From architecture to construction, these are the professionals who are building Virginia’s future and leaving legacies in steel, brick and glass.
Clayborne
Corey Clayborne
Executive vice president, American Institute of Architects Virginia
Richmond
Corey Clayborne confesses that he did not make all A’s in his architecture design studio as a college student at Virginia Tech, but he’s working to make an A-plus impact on the architecture profession as executive vice president of the American Institute of Architects Virginia. In December, Clayborne will attend a Washington, D.C., ceremony honoring his 2020 induction into the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious College of Fellows. Passionate about using his platform to bring people together, Clayborne recently launched the Blueprint for Better Communities dinner series to promote relationship building between architects and government leaders. “Iron sharpens iron,” says Clayborne, a mentor with 100 Black Men of Central Virginia and a member of the 2021 class of Lead Virginia. “The more awesome people you can surround yourself with, it has no choice but to impact you.”
Lionberger
Samuel L. Lionberger III
CEO, Lionberger Construction Co.
Roanoke
As a young man, Samuel Lionberger III dreamed of life as a professional golfer. When he discovered he needed money to pay for his car while a student at Virginia Tech, he settled for a job as a laborer at his family’s business, Lionberger Construction Co. Slowly, he fell in love with the industry. “There’s nothing like it,” says Lionberger, who ascended to CEO after his father, Samuel Lionberger Jr., retired in 2010. “It’s a very rewarding career to create.” Founded by Lionberger’s great uncle John C. Senter, the company will celebrate 100 years in business in 2022. Currently, Lionberger Construction is restoring the 1700s-era Warm Spring Pools at the Omni Homestead Resort in Bath County.
Georgie Márquez
President, Andre Marquez Architects Inc.
Norfolk
Georgie Márquez has always been fascinated by drawing and creating spaces. She left her native Puerto Rico for New York to study architecture at the Pratt Institute, where she met her husband, Joel André. In 1993, the couple opened their architecture firm in Norfolk. “Many people think architecture is the building, but it’s really about designing space,” she says. One of the firm’s biggest projects is designing above-ground buildings for the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project. “It’s kind of amazing that a little firm like ours is involved in a project of that size in our region,” Márquez says. A member of the 2021 class of Lead Virginia, Márquez was appointed to the Norfolk mayor’s Advisory Commission on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in 2018 and has worked on the technical advisory committee for the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan. She also serves as vice chair of diversity for the Hampton Roads Chamber’s executive committee.
High achievers all, these Virginians are well-rounded leaders in their fields and their communities, sharing their expertise and moving the needle for growth and progress.
Barefoot
Buffy Barefoot
President Virginia Beach, TowneBank
Virginia Beach
Born and raised in Hampton Roads, Buffy Barefoot hasn’t strayed far from the ZIP code she grew up in. After attending Virginia Tech, she spent 18 years with Bank of America and the past nine with TowneBank. “I just like working with different companies in the community and assisting them with their financial needs in order to help them achieve their goals and dreams,” says Barefoot, who oversees the bank’s largest region, with five branches and almost 30% of the market share in Hampton Roads. A member of Lead Virginia’s class of 2021, Barefoot loves the community aspect of her job. “We make decisions based upon the needs of our community and our decision-making process is localized. We know the folks that we are doing business with. They are our neighbors.”
Bennett
Jeremy Bennett
Director of intergovernmental affairs, Virginia Association
of Counties
Richmond
As director of intergovernmental affairs for the Virginia Association of Counties, Jeremy Bennett works to find common ground among Virginia’s counties, from Accomack to York. It’s helpful that local government issues tend to be bread-and-butter ones like school funding, which Virginia splits between state and local governments. Local governments appropriate about $4 billion above what is required by Virginia for education, and state funding has not returned to what it used to be before the Great Recession, says Bennett, a member of Lead Virginia’s 2021 class. This General Assembly session, Bennett will advocate for counties to receive increased education funding or to be granted funding methods beyond property taxes, particularly for school construction and modernization, given that about half of Virginia public schools are more than 50 years old.
Cardaci
Michael Cardaci
CEO, HRTec and FedHIVE
Alexandria
A George Mason University graduate who has worked in information technology for more than two decades, Michael Cardaci leads cloud computing company Human Resources Technologies Inc. (HRTec) and FedHIVE, a network of IT experts who help government agencies and contractors navigate FedRAMP and other public sector tech programs. “I’ve always been in IT from school on, and trying to help folks solve problems,” says Cardaci, a member of the 2021 class of Lead Virginia. “You get a particular enjoyment from getting folks ‘fixed.’” That instinct carries over to Cardaci’s personal life. “I want to leave the community better than I found it,” says Cardaci, who coaches girls’ basketball and mentors Northern Virginia Community College students interested in cloud computing and cybersecurity.
Carey
Ron Carey
Founder and CEO, Tilt Creative + Production
Richmond
Tilt Creative + Production is making magic, says founder and CEO Ron Carey. “What I love about [content production] is the fact that you have the potential to have a very positive impact on society in terms of … the messaging that you put in front of people,” says Carey, whose agency produces advertising and promotional content for clients including Capital One, Walmart and Audi of America. Attracting good people and a diverse team is key to success, says Carey, a Henrico County native who played football at the University of Virginia. Following COVID-19’s acceleration of technology usage, Tilt can grow with remote teams outside of Richmond, and the all-in-one production company now offers remote video production, allowing clients to see what’s happening in the studio.
Ford
Stephanie Ford
Director, Warren Whitney
Richmond
Richmond native Stephanie Ford has been with management consulting firm Warren Whitney since 2004, following an earlier career in commercial banking. Although she works in several areas — strategic marketing, business development, financing and administration — Ford says her primary job is helping small and midsize businesses grow. “I’m just a real believer in doing what’s right for the client,” she says. During the pandemic, a lot of her advice has focused on managing cash flow and helping businesses budget and forecast during uncertain times. Outside of work, Ford is a fan of the James River, hiking, gardening and photography. A member of the 2021 class of Lead Virginia, she’s also a member of the Virginia Council of CEOs board and James Madison University’s Honors Advisory Council.
Griggs
Damon Griggs
CEO, Dovel Technologies
McLean
A passion for purposeful problem-solving drives Damon Griggs’ business and personal philosophy. Griggs is CEO of Dovel Technologies, a McLean-based software technology company that works with clients across a variety of sectors, from public health to emergency management and community development grants. Griggs, who this year was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the mid-Atlantic, says he’s not the stereotypical entrepreneur, having picked up the “bug” later in his career. Outside of Dovel, Griggs is an avid soccer fan who has attended at least five World Cups.
Hayslett
Rus Hayslett Jr.
Vice president of operations, Virginia Natural Gas
Smithfield
Portsmouth native Rus Hayslett Jr. grew up hearing about the natural gas industry around the dinner table from his mother, who led customer service operations for a local gas company. Hayslett, who holds a civil engineering technology degree from Old Dominion University, started working in the industry himself at age 18, taking an entry-level position on a crew truck. “I probably connect with our field folks more than anybody else because I’ve been there,” says Hayslett, who joined Virginia Natural Gas in 2010 after working for three other gas companies. A member of Lead Virginia’s 2021 class, Hayslett serves on the executive committee for the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors and is on the executive advisory board for ODU’s Batten College of Engineering and Technology.
