Va. Beach uses SITW festival to woo business
It’s not every week that international fashion brand Louis Vuitton creates a pyramid on the sand at Virginia Beach‘s Oceanfront. And that kind of buzz that music superstar Pharrell Williams is bringing to his hometown with his Something in the Water this weekend is something the city’s economic development officials are hoping to capitalize on […]
A gust of new jobs
Twenty-seven miles as the seagull flies off the coast of Virginia Beach, two wind turbines, each about 600 feet tall — taller than the Washington Monument — have the ability to generate 12 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 3,000 homes. In three years, 174 more wind turbines will join them with more than 200 […]
Building a ‘floatel’
Construction is set to begin late this year on a service operations vessel (SOV) that will transport technicians and equipment to support the massive wind turbines that Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. is installing for Dominion Energy Inc.’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project off the Virginia Beach coast. Crowley Corp., a Jacksonville, […]
Va. Beach hotels may not sell out for SITW
Something in the Water, the three-day Virginia Beach music festival helmed by music superstar Pharrell Williams, is a big economic deal for Hampton Roads — but whether area hotels will sell out is still up in the air. As of Thursday evening, a quick scan of Expedia.com showed some remaining rooms near the Virginia Beach […]
Former auto dealership property in Va. Beach sells
A former auto dealership property in Virginia Beach has a new owner. Best Buy Wheels purchased a 3,904-square-foot former auto dealership from BT Associates LLC for $1.5 million to operate as a second location for its auto dealership. The property, located at 1305 Oceana Blvd., was formerly Bay Shore Used Auto Sales. Clay Willis and […]
Hampton Roads consortium opens research HQ
The Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium opened its headquarters at Old Dominion University’s Tri-Cities Center in Suffolk Friday. The consortium is a partnership between ODU, Norfolk State University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Sentara Healthcare Inc., and was founded in June 2020. Its goal is to address health care disparities, jumpstart scientific research and advance [&h[...]
Atlantic Park breaks ground in Virginia Beach
Atlantic Park, the $335 million dollar surf park development planned for Virginia Beach‘s Oceanfront, has broken ground and closed on its financing, according to an announcement Thursday from Venture Realty Group, the firm developing the project with music icon Pharrell Williams. The 11-acre surf park has been in development since 2017 and its first phase […]
Two Hampton Roads marketing agencies to merge
Norfolk-based WB Marketing’s parent company has acquired majority interest in Virginia Beach-based marketing and communications firm Meridian Group and will merge the two into one agency, Meridian Group announced Tuesday. Mike Matacunas from Norfolk-based private investment firm Five Hill Capital — WB Marketing’s parent — acquired the majority interest from Meridian Group founder J[...]
Divaris Group acquires N.C. mixed-use leasing, advising firm
Virginia Beach-based Divaris Group has acquired North Carolina-based real estate planning, advisory and leasing firm The McGarey Group, the firm announced Friday. Financial terms and other details of the acquisition were not disclosed. The McGarey Group, led by President and CEO F. Denver McGarey, is now operating within Divaris Advisory, a division of Divaris Group. […]
Waterford Apartments sells for $55M in Va. Beach
Waterford Apartments in Virginia Beach is under new ownership, after Blackfin Real Estate Investors LLC acquired the 376-unit apartment complex for $55.35 million, the real estate investment company announced. Located off Shore Drive near Lake Smith, the one- and two-bedroom apartment community was built in 1980 and previously renovated to include walk-in closets, maple custom cabinets, […[...]
Building momentum
From olive oil to space rockets, 2022 saw a variety of companies seeking to invest — or reinvest — in the Hampton Roads region and Eastern Virginia. That kind of diversity of industries augurs well for the region’s economy, says Vinod Agarwal, professor of economics at Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business. “In the […]
DroneUp takes off
Virginia Beach‘s DroneUp LLC is riding the leading edge of the unmanned aerial vehicle industry wave. Founded in 2016, the company, which specializes in commercial drone delivery, flight services and software, has grown its ranks from three to 530 employees. Retail giant Walmart Inc. is a new partner, and DroneUp is close to completing a […]