Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Beth JoJack

Broadband, renewable energy focuses for rural development, USDA administrator says

Rural communities can improve their economy and quality of life, Andrew Berke, administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, stressed during the opening of the fifth annual Investing in Rural America conference, held Tuesday at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond hosts the two-day Investing in Rural America conference, which tackles topics like driving community investment in rural places and innovative housing strategies.

Berke began his talk by noting he was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1968, the year before CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite called it “the dirtiest city in America.” The U.S. government went on to pass the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act in 1970 and 1972.

In Chattanooga, business leaders made a plan to build businesses and attractions along the Tennessee River through public-private partnerships. Fast-forward to 2011 and 2015, and Outside magazine dubbed Chattanooga the “Best Town Ever.”

During Berke’s 2013 to 2021 tenure as Chatanooga’s mayor, his city administration developed a municipally-owned 10-gigabit network available to every home and business in a 600-mile area. “That transformed our economy,” Berke said. “We had one of the highest wage growths in the country. “

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $65 billion to improve access to high-speed internet. “We just in the last year did $2.5 billion of new high-speed internet connections throughout rural America,” Berke said.

The most recent Virginia state budget, passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin on May 13, includes $50 million over two years for the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative to administer broadband deployment.

Greater broadband access allows families to live higher quality lives and means young people don’t have to move to big cities for work, Berke pointed out. “In 2024, there’s more opportunity to do whatever job you want from whatever location you want and still be successful,” he said.

The Biden administration is also aiding rural America through the Inflation Reduction Act, which Berke described as the “largest investment in rural electrification since the founding of my agency almost 90 years ago.”

Roughly $11 billion will go to helping rural energy and utility providers bring renewable energy to their communities, according to Berke. “Our $11 billion will do roughly $40 billion worth of clean energy work,” he said, “because it’s $3 of private investment for every grant dollar that you get.”

The majority of grantees for the money are rural electric cooperatives, according to Berke.

“Rural electric co-ops as a community are about 75% more carbon-intensive than most investor-owned utilities, and so, they have further to go in making this transition,” he said. “It’s going to be building solar arrays and wind farms and putting up carbon capture sequestration and potentially even new nuclear or revised nuclear sites.”

Berke acknowledged there’s been “a big push in rural America to talk about how difficult or how troubled clean energy is,” and that renewable energy projects like solar farms can be problematic by taking up agricultural land.

In Henry County, down the road from the conference, the board of supervisors recently approved an amendment limiting the total amount of acreage in the county that can be used for solar farm development to 1% of the county’s total land mass.

“You’re seeing hundreds of bans on clean energy projects going on around the country,” Berke said. “That is very challenging if we’re going to reduce our pollution and forge a future ahead in this industry.”

 

Va. casino gaming revenues total $60.1M in April

Virginia’s three casinos reported about $60.1 million in gaming revenues for April, according to Virginia Lottery data released last week.

Last month, the Bristol Casino: Future Home of Hard Rock reported about $13.9 million in adjusted gaming revenues (wagers minus winnings), of which about $11 million came from its 903 slots and about $2.9 million came from its 29 table games. The Bristol casino temporary facility opened in July 2022, making it Virginia’s first operating casino. The Virginia Lottery Board approved HR Bristol’s casino license in April 2022.

After the lottery board approved its license in November 2022, Rivers Casino Portsmouth opened as Virginia’s first permanent casino in January 2023. In April, it generated about $18.4 million from its 1,446 slots and about $8 million from its 81 table games for a total AGR of about $26.4 million.

The temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville, which received its casino license in April 2023 and opened in May 2023, reported about $14.45 million in AGR from its 820 slots and about $5.29 million from its 33 table games, totaling about $19.74 million last month.

April’s casino gaming revenues were a 7.6% decrease from the $65.08 million reported in March.

Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of April, taxes from casino AGRs totaled $10.8 million.

The host cities of Portsmouth and Danville received 6% of their respective casinos’ AGRs: about $1.59 million and $1.18 million, respectively. For the Bristol casino, 6% of its adjusted gaming revenue — about $836,679 last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia.

