion, $14.9 billion in deposits and $12.1 billion in loans, and shareholders of Village Bank’s parent will receive $80.25 in cash per share of its outstanding common stock. Founded in 1999, TowneBank has more than 50 locations in Virginia and North Carolina. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Gerald Yagen’s $100 million donation to the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, a gift that includes 70 vintage military aircraft from his private collection, is believed to be among the largest individual charitable gifts in Virginia’s history. Yagen, founder of the Aviation Institute of Maintenance and Centura College, is a pilot and plane collector. The gift, which includes $30 million to establish an endowment, was announced in October at the museum’s annual Warbirds over the Beach air show. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
Shannon O. Pierce will succeed Robert Duvall as CEO of Virginia Natural Gas when Duvall retires in April 2025, VNG’s parent company announced in October. A native of Surry, Pierce stepped into the roles of VNG president and senior vice president of Southern Company Gas, VNG’s parent company, in September. A year ago, she was named vice president of strategy and chief administrative officer for VNG. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Amazon.com will be the end user of a massive planned data center campus east of Dulles International Airport in Herndon that an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group is developing. Amazon Data Services in September filed paperwork informing Fairfax County that it is completing state air pollution control permit applications for two new data centers off the Route 28 corridor in the 60-acre Renaissance Technology Park. (Washington Business Journal)
A circuit court judge struck down Arlington County’s policy that eliminated single-family-only zoning in the Northern Virginia suburb in late September, saying officials did not adequately study the potential impacts of allowing townhouses and small condo buildings in areas not initially planned for them. The ruling marks a legal victory for homeowners who opposed this push for more “missing middle” housing, a range of homes that contain more units than single-family houses but are smaller than high-rise apartment buildings. Another lawsuit is underway in nearby Alexandria, which the same judge is also overseeing. (The Washington Post)
CACI International announced two purchase agreements within a month of each other. In September, the Reston-based Fortune 1000 government contractor entered into a $1.275 billion, all-cash agreement to acquire Azure Summit Technology, a hardware and software developer in Fairfax. In October, CACI acquired Reston-based cloud, data and cybersecurity company Applied Insight, another cash deal, but the financial terms were not disclosed. Applied Insight was owned by investment firm The Acacia Group. Meanwhile, the acquisition of Azure requires regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025. (VirginiaBusiness.com; WTOP)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a proposed order in September to permanently ban Herndon-based Navient, formerly the nation’s largest student loan servicer, from servicing federal student loans and fined the company $120 million. If approved by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, where the CFPB filed a lawsuit against Navient in 2017, the company would be prohibited from servicing federal direct loans and directly servicing or acquiring most loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
Theodore “Ted” Colbert III is no longer president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, the Arlington County-based Fortune Global 500 aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Sept. 20. The announcement came weeks after NASA decided it was unsafe to send two U.S. astronauts back from the International Space Station on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, instead opting to send them to Earth in SpaceX’s craft in February 2025, eight months behind schedule. Colbert, named head of Boeing’s space sector in 2022, will be temporarily replaced by Steve Parker, the segment’s chief operating officer. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Three Northern Virginia CEOs made Fortune’s 2024 list of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women in business in October. Kathy J. Warden, chair, president and CEO of Northrop Grumman, ranked highest among the trio of leaders, taking the No. 25 spot, a drop from her No. 20 ranking in 2023. In January, Warden became chair of the Greater Washington Partnership, in addition to serving on Merck’s board and chairing global nonprofit Catalyst. Phebe N. Novakovic, chairman and CEO of General Dynamics, placed No. 26 on the list, down from No. 21 last year. Toni Townes-Whitley, CEO of Science Applications International Co. (SAIC), made the list for the first time this year, debuting at No. 95. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
ArtSpace, a Minnesota-based nonprofit real estate developer for the arts, has officially selected Roanoke’s Riverdale mixed-use development as the site of its first project in Virginia. The organization plans to build between 60 and 80 affordable apartments and studio spaces on the site of the former American Viscose plant. To move forward, ArtSpace needs $800,000 in “predevelopment support” to cover architectural design and other expenses. The organization would like to apply for low-income housing tax credits in March 2025, and the project could be completed within 36 months of receiving the credits. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A development of more than a dozen buildings for commercial general office and retail use is planned on about 19 acres on U.S. Route 460 just east of the town of Bedford. The Bedford County Planning Commission held a public hearing in October on a special use request made for the project by Native Enterprises, the property owner, and Jamey White, project engineer of White Engineering & Design, with the commission voting to table the request for a month for further review. Targeted businesses to locate in the buildings include small contractors, plumbers, HVAC and landscaping companies. (The News & Advance)
Elmore Sports Group, current owner of the Lynchburg Hillcats, has entered into an agreement to sell the team to Hillcats Baseball, a company headed by Dylan Narang, a Virginia-based movie producer and director. The Elmore Sports Group’s stadium franchise agreement with the city runs through the 2025 Hillcats season. In October, Lynchburg’s City Council voted to approve transfer of the franchise agreement to the new ownership group. The Hillcats, the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, play at Bank of the James Stadium, a city-owned facility. (The News & Advance, WSET)