After 13 years as Richmond commonwealth’s attorney, Michael Herring resigned in 2019 to become a partner at McGuireWoods, the state’s largest law firm. In August, he became managing partner of the firm’s Richmond office. Herring decided to re-enter private practice because he believes that turnover is healthy, he says, and thought it was time to pass on the prosecutorial mantle. Though he misses having a broader impact on Richmond and advocating for policy change, he appreciates not worrying that the decisions he makes will be interpreted through a political lens. Another shift is his practice area, which focuses on property rights and business disputes rather than criminal law. From all accounts, McGuireWoods appears to be the right place for him: “I like to tell folks they’ll have to drag me out of here.”
Jones
Herb Jones
Co-founder and CEO,
Pyramid Technologies LLC
Providence Forge
Herb Jones says that joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in college was the single best decision of his life, leading to a decade serving in the U.S. Army, where he learned “how to follow and how to lead” during two tours in Iraq. He and his brother Michael then formed Pyramid Technologies, a federal contracting technology business based in Providence Forge. A former three-term New Kent County treasurer, Jones was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam to the Virginia Military Advisory Council and serves on the boards of several nonprofits, including Virginia NORML, Advancing Community Excellence and Roanoke Area Ministries. A Lead Virginia 2021 class member, Jones unsuccessfully ran for a state Senate seat as a Democrat in 2019 and plans to run again in 2023: “I am at the point in life where it is important to prepare the way for future generations.”
McDaniel
Vanity McDaniel
Senior payments business advisor,
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Richmond
Having begun her career at the state Auditor of Public Accounts, Vanity McDaniel now oversees regional Payments Advisory Councils for the Richmond Fed and serves as a key adviser to executive leadership on strategic initiatives such as FedNow, an upcoming service that will enable financial institutions to deliver end-to-end instant payments to customers. McDaniel is a member of the 2021 class of Lead Virginia, through which, she says, she’s learned the value of open-mindedness in breaking down silos for the community good. She notes that it’s an exciting time for the Fed due to innovations “such as cryptocurrency, mobile payment apps [and] cross-border payments.” In 2022, she’ll be closely watching initiatives related to faster payments, central bank digital currency and collaborations between financial tech companies and financial institutions on payment initiatives.
McRoberts
Scot McRoberts
Executive director, Virginia Council of CEOs
Richmond
It can be lonely at the top for a CEO, but the nonprofit Scot McRoberts heads up provides peer support to top executives. McRoberts helped found the Virginia Council of CEOs 21 years ago and now the organization is setting its sights for statewide expansion beyond Central Virginia, with hopes of doubling the organization’s size in five years. McRoberts has helped set up CEO roundtables in Charlottesville, Roanoke and Northern Virginia and is planning one for Hampton Roads. The council provided a lifeline for CEOs during the pandemic, says McRoberts, a 2021 Lead Virginia class member. Instead of meeting once a month, groups of CEOs would talk weekly, helping each other, trying to figure out what would happen next. The organization restarted smaller in-person events over the summer and held its first large event again in September. But the group is also looking at how to integrate more virtual and targeted events, saving time for busy execs.
Middleton
Cecilia “Cricket” Middleton
Director of North American contract management, Accenture
Warrenton
“I tell people I worked from home before it was cool,” says Cricket Middleton, who oversees a legal team across the United States and Canada, an endeavor necessitating a lot of virtual communication. During the start of the pandemic, Middleton instituted a nonmandatory “drop-in” virtual call for her employees to bring questions. It proved so popular, it’s become permanent, she says. A native of Florida, Middleton worked for many of the largest government contractors — Harris Corp., Northrop Grumman and Boeing — before joining Accenture, where she focuses on contract management. She and her husband live in Warrenton with two hybrid English sheepdog-poodles, Willoughby and Miss Moneypenny, and spend a lot of time outside. Middleton is in Lead Virginia’s 2021 class.
Miller
Kelley C. Miller
Partner,
Reed Smith LLP
Ashburn
Named one of the most influential female federal tax law attorneys in the nation by Law360 in 2019, Kelley Miller is a partner at Reed Smith’s Washington, D.C., office, where her clients include Fortune 25
companies and privately held corporations worth more than $1 billion. Also an adjunct professor who teaches federal partnership tax at Georgetown University Law Center, she loves tax work because it’s challenging, noting that she majored in literary classics as an undergrad. “Federal income tax code is encyclopedic, very dense. … Classical authors [were too].” One of very few lawyers nationwide with expertise in cannabis law, she expects the field to grow in 2022 — pun intended. A member of Lead Virginia’s 2021 class, Miller is a recipient of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation’s Janet Spragens Pro Bono Award and the Thomson Reuters Everyday Hero Award.
Ohmsen
Mike Ohmsen
Vice president of operations and electronic tolling, Faneuil Inc.
Hampton
Mike Ohmsen is proud of his Virginia heritage, which goes back hundreds of years on both sides of his family. A Chesapeake native, he lives in the neighborhood he grew up in. He’s always been interested in sales, customer service and taking care of people. A member of Lead Virginia’s class of 2021, Ohmsen likes to say that Faneuil is a fairly large company you’ve never heard of, and that’s by design. The company contracts with tolling companies such as E-Z Pass to provide customer service at call centers and it has contracts up and down the East Coast. Ohmsen, who studied finance at James Madison University, worked for Bank of America for about 25 years. But many people also know Ohmsen for being a nationally ranked water-skier and a past president of the Virginia Water Ski Federation.
Russell
Kyle Russell
CEO, Virginia Health Information
Richmond
There’s never been more demand or interest for health care data, says Kyle Russell, who was promoted to CEO of Virginia Health Information in October. VHI partners with state government to collect and disseminate health care-related data, a mission that became even more important for informing public health decisions amid the pandemic. Russell has been with VHI for eight years, starting as a data analyst. VHI’s biggest focus right now is an emergency department care coordination program that links together hospital emergency departments and inpatient facilities with insurance plans for real-time data transfers. A Richmond-area native, Russell also teaches a class on health care analytics at Virginia Commonwealth University and is a member of Lead Virginia’s 2021 class.
Shaw
L.G. Shaw
CEO, Wave Riding Vehicles (WRV)
Virginia Beach
L.G. Shaw’s nickname comes from a popular 1980s wetsuit brand model. It makes sense, considering that he grew up working in a family business that’s the largest East Coast manufacturer of surfboards and a major retailer of surf products in Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks, where WRV’s five-dolphins/wave logo is a familiar sight. Shaw, who became CEO this year, taking over from his father, also serves as president for Friends of the Creative District, which promotes and supports Virginia Beach’s ViBe Creative District. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing, snowboarding and fishing. “At the end of the day, we just want to surf and enjoy
Sturgis
Monica Sturgis
Chief human resources officer, Virginia Port Authority
Norfolk
Mississippi native Monica Sturgis has worked for a variety of major companies, including Bridgestone, BASF, Pfizer and Diageo, before joining the Port of Virginia about a year ago. Her wide-ranging background has helped her understand the importance of supply chains and logistics to business operations, she says. The Port of Virginia stands out for its excellence in service, as well as the key role the port plays as an economic driver, says Sturgis, adding that her true passion is people. “My core — human resources — [the] beat of my heart, if you will, is to … help people find jobs and the resources they need to sustain their livelihood.” Sturgis is a member of the 2021 class of statewide leadership program Lead Virginia.
