Recent Articles from Courtney Mabeus-Brown
Va. Kaiser employees set to picket in Springfield
More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers across the nation are threatening to strike beginning Wednesday morning if union leaders cannot come to an agreement on a new labor contract with the health care company, but Kaiser says it would only minimally impact “a few optometry departments and pharmacies in Virginia.” Unlike other recent labor actions, […]
Virginia Natural Gas names chief admin officer
Virginia Natural Gas has named Shannon Pierce as its vice president of strategy and chief administrative officer, the Virginia Beach-based utility announced Monday. Pierce, a native of Surry, most recently served as vice president of growth and chief external affairs officer at SouthStar Energy Services, a subsidiary of VNG’s parent company, Southern Company Gas. She […]
Sentara Halifax plans new, smaller hospital
Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital in South Boston is investing $70 million to construct a new acute care hospital to replace its aging predecessor, with completion set for late 2025 or early 2026. The new hospital will be about a third the size of the existing 300,000-square-foot facility, which is licensed for 192 beds. Sentara Health […]
Building equity
When BB&T recruited Thomas Ransom, a Black economics student at Hampden-Sydney College, to join its management development program in the late 1990s, he quickly had to pick up the world of banking and its culture. The Urbanna native says he’d never met a banker before starting at BB&T and certainly didn’t know what moves to […]
CBN, Regent University founder Pat Robertson dies at 93
Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson, a one-time GOP presidential hopeful and also chancellor, founder and CEO of Regent University in Virginia Beach, died June 8 at age 93. Robertson started CBN in 1960, revolutionizing religious broadcasting with its flagship program “The 700 Club,” a syndicated evangelical newsmagazine show he hosted for 60 years. During […]
Norfolk purchases struggling MacArthur Center
In early June, Norfolk City Council members approved plans for the city to purchase the struggling MacArthur Center downtown mall for up to $18 million. The 23-acre mall is owned by Wells Fargo & Co., which holds the mall following a loan default by MacArthur Center’s previous owner, Connecticut-based Starwood Property Trust. MacArthur Center was […]
Not by coincidence
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander has a vision for his city that includes increasing revenue without creating additional taxes for residents. His focuses in achieving that goal include tourism, hospitality and entertainment — familiar parts of neighboring Virginia Beach’s economy. However, unlike Virginia Beach, he points out, Norfolk doesn’t have a reliable seasonal tourism base. It [[...]
Fairwinds Landing project breaks ground in Norfolk
Developers broke ground Thursday morning on the Fairwinds Landing maritime operations and logistics center supporting Hampton Roads’ offshore wind, defense and transportation industries. The development project at Norfolk Southern Corp.’s Lambert’s Points Docks in Norfolk is being spearheaded by Fairwinds Landing LLC, a partnership between The Miller Group, Balicore Construction and Fairle[...]
TCC expands Skilled Trades Academy
Tidewater Community College has kicked off the expansion of its Skilled Trades Academy, adding more space and more courses to its Portsmouth facility. The academy opened in 2019 with 20,000 square feet of space, and currently has three classrooms at 3303 Airline Blvd., which is enough room to hold three to six courses at a […]
Pembroke Square scales back some parts of project
Pembroke Square, the $200 million redevelopment of Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach, is moving forward but at a smaller scale, according to the president of Pembroke Realty Group. Pembroke Square Associates LLC first announced plans for the redevelopment of the aging mall’s 54 acres in November 2021, with groundbreaking for its first phase having taken […]
Navy awards $1.1B more for sub construction
General Dynamics Corp.’s Groton, Connecticut-based Electric Boat Corp. has received nearly $1.1 billion more from the Navy to continue building Virginia-class submarines, and its teammate, Newport News Shipbuilding, has received a $305 million chunk of that award to procure long-lead time material and components for the next two hulls. The contract modification, announced by the […]
SAIC lands $249M Navy air warfare contract
Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. will continue servicing combat instrumentation platforms used by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division for training and test evaluation under a potential $249 million contract, the Fortune 500 contractor announced Tuesday. Under the contract, SAIC will perform systems design and integration, hardware and software upgrades and modificati[...]
Forvis names new Va. managing partner
Forvis has named Jennifer Wold as managing partner of its Virginia practice unit, the accounting firm announced Monday. Wold’s role becomes effective June 1. She succeeds Tom Hazelwood, who has served as managing partner for the past year. Wold will oversee offices in Richmond, where she will be based, and in Norfolk. She is a […]
Potomac Yard-VT Metro station opens in Alexandria
In its heyday during World War II, Potomac Yard handled freight for six different railroads and employed 1,500 workers to keep trains moving, until it succumbed to economic pressures. On Friday, after decades of planning, the transformed former rail switching yard opened as Metro’s 98th station, serving the Yellow and Blue lines between the Braddock […]
Richmond loft apartment community sells for $14.8M
A 70-unit apartment community in Richmond’s Manchester neighborhood sold for $14.8 million May 12. Putnam Mill LLC, an entity connected to First Priority Management of Washington, D.C., purchased The Mill at Manchester Lofts, a former paper mill and warehouse that now consists of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom loft style apartments at 815 Perry St. […]
Shenandoah Valley SBDC names new director
Shenandoah Valley’s Small Business Development Center, based in Harrisonburg, has named Allison Dugan its newest director. Dugan started with the regional SBDC as a part-time program manager in 2014 and became a business adviser in 2015, adding the title of assistant director in 2019. She took on the leadership role May 1, after serving as […]
REC promotes principal engineering manager
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative has named Lee Brock as its principal engineering manager, the Fredericksburg-based utility announced Tuesday, In the new role, Brock will lead and coordinate engineering, design and construction for REC’s large-scale power projects and focus on response and service to new members in the large commercial and industrial space. Her team will also […]
NG receives $244.6M for ballistic missile work
Falls Church-based Northrop Grumman Corp. has received a $244.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to continue work on ballistic missile defense system capabilities, the Pentagon announced May 9. The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality contract continues development, integration, testing and fielding of complex advanced discrimination techniques, operation and sustainment of [...]
Snyder, Harris reach agreement on Washington Commanders sale
Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder has reached an agreement for the reported $6 billion sale of the Ashburn-based NFL team to a group led by Bethesda, Maryland-based billionaire Josh Harris. News of the sale was posted on the team’s website and on Twitter Friday afternoon. “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement for […]
Boeing reaches $40B deal with Ryanair
Irish air carrier Ryanair plans to order as many as 300 Boeing 737 MAX-10 aircraft from Arlington County-based Fortune 100 contractor Boeing Co. in a $40 billion deal, the two companies announced Tuesday. Subject to approval by Ryanair’s stockholders, the deal includes a firm order from the airline for 150 aircraft and an option for […]