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Virginia Business// July 29, 2020//
The Breeden Co. has plans for a new 240-unit apartment complex at the former Farm Fresh building at the heart of Virginia Beach’s Laskin Road Gateway. The initial development plans for Pinnacle at 31st Street were still being reviewed by the city in early July. The plans feature a two-level parking deck below five stories of apartments, including one-, two- and three-bedroom units with balconies. The building has remained vacant since Farm Fresh closed two years ago. Harris Teeter took over the lease, but a group of four investors bought out the lease last summer in hopes of landing a new tenant. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Busch Gardens and Water Country USA are remaining closed during Phase Three of Gov. Ralph Northam’s reopening plan, which went into effect July 1 and limits the parks to 1,000 attendees. Kevin Lembke, the parks’ president, said in late June it would not be economically sustainable to open the Williamsburg parks. He criticized Northam’s guidelines, which group the theme park with smaller, enclosed entertainment facilities and will leave 4,000 people out of work. Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, has reopened at a reduced capacity, and Lembke advocated for a plan to let the Williamsburg park reopen at a limit of 5,000 to 7,000 guests at any time with masks and temperature screening required. State Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, decried the governor’s decision as well in a letter to Northam. (Virginia Gazette)
In late June, Dominion Energy Inc. debuted its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project, with two 600-foot, 12-megawatt turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach. They are the cornerstone of the $300 million project on a 2,135-acre site, the first offshore wind farm approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and installed in U.S. federal waters. The utility planned to test the turbines in July before fully energizing them later in the summer. At its peak, they will power 3,000 homes. Dominion will use data from the pilot project to build what is expected to be the largest wind farm in North America, erecting 200 turbines adjacent to the test turbines by 2026, a $7.8 billion project that is expected to power 650,000 homes. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Virginia Resources Authority lent $100 million to the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in July for its SWIFT (Sustainable Water Infrastructure for Tomorrow) program and other projects. HRSD also plans to sign on the first chunk of a $930 million federal loan in September, which will go toward the $1 billion plan to have five plants to treat wastewater, which will be injected into the rapidly shrinking aquifer where hundreds of thousands of Hampton Roads residents get their drinking water. Virginians are currently drawing about 100 million gallons a day from the aquifer, and groundwater levels in parts of Eastern Virginia have dropped 200 feet over the past century. HRSD hopes to have the five plants in operation by 2030. (Daily Press)
Suffolk-based TowneBank and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters jointly purchased the 22-story Norfolk Southern tower in downtown Norfolk for $30 million in late June, although property records indicate the 388,308-square-foot building was valued at more than $55 million. TowneBank and CHKD haven’t announced a new name for the building, which is commonly known as the Norfolk Southern Tower, but the bank’s branding will go at the top of the building. The sale comes as Norfolk Southern moves its corporate headquarters to Atlanta. Under the transaction, the bank and the hospital have agreed to purchase a 744-space parking garage for $8.5 million from the city of Norfolk and lease 298 spaces at three additional garages. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce will move to leased space within the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville on Sept. 1, moving from its location in Blairs, where it has been since 2005, after the city and county chambers merged. A political subdivision of the commonwealth of Virginia, IALR facilitates and leads economic transformation across Southern Virginia via advanced learning, applied research, advanced manufacturing, conference services and economic development. The merged Danville Pittsylvania chamber formed in 2005 and represents 600 members. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Officials hope to expand Danville Regional Airport to accommodate an expected increase in traffic if the planned Caesars Entertainment Corp. casino opens in the city. The city has applied for about $220,000 from the Virginia Department of Aviation to pay for architectural services for a possible expansion. If the application is approved by the Virginia Aviation Board in September, Fairfax-based Dewberry would handle the project. The architectural work would take about seven months to complete, and the 13,000-square-foot building would be expanded by about 3,000 square feet. (Danville Register & Bee)
