The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority (CCA) received 40 complete applications for conditional permits to operate as the state’s sole licensed pharmaceutical processor of medical cannabis for a region including the Shenandoah Valley, as well as Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford.
Applications were due April 30, and the state authority planned to announce the selected company at the end of June, according to CCA Chief Officer Jeremy Preiss.
Each company paid an $18,000 fee for the opportunity to be granted the sole medical marijuana license to serve the CCA’s health service area 1 (HSA 1), which has been tied up in litigation for years. HSA 1 has not had a licensed medical marijuana dispensary available since the state began issuing pharmaceutical processor licenses for its five HSAs in September 2018.
“This is a pay to try-to-play,” says Eric Postow, Fairfax County-based managing partner for Holon Law Partners. “That really just kind of demonstrates the interest in the business community wanting to service the cannabis sector.” Postow led a team that helped put together an application for Albemarle County-based Integra Vertical.
The competition also reflects the lucrative nature of the license, which allows licensees to open and operate dispensaries within their designated HSA. While the CCA doesn’t track sales revenues, the state’s dispensaries made 3.4 million medical cannabis dispensations in 2023. Virginia patients paid an average $14 per gram for medical cannabis flower at dispensaries, compared with $10 in Florida and Pennsylvania, according to a November 2023 market study conducted for the authority.
Along with multiple out-of-state businesses, Pure Virginia, a company connected to Elkton-based CBD and hemp products business Pure Shenandoah, applied for the conditional permit. Pure Virginia CEO Tanner Johnson says 40 applicants was on the higher end of what he’d expected, but he’s optimistic about his family business’s chances.
“To us, it didn’t really come down to the competition we were against but how good of an application we could put in, and I think that we put in a really, really good one,” he says.
Greenwood-based Jackpot 777 Farms, the company behind applicant Integra Vertical, currently produces hemp flower and CBD-infused products. “When the opportunity came up and Virginia decided to put HSA 1 up for application,” says Integra Vertical CEO Mike Tabor, “it seemed like an opportune time to make the shift into cannabis.”
When Alondra Rodriguez considered which school to attend for pre-med, she found herself puzzled by Old Dominion University — and why it didn’t have an affiliated medical school.
“U.Va. has their own med school,” she thought. “Why don’t they just do that?”
Rodriguez, who already had a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Liberty University, ultimately decided to become a Monarch anyway. Norfolk is within driving distance to her parents in Northern Virginia — but not so close she has to visit every weekend.
Happily, when the 26-year-old started classes at ODU in fall 2022 to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology with a major in biomedical sciences/pre-health, she learned plans were in the works to integrate Norfolk-based Eastern Virginia Medical School into ODU.
Now, following her 2025 graduation, Rodriguez plans to apply to EVMS at ODU, along with several other medical schools, after taking a gap year. “I’m definitely excited,” she says. Even if she ends up learning how to be a doctor somewhere else, Rodriguez adds, she’s already benefited from the two schools joining forces.
EVMS and ODU were slated to formally merge July 1 — the deadline Gov. Glenn Youngkin set in 2022 for the merger to be completed.
As one of only a few stand-alone medical schools in the country, EVMS already had close ties with Old Dominion prior to the merger; its students and residents frequently showed up for meetings at ODU’s Pre-Health Club for undergraduates interested in health care careers. At one of those gatherings, Rodriguez mentioned she planned to apply to six medical schools.
“They’re like, ‘Oh no, honey, you have to apply to more than just that,’” Rodriguez says. “I was shocked. They told me it’s very hard to get into med school as it is. When you narrow down your options, it’s harder to get into one.”
Now, Rodriguez thinks she’ll apply to at least 15 medical schools.
While undergraduates will surely benefit from new opportunities to collaborate with EVMS medical students and residents, they’re not the only ones who will reap rewards from the integration of EVMS into ODU, proponents say.