The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes — about $86,579 last month. The Family and Children’s Trust Fund, which funds family violence prevention and treatment programs, receives 0.2% of the monthly total, about $21,645 in April.

The $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino in Norfolk, approved by voters in 2020, is still in a holding pattern. In January, the King William County-based Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough, asked the Norfolk Architectural Review Board for a delay to make design changes requested by the city. A spokesperson for HeadWaters Resort & Casino said Monday there are no new updates about the casino, which is required to get its license from the lottery board by November 2025.

Petersburg, meanwhile, will hold a casino referendum on ballots this fall. The city council voted in April to endorse The Cordish Cos.’ proposal instead of following through on a competitive bidding process announced in February.

Suffolk logistics facility purchased for $50.5M

An entity connected with Ashley Capital, a New York-based industrial real estate company, sold a multi-tenant facility in Suffolk for $50.5 million to a Florida real estate investment firm on May 1, according to the city’s property records.

The Bridgeway Business Center, a 707,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution facility on College Drive in Suffolk, was purchased by InLight Real Estate Partners. The building sits on 50 acres about seven miles from the Virginia International Gateway container terminal.

InLight acquired the property in a joint venture with a Connecticut-based institutional family office, which an InLight spokesperson declined to name. Financing for the acquisition was through Connecticut-based Knighthead Funding, according to InLight’s announcement.

Bridgeway Business Center is fully leased with five tenants, including Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, United Parcel Service, Georgia-based Coastal Logistics Group, the Virginia Department of General Services and Louisiana-based Dupré Logistics, according to InLight.

HII has leased space at the property since 1997 to support its adjacent Newport News Shipbuilding subsidiary, which was a draw for InLight, according to Charles Margiota, a partner at the real estate investment company. “We are thrilled to acquire an asset that, for the last 27 years, has been home to HII, the largest Navy shipbuilder in the country,” Margiota said in a statement.

InLight, an investment and development firm that focuses on industrial and logistics real estate across the Sun Belt, Midwest, East Coast and Gulf Coast markets, plans property improvements to the business center. The company spokesperson declined to specify what the upgrades will entail.

Visit Williamsburg names new CEO

The Williamsburg Tourism Council, also known as Visit Williamsburg, has named Edward Harris its new CEO, the organization announced Wednesday.

Former CEO Victoria Cimino stepped down from the role in January after more than four years leading the destination marketing organization for Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.

With more than two decades of marketing and tourism experience under his belt, Harris most recently served as president and CEO of Discover Lancaster in Pennsylvania. Previously, Harris worked as chief marketing officer for the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board in Pennsylvania and held positions in brand development for companies including Converse and Under Armour, according to his LinkedIn page.

Harris has a marketing degree from Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania and an MBA from Boston College.

“His extensive experience and impressive qualifications in the tourism and marketing industry make him the perfect fit for this role,” Ruth Larson, chair of Visit Williamsburg, said in a news release.

Harris will begin his duties June 25.

In 2022, nearly 2 million visitors spent $941.4 million throughout the region, driving $48.5 million in travel-related tax revenue.

VDOT buys Owens & Minor’s Hanover HQ for $33.5M

The Virginia Department of Transportation has purchased the Mechanicsville headquarters of Owens & Minor for $33.5 million, with plans to move the state agency’s central office there in summer 2025.

Much of VDOT’s staff will move from the Annex building at 1401 E. Broad St. into the new building at 9120 Lockwood Blvd. in Hanover County, according to Jessica Cowardin, assistant director of communications for the state agency. The 160,000-square-foot campus in Atlee Station Business Park was built by Timmons Group in 2006. VDOT also purchased an additional 50 acres, according to Newmark Group, which brokered the deal.

Meanwhile, Owens & Minor expects to vacate the building by the end of this year. The Fortune 500 global health care logistics and supplies company plans to relocate its corporate headquarters somewhere in the Richmond region. While declining to specify where the company would move, a company spokesperson said the move “better reflects the current needs of our organization and our teammates.” Owens & Minor has 1,400 employees in Virginia and more than 20,000 worldwide, including hundreds of workers in the Richmond area.