The largest ever fundraising campaign for Radford University met its goal, the school announced in October. Launched in 2017, the Together Campaign raised more than $106 million, surpassing a target of $100 million. The effort will fund scholarships, academic programs and critical campus initiatives. More than 18,000 donors, including a record number of first-time contributors, participated. The campaign also boasted a 27% faculty and staff participation, above the national average. The Together Campaign was the third fundraising campaign in the university’s 114-year history. (The Roanoke Times)
The long-delayed construction of Rocky Forge Wind, a proposed wind farm in Botetourt County, is now scheduled to start in 2025 — about a decade after plans for the wind farm were first announced. Rocky Forge Wind is expected to be completed and to begin generating electricity by late 2026. The project’s developer, Apex Clean Energy, has yet to strike an agreement with a utility or other entity to purchase the 75 megawatts to be generated by about a dozen turbines. (The Roanoke Times)
PEOPLE
Tim Rowe is now market president for Member One, a division of Virginia Credit Union. The former Roanoke credit union finalized a merger with VACU in August. In his new role, Rowe will serve customers in the Roanoke Valley, New River Valley and Lynchburg, leading regional efforts in member services, employee engagement and community involvement. Rowe previously was executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Member One, where he has worked since 1986. Additionally, VACU named Jean Hopstetter its senior executive vice president and merger integration executive for Member One. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
AXYS, a Michigan-based building management systems and security engineering and consulting company, will invest more than $2.18 million to establish operations in Winchester. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the investment on Oct. 9. The company will lease a 10,000-square-foot, three-suite building at 629 Cedar Creek Grade, and it expects to create 46 jobs. AXYS provides standardization, auditing and design solutions for data centers and manufacturing and other facilities. The firm chose Winchester for its new operations because of its proximity to local data centers, the availability of skilled talent and Interstate 81 access. (News release)
First National, the Strasburg-based company behind First Bank, has completed its acquisition by merger of Touchstone Bankshares of Prince George and its banking operation, Touchstone Bank. Immediately following the merger, which was effective Oct. 1, Touchstone folded into First National. Touchstone Bank branches in Virginia are now labeled as Touchstone Bank, a division of First Bank, and in North Carolina as Touchstone Bank, a division of First Bank, Strasburg, Virginia. Those names will remain in place at least until both banking systems become fully integrated in February. (The Northern Virginia Daily)
Sentara RMH Medical Center in Harrisonburg closed its pediatric unit in September. The change comes after its administration reviewed both local and national trends, which indicated a decline in overnight pediatric hospital admissions and a shortage in pediatric care staff. In place of the pediatric unit, pediatric patients brought to RMH will primarily be treated in the emergency department, according to Gina Yost, chief nursing officer at RMH Medical Center. Yost said RMH would be bolstering its emergency department with more staff, including two recently hired neonatologists. (Daily News-Record)
An ordinance that sets regulations for Airbnb-style operations in Stephens City was approved unanimously by the town council in October. The changes apply to Chapter 19 of the town code and include that owners of “transient overnight accommodations” must obtain a business license and zoning use permit, may operate within a single-family home under particular conditions, must have a fire inspection, may not have exterior signage and may host no more than 10 people. The code also states that parking, noise or other violations are a “class one misdemeanor against the owner.” (The Northern Virginia Daily)
Members of Winchester City Council in October agreed to let the Winchester Parks and Recreation Department sell naming rights for attractions within Jim Barnett Park. The proposal was born from the creation of the park’s Preston Sports Complex, which opened in March and includes two soccer pitches bearing the names of corporate sponsors Trex and Claudio’s Pizzeria. Each sponsor would have customized signs displayed at the attractions they support. Proceeds from the sale of naming rights would stay within the Parks and Recreation Department to fund maintenance and capital improvements. (The Winchester Star)
After floods spurred by September’s Hurricane Helene forced the closure of Baxter International’s North Carolina factory that produces much of the nation’s sterile intravenous fluids, many hospitals braced for a shortage. But Winchester-based Valley Health, which operates six hospitals in the region including Winchester Medical Center, wasn’t affected by the shutdown of the Baxter plant. An official with the health system stated that it does not rely on Baxter for IV fluids, adding that Valley Health had a plan in place to ensure patient care remains uninterrupted. (The Winchester Star)
The Commonwealth Transportation Board voted unanimously in September to bring a close to the Interstate 73 project by rescinding a 2001 decision. The proposal for an interstate highway to link Michigan to South Carolina dates to the early 1990s. State Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller said I-73 was a decades-old planning document without funding or any movement forward and a hindrance to landowners who were left “twisting in the wind.” In Southside and Western Virginia, the proposed interstate was to have traveled through Henry, Franklin and Roanoke counties, linking Roanoke to Greensboro, North Carolina. While portions of the highway were built in North Carolina, the effort stalled in Virginia. (Martinsville Bulletin)