A 2022 report commissioned by ODU from Missouri-based consulting firm Tripp Umbach predicted that combining EVMS and ODU would create “a full-scale urban powerhouse university with a closely aligned health care system that will drive the Virginia economy through the mid-century and transform the delivery system in the Hampton Roads region.”
By 2030, the report estimates, the total economic impact of integrating EVMS and ODU, along with a stronger partnership with long-time EVMS supporter Sentara Health, will reach $730 million for the state and approximately $600 million for the Hampton Roads region. That would come from “commercialization of research through startup companies and existing companies attracted to the region” by growth in merged academic programs and research, the report’s authors wrote.
In 2021, ODU earned R1 research classification, a designation held by only 146 universities nationwide and the top research ranking awarded by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Even so, Tripp Umbach analysts found, the Norfolk university earns five times less research revenue when compared with similar universities that have integrated medical schools.
Tripp Umbach also predicted the integration would boost the health care workforce in Hampton Roads “by expanding numbers of highly qualified graduates in the health professions who have regional connections and interests.”
A 2017 study on mergers in higher education points out that by joining forces and leveraging economies of scale, schools are sometimes able to reduce administrative and infrastructure costs.
Brian Weinblatt, founder and principal of Florida-based Higher Ed Consolidation Solutions, a consulting firm focused on higher education mergers, says any stand-alone school, whether a school of medicine or law, faces mounting financial pressures and can miss out on opportunities for synergy by failing to join forces with a larger university. “It’s harder than ever for these institutions to stand on their own,” Weinblatt says.
When independent medical schools merge with universities, undergrads have more opportunities to participate in graduate-level research, and faculty members enjoy greater research options and other professional development possibilities, Weinblatt notes. Of EVMS, he says, “If it was already a shining star, it [now has] the potential to be shining much more brightly, not just in their region, but nationally.”
A new structure
ODU President Brian O. Hemphill unveiled the name of the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences program at a June 7 event celebrating the EVMS-ODU merger. Photo by Mark Rhodes
The merger is more complicated than simply absorbing the medical school under the ODU banner, says Brian Hemphill, the university’s president.
ODU has created a health sciences center, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, that will serve as the overarching structure for all health sciences programming, including the medical school.
The name recognizes a $20 million gift from Virginia Beach philanthropist Joan Brock, who earned a master’s degree in humanities from ODU and is the widow of Macon Brock, a co-founder of Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 discount retailer Dollar Tree.
The health sciences center will serve as an umbrella organization overseeing the Ellmer College of Health Sciences, the Ellmer School of Nursing, the EVMS Medical Group, the EVMS School of Health Professions, the EVMS School of Medicine, and the Joint School of Public Health.
Through this reorganization, ODU will grow its roster of 2,541 employees and 22,541 students.
“We’re bringing on 2,000 new employees [and] 1,400-plus new students,” Hemphill says. “And so, when you look at the size and the scale and the scope, on day one, we become a $1.7 billion operation.”
The change means that EVMS, which was founded in 1973, will cease to exist as a legal entity July 1, according to Dr. Alfred Abuhamad, the former president, provost and dean of EVMS, who is now ODU’s executive vice president for health sciences. But most students, faculty and staff members won’t see major differences, he says.
“We will continue to operate as we do today, [but] within ODU,” Abuhamad says. “So, for the majority of staff, students and faculty, nothing will change, really. They will come to [the Norfolk] campus of EVMS, and for the majority — if not all — of the students, staff and faculty of ODU, they will continue to go to their campus.
“We’ve worked hard enough over the last three years to ensure that the culture of both institutions is represented and respected in the process, and ensured that as we come together, we’re building something special for the community,” he says.