Employees at the Dollar General distribution center in South Boston and the nearby Sheetz store tested positive for COVID-19 in late June, part of a spike in Halifax County’s caseload. The Virginia Department of Health reported 49 confirmed cases of the virus, including seven in one day. Dollar General closed for a day and a half to deep clean and disinfect the distribution center. Sheetz shut down for a few hours, but it was related to staffing issues, not the virus. (SoVaNow)
Henry County-based manu-facturing company Drake Extrusion Inc. will invest $6.9 million to expand its operations, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late June. Drake Extrusion, a subsidiary of Sweden-based filament yarn and staple fiber manufacturer Duroc AB, plans to build an additional manufacturing facility in a vacant 120,000-square-foot building on Industrial Park Drive, creating 30 jobs. At its current facility, which opened in 1995, Drake Extrusion employs 187 workers. The company plans to expand its market in polypropylene fibers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The next phase of streetscape work started in July in Halifax County, with construction expected to be complete by Sept. 18. The work involves installation of ADA-compliant sidewalks and crosswalks, landscaped areas and decorative streetlights around the Halifax County War Memorial, as well as the installation of a crosswalk at Church and North Main streets. At the same time, work began on improvements near the county’s courthouse, including new curbing on Edmunds Boulevard. Abingdon-based Ramirez Contracting LLC is contracted to complete all construction work. (SoVaNow)
Kathryn “Kate” E. Keller is the new president of The Harvest Foundation in Martinsville, replacing Allyson Rothrock, who retired after 17 years. Keller previously worked at Interact for Health, a Cincinnati-based health foundation, as vice president of strategy and policy, among other roles. Started in 2002, The Harvest Foundation provides grant funding to promote local economic development. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Averett University announced in late June that John Vigouroux will join the university as its first chief entrepreneurship and innovation officer. He also will lead the new Averett Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which will serve as a learning lab and a space to connect students to economic development opportunities. Vigouroux is an Averett alum who has worked in executive leadership for several San Francisco-area tech companies. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Gov. Ralph Northam in late June recommended that more than $4.2 million in Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grants be distributed among 17 economic development projects in Southwest Virginia. Regional industrial parks, a residential sewer project and small business assistance efforts could benefit from the proposed ARC grants. The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) works with localities and stakeholders in the region to develop projects, which are then evaluated by DHCD and the governor. (The Coalfield Progress)
Eight organizations told a federal bankruptcy court in late June that Blackjewel LLC has not yet transferred most of the mine permits that were to change hands when the company sold its assets last year. When the country’s sixth-largest coal producer filed for bankruptcy last July, more than 1,000 employees discovered that their most recent paychecks were no good. Blackjewel faced a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of violating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and a settlement was reached earlier this year, which remains under seal. It is still unclear whether workers will receive settlement payments. (Coalfield Progress; Bristol Herald Courier)
Metalworx Inc., a manufacturer of highly engineered and precision-manufactured components, assemblies and products for industrial uses, announced in late June it is investing $7.6 million to relocate its headquarters and manufacturing operations from South Carolina to the former Core Fitness Complex in Grayson County, creating 59 jobs. Gov. Ralph Northam approved a $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Grayson County with the project, and the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved $265,000 in Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The All-Star NASCAR race (which typically has a $230 million impact) scheduled for July 15 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was moved to Bristol Motor Speedway due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in North Carolina. The stadium has more than 150,000 seats, but only one-fifth were made available for fans. City officials in early July said they were hopeful that the event would provide a sense of normalcy to Bristol and bring in tax money for the city. (Bristol Herald Courier)
The U.S. House of Representatives in early July passed the RECLAIM Act, which would invest $1 billion in projects that clean up abandoned coal mines and their polluted waters, and use the space instead for economic development projects. These funds would be invested in more than 20 states across the country, including Virginia. This, along with the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund, could bring $36 million over five years to Virginia. A total of 15 Virginia counties are burdened with abandoned mine lands, with Wise, Buchanan and Dickenson counties topping the list. (Appalachian Voices news release)