The move will not impact the company’s operations and is a reflection of workplace trends and worker preference, according to the company.

Owens & Minor headquarters
Photo courtesy Newmark

In November 2020, Owens & Minor announced it was pulling the plug on its 90,000-square-foot downtown Richmond call center and would be seeking tenants to sublet the space after so many workers started working remotely.

“We’re proud that Owens & Minor has called Richmond, Virginia, home for more than 100 years, and look forward to our continued presence in the local community,” a statement from the company said.

Brandon Turner, director of Hanover County Economic Development, said Monday that he doesn’t expect Owens & Minor’s next headquarters to be located in the county. “It would be very difficult because we don’t have a lot of Class A office space,”  he said. “What we have is very small, and I think what they’re looking for is larger than what we have available on the market in Hanover.”

Owens & Minor moving to a new headquarters is a double-edged sword, Turner said. The company will be off the county’s tax roll and VDOT, as a Virginia state agency, will not pay taxes.

“That in and of itself is a bit of a hit,” Turner said. “On the flip side, the building is heavily underutilized right now by Owens & Minor due to their [work-from-home] policies. When VDOT comes up, they will bring significantly more individuals up here, and those people will be going out into the neighboring businesses [and] eating, buying groceries, whatever. So if you own a business in this corridor, it’s going to be a boon.”

Andrew Sandquist and Adam Faulk, JC Asensio and Adam Petrillo,  Briggs Goldberg, Will Bradley and Mark Williford, all of Newmark, represented the seller on the transaction.

Owens & Minor reported $10.3 billion in 2023 revenues, up from $9.9 billion in 2022.

Peraton exec takes top spot at V2X

Jeremy Wensinger will replace Chuck Prow as president and CEO of McLean-based aerospace and defense contractor V2X on June 17, the company announced Monday.

The transition is part of a “board-led succession planning process” the company said in a news release.

Wensinger, who will also be a member of V2X”s board of directors, has more than three decades of experience as a defense and government contracting executive. He comes to V2X from Reston-based technology contractor Peraton, where he served as chief operating officer since 2017.

Previously, Wensinger was principal at Augusta Management Strategies, a consulting firm for the defense sector, as well as president at Falls Church-based government contractor PAE, which was acquired by Germantown, Maryland-based aerospace defense contractor Amentum Services in 2022.

“He has a proven track record of delivering best-in-class financial and operational performance within the broad defense services and aerospace industry, as well as a strategic approach to managing businesses, building strong stakeholder relationships and creating value,” Mary Howell, V2X’s board chairman, said in the statement.

V2X formed in 2022 from the $2.1 billion merger of Colorado-based government contractor Vectrus and Mississippi-based The Vertex Co. In June 2023, the company, which has about 16,000 employees, landed at No. 907 on the Fortune 1000 list.

V2X reported a 2023 revenue of $3.96 billion, up 8% over 2022. The company serves national security, defense, civilian and international clients with solutions related to operations and logistics, aerospace, training and technology.

Prow, who was named president and CEO of Vectrus in 2016, has more than 30 years of experience in information technology and federal services. He previously worked as a general manager of global government industry and in other roles at IBM. He also worked at Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“As the company nears the two-year anniversary of completing the transformational merger of Vectrus with Vertex to create the V2X platform, we thank Chuck for his dedication and valuable contributions,” Howell said in a statement. “During his tenure as CEO, the company delivered significant organic growth as well as further diversified its contract and customer base, established entirely new technological and service capabilities and delivered an enhanced customer and employee experience.”

Hampton Roads home sales, prices up in April

Home sales across Hampton Roads were up in April, as the region also racked up near-record median sales prices, the Real Estate Information Network (REIN) reported Friday.

There were 2,189 settled sales for the month, up from 2,057 in March and 2,053 in April 2023, according to REIN. There were 2,569 pending sales, compared with 2,317 in March and 2,363 in April 2023.

The median sales price of homes sold regionally in April was $344,000, the second-highest MSP on record in the region and up from $332,000 in March and $320,000 in April 2023.

“Even though mortgage rates remain around 7%, consumers are willing to spend what they need to spend in order to get the home they want,” Gary Lundholm of the Real Estate Group and president of REIN’s board said in a news release announcing the data.