There will be no immediate change in the number of medical students enrolled at EVMS due to the merger, according to ODU spokesperson Jonah Grinkewitz. EVMS had 1,278 students enrolled in fall 2023, according to data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Tuition also won’t change for medical school students under the merger, according to Grinkewitz. However, the merger will bring some new opportunities for assistance. In June, ODU announced the Brock Opportunity Scholarship, which will support medical school students. Also in June, ODU announced a $20 million gift from Priority Auto Group CEO Dennis Ellmer, a member of ODU’s board of visitors, and his wife, Jan. Those funds will support the creation of scholarships for students pursuing health sciences degrees at ODU or at the EVMS School of Health Professions.
To prepare for the merger, ODU and EVMS set up 10 staff and faculty committees to iron out details on everything from branding to financial aid to human resources, according to Abuhamad.
A new board of directors has been created to oversee Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ODU. Both Hemphill and Abuhamad will be nonvoting members. Additionally, there will be seven members appointed by members of the EVMS Foundation, four members appointed by the rector of ODU’s board of visitors and four members appointed by Virginia lawmakers, according to Grinkewitz.
Speaking in May, Hemphill felt confident that ODU would receive approval for the integration from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The association was expected to grant that approval in mid-June, after this issue’s press deadline.
Dr. Alfred Abuhamad (left), ODU’s executive vice president for health sciences, and ODU President Brian O. Hemphill field media questions at a June 7 event providing new details on the EVMS-ODU merger. Photo by Mark Rhodes
Many players in merger
The Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Glenn Youngkin also had to give their blessing to the ODU/EVMS union.
State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, carried bills during the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session ratifying the merger, and in last year’s budget negotiations, lawmakers allocated $14 million to cover merger-related startup costs.
In May, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed off on the 2024-26 state budget, which included about $136.7 million for EVMS for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, with $65 million earmarked for operations at the health sciences center.
“The merger is poised to strengthen positive health outcomes in the region and help address the critical nurse and doctor shortages,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
ODU could “not be more pleased,” with the support of Virginia’s lawmakers, Hemphill says.
Another organization that’s been supportive of EVMS over the years is Sentara, the Norfolk-based health care system with 11 hospitals in Virginia and one in North Carolina.
In 2022, Aubrey Layne, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Sentara, said that the health system gave EVMS about $60 million each year for education and training, and Sentara wanted to see the medical school receive “state funding parity with other Virginia schools.”
Sentara administrators are happy that goal has come to fruition. “We feel like we have a partner in this, in terms of [ensuring] the long-term sustainability of EVMS,” Layne says.
But even with state support for the health sciences center and EVMS at ODU, Sentara has not closed its pocketbook to health sciences students in Norfolk. Sentara has agreed to contribute $350 million in dedicated funding to support the ODU-EVMS integration over the next decade, ODU announced in June.
“Sentara is committed to health care education and training and looks forward to what this merger will bring,” Sentara President and CEO Dennis Matheis said in a statement.
A long road
Things haven’t always been this rosy between ODU, EVMS and Sentara.
In November 2020, EVMS’ board held a vote of “no confidence” in a study commissioned by Reinvent Hampton Roads, an economic development organization, to identify opportunities “to strengthen the Hampton Roads health care ecosystem in partnership with EVMS, Sentara, ODU, the Commonwealth of Virginia and other key stakeholders.”
In 2020 and 2021, the medical school reportedly paid Vienna-based public relations firm Tigercomm $497,000 for crisis communications and community support work in what Tigercomm President Mike Casey has said was a bid to avoid a potential EVMS-ODU-Sentara merger “being pushed by Sentara.”
After that rocky start, however, new leadership at ODU and EVMS paved a path toward a merger.
Three different individuals served as EVMS board rector during summer 2021 with little explanation. Dr. Richard Homan, who had served as president, provost and dean of EVMS for nearly a decade, announced he was retiring in August 2021. (Homan declined an interview request.)
Hemphill took over as ODU’s president in summer 2021, coming from Radford University, where, as that university’s president, he guided the creation of Radford University Carilion through a merger with the Jefferson College of Health Sciences.