Former Virginia state Sen. Bill Carrico, who retired last year, announced in early July he is considering a run for the GOP nomination for governor in 2021. Carrico represented Southwest Virginia for eight years in the state Senate and 10 years in the House of Delegates. Before that, he worked for 15 years as a Virginia State Police trooper. (SWVAToday.com)
The Virginia Bankers Association announced in late June that Leton L. Harding Jr., president and CEO of Powell Valley National Bank, is the chairman-elect for its 2020-21 board of directors. Powell Valley National Bank serves Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. Harding will become VBA chairman in June 2021. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Roanoke-based nonprofit Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia in late June received a $2.3 million gift from Roanoke’s Fishwick family to establish a fund to support programs that assist low-income individuals and senior citizens in Western Virginia. The funding comes from the estate of the late Palmer Fishwick Posvar, a certified emergency medical technician, a community volunteer and a hospice worker. The Fishwick Residuary Trust was established by Posvar’s father, railroad executive and philanthropist John Fishwick. The Community Foundation has nearly 350 funds containing $80 million in assets and $130 million in future estate commitments. (The Roanoke Times)
Grocery store Earth Fare announced in early July it would be the anchor tenant for the Christiansburg Marketplace, occupying approximately 20,000 square feet, while smaller retailers will take up the remaining 10,000 square feet. Town officials anticipate that tax revenues following Marketplace’s redevelopment will allow the locality to recoup the more than $1 million in taxpayer money put into improving parts of the site within two years. (The Roanoke Times)
Ohio-based First Transit Inc. announced in mid-June it would remain under contract for five more years as operator of the Valley Metro bus service. Earlier this year, Valley Metro invited bus management companies to bid for the contract that began July 1. First Transit, which has held the contract for years, was the only company to bid. First Transit’s annual fee, $332,282 this year, will rise to $342,252 for the coming year and adjust upward until it reaches $375,888 in the fifth contract year. (The Roanoke Times)
Homebuilding company Fleetwood Homes will invest $2.1 million to renovate and expand its Rocky Mount facility, creating 60 jobs in Franklin County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in early July. The Cavco Industries Inc. subsidiary has been in Franklin County since 1968 and employs 146 people. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Franklin County, the town of Rocky Mount and the Roanoke Regional Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The former Gish Mill in Vinton was deemed eligible for the state and national historic registries in early July. The 14,000-square-foot property will be redeveloped into a mixed-use property including a restaurant, rental rooms and retail space. The redevelopment project will be led by Gish Mill Davii II LLC, which plans to use historic tax credits with an expected investment of approximately $2 million. The project is expected to create 42 jobs. (The Vinton Messenger)
The Roanoke County Economic Development Department in early July launched a $1 million small business grant program to help Roanoke and Vinton businesses suffering from COVID-19 closures. The program is funded through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and will help cover operating expenses, develop online sales and ensure worker and customer safety. Grant amounts of up to $10,000 are based on the number of employees businesses had prior to the pandemic’s onset. Eligible businesses are those located in Roanoke County with fewer than 500 employees and that were negatively impacted from closures due to COVID-19. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Brett Malone became president and CEO of Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center (CRC) on July 1. Malone formed his first software company, Phoenix Integration, at the CRC. Founded in 1985, the CRC is a space for research and development for tech companies. (Virginia Tech Daily)
Roanoke-based construction company The Branch Group Inc. announced July 1 that CEO Will Karbach resigned. Ron Oakley will serve as interim CEO. The Branch Group did not provide a reason for Karbach’s departure. With about $500 million in 2019 revenues and more than 900 employees, it is the fifth-largest general contracting company in Virginia. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced in early July it is still hiring at its $135 million Central Records Complex, which opened in Frederick County in March. The 250,000-square-foot complex centralizes FBI records from nearly 300 locations worldwide. The facility can store 120 miles of paper records and has space for 446 employees. (The Winchester Star)