From helping the Washington Football Team rebrand itself to safeguarding the legacy of a beloved painter for a new generation to launching a $1 billion university campus, these are the people who lend their faces and voices to high-profile endeavors.
Fitterer
Franki Fitterer
Director of communications and marketing, Virginia Tech Innovation Campus
Alexandria
Franki Fitterer became Virginia Tech Innovation Campus’ director of communications and marketing on Aug. 25, three weeks before the groundbreaking on the $1 billion campus. The position is right for her, she says, as it lets her apply her prior experience with opening American University’s Washington College of Law, while also pursuing her interest in the tech industry. “I get to do something different almost every day,” says Fitterer. “I work with a variety of audiences, ranging from students to alumni to faculty and board members, all of whom require different communications methods.”
Jarvis
Brandon Jarvis
Editor, Virginia Scope
Colonial Heights
This has been the year of the email newsletter, with many high-profile columnists and other writers decamping from legacy publications to self-run email missives focused on a cornucopia of topics. Brandon Jarvis is Virginia’s go-to General Assembly interpreter, “taking these crazy processes and boiling them down” to a newsletter format that makes sense to the layperson. He also keeps about 6,000 newsletter subscribers informed about statewide political races. The Virginia Commonwealth University grad had an epiphany when an editor rejected a freelance story pitch, deeming it “too local.” Jarvis says “too local” is exactly what some readers want in their coverage, so he launched Virginia Scope in July 2020. Next year, he’ll be focusing on Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s new administration, and hot topics such as commercial marijuana.
Koehler
Ha Koehler
Managing partner, On Point Transportation PR
Virginia Beach
Ha Koehler is like a translator, but the language she speaks is the technical jargon of complicated infrastructure projects around the commonwealth. About three years ago, she and her business partner founded On Point PR, which specializes in handling marketing and public relations for infrastructure, transportation, transit, stormwater and construction projects around Virginia. “We found that there is a little bit of a need in helping to translate to the public what’s going on,” says Koehler, who is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation to promote its massive, $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project. A lot of her work requires breaking down technical jargon into easier-to-understand terms. Next year, she hopes to expand On Point’s focus across the state.
Misselbrook
Will Misselbrook
Chief creative and digital officer, Washington Football Team
Ashburn
A U.K. native who built a marketing and branding career at The Wall Street Journal, Coach and Condé Nast, Misselbrook now is responsible for the rebranding of the Washington Football Team, which he joined in May as the first chief creative officer in NFL history. Washington’s new name and logo — replacing the generic, interim “Football Team” name instituted last year after the team dropped its racially offensive Redskins moniker — will be revealed at an as-yet-undisclosed date in 2022, he says. In the meantime, Misselbrook is working on day-to-day content during the NFL season and growing his marketing team into a “fully fledged branded studio,” which will involve hiring additional people in the next six to 12 months before the reveal. A fan of soccer and, now, American football, Misselbrook splits his time between Northern Virginia and Los Angeles, where his fiancée lives.
Strohl
Sarah Strohl
Executive assistant, Bob Ross Inc.
Herndon
When Sarah Strohl watched the Netflix documentary “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed” this summer, she was surprised to spot herself on screen. Strohl oversees social media accounts for Herndon-based Bob Ross Inc., which carries on the legacy of the beloved landscape painter, who died in 1995 but lives on via reruns of his “Joy of Painting” episodes. Strohl often advises her bosses on licensing deals — her successes include the popular Funko Pop! figure of Ross — and has also facilitated loans of Ross’ paintings and artifacts to institutions including the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The documentary painted a fairly negative portrait of Bob Ross Inc., which was sued by Ross’ son over intellectual property rights, but Strohl says the film hasn’t impacted her day-to-day life. “I haven’t had anyone come up to me yet and ask, ‘Are you that person?’”
Compare economic development wish lists across Virginia, and you’ll find one item in common. It’s not a specific manufacturer, a large health care system, or even a lucrative brewery.
It’s a data center — or two, or three.
These massive warehouse-like structures, full of computers, servers, and other digital equipment, hold the keys to internet connectivity, and they have become darlings of the economic development world.
Community leaders laud the many benefits that data centers can bring, from large capital investment and high-paying jobs to significant tax revenues and renewable energy. But they also bring some development challenges, such as requiring large tracts of land and fiber networks. Plus, not every resident wants a massive data center in their backyard.
Even so, data centers are multiplying throughout Virginia. And nowhere is that more apparent than in Loudoun County, which houses the largest concentration of data centers in the world.
Growing demand
“There aren’t that many growth industries in the country right now, places where there is ready capital and ready demand,” says Buddy Rizer, Loudoun’s executive director for economic development. “Data centers would be on that list. In our internal research, we think globally that demand for data centers will outstrip supply for the majority of the decade. The better the commonwealth does [with data center development], the better it is for all of us. It impacts education, … taxesand … quality of life.”
In fact, the data center drive is one of the primary reasons that Will Payne swapped his urban Richmond lifestyle for rural Southwest Virginia. He relocated his marketing business, Coalfield Strategies, to take on a major project to attract economic development investment — including data centers — to Southwest Virginia.
“It’s kind of a point of pride that this region should not be limited to certain industries,” says Payne, who formerly worked as chief deputy for the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, now rebranded as the Virginia Department of Energy as of Oct. 1. “We can go for the growing data center industry.”
Southwest Virginia has some big acts to follow, in particular Loudoun County, which has more than 25 million square feet of data center space.
Other localities in Virginia are attracting data center companies and eagerly eyeing growth, much of which has been sparked in the past year by a pandemic that intensified demand for cloud-based and streaming data services. From streaming movies on Netflix to holding Zoom meetings, if it’s an online activity, it originates from a data center.
“There’s no doubt that COVID-19 significantly increased the need for data or cloud services,” says Stan Blackwell, director of customer service and strategic partnerships for Dominion Energy Inc., one of the state’s top suppliers of power for data centers. “Our view is that this industry is not going to slow down. It’s the adoption of technology by society that’s driving growth.”
Loudoun County’s maximum daily energy use for its data centers is 2 gigawatts — “roughly the equivalent of powering 500,000 homes,” Rizer says. Also, data centers require “miles and miles” of fiber cables installed underground. In Loudoun, companies are adding fiber ducts underneath the center of roads, and the cables need to be replaced regularly. Some date back to America Online’s earliest days at Dulles, where its headquarters opened in 1996.
Henrico County’s data center industry got its start in the mid-1990s, when construction began on White Oak Technology Park, now home to the county’s burgeoning data centers. In 2017, QTS, a data center company, opened a 1.3 million-square-foot building at the park, its fourth-largest location in the world. Since then, Facebook launched the first phase of a $1 billion data center there in 2020, and there’s still 1,000 acres left at the park, says Anthony Romanello, executive director of the Henrico Economic Development Authority.
One of the attractions for data centers in Henrico is a network access point adjacent to the technology park. Established by QTS, the access point links to three ultra-high-speed, subsea fiber-optic telecommunications cables that come ashore in Virginia Beach, connecting data networks in the United States, Europe and South America.
Anthony Romanello, executive director of Henrico County’s economic development office, says the county is marketing itself for international connectivity. Photo by Caroline Martin
“This is big, big data,” Romanello says. “That’s why this is so critical for the ongoing development of Henrico and of Virginia, really.”
But Henrico isn’t trying to be the next Loudoun County, Romanello says. Rather, Henrico views itself as positioned for international connectivity, and it wants the benefits that data centers have proven to bring to many communities.