In August 2021, the leaders of Norfolk State University, ODU and EVMS signed a memorandum of understanding creating the ONE School of Public Health. Now, the school, which is awaiting accreditation, is known as the Joint School of Public Health and will offer a master and doctoral program in public health as well as continuing education opportunities.
And in December 2021, Sentara joined ODU and EVMS in signing an agreement to explore how “closer alignment or affiliation” could improve health care in Hampton Roads and educational research.
By June 2022, Hemphill put his cards on the table, stating in a letter to ODU’s faculty and staff that the university had a goal “to develop a comprehensive plan to integrate ODU and EVMS in 2023.”
And now, after many meetings involving state lawmakers, community stakeholders and employees of the two schools, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University is ready to go live.
Hemphill says he doesn’t expect the integration will suddenly make ODU known primarily for its health care curriculum, because the university has a reputation for many things — including its maritime and cybersecurity programs and its distance-learning offerings.
But he does believe the merger will produce significant health sciences research, with EVMS having conducted hundreds of clinical trials and other research, in addition to ODU’s research capabilities that led to its R1 classification.
By merging the expertise of the best minds at the two schools, Hemphill says, Virginia Health Sciences at ODU will be able to compete successfully for larger grants from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations.
“This does add another significant piece to who we are.”
At a glance
Founded Old Dominion University was founded in 1930 as a two-year college to train teachers and engineers as an extension of William & Mary and Virginia Tech. It gained independence in 1962 as Old Dominion College and began offering master’s degrees in 1964 and doctoral degrees in 1971. It was renamed Old Dominion University in 1969.
Campus ODU has seven academic colleges and three schools. Its 337-acre Norfolk campus is bordered on two sides by the Elizabeth and Lafayette rivers. The school also operates regional higher education centers in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Hampton. ODU is designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as an R1 Research Institution.
Enrollment1
Undergraduate: 17,736 Graduate: 4,805 In-state: 19,559 International: 758 Students of color: 11,448
Employees
890 full-time instructional faculty
3,557 total employees
Tuition and fees2
In-state undergraduate tuition and fees: $12,750
Out-of-state undergraduate tuition and fees: $33,780
Room and board: $13,7383
Average financial aid awarded to full-time freshmen seeking assistance: $15,6904
1 Fall 2023 enrollment statistics
2 2024-25 rates
3 Varies: number based on silver meal plan and a shared dorm room
At its June 26 meeting, the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority was expected to announce which company, among 40 applicants, had been selected from a highly competitive process to become the sole licensed pharmaceutical processor of medical cannabis for a region including the entire Shenandoah Valley, as well as the cities of Charlottesville and Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford.
However, during Wednesday’s meeting of the board of directors for the CCA, which began overseeing the state’s medical marijuana program in January, Shawn Casey, deputy chief of CCA’s regulatory, policy and external affairs office, said CCA staff and legal counsel need more time to study the scoring of the applications and to ensure the authority’s choice complies with all regulatory requirements. Casey noted the application materials totaled 16,000 pages.
“Given the great interest in the application process, as shown by the number of applications, … we know the result will be highly scrutinized,” Casey said. “We wanted to make sure that we’re taking the time necessary to ensure the integrity and comprehensiveness of the recommendation that gets to the board and we’ll have an updated timeline whenever we can.”
Scoring of the applications was tabulated by five members of a review committee. Jeremy Preiss, the CCA’s acting head and chief officer, declined to name the committee members. However, one speaker at the meeting noted that board members Bette Brand and Anthony D. Williams sat on the committee.
Virginia is divided into five health service areas, or HSAs, for regulating medical marijuana. The state currently has four approved pharmaceutical processors. The region currently being considered, HSA 1, has not had a licensed medical marijuana dispensary since the state began issuing pharmaceutical processor licenses in 2018.
The processor initially granted a conditional permit for HSA 1 was PharmaCann Virginia, originally a subsidiary of Illinois-based PharmaCann. That permit was revoked in 2020, however, after the company failed to build a facility by a December 2019 deadline. The permit was then tied up in legislation for years.