On July 13, the Front Royal Town Council voted to create a new Economic Development Authority solely overseen and funded by the town government. The town will become the first municipality in Virginia to concurrently be a part of two EDAs. Front Royal will maintain its half-century-plus, co-founding membership in the joint county-town EDA while it pursues a civil suit for virtually all the money the joint EDA is trying to recover in its $21.3 million civil action against its former executive director and 14 co-defendants. (Royal Examiner)
The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority in late June moved forward with plans to sell its 3.5-acre parcel off Royal Lane to a buyer who will develop housing on the land. In a $21.3 million civil lawsuit, the land is one of many EDA projects the authority accuses its former Executive Director Jennifer McDonald of using to allegedly embezzle money. The property was supposed to be the location of a workforce housing project, which never came to fruition. In 2018, the EDA sold the land to Cornerstone LLP, and in February, the EDA purchased the land back from Cornerstone. (The Northern Virginia Daily)
The Hershey Co. announced in late June it will invest $135 million to expand its manufacturing operation in Augusta County. The 90,000-square-foot expansion of the Stuarts Draft facility will create 110 jobs. Hershey Chocolate of Virginia Inc. has operated in Augusta County for more than 30 years, employing more than 1,000 workers. The Augusta County facility is Hershey’s second-largest U.S. plant. With more than 80 brands, Hershey currently employs approximately 16,500 people and brings in $8 billion in annual revenues. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The James Madison University Board of Visitors in early July approved the removal of the names of Confederate leaders from three buildings on JMU’s historic Quad named for Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Col. Turner Ashby Jr. and Matthew Fontaine Maury. Signage was taken down and temporary names were assigned. The JMU community will have an opportunity to offer renaming suggestions. The university is named for the fourth president of the United States, James Madison, also known as the Father of the Constitution. Madison owned slaves, and the university “recognizes Madison’s flaws as well as his virtues.” The university says its name will not change. (JMU news release)
Mary Baldwin University in early July announced it had redesigned and expanded its MBA program. It now has four concentrations, including health care administration, nonprofit management, strategic management and sustainable enterprise. Previously, the university’s MBA program was focused on social benefit. The 18-month curriculum is entirely online, and the fall semester will start Aug. 31. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A 63-unit affordable senior housing complex slated to be built behind St. Paul’s on-the-Hill Episcopal Church in Frederick County received a $1.6 million Affordable and Special Needs Housing loan in early July. Alexandria-based Wesley Housing Development Corp. is eyeing a fall construction start date for the four-story, L-shaped complex. Senseny Place will cost an estimated $16 million to build. (The Winchester Star)
McLean-headquartered Capital One Financial Corp. faced a blizzard of criticism from small business owners over its rocky and delayed rollout during the initial round of the Small Business Administration’s $659 billion Paycheck Protection Program. New data shows just how few loans the bank ended up approving in those early days of the coveted program. The bank, which totals about $397 billion in assets, got approvals for only 27 PPP loans in the first week of the program, through April 10. For the first round’s full two-week period that ended April 15, Capital One processed 196 PPP loan approvals, according to the SBA. By contrast, Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bank approved 2,940 loans in the first week and 10,708 during the first round of PPP funding. (Washington Business Journal)
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe raised $1.7 million in political cash during May and June, the strongest sign yet that the Democrat intends to seek the state’s top political office in 2021. McAuliffe’s political action committee, Common Good VA, said it will use some of the money to help the Democratic Party of Virginia’s 2020 campaign efforts. Del. Jennifer D. Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, who launched her bid in late May, announced she has raised $776,000, and state Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Richmond, said in late June she had raised $275,000 in the first week of her campaign. The party’s declared and potential candidates include Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Attorney Gen. Mark Herring and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. (The Washington Post)
Walmart Labs plans to establish a new technology center in a freshly renovated office building near the Herndon Metro Station. The retail giant’s technology arm leased all of 2245 Monroe St., a roughly 162,300-square-foot building owned by an affiliate of Barings Real Estate, in April. Walmart Labs also occupies space in Reston, about five miles away, and mostly comprises software engineers who improve Walmart’s online services and developed Spark Delivery, its last-mile distribution system. (Washington Business Journal)
