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Southwest Va. Big Deal: Land ho!
The largest business deal announced during the past year in Southwest Virginia is an agreement between Dallas-based Fortune 100 natural gas and propane pipeline transport company Energy Transfer, Virginia’s nonprofit Energy DELTA Lab and Wise County to develop energy infrastructure in the region. Under the agreement, the partners will work with energy companies and electric […]
Southwest Va. Year-in-Review: A wide range
A local connection helped bring an impactful business project to Southwest Virginia. Daniel Kennedy, who was born and spent his early days in St. Paul, was instrumental in bringing home one of the largest manufacturing deals in years. Data center storage rack manufacturer Tate struck a deal in early November 2023 to occupy a long-vacant, […]
United Way of SWVA spins off workforce programs
The United Way of Southwest Virginia is spinning off its workforce development programs by establishing a new nonprofit, EO, to oversee them, UWSWVA announced Feb. 20. EO, which stands for Endless Opportunity, is also Latin for “go.” The new nonprofit will manage what has been the UWSWVA’s $10 million portfolio of grant-funded workforce development programs, […]
Addiction recovery center set to open in Dickenson County
Kentucky-based Addiction Recovery Care is expanding its addiction recovery services into Virginia. Opening in Dickenson County in early to mid-2024, Wildwood Recovery Center, ARC’s first recovery center in the state, will provide treatment for substance use disorders in a residential program allowing individuals to stay for up to one year. ARC’s mission goes beyond recovery, […]
Mining for talent
At the end of October, United Way of Southwest Virginia broke ground on its $25 million project to convert a former Kmart store in Abingdon into a regional workforce development and child care hub. It’s an attempt to address the region’s workforce shortage, one of the most pressing issues among area employers. “There’s a lot […]
Clean energy development could draw $8.5B in investments
Wise County and neighboring localities may become home to a massive clean energy development that could attract up to $8.25 billion in capital investments, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Nov. 1. An agreement between Wise County, the Energy DELTA Lab and Dallas-based Fortune 100 energy company Energy Transfer aims to develop 65,000 acres of former coal […]
SWVA clean energy development could draw $8.5B in investments
Wise County and neighboring localities in Southwest Virginia may become home to a massive clean energy development that could attract up to $8.25 billion in capital investments, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday. An agreement between Energy DELTA Lab, Dallas-based Fortune 100 energy company Energy Transfer and Wise County will involve the development of 65,000 acres […]
EarthLink support center approaches completion
By mid-August, construction workers had gotten up a big portion of the steel framework for the 28,000-square-foot, two-story building that will house EarthLink’s customer support center at Project Intersection, a new business and industrial park in Norton. Employees of the Atlanta-based high-speed internet service provider should be able to move into the building by March […]
Satellite internet improves mobile health care
The Health Wagon got its start in 1980 when Sister Bernadette Kenny, a nurse practitioner, began dispensing free, much-needed health care to people in rural Appalachia from her Volkswagen Beetle. “She was thinking outside the box,” says Health Wagon President and CEO Teresa Tyson. Kenny served as inspiration, Tyson says, when the health care […]
Startup competition expands to SWVA
Rural communities need extra love when it comes to additional business resources, says Kathy Deacon, vice president of business and resource development for the Vinton-based Advancement Foundation. The foundation has been running “The Gauntlet,” a business program and pitch competition, since 2015, expanding it into Southwest Virginia this year. Since the program is run online, […]
SWVA ‘ideal’ for small nuclear reactors, study says
Sites in Dickenson, Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton would be “ideal” for installing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), according to a state-funded feasibility study released Monday. Examining the technical feasibility, safety considerations and economic viability of locating small reactors in Southwest Virginia, the study conducted by Reston-based Dominion Engin[...]
Filling in
Industrial real estate is a hot commodity in Southwest Virginia. “It’s hard to find available space of anything that’s above 15,000 to 20,000 square feet,” says Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA), which represents Lee, Wise, Scott, Buchanan, Russell, Tazewell and Dickenson counties and the city of Norton. Leaders [&[...]