In February, the CCA announced it was ready to begin accepting applications for a pharmaceutical provider for HSA 1. Each of the 40 companies that applied paid an $18,000 fee to be considered.
Tanner Johnson CEO of Pure Virginia, a company connected to Pure Shenandoah, an Elkton-based, family-run CBD and hemp products business, and one of the 40 companies who submitted an application spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“We are all too aware of extra-extraordinary efforts required to submit a truly competitive application, between the enormous upfront capital cost, the need to secure highly qualified cannabis industry experts, site control of the processor and dispensary locations in compliance with all the zoning and setback requirements, as well as demonstrating strong support from the local community,” he said.
In a statement to Virginia Business, Johnson said, “Delays are common, but you still hate to see it.” Later, he added, “We hate to see it because every delay impacts the patients of HSA 1.”
Greg Habeeb, chair of Gentry Locke’s Government and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group and also the president of Gentry Locke Consulting, a lobbying group representing the Virginia Cannabis Association, heard on Monday that the CCA would not be naming the permit recipient for HSA 1.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of applications, and I think there might have been a lot of applications that were missing information, and so, I’m not sure if that was it, or if it was just more work than they expected, or what’s going on,” he said.
Virginia’s four pharmaceutical processors of medical marijuana are owned by three out-of-state companies.
Several of the applicants to serve HSA 1 were tied to multistate marijuana businesses with headquarters in other states. In his public statement, Johnson noted that a total of 21 companies are behind the 40 applications submitted for the HSA 1 license. Preiss confirmed that information Wednesday afternoon.
Habeeb doesn’t expect a lot of time to pass before the CCA makes an announcement about HSA 1. “I’m not sure why it would take a long time from here, unless, again … if they have concerns about some of the information and want to check behind it,” he said.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Johnson thanked the CCA staff and board members for their efforts.
“For too long, our medical patients of HSA 1 have been denied proper access to medical cannabis,” he said, “and we believe that through your efforts, that wait is almost over.”
Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace has picked Virginia Spaceport Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport located on Accomack County’s Wallops Island as a new launch site for its two-stage orbital Alpha rocket, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday.
A small launch vehicle, the Alpha serves commercial, civil and national security clients and can carry 2,200 pounds to low earth orbit.
Founded in 2017, Firefly has launched the Alpha four times from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. A fifth launch, scheduled for Wednesday, is also set for the former air force base. Firefly plans to begin launching Alpha from Virginia in 2025.
Additionally, Firefly expects to later launch from Wallops the medium launch vehicle (MLV) it’s designing with Falls Church-based Northrop Grumman. The MLV can carry more than 35,000 pounds to low Earth orbit.
“Firefly is committed to establishing a regular on-demand launch service and serving our customers’ growing responsive space needs, and that requires operating a diverse set of launch sites,” Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, said in a company press release distributed Monday. “Virginia Spaceport Authority further sets us up for success by enabling a streamlined approach to launching both Alpha and MLV from one location at [the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport] with minimal congestion from the broader launch market.”
Firefly also plans to operate a launch control center, horizontal integration facility and administrative office space on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, according to the company’s press release.
Firefly plans to launch the Alpha four times in 2024 and six times in 2025. By 2026, the company plans to have monthly Alpha launches.
Firefly’s first launch of Alpha in September 2021 exploded in mid-air. The October 2022 launch, however, successfully reached orbit. In September 2023, Firefly launched Alpha and deployed a satellite 27 hours after launch orders were issued, according to the U.S. Space Force, setting a new record for responsive space launch.
The fourth Alpha launch in December 2023 carried a payload for Lockheed Martin. A software problem caused the rocket to deploy a satellite to the wrong orbit.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport is located on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Virginia Spaceport Authority leases from NASA the land for the launch pads and other facilities.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport offers three launch pads, with a fourth under construction, as well as a payload processing facility. California-based Rocket Lab announced in February 2022 that it had selected Wallops Island as the location for its launch site and a new manufacturing and assembly complex for its new, reusable Neutron rocket.