In mid-July, The Washington Post reported that 15 former female Washington Redskins employees said they were sexually harassed and verbally abused during their time with the Ashburn-based team. Redskins owner Dan Snyder hired a Washington, D.C.-based law firm to review the team’s culture, policies and allegations of workplace misconduct. He issued a statement to The Post saying such behavior “has no place in our franchise or society,” adding that he is committed “to setting a new culture and standard for our team.” The report came just days after the team announced it would retire the Redskins name and logo, following pressure from the team’s stadium sponsor, FedEx, and others over what many perceive as a derogatory term for Native Americans. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. announced in July that Jermaine Johnson will succeed Richard K. Bynum as greater Washington regional president as of Aug. 1, overseeing the bank’s operations in the D.C. metro area. Johnson was PNC’s market leader of corporate banking for the region, and Bynum has been promoted to chief corporate responsibility officer, a new position at the bank. He will be responsible for implementing the bank’s $1 billion commitment to end systemic racism and support Black and low-income communities. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Altria Group Inc.’s IQOS tobacco heating system will be allowed to be marketed as a “modified risk” product, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled in July. IQOS is available in 53 countries, and more than 10 million people have purchased the system, which is marketed to adult smokers seeking to quit cigarettes. With the ruling, the product will be able to be marketed in the U.S. as a lower risk alternative to combustible cigarettes, although the FDA noted that its authorization must be renewed after four years, and the agency will monitor the product to make sure use doesn’t increase among teens. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Henrico-based Genetworx, a molecular diagnostic testing lab in Henrico County, plans to hire about 400 employees as it ramps up its testing capability for the virus that causes COVID-19, it announced in early July. The company said it has “immediate” hiring needs for jobs such as data entry, lab technicians, tech assistants, project managers, business managers, hiring managers and other work. The company’s founder, Brian O’Neill, said the company is “running three shifts, flat out,” and has the equipment to do 100,000 tests a day. Founded in 2013, Genetworx employs about 350 people in the Richmond area. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Henrico County-based GPM Investments LLC, the parent company of the Fas Mart convenience store chain and hundreds of other convenience stores across the country, plans to be listed on the Nasdaq. GPM will do so by having Arko Holdings Ltd., the Israeli public holding company that controls the majority of GPM, merge with Haymaker Acquisition Corp. II, a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company. The combined company is valued at about $1.5 billion. Arie Kotler, the CEO of Arko and GPM, will lead the combined company. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Richmond-based clothing and home goods retailer Need Supply Co. will permanently cease operations, its attorney confirmed in early July. The store, founded as a Levi’s denim shop in 1996 in Richmond’s Carytown shopping district, reinvented itself in 2008 as a high-end fashion online retailer. In 2018, Need Supply and Totokaelo, another fashion-forward chain of shops, merged to form NSTO LLC, which has headquarters in Richmond and New York. It remained unclear whether NSTO will also close. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The presidents of the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech asked the state to set aside $200 million to increase testing for the coronavirus on college campuses and elsewhere, arguing that the funding will be crucial to resume higher education and other activities in the coming year. The three leaders wrote in June to state Health and Human Resources Secretary Daniel Carey. The plan asks the Northam administration to cover about $158.6 million in costs to screen students, employees and others for the virus at public and private colleges across Virginia, which would be carried out by the universities in coordination with the state health department. (The Washington Post)
Richmonder William A. “Bill” Royall Jr., who founded and ran a successful direct marketing services company and later became a major patron of the arts, died in June at the age of 74. Despite being diagnosed with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease, in April 2019, Royall led the charge to bring Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” sculpture to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He also was a VMFA board member and donated $5 million toward the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