There were 3,837 active listings in April, compared with 3,574 in March and 3,156 in April 2023. The number of median days homes stayed on the market in April was 14, down from 18 in March, but up from 12 in April 2023, according to REIN.

The number of active listings was 3,837, up compared with 3,574 in March and up from 3,156 in April 2023.

“The combination of increased sales and increased inventory is a positive development for the local market,” Lundholm said.

REIN is the multiple listing service in Hampton Roads and has about 9,000 members. It serves an area that stretches from Williamsburg and Gloucester down to Edenton, North Carolina.

This iconic, round office building in Richmond’s Museum District sold for $1.2M

One of Richmond’s most Instagram-worthy buildings has sold for $1.2 million.

Located on the corner of Thompson Street and Floyd Avenue in the Museum District,  the 1950s-era, circular building previously served as headquarters for Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market, a local organic grocer. The building sold on April 23 but Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced the sale last week.

Rick Hood, the grocery store’s former owner and an architect who previously practiced at Richmond’s Glavé Newman Anderson, bought the building in 2015 for $300,000.

In 2017, Hood went to work renovating the building. Partnering with a project team that included Richmond-based Walter Parks Architects, Dunlap & Partners Engineers, Four Winds Design, Sadler & Whitehead and J.A. Heisler Contracting, Hood’s restoration “kept the architectural integrity of the existing structure but also enhanced functionality and aesthetic details,” according to a news release issued last week about the sale from Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer Capital Markets Group.

The renovated building at 3540 Floyd Ave. won the 2021 American Institute of Architects Virginia Test of Time Award, which recognizes a structure that is 25 years old or older that still stands “as originally designed in appearance and in good condition.”

The western exterior courtyard of the building has been often used for community gatherings, such as events for Historic Richmond, according to Hood. “We can accommodate 125 people there,” he said.

After Hood sold his organic grocery store in 2023 to Florida-based Healthier Choices Management, he put the round office building up for sale.

It sold last month to an entity tied to real estate developer Dan Hargett, founder and CEO of Richmond-based Roka Partners, according to the release. Hargett did not immediately return a request for comment. Hood declined to comment about Hargett’s plans for the circular building.

After the extensive renovation, Hood said he didn’t make “much money” on the sale. “A little, but that was fine,” he said. “I wanted to do a nice job.”

A collage of shots of a round building built in the 1950s.
Photos courtesy Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer Capital Markets Group

This wasn’t a quick flip for Hood. “It was something that just gave me a lot of satisfaction to to bring back a special building that the community values and then to frankly … find someone that really wanted to continue to treat it in that way, and I think Dan Hargett is just the right person to do it.”

Dr. William Higgins Jr. was responsible for bringing the iconic building to the Museum District. When considering a new office in the 1950s, Higgins Jr., consulted with his friend Leslie Cheek Jr., an architect and director at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, according to the news release. He took Cheek’s advice and hired David Yerkes, a Washington, D.C.-based architect.

“It was done very, very well by Yerkes,” Hood said. “And you know the details and the quality of the materials. All the trim was redwood. And it’s old growth redwood, so all of it remains today in good shape.”

Dr. Jack Ashworth went on to practice for more than a half century — until 2016 — in the 2,750-square-foot office building. In the release, Ashworth praised the way the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows allow morning light to stream inside.

The transaction was handled by Catharine Spangler of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s Capital Markets Group.

 

VCU launches pharmaceutical sciences undergrad degree

Graduate school isn’t a prerequisite for a career in the pharmaceutical industry. 

Virginia Commonwealth University’s new Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) degree will prepare students to step into pharma jobs like quality assurance technicians, research technologists and laboratory technicians, according to Kelechi “K.C.” Ogbonna, dean of VCU’s School of Pharmacy. 

VCU will be the first public university in Virginia to offer the BSPS degree when it begins enrolling students in the fall, according to an announcement the university made Thursday. Hampton University, a private university, also offers the BSPS degree. Nationally, several institutions offer the degree. 