Switzerland-based Condair Group, a manufacturer of commercial and industrial humidification systems, will invest $57.2 million to establish a new production facility in Chesterfield County that is expected to create 180 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.
The company will convert a pre-existing warehouse facility on 1410 Willis Road into a manufacturing facility, according to Horace Wynn, chief operating officer for Condair’s North American operations. The 400,000-square-foot plant is expected to open in early 2025, the governor’s news release said.
Initially, workers at the Chesterfield County facility will focus on manufacturing products to to assist with large-scale industrial cooling needs of the data center industry, Wynn wrote in a statement to Virginia Business.
“However, as we build out the facility, other Condair products may be manufactured and assembled at this location as well,” he stated.
“The establishment of the Richmond site will not only bolster our production capabilities but also facilitate closer engagement with our clients, particularly in the data center sector,” Oliver Zimmermann, CEO of Condair, said in a statement. “Together with our existing sites in Racine, Wisconsin, and Ottawa, Canada, we are fortifying the Condair network to better serve our clientele across the continent.”
Condair found “the strength of the Richmond available workforce” appealing “along with the proximity to multiple data center locations for both current and future partnerships,” according to Wynn.
Condair will find international neighbors in the Richmond region. In 2023, Netherlands-based ISO Group, which automates labor-intensive tasks in the horticultural industry, announced it would establish its first U.S. assembly and distribution facility in Chesterfield County. Also last year, the Weidmüller Group, which is based in Germany, unveiled plans for a $16.4 million expansion in Chesterfield County. The Lego Group, based in Denmark, expects to begin production at its $1 billion Chesterfield manufacturing facility in 2027.
“When an international brand like Condair makes the decision to locate in Virginia the positive ripple-effects of economic investment, job creation and cargo growth are felt throughout the Commonwealth,” Stephen A. Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, stated in the release. “The Port of Virginia will be among the beneficiaries of Condair’s location in Chesterfield County, which is not far from Richmond Marine Terminal.”
Founded in Switzerland in 1948, Condair has production sites in Europe, North America and China, as well as sales and service organizations in 23 countries. Its major customers include Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.
Condair plans to transfer its current production operations from Center, Texas, to Richmond by 2026, according to a news release distributed by the company. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Chesterfield County and the Greater Richmond Partnership to secure the project for the commonwealth. Virginia competed against South Carolina for the project.
Youngkin approved a $700,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Chesterfield County with the project. Additionally, Condair is eligible to receive state benefits from the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for new, full-time jobs created, as well as benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Zone Grant Program.
The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a program created by the VEDP that provides recruitment and training services, will support Condair’s job creation.
The Lester Group, a Martinsville-based company with a diverse portfolio including lumber products and real estate development, acquired Williamsburg-based Custom Builder Supply on June 3, the company announced earlier in June.
Lester Group CEO Jay Dickens declined to release financial terms of the deal.
Randy Cooper founded Custom Builder Supply in 1988 and worked there as president and manager for 33 years, according to his 2021 obituary. The company was formerly owned by a group of local investors, according to its website.
The Lester Group owns five other building supply companies across Virginia. Custom Builder Supply won’t change names with the deal, and its 23 employees are being retained, according to a press release issued by the Southern Virginia company.
“We’re not just adding a business; we’re welcoming a brand that shares our values and commitment to quality and service into our family,” George W. Lester II, co-chair of The Lester Group, said in the release.
In addition to real estate management and development, the Lester Group owns Fredericksburg-based Fortress Door Co. and Martinsville-based Fortress Wood, a wood preserving company with North Carolina production facilities in High Point, Henderson, and Elizabeth City. The company also owns more than 21,000 acres of forestland in Virginia in Franklin, Halifax, Henry and Pittsylvania counties, as well as Rockingham County in North Carolina.