In 2017, Henrico slashed its tax rate for data centers from $3.50 to 40 cents per $100 of assessed value, which was likely a big factor behind Facebook’s decision to come to Henrico.
“Data centers are one of our target industries,” Romanello says. “They bring tremendous capital investment, and they are a good, clean industry.”
He points out that Facebook is offsetting its energy consumption at its Henrico data center with in-state solar energy farms. “Even though they consume energy, they are committed to providing renewables equal to what they consume,” Romanello says.
Attracting companies
Like Henrico, other Virginia localities are also lowering tax rates in an attempt to woo data centers.
Dickenson, Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton entered into a pact in March to lower data center tax rates to 24 cents per $100 of assessed value to lure the lucrative data centers to Southwest Virginia.
The low rate is one carrot, but another is offering less costly opportunities for renewable energy, says Duane Miller, executive director of the Lenowisco Planning District Commission.
For example, last year, InvestSWVA, a Southwest Virginia economic development marketing campaign directed by Payne, commissioned a study that found that former mining sites in Southwest Virginia would offer natural geothermal cooling cost benefits for data centers. According to the Project Oasis study, companies could save more than $1 million in reduced electric costs and municipal water purchases by taking advantage of the site’s naturally cool underground pools.
“It’s nature’s refrigerator, but that in and of itself is cost savings,” Miller says. “That’s one jewel in our crown for data center recruitment.”
So far, the Project Oasis study results have led to inquiries from some companies, though, as of late August, there have been no announcements of companies intending to locate data centers in Southwest, Payne says.
Conducted by Richmond-based OnPoint Development Strategies, the Project Oasis study identified six Southwest Virginia sites that meet the criteria for a 36-megawatt hyperscale data center, and four sites suitable for a smaller data center of up to 10 megawatts. Also, the study estimates that a large data center in the region would generate more than 2,000 construction jobs, as well as 40 direct jobs and 59 additional permanent jobs. A data center could result in more than $50 million in economic activity annually once operations begin.
“We’re at a point where we are trying to sell the region based on that analysis,” Payne says.
Data centers are responsible for about 13,000 jobs in Loudoun County, including employees working for internet companies that operate inside data center buildings, Rizer says.
Loudoun Economic Development Executive Director Buddy Rizer notes that although data center jobs are not numerous, the positions are well-paid. Photo by Will Schermerhorn
When Rizer was trying to sell county supervisors on the idea of building data centers in 2007 and 2008, the county’s population was starting to grow exponentially, with “tens of thousands” of new residents, who were putting a greater burden on county services like schools and emergency responders.
Data centers, however, provide about $15 in revenue for every dollar spent on government services, appealing to cost-conscious politicians — even when they weren’t clear about the technology itself.
“Early on,” Rizer recalls, “one of the supervisors said, ‘Mr. Rizer, if we have this cloud, why do we need these data centers?’ It’s been a constant education.”
In 2018, the average annual wage for Virginia’s data center jobs was $126,250, a 106% increase from 2001, when the average wage was $61,310, according to a 2020 report by Henrico County-based Mangum Economics for the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
“The jobs are very high-paid jobs, they are skills jobs. It’s important work,” says Rizer. The self-styled godfather of Loudoun’s Data Center Alley, he advises countries around the world on data center development.
Typically, data center jobs include equipment installers, engineers, security personnel, operators, and executive functions. And the data centers also result in ancillary jobs, such as HVAC contractors needed to keep the centers cool. Servers running constantly in centers produces heat, but Rizer notes that newer technology allows data centers to operate at an average temperature of 90 degrees, up from 80 degrees several years ago. “Ten degrees may not seem like much, but it is when you’re cooling a 450,000-square-foot building,” he says.
Still, data centers typically are not the largest employers in a locality. What counts the most toward their economic investment is tax revenue, Rizer says. The industry has supplied about $1.5 billion in tax revenue for Loudoun County between fiscal years 2015 and 2021, and Rizer anticipates data centers generating $500 million in county revenue for fiscal year 2022, mainly from business property taxes.
Even so, this year the county received $60 million less in tax revenue from data centers than projected. Rizer attributes the shortfall to some data centers not replacing equipment as quickly as in the past. Also, “we as a county are so far out ahead of everybody else, we’re still figuring out how to project it,” he says.
In Virginia Beach, economic development officials see data centers as drivers of large capital investment and a complement to growth in the city’s tech industry and its subsea cable connectivity.
PointOne Development Corp., a data center developer, is now building the first of two data centers at Virginia Beach’s Corporate Landing Business Park, which also houses Globalinx Subsea Colocation, a carrier-neutral, colocation data center space that provides access to the MAREA and BRUSA high-speed subsea telecommunications cables that connect Virginia with Spain, Puerto Rico and Brazil.
Smaller data center companies also are inquiring about space in the Corporate Landing Business Park.
Globalinx is key to many of these daily inquiries, says Taylor Adams, deputy city manager and director of economic development for Virginia Beach.
“When those [subsea] cables were originally built, we didn’t have the ability to offload and distribute signal [bandwidth] here in Virginia Beach,” he says. “Globalinx was part of the solution to that problem. Now we can take advantage of the bandwidth. We are seeing considerably more activity.”
Like other economic development officials, Adams expects data center demand will only continue to grow. “In professional environments with telework and remote work being part of the framework, it’s going to increase the need for cloud computing solutions and data storage,” he says. “I think that’s very good for the data center industry, and Virginia Beach is well positioned for that.”
Develop vs. preserve
But not everyone wants to see data centers multiply.
In Prince William County, which already has a significant data center presence, Elena Schlossberg leads The Coalition to Protect Prince William County. She is opposed to data center development in areas that should be preserved, including close proximity to neighborhoods and in the county’s rural crescent, which has been designated for preservation.
“We know that data centers are not going away, but we believe they belong in the appropriate places,” says Schlossberg, who has lived in the county for 20 years. “We are turning into a digital gateway.”
Conversely, another group of Prince William County landowners wants the county to become a digital gateway and allow for more data center development. At least 12 landowners who live on Pageland Lane want their agricultural land, which already holds numerous Dominion Energy transmission lines, rezoned to allow up to 21 million square feet of new data centers. They call the project the Prince William Digital Gateway.
Although the county already has about 4.75 million square feet of data centers, these residents want more in order to bring jobs, help the county’s tax base and allow Prince William to compete economically with neighboring localities such as Loudoun. Plus, they want money for their land, claiming that the area’s once-rural atmosphere already has been disrupted by transmission lines and traffic.
“Where we live now is not the same as it was 22 years ago,” says Mary Ann Ghadban. One of the landowners leading the digital gateway project, she has lived in the county for 40 years. “Our way of life has been ruined. Our area is no longer rural. As landowners, we want to win. Why shouldn’t we make money off our land?”
There already are discussions underway with data center developers who are interested in the Pageland Lane land, she says.
“This is citizen activism at its best,” Ghadban says. “It’s the golden goose for us. It’s the golden goose for Prince William County. It’s a win-win.”
This article has been corrected since publication.
Taking on a new job during a pandemic could spell rough waters, particularly if the job relies on global commerce.
But the past eight months largely have been smooth sailing for Stephen Edwards, the new CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, which oversees the Port of Virginia.