The Danville Industrial Development Authority approved a $2.67 million contract with Blair Construction to refurbish 120 Cane Creek Parkway at Airside Industrial Park in October. The renovation will allow EBio Nutritional Sciences, a pharmaceutical engineering and manufacturing company, to relocate to the building from its lab space at the Dan River Business Development Center. In 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the company, then branded as Engineered BioPharmaceuticals, would invest $6.1 million to expand into its first standalone manufacturing facility. (Danville Register & Bee)
Martinsville-based Genedge, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s network of manufacturing extension partnerships, which help small- and medium-sized manufacturers grow, is spinning up a two-year Virginia Smart Manufacturing Accelerator program to help companies improve their efficiency through new technologies and better use of their existing equipment. The program is backed by a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy grant plus $600,000 from Genedge’s own budget. Genedge and its partners will offer consulting services, technical webinars, hands-on workshops and a workforce development curriculum for trade schools and community colleges. (Cardinal News)
On Oct. 10, Tysons-based engineering and design firm M.C. Dean celebrated the opening of a South Hill operations base for nearly 600 employees working on data center projects. The building offers 6,000 square feet of office space, a 10,000-square-foot controlled logistics center with staging for modular delivery, and 2 acres of secure outdoor storage. The expansion increases production and service capabilities for customers in Southern Virginia and the Carolinas. (News release)
New College Institute has stopped mediation with its former foundation to focus on the creation of its new foundation. In 2023, the New College Foundation, which was created to financially support the institute, announced it was reorganizing as the MHC Academic Foundation and intended to support entities outside the New College Institute. The institute and foundation went to mediation to attempt to resolve their differences, but NCI officials stopped the process due to little progress being made. MHCAF Executive Director Kevin DeKoninck declined to comment. (Martinsville Bulletin)
TECHnista, an education consulting company that develops curriculum for K-12 programs in defense and advanced manufacturing industries, will invest more than $1.5 million to establish a National Training and Technology Center in Pittsylvania County. The project, which is expected to create 15 jobs, will assist in the implementation of a five-year federal contract with the U.S. Department of Defense’s office of Innovation Capability and Modernization. The facility will serve as headquarters for a program called Manufacturing and Engineering Education Reimagined for All. By 2029, offerings produced at the NTTC are expected to help to train 110,000 students nationally per year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Ballad Health signed a 10-year agreement with Varian Medical Systems,, a Siemens Health company based in California, to bring advanced oncology treatment services to sites in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, the health system announced in late September. It’s part of a $260 million capital investment plan approved earlier this year by Ballad’s board of directors. They expect to have three new radiation treatment systems within the first 12 months of the agreement, and three more operating within the next four or five years. (Bristol Herald Courier)
Bristol City Council declined a rezoning request in late September to allow a Dollar General to be built on Old Airport Road property, voting 4-1 against the project. Property owner Brown and Viers and developer JMB Investment sought to rezone the site from M-2 industrial to B-1 neighborhood business district to allow construction of a 10,000-square-foot Dollar General. A recent traffic study reported that 85% of vehicles were traveling 50 mph or faster in an area posted for 35 mph. (Bristol Herald Courier)
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol will open its approximately $515 million permanent facility Nov. 14, with country music star Blake Shelton making an appearance at the ceremony, developers announced in October. The temporary Bristol Casino: Future Home of Hard Rock opened in July 2022, making it Virginia’s first operating casino. The permanent venue, with close to 1,500 slot machines, more than 50 table games, a sportsbook and a 303-room hotel, was supposed to host a grand opening in July, but the event was pushed back to late fall earlier this year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Damages from Hurricane Helene to farms and agricultural operations in Southwest Virginia could reach well over $125 million, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension. The preliminary estimate issued in early October is based on extension agents’ work in 16 of the most heavily impacted counties. Assessments of timber losses continue in partnership with the Virginia Department of Forestry, and damage estimates are expected to rise as additional details emerge. (News release)
The Southwest Virginia Healthcare Excellence Academy Lab School, or SWVA-HEALS, opened Aug. 13 on two campuses with 44 local high school students interested in health care careers. Lab schools, which focus on academic programs in an in-demand field, have been championed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and in 2022, the General Assembly allocated $100 million to pay for them. SWVA-HEALS is among the first six to open out of 15 lab schools approved statewide. It’s based at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon and Emory & Henry University’s campus in Marion. (Cardinal News)
VFP, a manufacturer of enclosures used to protect critical infrastructure, will invest $5 million to expand its Scott County facility, a move expected to create 50 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in late September. The expansion will allow VFP, founded in 1965 in Roanoke County, to respond to the growing data center market. VFP began manufacturing in Scott County in 1997 and currently employs 350 workers at its campus in Duffield. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Seventeen Southwest Virginia localities were added to the Virginia Employment Commission’s Disaster Unemployment Assistance list following Hurricane Helene’s late September arrival. The fund provides temporary financial assistance to self-employed people, business owners and seasonal workers affected by the hurricane. The VEC will accept applications through Dec. 2 for eligible residents in Southern and Southwest Virginia communities, covering losses from Sept. 25 through April 5, 2025. (News release)
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