Georgia-based Carry-On Trailer, a leading manufacturer of steel and utility trailers, will invest $9.2 million to increase capacity at its facility in Westmoreland County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday. The project is expected to create 60 jobs.
To meet increasing customer demand in the northeast, Carry-On Trailer plans to upgrade to a powder coat paint system at the Montross facility. Previously, the company used “a liquid process,” according to Braden Edwards, general manager at Carry-On Trailer.
“It’s been a great system for us,” he said. “But the powder coat process is just an upgraded process [that offers a] better quality of paint to extend the life of the trailer.”
Carry-On Trailer offers utility, cargo, aluminum, dump, equipment and specialty trailers along with a replacement parts program.
Of the company’s seven manufacturing facilities, three have moved or are moving to the powder coat paint system. Edwards expect the other four will adopt the system in coming years.
In 2018, Carry-On Trailer invested $1.6 million to expand its Montross facility, which was built in 2004. That project created 42 jobs.
“Carry-On Trailer is one of the Northern Neck’s largest and valuable private employers and its economic impact is regional and statewide,” Jerry W. Davis, executive director of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission, said in a statement.
In addition to the Montross facility, Carry-On Trailer has a manufacturing operation about thirty minutes away in Callao, which was built in the late 1990s, according to Edwards. Together, the two operations employ about 175 employees.
Founded in Hague, not far from Montross, in 1996, Carry-On Trailer moved its headquarters to Lavonia, Georgia around 2006, Edwards said
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Westmoreland County and the Northern Neck Planning District Commission to secure the project, which Georgia and Pennsylvania also competed to win.
Carry-On Trailer will receive support with job creation through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, a state-funded program which provides services and funding to support employee recruitment and training. The company is also eligible to receive benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Grant Program.
In 2018, Rappahannock Community College opened the Westmoreland Workforce Training Center which offers welding training.
“It’s right across the street from our plant,” Edwards says. “It’s a nice marriage between our facility and their facility. Their trainees can come over and see what we have.”
Last year, Sentara Health unveiled plans to invest $70 million to replace the aging Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital in South Boston with a new acute care hospital. On Tuesday, the health care system announced the investment will be closer to $107 million.
“It’s just part of the evolution of the process,” Brian Zwoyer, president of Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, said of increasing costs. “So, you get into something and you earmark dollars for what you think your cost is going to be, and then as you’re designing and making sure that you have all the right pieces and parts in the project, and then you come up against timing, the shift in construction costs and and all of that. It’s just really been an evolution of economy and cost and time.”
The current hospital was built in 1953 and offers 192 beds. Some days the hospital has 36 patients and other days there are 17, according to Zwoyer.
“Seventy years ago, even 20 years ago … there was a fair amount of industry here,” Zwoyer said. “And so there’s been an out-migration of population. Those businesses have left, and so, what you have is a much smaller community.”
Accordingly, the new hospital also will be smaller, providing 42 to 45 beds, according to Zwoyer.
Scheduled to be completed in summer 2026, the new facility is slated to be 100,000 square feet and is being built so that its footprint can be expanded as needed. “So, for example, if we needed to expand our surgical suites out a little bit, we have space adjacent to the building,” Zwoyer said.
The new hospital will be built behind the current hospital, where the now-closed Fuller Roberts Clinic sits. The facility will offer general surgical services, intensive care, inpatient treatment, observation beds, an emergency department, a catheterization lab, operating rooms, a procedural room, a dialysis suite, imaging services, a laboratory, pathology, pharmacy, rehabilitation, respiratory therapy and a helipad, according to a news release.
Currently, helicopters used for transporting patients “land in the local cemetery,” about two miles from the hospital, according to Zwoyer,
Each patient room will have a window for natural sunlight, a private bathroom and furniture to allow guests to spend the night comfortably.
In recent months, clinicians have practiced treating patients in mock patient rooms to see whether plans for the new rooms will be adequate.