“What’s different about this program is many of those programs were designed as feeder programs for a professional degree or a graduate degree,” Ogbonna said. “A lot of those programs were not focused on … being a standalone program that is hands on, where they’re actually translating what they learned in the classroom and in internships and externships and getting familiarity and understanding with certain tools and instruments, assurance methodologies.”

When students graduate, Ogbonna said, they should be “well-equipped to jump immediately into a pharmaceutical company, for example, and be able to begin doing that work.” 

VCU leaders were propelled to develop the undergraduate program at the school because of real-world problems, according to Ogbonna. 

In the first quarter of this year, there were 323 active medication shortages according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. A report by the U.S. Food and Drug Association, updated in 2020, identified complicated root causes for the shortage, including a lack of economic incentive to produce less profitable drugs and a failure to reward manufacturers for investing in manufacturing quality. 

A need for employees to run Central Virginia’s thriving hotbed of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies also propelled the university’s leaders to offer the degree, according to Ogbonna. 

In October, the Richmond and Petersburg region received a federal designation as an Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (APM) Tech Hub that could lead to millions in future federal funding . 

“There’s federal and state support to say, ‘Are there ways we can be more efficient about drug discovery and manufacturing? And if so, can Virginia really be the epicenter for that?’” Ogbonna said. “In order for this to work, there’s got to be a really intentional and strategic focus on workforce development.” 

Eric Edwards, co-founder and CEO of Phlow, a Richmond-based, public benefit corporation that develops and domestically manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished pharmaceutical products, said VCU’s BSPS degree will be “fantastic [for students] who are seeking to contribute beyond just a basic science field in biology or chemistry or physics and trying to move more into an applied career pathway that may involve building medicines, or pharmaceutical products or treatments.”

Previously, these students would have needed to obtain a master’s degree or doctoral degree in pharmaceutical sciences or a doctor of pharmacy degree.

“I think what’s going to happen here is this program is going to unlock and equip students to really gain momentum and move beyond just a foundation that would serve them well into graduate studies, but actually a foundation that will enable and equip them to enter into the pharmaceutical industry and gain experience earlier,” Edwards said.

There’s plenty of work for these students in Richmond, according to Edwards. “This is definitely going to be another piece of that puzzle to really strengthen the future pipeline,” he said.

Sandro da Rocha, director of pharmaceutical engineering at VCU’s School of Pharmacy, will serve as inaugural director of the undergraduate pharmaceutical sciences program. 

Ogbonna feels confident students will be gravitate toward the degree. After all, they saw firsthand the impact scientists who quickly developed a vaccine for COVID-19 made on the world. 

“There’s renewed interest amongst the public about how medications are made,” he said. 

Forty applicants vying for Shenandoah medical marijuana license

Forty complete applications were received 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 the cities of Charlottesville and Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford, according to the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.

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. The HSA 1 region has not had a licensed medical marijuana dispensary available since the state began issuing pharmaceutical processor licenses in 2018.

“This is a pay to try-to-play,” said 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 to be considered for the HSA 1 license.

The competition also reflects the lucrative nature of the license, which allows licensees to open and operate dispensaries within their designated HSA region. 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.

Virginia Cannabis Control Authority Chief Officer Jeremy Preiss, the agency’s acting head, provided Virginia Business a chart listing the names of applicants on Tuesday. It began with AYR Virginia, which lists a principal address that is shared by AYR Wellness, a Miami-based multistate cannabis business.

Another applicant for the HSA 1 license, Curaleaf Compassionate Care VA, lists a principal address that is also used by Massachusetts-based Curaleaf Holdings, the largest U.S. cannabis company, according to Stash, a New York-based financial services firm. 

CLVA, another HSA 1 applicant, lists a Chicago principal address that is also used by Cresco Labs, which Stash ranks as the sixth largest U.S. cannabis company. Another application, Trulieve Virginia, shares an address with Tallahassee, Florida-based Trulieve Cannabis, which Stash lists as the fourth largest U.S. cannabis company. 

Pure Virginia, a company connected to Pure Shenandoah, an Elkton-based, family-run CBD and hemp products business is also included on the list. Pure Virginia CEO Tanner Johnson said 40 applicants was on the higher end of what he’d expected, but he’s still optimistic about the chance of his family’s business being selected. 

