October 2023 Top Five
The top five most-read daily news stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Aug. 16 to Sept. 14, 2023, were led by the news that Bon Secours filed suit against Anthem in Henrico County Circuit Court. 1 | Bon Secours sues Anthem for $93 million The health system alleges that insurer Anthem Health Plans of Virginia owes unpaid […]
Love at first site
Home to eight Fortune 500 companies and three Fortune 1000 companies, metro Richmond is “punching above our weight” for a region of 1.3 million residents, says Jennifer Wakefield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership. For the third year in a row, the Richmond region was named by Business Facilities magazine as a top […]
RVA757 Connects releases plan for global internet hub
RVA757 Connects, a nonprofit focused on regional cooperation for economic development in Richmond and Hampton Roads, released on Thursday its 10-point strategic plan for transforming the “megaregion” into the next global internet hub. Virginia is already home to the world’s largest internet hub in Loudoun County’s Ashburn area, which has the world’s greatest concentration of […]
Henrico office building sells for $66M
Richmond-based Kinsale Insurance has sold a 291,000-square-foot Class A office building on Staples Mill Road in western Henrico County for $66 million. The office, located at 2103 Staples Mill Road, was sold to Salus Federal Properties, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based limited liability company, commercial real estate firm Newmark announced. The building is 100% leased to […]
Henrico shopping center sells for $18.4M
Merchant’s Walk Shopping Center in Henrico County has sold for $18.4 million. Qi Lin, a local investor who in 2022 purchased the Southpark shopping center in Chesterfield County for $5.4 million, purchased Merchant’s Walk, according to Divaris Real Estate. Located at 7580 W. Broad St., Merchant’s Walk is at the intersection of West Broad Street […]
Dominion pitches state on $70M battery storage pilot
Dominion Energy Virginia is asking the state to allow it to test two technologies that it says could lengthen the time its batteries can electrify the grid from an average of four hours to longer than four days. In a 117-page filing made Monday with the State Corporation Commission, Dominion said its Darbytown Storage Pilot […]
Glen Allen shopping center sells for $9.5M
A shopping center anchored by a Michaels craft store in Glen Allen sold for $9.5 million, Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced. Airport Hotel LLC, of Ellicott City, Maryland, bought Broad Street Plaza, located at 9856-9864 W. Broad St. in Henrico County, on Sept. 12. The four-tenant retail center is 100% leased and includes a […]
UR biz school receives $10M donation
The University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business received an anonymous $10 million gift from an alumnus to establish an endowed scholarship fund, the school reported Thursday. The alumnus studied accounting and finance at UR and stocked groceries to fund his tuition and other expenses, the school said. “Access and affordability are among our highest […]
Manufacturing 2023: GREGORY TREPP
In 1996, Trepp joined appliance manufacturer Hamilton Beach as its director of marketing and has since held various senior and executive leadership positions within the company. In 2017, he became president and CEO, overseeing the company’s consumer, international and commercial divisions. He also previously served as the CEO of various subsidiaries, including Hamilton Beach’s Canadian [&helli[...]
Economic Development 2023: ANTHONY ROMANELLO
In the past year, Romanello was instrumental in growing Henrico’s data center footprint, as QTS Data Centers announced a 1.5 million-square-foot expansion to be completed in 2024, and the DE-CIX Richmond internet exchange opened in November 2022. In other sectors, education research firm EAB announced it was bringing 200 more jobs to Henrico, and plans […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: ALBERTO SCHIAVON
Schiavon, who joined Elephant Auto Insurance in 2017 as its head of marketing and pricing, became CEO just eight months later. The Italian executive (who shares a name with an Italian Olympic snowboarder) earned his MBA from the University of Manchester in England and his undergraduate engineering degree at the University of Padova in Italy. […]
Manufacturing 2023: WILLIAM ‘BILLY’ GIFFORD JR.
Gifford became Fortune 500 tobacco product manufacturer Altria’s CEO in 2020, after having served as president and CEO of subsidiary Philip Morris USA and holding other executive posts at Altria for the past 25 years. After four challenging years, during which Altria saw the value of its 35% stake in Juul Labs’ e-cigarette company plummet […]