“We have our clinicians come through and say, ‘Does this meet your needs? Do we have all of the O2 receptacles in the right place? Are the outlets at the right size?’ And, literally down to the paper towel holders: ‘Are they in the right place?’ Nobody is better to tell us where we need to have ergonomic design than our clinicians and our staff.”
Since 2010, 167 hospitals have closed or converted to a model that doesn’t offer inpatient care in rural communities, according to a 2024 report from Massachusetts-based consulting firm Chartis. An additional 418 rural hospitals are vulnerable to closing, the report stated.
“We’re dedicated to be here and support the community,” Zwoyer said.
In May 2023, Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital announced plans to phase out obstetric services within the year due to “a significant decreased in births due to changing demographics, aging populations and a national declining birth rate.” The new hospital doesn’t plan to reopen birthing services “at this time,” according to Zwoyer.
There are several hospitals between 45 minutes and an hour away, and patients are traveling to those to deliver babies, Zwoyer said,
Between 2011 and 2021, 267 rural hospitals dropped OB services, according to Chartis.
In 2015, the former Halifax Regional Health System added Sentara to its name in recognition of its merger with Norfolk-based Sentara in 2013.
With 30,000 employees, Sentara has 11 hospitals in Virginia and one in northeastern North Carolina.
Developers broke ground May 30 on the The Helios, a $54 million, rent-restricted, solar-powered apartment building in Henrico County, according to an announcement by Bank of America, which is financing construction.
A joint venture between Spy Rock Real Estate Group and Crescent Development, both based in Richmond, the apartments will replace an abandoned motel. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Three mid-rise buildings with elevators will house 186 units with one to three bedrooms. The development, which is being built on 8.2 acres on Chamberlayne Road, is located near grocery stores and schools with access to public transportation.
Plans include installing solar panels on the roof of each building, along with four ground segments across a 1.9-acre solar array. Solar power will be generated on site to reduce emissions as well as utility costs for tenants.
The Helios is funded by a $35 million construction loan from Bank of America along with a $23 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment arranged by Ohio-based Red Stone Equity Partners. The Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority is issuing tax-exempt bonds for the project and Iowa-based Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust will provide permanent financing.
The apartment’s units will be limited to tenants earning 60% of area median income, which was about $44,820 for one person and $63,960 for a family of four in 2023.
Based in Scott’s Addition, Spy Rock focuses on multifamily and mixed-use properties in Richmond and has been associated with more than 45 projects involving 4,000 units of housing and 593,000-square-feet of commercial space. Crescent specializes in the acquisition, rehabilitation and development of affordable housing and historic structures and other assets.
“This development creates both jobs and housing for our residents, and it supports the broader reinvention and strengthening of the Chamberlayne corridor,” Roscoe Cooper, a member of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement.
The Branch Group, a Roanoke-based heavy-highway and building contractor, has closed on its acquisition of Burnsville, North Carolina-based Young & McQueen, a 37-year-old contracting firm specializing in heavy civil and highway construction, site work, bridges and structures construction, the company announced Monday.
Branch declined to release financial terms of the deal, which closed on May 31.
The acquisition helps Branch meet its goal of entering the western region of North Carolina, where Branch has maintained a transportation foothold in eastern and central North Carolina for decades. Currently, the company is building the Interstate 295 outer loop in Fayetteville.
The acquired company is now known as Young & McQueen, a Branch Company, and will continue with current contracts and pursuing work out of its North Carolina office. Young & McQueen’s original founders, Sam and Kim Young, have retired, although they have other holdings that were not part of the acquisition, according to a Branch spokesperson.
“Young & McQueen’s culture aligns perfectly with Branch,” Donald Graul, CEO of Branch, said in a release. “Their strong reputation and work quality in western North Carolina will continue the success of both companies.”
The employee-owned Branch has total revenues of more than $500 million and a workforce of more than 1,000.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Sign In
Free Newsletter