Edwards came onboard in January, relocating from the West Coast where he was CEO of Los Angeles-based TraPac LLC, which operates container terminals and provides stevedore services in California and Florida. He replaced John Reinhart, who retired in January after a seven-year tenure during which he oversaw major revenue growth and expansion at the port, which had been faltering financially before Reinhart took over.
Stephen Edwards became CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority in January.
Edwards inherited a modernized port that continues to see record increases in shipping volume, despite a challenging year for the movement of goods and services. Also, the port is moving forward with numerous projects to increase its business, with the potential to benefit economic development efforts in Hampton Roads and across the state.
During the 2021 fiscal year, which ended June 30, cargo volume for the Port of Virginia, the fifth largest container port in the United States, was up by 16.8% compared with the prior year. Though cargo volume was lower in July and August 2020 due to the pandemic, the port processed 3.2 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit containers, a standard unit of cargo capacity) during fiscal 2021, compared with 2.75 million TEUs in the prior year.
Also, loaded import TEUs were up 18.6%, compared with the previous year, while rail containers rose 16.7% in fiscal 2021.
Strong e-commerce buying patterns are one of the main factors driving cargo volume increases.
“One of the outcomes of changing behavior during the pandemic has been an extraordinary boom in buying goods,” Edwards says. “There’s been a significant uptick in shipments in home improvements, whether it’s furniture or refrigerators or bathroom improvements.”
Additionally, cargo shippers “are winning confidence in Virginia as a port,” says Edwards. “We have this strong market going, and we have had people choosing to use us because we have been able to provide good service.”
Digging deep
The port’s growing business sets the stage for one of its major projects — dredging the commercial channels that serve the Norfolk Harbor to 55 feet by 2024 to accommodate super-size cargo vessels, as well as two-way shipping traffic. The $350 million project also will widen the channels to more than 1,400 feet in specific areas.
In July, the port authority board awarded a $39.5 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC to dig on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The contract builds on work by another company, Weeks Marine, which is dredging the west side.
In May, the port welcomed the CMA CGM Marco Polo, thought to be the biggest container ship ever to call in Virginia, at nearly 1,300 feet in length (more than four football fields long) with a capacity of 16,022 TEUs.
Deeper waters are needed for bigger ships.
Deepening and widening port channels “speaks directly to our customers, the ocean carriers,” says Joe Harris, spokesman for the port. “In two years, you are going to be able to bring in bigger ships and bigger ships with more cargo.”
Once complete, the channels would be able to simultaneously accommodate ultra-large container vessels. Making room for two-way traffic will increase shipping efficiency, says David White, executive director of the Virginia Maritime Association, which promotes international and domestic commerce through Virginia’s ports.
In July, the port’s board agreed to lease 70 acres at Portsmouth Marine Terminal to Dominion Energy, which will use the terminal as a construction staging site for its $7.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm. Photos courtesy Port of Virginia
Right now, when an ultra-large container ship calls on the port, the channel is restricted to one-way traffic for three to four hours, he says. Ships sailing in the opposite direction must wait until the one-way traffic restriction lifts before continuing.
Once the dredging project is complete, two-way traffic will be allowed at all times.
Also, this fall, the port will break ground on a $44 million expansion project to double the capacity of the railyard at its Norfolk International Terminals. The bulk of the work will focus on construction of 10,700 feet of new track inside the terminal.
The Norfolk rail operation can handle 368,000 containers annually. In the next decade, the port projects that it will need capacity to process an additional 200,000 containers for export. Edwards says the expansion will add about 80% more rail capacity at the Norfolk facility.
As of October 2020, 34% of the port’s total volume moved to market via double-stack rail service.
A $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2020 Port Infrastructure Development Discretionary Grants Program will help fund a portion of the Norfolk rail expansion.
InterChange Group Inc., a storage and supply chain logistics company based in Mount Crawford, plans to take advantage of this expanded rail capacity. It’s been using the port since 2005 to transport packaging materials, cabinets, frozen fruit, poultry and more via truck and rail.
InterChange has a new cold storage facility, and the company is making plans to ship more frozen foods via the port’s truck and rail services.
As of October 2020, 34% of the port’s total volume moved to market via double-stack rail service. Photos courtesy Port of Virginia
“We expect more rail movements into the future, and the Port of Virginia is a leader in rail movements already,” says Devon Anders, president of InterChange Group.
Plus, moving items by rail keeps trucks off the road, which reduces traffic congestion, he says.
Trade wind
The port has another key goal for the future — to become the hub for Virginia’s developing offshore wind industry.
In July, the port’s board agreed to lease 70 acres at its Portsmouth Marine Terminal to Dominion Energy, which plans to build its $7.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm 27 miles off Virginia Beach’s coast, erecting about 180 wind turbines. The Portsmouth terminal would be used as a staging space to deploy equipment for building the massive turbines, each of which will tower 800 feet above the ocean surface. Dominion has already installed two pilot wind turbines, each 600 feet high.
“It really is an enabling step to help the whole [offshore wind] industry develop in Hampton Roads,” Edwards says.
Hampton Roads is a prime area for this kind of industry to grow because it has accessible ports and employs a workforce that is similar to the one already employed by the region’s maritime and Navy facilities, says Matt Smith, director of offshore wind business development for the Hampton Roads Alliance.
“When we talk about the Port of Virginia, one of our natural advantages is our port infrastructure. We feel like it’s the best and well suited to support the offshore wind industry on the East Coast,” he says.
There will be at least 900 jobs needed to support various stages of developing, manufacturing, installing and operating the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, according to an economic analysis conducted by Glen Allen-based Mangum Economics for the alliance. Also, it’s estimated that for each gigawatt of new offshore wind energy capacity, it will require roughly 3,100 workers in Hampton Roads, and the Dominion wind farm plans to generate 2.6 gigawatts.
“It’s not often that you have the chance to be one of the hubs of the industry that has the potential to create a lot of jobs and new development in the region,” Smith says. “We’re excited about the industry for both of those benefits.”
The Portsmouth Marine Terminal is well positioned to support the Dominion project due to its proximity to the ocean, as well as the fact that there are no bridges that ships must pass under, making it easier to ferry large wind turbine components, White says. “We have tremendous advantages in terms of infrastructure,” he adds.
But all of Virginia, not just Hampton Roads, stands to reap economic benefits from the development of the offshore wind industry. The economic impact of the project has the potential to trickle throughout the state, White says. For example, the Dominion wind farm turbines will need companies to install service elevators for maintenance, White says, and those may come from outside the region.
The Port of Virginia offers numerous benefits for Virginia’s economic development, whether in offshore wind development or other work. But one needed ingredient to help the port continue to grow and boost Virginia’s economy is drawing more large manufacturing companies to the commonwealth, says Stephen Moret, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. He also serves on the port’s board.
“If you imagine, a huge portion of the business of the Port of Virginia is not starting or ending in Virginia,” Moret says. “We are missing out on opportunities that are not in the port’s control. Attracting more of these large projects to locate in Virginia, they would be great customers for the port and maximize the return on investment.”ν
Six hundred. That’s how many Advance Auto Parts employees are bidding adieu to their desks, cubicles, printers, water coolers and commutes in Roanoke, the city where the company was founded in 1932.
The giant auto parts retailer won’t be bringing back employees to its 275,288-square-foot office space at Crossroads Mall. They’ve all been working remotely for more than a year, during the pandemic. Why come back now? the company says.