“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 said. “So, if they want a company from Virginia for Virginians, then it’s going to be hard to pick anyone besides us.”

Mike Tabor, CEO of Integra Vertical in Albemarle County, got his start in medical cannabis two decades ago when a friend was diagnosed with cancer. “I started growing medicine for him, and it all just kind of ballooned from there,” he said. Greenwood-based Jackpot 777 Farms, the company behind 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, it seemed like an opportune time to make the shift into cannabis,” Tabor said. “I think [that is] a lot of people’s long-term goal in the hemp business anyway.”

The state Cannabis Control Authority plans to name the selected applicant at the end of June, according to Preiss.

Virginia is divided into five health service areas, or HSAs, for regulating medical marijuana.

In September 2018, the Virginia Board of Pharmacy issued five regional pharmaceutical processor licenses for medical cannabis dispensaries.

Dharma Pharmaceuticals opened Virginia’s first dispensary in Bristol in 2020, with three other Virginia HSAs following. 

The processor initially given a conditional permit for HSA 1 was PharmaCann Virginia, originally a subsidiary of Illinois-based PharmaCann. However, that permit was revoked in 2020 after the company failed to build a facility by the December 2019 deadline.

PharmaCann Virginia filed suit against the Virginia Board of Pharmacy in Henrico County Circuit Court in September 2020. New applications for conditional permits for pharmaceutical processors in HSA 1 were put on hold during litigation. 

In April 2023, Virginia’s Court of Appeals agreed with the circuit court, which rejected PharmaCann Virginia’s argument that the Board of Pharmacy treated it differently than the four other pharmaceutical processors in the state.

The current landscape

Virginia currently has four pharmaceutical processors of medical marijuana owned by three out-of-state companies. 

Maryland-based Green Leaf Medical was selected to serve patients in HSA IV, which includes Richmond, while New York-based Columbia Care was tapped to serve HSA V, which includes the Hampton Roads area. 

In 2021, Columbia Care bought Green Leaf Medical for $240 million. Columbia Care, which rebranded as the Cannabist Co. in September 2023, has operations in 15 states. It had more than $511 million in revenue in 2023 and reported that Virginia operations made up $16.5% of that number. 

Abingdon-based Dharma Pharmaceuticals received the processing license for HSA III, which encompasses Southwest Virginia. Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries purchased Dharma Pharmaceuticals in 2021, reportedly paying about $80 million in cash and stocks. With operations in 14 states, Green Thumb Industries reported a revenue of $1.05 billion in 2023.

Alexandria-based Dalitso received the permit to operate in Health Service Area II, which includes Northern Virginia. In December 2020, Florida-based Jushi Holdings announced it had acquired the 100% of the issued and outstanding equity of Dalitso. In 2019, it reported having paid about $16 million for 62% of the company. 

Jushi had a total revenue of $269.4 million in 2023. A spokesperson for Jushi declined to disclose state-by-state revenues. 

Messages to Green Thumb Industries asking what percentage of their total revenue came from Virginia operations were not immediately returned. 

The Cannabist Co. operates 10 dispensaries in Virginia, while Jushi and Green Thumb Industries both operate six each.

Tabor said he’d like to see the last service area go to a Virginia-owned company and “have some of the revenue directly contribute back into our local economy.”

The CCA contracted with Massachusetts-based Cannabis Public Policy Consulting to complete a report on Virginia’s medical marijuana program, which was released in November 2023. A key finding of the report was that Virginia does not have a track-and-trace system, which allows states to track cannabis from the moment a seed is planted to when a retail sale is made. 

In 2022, there were 1,846,313 medical cannabis “dispensations” reported to the Prescription Monitoring Program, according to a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health Professions. In 2023, there were 3,356,376 medical cannabis dispensations in the commonwealth.

The CCA has issued a request for proposals for a seed-to-sale tracking system that’s due May 12, with an expedited six-month implementation timeline.

“Once we have seed-to-sale tracking software in place, we will track medical marijuana sales,” Preiss wrote in an email Tuesday.