Recent Articles from Rich Griset
SW Va. aims to attract data centers via regional tax pact
As part of an effort to entice data centers to locate in the region, Southwest Virginia leaders announced Tuesday a joint agreement to set what will be Virginia’s lowest regional property tax rate on data center equipment. The localities comprising the Lonesome Pine Regional Industrial Facilities Authority — Dickenson, Lee, Scott and Wise counties and […]
Roanoke Valley office occupancy increases by 1%
The Roanoke Valley office market saw a 1% increase in office occupancy in 2020, ending the year with an 88% occupancy rate, according to Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group’s 34th Annual Office Market Survey. These figures are a promising sign “in one of the most challenging years in recent memory,” Poe & Cronk states, […]
Petersburg apartments sell for $2.9M
Landmark Apartments, a 53-unit affordable housing property in Petersburg, has been purchased by Mercer Street Partners for $2.867 million. Landmark, located at 450 Van Buren Drive, was originally developed in 1983 using the U.S. Department of Housing Development’s (HUD) Project-Based Section 8 program for subsidized housing. The buyer, Mercer Street Partners, acquired the property subject [&hell[...]
Legal challenges
In any other year, the merger that formed Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP would have gotten top billing in the year’s legal news. But 2020 wasn’t like any other year for the legal profession. The pandemic’s economic fallout caused some law firms to enact cutbacks and temporary salary reductions; some senior staffers took voluntary furloughs. […]
Pressing on
In spite of the global pandemic that shuttered many smaller businesses, Virginia’s largest companies still inked major deals and scored contracts worth billions of dollars in 2020. In July 2020, Dominion Energy Inc. canceled its planned $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline and sold its gas transmission and storage business to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. for almost […]
The great transformation
It’s been a year since Virginia recorded its first COVID-19 case, and nearly all of us have embraced new ways of living — and working. But with each passing day, a return to some semblance of normalcy feels closer to our reach. Even in the face of emerging coronavirus variants, there’s reason to be hopeful […]
Heavy hitters
Just as Zoom conferences and cloud computing have transformed our pandemic-era work lives, so too is technology changing the nature of influence. That evolution is perhaps best evidenced by the addition of Reston-based MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor to Virginia Business’ 2021 list of the 50 most influential Virginians. Saylor may not spend his time huddled […]
V-shaped? K-shaped? Va. experts predict economic recovery
What will the economic recovery from the pandemic look like and when will it take place? Ask Virginia’s economic experts and they’ll tell you it depends on a number of factors, including the continued rollout of vaccines, the next round of stimulus and which sector of the economy we’re talking about. Often, economists brand the […]
NetImpact Strategies names new CEO
Falls Church-based federal contractor NetImpact Strategies Inc. has named former Unisys Federal President Venkatapathi “PV” Puvvada as its CEO, the company announced Tuesday. Puvvada will succeed NetImpact founder Kavita Kalatur, who will remain chairperson, providing oversight and supporting NetImpact’s strategic initiatives. “PV brings the experience, capabilities and relationships criti[...]
MicroStrategy buys $1B+ in bitcoin
Tysons-based business software company MicroStrategy Inc. announced Wednesday that it has purchased $1.026 billion of additional bitcoin, its largest single bitcoin purchase since it began acquiring the cryptocurrency last August. With this latest transaction, MicroStrategy’s total bitcoin holdings are worth approximately $4.5 billion, valued at current rates of $49,884 per bitcoin. The ente[...]