“Our corporate team members have adapted really well to working remotely,” says Advance spokesman Darryl Carr, discussing the company’s decision from his home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he is working remotely. Advance moved its corporate headquarters to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2019.
“We came off one of the best years in our company history, and this year has started off as well, if not better,” he says. “It didn’t seem to make sense for our team members to be going into an office full time again.”
Advance also plans to close a smaller 9,668-square-foot office in Richmond, where 50 other employees will continue working remotely.
Advance is not alone in making this transition. After the pandemic sent people around the globe home to work from their dining room tables, couches or home offices for at least 15 months, companies are evaluating whether to return to an office space as America gradually reopens and more people receive COVID-19 vaccines.
Some Fortune 500 companies based in Virginia have already made decisions. Capital One Financial Corp. in Tysons notified workers in June that it would be moving to a hybrid work model, alternating between remote and in-person days. Richmond-based utility Dominion Energy Inc. is launching a one-year pilot program allowing eligible employees to work hybrid schedules. Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. in Henrico County is allowing salaried employees to continue remote work. And Goochland County’s CarMax has said it will allow some workers to have hybrid schedules, while others will work remotely.
While many businesses may resume some level of in-person work, office spaces and the ways that companies use those spaces likely will not look the same as before the pandemic.
Weighing the options
Across Virginia, commercial real estate brokers and representatives are working with office customers who have a plethora of new needs, sparked by the rise of remote or hybrid working options.
Some want less office space, while some want more in order for employees to spread out for social distancing. And still others want to create “hoteling” and “hot-desking” areas, which would allow for workers with flexible schedules to share common desks. Others are leaving the office behind altogether.
In large urban areas such as Northern Virginia, landlords are offering short-term leases and other incentives to entice businesses back to physical office spaces. Right now, office tenants are asking for shorter term leases rather than making 10-year commitments, says Joseph Farina, principal of the Washington, D.C., region for Divaris Real Estate Inc.
In New York City, some office landlords are lowering rents and even outfitting buildings with new restaurants and club-like dining, even including speakeasies, in order to make the return-to-office experience more attractive for tenants.
“Just a computer on a desk isn’t much of a draw,” says Farina, whose company’s Tysons office building recently added a fitness center.
The pandemic has changed the world of full-time work, and the office market may never look the same, some real estate executives say.
At the height of the pandemic, some firms made knee-jerk reactions, dramatically downsizing office space, says Julie Whelan, global head of occupier research for commercial real estate firm CBRE.
But with nearly 50% of the U.S. population fully vaccinated as of late June and most states dropping restrictions, some businesses are backpedaling as they perceive it to be safer to return to the office.
Hampton Roads has seen a sharp increase in office space subleasing, says Perry Frazer, executive vice president and principal at Colliers’ Norfolk office. Photo by Mark Rhodes;
“The pandemic wore on and the cracks began to form around what was really beneficial about working from home versus what was detrimental,” Whelan says.
According to CBRE’s spring 2021 Occupier Survey of 185 U.S.-based companies, 41% of companies said they planned to return to offices by the third quarter of the year. Just 9% of companies reported that their office portfolios would become significantly smaller over the next three years. That’s compared with 39% of companies surveyed in September 2020. However, about 72% of the companies said they were planning for modest office space reductions this year, which was up from 45% last September.
Largely, companies continue to weigh their options, though. Office vacancy rates in Virginia rose during the first quarter of 2021, but rents rose or remained steady in most markets, according to the Virginia Realtors association.
At the end of 2020 and in early 2021, businesses started to consider and even make some decisions about what they would do with their office space.
“The fact that they were making decisions started to drive deals,” says Perry Frazer, executive vice president and principal at the Norfolk office of Colliers, a commercial real estate firm with offices throughout Virginia and the United States.
In some cases, these decisions may not be cost-driven, Whelan says. “They are not a lever you need to pull … from a profitability standpoint. It’s a lever you are pulling because of how your people work.”
Commercial real estate analytics company CoStar Group sublet 51,000 square feet of office space from Owens & Minor at Richmond’s Riverfront Plaza. Photo by Caroline Martin
Subleasing on a roll
Some of the changes in office space are evident from the increasing amounts of subleased space on the market as companies seek alternatives to paying for square footage that they no longer need.
For instance, as of late June, there were several 50,000- and 100,000-square-foot office locations available for sublease in Hampton Roads, which has never been a sublease market, Frazer says.
“Subleases tend to offer companies more flexibility,” Frazer says. “They are typically shorter-term leases. The reason that that works for tenants is [that] right now people are still uncertain on what … [their business model] will look like in two, three or four years.”
Rent relief and relaxed leasing terms are several ways that landlords are attracting sublease tenants, real estate representatives say.
It’s working — at least in the Norfolk area.
Much of the sublet space that became available last year already has been filled, says Craig Cope, executive vice president for Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate in Norfolk.
In Richmond, CoStar Group, a Washington, D.C.-based commercial real estate analytics and information provider, took over approximately 51,000 square feet of office space at Riverfront Plaza, subletting from Mechanicsville-based Fortune 500 medical supply company Owens & Minor, which moved out of the space because of its increased number of remote-work employees.
The picture is similar in Northern Virginia.
“We’re seeing additional sublease space continue to come onto the market and tenants really still looking for more flexibility than they did, in the way of shorter-term leases, and assessing the hybrid work model versus pure telework,” Farina says.
Still, company decisions right now are all over the map, and at least some companies are appearing bullish on office space. For instance, in July, Massachusetts-based defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp. renewed its 521,000-square-foot, three-building lease at the former AOL headquarters campus at Loudoun County’s Pacific Park in Dulles.
In the past year, “we have helped just as many clients grow in new markets as we have downsized,” says Rett Turner, first vice president for Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer in Richmond.
So long, cubicles
Although Advance Auto Parts employees will no longer work five days a week in office buildings in Roanoke and Richmond, the company plans to retain a small area in its Roanoke location as collaboration space, Carr says. Employees can meet there to work on joint projects and for other in-person work needs.
The details about the new space are not yet known, because the company still is discussing logistics with its landlord, Carr says.
More companies are requesting this kind of collaboration space within office structures, real estate representatives say.
“The fields of cubicles will go away,” Cope says. “There will be some space that is shared by multiple employees. There will be more areas for people to come together during the day. You will see some private offices in that mix.”
These common, shared areas are known as huddle or hoteling spaces.
In the post-pandemic era, Whelan with CBRE estimates that people will spend about 3.2 days a week in the office and 1.8 days working elsewhere. That’s a 24% reduction in the time that people are spending in a physical office, compared with before the pandemic when people worked about 4.2 days a week in an office.
But that likely will not translate into a 24% reduction in office space, given the ways that people will continue to use offices going forward, she says. Even as corporate tenants continue to make decisions about how often employees will work from office buildings, they also must consider when their leases run out and about how many employees they expect to hire over the next several years, Whelan says.
“You might actually not be able to get rid of any space because of the head count that you’re bringing in,” she says.
A majority of respondents to CBRE’s Occupier Survey said they expect employees to be in the office at least half of their working time, if not more.
“The question is, how do we go from today’s environment and all of the sudden jump to whatever the new normal is going to be?” Whelan says. “That means you have to uproot the behaviors you formed over the last 15 months. Change management has to be done to really change that behavior.”
Minor League Baseball is back for 2021, after the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 season. And there’s no question that this summer will look much different than a typical baseball season. But the Richmond Flying Squirrels are optimistic.
The team kicked off its season May 4. All fans who had vouchers or credits for 2020 tickets could redeem them for the 2021 season. Still, at the Diamond, the Squirrels’ home ballpark, capacity was limited to 3,448 fans as of May 15, but the team planned to return to its nearly 10,000 capacity by June 1.
“Those tickets are going to be pretty in demand,” says Trey Wilson, the Squirrels’ director of communications and broadcasting.
Various entertainment venues in Virginia, from ballparks to theme parks, expect to see a gradual increase in business during the 2021 summer season, compared with last summer, even amid uncertainty over whether some lingering COVID-19 restrictions might still be in place.
Visitation numbers at Historic Jamestowne were nearly back to pre-pandemic levels by May, even though the historic attraction was forced to close from Dec. 21 to March 1 due to regional coronavirus spikes, says Kelly Beckley, director of visitor services for Jamestown Rediscovery/Preservation Virginia, which along with the National Park Service, jointly administers Historic Jamestowne. It’s the site of the 1607 James Fort, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas and an archaeological treasure trove.
“I expect visitation numbers will continue to trend upwards as the weather grows increasingly warmer and larger numbers of people are vaccinated, making travel feel safer,” Beckley says.
There are no attendance limits in the outdoor areas of Jamestowne, where all daily tours and programs are offered. As of mid-May, people who have not been fully vaccinated were required to wear face masks inside buildings such as the archaeology museum. Also, in lieu of on-site field trips, Jamestowne has been offering virtual educational programs for schoolchildren.
“We are thrilled to be able to safely welcome visitors to Historic Jamestowne,” Beckley says. “We are continually assessing and making changes as needed to our operations in order to maintain a safe guest experience and working environment.”
A little more than 75 miles northwest from Jamestown in Hanover County’s Doswell area, the Kings Dominion amusement park reopened its gates May 22. The park did not open for its regular season in 2020, the only such closure in its 46-year-plus history. Kings Dominion’s Soak City water park opened May 29. All 2020 Kings Dominion season pass holders can extend their passes through 2021.
“We’re ready to welcome back our guests for a new season of safe family fun,” says Maggie Sellers, the park’s communications manager. “Our leadership team and associates have invested a lot of time and effort in developing stringent safety plans that incorporate guidelines and recommendations from medical experts, the CDC and health officials.”
Some Virginia communities expect to offer increased entertainment options this summer, welcoming travelers back. That’s happening in Southwest Virginia, where several national sports championships will be played this summer.
The USA Softball Gold National Championships for girls 16 years old and younger is scheduled for July in Salem. The competition draws teams from around the country, says Landon Howard, president of Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, a destination marketing organization in Roanoke. “These people have already bought airline tickets from multiple states, and they’re flying in with family and friends and coaches. That is huge,” Howard says.
Also, Roanoke’s Carilion Clinic Ironman 70.3, a triathlon that was canceled last year, is slated for June 6 and it’s sold out.
After the challenges of the past year, holding the competition will help the region’s psyche, Howard says. “That’s a great psychological shot in the arm for our industry and for local residents.”
Twenty years ago, John Zirkle was just starting out in the Virginia Beach hotel business as a houseman, stripping bed sheets and doing laundry. Fast-forward to today and he is general manager of the Doubletree by Hilton at Virginia Beach and president of the beach’s hotel association.
Lately, though, Zirkle’s had to recall some of his skills as a houseman. He’s been pitching in as part of the hotel’s housekeeping staff as needed. That’s been necessary in order for the Doubletree to grapple with a severe staffing shortfall amid what Zirkle calls the worst labor market he has ever seen.
“We do what you have to do, any staff member who can lend a hand,” he says.
Meanwhile, there’s strong competition for staff among hotels. “It seems like we are all fighting over the same housekeepers,” Zirkle says.
Hotels and even restaurants throughout Virginia and the nation are facing the same hiring hurdles. After a devastating year for the hospitality industry, during which the COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses to lay off staff, hoteliers in some tourism destination markets, such as Virginia Beach, are expecting travelers to return slowly this summer as more of the population are fully vaccinated and feel comfortable with taking trips.
But to operate efficiently, businesses need employees. And many hotels are struggling to find workers for jobs ranging from front desk attendants and housekeepers to maintenance and restaurant servers.
Half full or half empty?
This summer, roughly 72% of Americans plan to travel, according to the U.S. Travel Association. That’s compared with 37% last year. And nine out of 10 of those planning to travel will be staying in the United States.
Business conference travel remains “tragic” going into the summer, says Brian Wells, general manager of the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. Photo by Don Petersen
But just ahead of the traditional busiest hotel season of the year, only about 40% to 50% of the jobs at Zirkle’s Doubletree were filled as of late April. Typically, his staff doubles to about 200 employees during the summer months. Reaching that total this year is questionable, he says.
“We don’t have the staff to maintain standard occupancy,” says Zirkle, whose hotel is adjacent to the new Virginia Beach Sports Center. “Normally heading into summer, we run 80% to 90% occupancy. We don’t have the staff to run the hotel at that kind of occupancy, to clean the rooms and turn them.”
Similarly, Delta Hotels by Marriott Virginia Beach Bayfront Suites, which opened in March, had filled only half of its staff positions leading into May. The hotel is offering signing bonuses and referral bonuses to attract employees for a variety of open positions.
“I have been in this business for over 25 years, and I have never seen the lack of workforce we have right now,” says Duane Gauthier, managing director of Commonwealth Lodging, a company that manages hotels in Virginia, Florida and Connecticut, including Virginia Beach Bayfront Suites.
“The hotels in general have been doing very well,” he says. “It’s the staffing components, the ability to get people to work, that is the issue.”
This all is happening as state tourism officials predict that leisure travel will improve this summer, compared with a major drop-off during the pandemic last year.
Though travel likely won’t return to pre-pandemic levels this year, “we are seeing that traveler confidence is increasing,” says Caroline Logan, director of communications for the Virginia Tourism Corp. “I think fear has abated and people are starting to move again.”
But there are a few reasons why potential tourism employees may not be seeking jobs right now, says Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, & Travel Association.
Some who were unemployed at the height of the pandemic still are receiving state and federal unemployment benefits through a variety of pandemic relief programs that have been extended through Sept. 4.
Parents may not be seeking work due to child care needs, as many school systems have not fully returned to in-person classes. And many laid-off hospitality workers may have changed careers, says Terry, adding that some hotel marketing and sales professionals found employment in the insurance and real estate industries.
He estimates that about 56,000 hotel jobs were lost in Virginia during the past year. Nationally in 2020, nearly 4 million hospitality jobs were lost due to the pandemic, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Hotels in leisure vacation markets are the ones bringing back most hospitality jobs, Terry says, not hotels that rely on business travelers. That’s because corporate group travel hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it is uncertain when that will happen.
Meetings adjourned
That’s the case with the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, where the hotel’s business from companies and other corporate gatherings is “tragic,” says Brian Wells, general manager.
As of mid-April, the Hotel Roanoke’s conference business was 85% below pre-pandemic levels, and plans for the future were unresolved due to ongoing state attendance limits on indoor gatherings.
“Our groups that are contracted continue to have low confidence to meet,” Wells says. “It’s starting to affect our business levels this summer.”
The hotel furloughed 260 employees at the start of the pandemic, but it was able to rehire some with the help of forgivable loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
Advertising on digital billboards and through job fairs, Hotel Roanoke is seeking to fill positions ranging from security officers and line chefs to room attendants and engineering staff. It’s also offering recruiting bonuses to current staff.
Even so, jobs associated with group business sales are not among the hotel’s openings. “Until [the conference and] meeting business comes back, many of the furloughed employees can’t [return]. We just don’t have work for them,” Wells says.
There’s another nationwide challenge to landing employees for hotels and restaurants: the major decline in international employees, often students, who travel to the United States through summer work programs. A Trump-era presidential proclamation to temporarily suspend entry into the United States for exchange workers with J1 visas expired March 31. Still, some J1 visa applications remained stalled, and companies worried that workers would not make it into the country for the summer season.
Nonprofit travel groups, such as New York-based InterExchange Inc., which works with Virginia Beach businesses, have written letters to encourage President Joe Biden to push the U.S. Department of State to work with consulates and embassies to hasten the processing of these visa applications.
Wooing workers
Last year, summer work travel participants under the J1 visa program dropped by 98% in Virginia and 95% across the United States, according to the Alliance for International Exchange. In Virginia, there were 116 summer work exchange students in 2020, compared with 4,621 in 2019.
Typically, these work exchange employees comprise about 12% of seasonal staff at the Doubletree by Hilton at Virginia Beach, Zirkle says. Some may find jobs at restaurants as well.
“It is a large part of the hotel and restaurant community,” he says.
Kristina Chastain has been forced to turn down requests for private parties at her Virginia Beach restaurant, Esoteric, because she can’t find enough seasonal workers. Photo by Mark Rhodes
Restaurants also are feeling the hiring crunch — particularly for seasonal staff.
Kristina Chastain receives at least three calls a day from people asking to hold private events at her craft beer and food establishment, Esoteric, in Virginia Beach. But she’s had to turn them all down because she has only enough employees to keep the restaurant operating, not to host dining events in the eatery’s private space.
She’s in a rush to find much-needed seasonal help. As of late April, she only had one seasonal employee. Typically, she hires 10 to 15 employees to work during the summer months. Many are high school and college students.
However, Chastain says, “I think there’s a lot of money circulating right now. A lot of people got a lot of stimulus money [and] maybe there’s not that pressure to go and find work.”
Chastain isn’t the only restaurant owner sweating over the search for seasonal help. Some establishments have closed for several days a week due to lack of staff, while others are attempting to attract employees with novel incentives ranging from free meals to end-of-shift cocktails, says Stacey Shiflet, executive director of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association.
Shiflet is promoting restaurant jobs left and right, including talking with public schools in the area and discussing employment opportunities as part of panel presentations.
As consumers gain increasing confidence to travel in the wake of the pandemic, it’s both a curse and a blessing for a hospitality industry that is struggling to find workers.
“We are seeing [business] pick up as people get their vaccinations,” Shiflet says.“They are comfortable going out and dining where they hadn’t been before. Guests are coming, and people are itching to get out and travel.”
An out-of-town trip to visit colleges with her daughter gave Christie Wall an idea that several years later she hopes will benefit her and her hometown.
For fun, Wall and her daughter tried out an escape room — an interactive adventure game that requires participants to solve a themed puzzle or challenge in order to physically exit a room.
“We weren’t even out of there, and I had the wheels turning,” Wall recalls. “This is creative, it’s fun and I love this!”
While researching the concept, Walls learned that ax-throwing entertainment spaces sometimes accompany escape room ventures. If she found a large enough space, she could have two businesses in one.
Fast-forward to August 2019 and Wall opened Grizzly’s Hatchet House and River City Escapes in downtown Danville’s River District. Housed in a former tobacco warehouse complete with wooden columns, it’s one of numerous businesses transforming Danville’s downtown, bringing life to vacant, historic textile and tobacco buildings that are remnants of the southern city’s past.
“People are spending more and more time downtown,” says Wall, a native of Danville who remembers downtown as a cluster of empty warehouses when she was a child. Now, she says, “when [people] go out on a Friday or Saturday night, they can spend their entire evening downtown. That’s what makes it such a great spot.”
Though manufacturing remains one of the top industries in Danville and Pittsylvania County, entrepreneurs like Wall are poised to draw on a growing tourism industry that’s expected to accelerate once a casino comes to the region.
Launch point
This building at 618 Craghead St. is being redeveloped into an 88-unit apartment building by Garrett Shifflett and Ross Fickenscher of Richmond-based Aoss Ventures. Photo by Mark Rhodes
Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment is investing $400 million to open a mega resort casino with live entertainment, conference space, multiple restaurants and bars and a spa. Projected to open by 2023, it will be located in a former Dan River Mills industrial complex in the city’s Schoolfield area.
The casino is expected to generate at least $190 million in direct revenue and $51 million in tax revenue annually by 2025, according to Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Caesars has said the project will bring 1,300 jobs to the area.
If all goes as planned, it will be a win for Danville’s tourism industry, says Corrie Bobe, director of economic development for the city. Caesars projects that its resort will generate as many as 2 million visits each year, mostly from tourists coming from neighboring North Carolina and other states.
Because of this potential, Danville city government plans to create a tourism manager position to help maximize expenditures and visitor activity, Bobe says.
“My hope is the casino can really serve as a catalyst for a substantive tourism platform in Danville [and] Pittsylvania County,” says Alexis Ehrhardt, president and CEO of the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce.
This kind of diversity is important for Danville, she says.
Ehrhardt
“There’s a real interest here in not putting all of the proverbial eggs in one basket,” Ehrhardt says. “We want to attract employers, but I think diversity among our businesses and in our sectors seems to be the goal at this point.”
Businesses throughout the area stand to benefit as well from increased sales and traffic from the casino. This includes Danville’s River District, which has been on a redevelopment path since 2010 when city leaders traveled to Greenville, South Carolina, to study its downtown as a model for growth.
In December 2020, the River District’s first boutique hotel, the Bee, opened inside the former home of the Danville Register & Bee newspaper, founded in 1899 on Patton Street.
Also, there are at least 693 condos and apartments located throughout the River District, mostly in renovated warehouses, says Kelvin Perry, project manager for the city of Danville.
That doesn’t include another 88 apartments that will open later this year in a 68,000-square-foot building being redeveloped at 618 Craghead St. by Garrett Shifflett and Ross Fickenscher of Richmond-based Aoss Ventures. Also, a project by local developer Rick Barker will bring nine Airbnb units to the 500 block of Craghead Street, with one reserved as an artist-in-residence space in collaboration with the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History.
The current residential spaces in the district are about 98% occupied, Perry says. The approximately 2,298 downtown residents are a diverse group, from young professionals to senior citizens.
The growth of a city’s downtown boosts the economy of a community, he says. It’s also an important incentive for new businesses that are looking to expand to the area, Bobe says.
Bobe
“Once they locate here, they want to ensure that their leadership, as well as employees, will be happy living here. That’s where quality of life comes into play,” she says.
The city has invested more than $30 million to improve the River District’s streetscapes and infrastructure, including broadband access. In turn, $175 million in private investments have been made in the district.
“That’s a great return on investment,” Perry says.
An annual Dream Launch competition for entrepreneurs has served as a catalyst for some of Danville’s downtown business growth in the past few years. Through the competition, entrepreneurs participate in a business boot camp, and pitch contest winners receive money from the city to help start businesses in the River District.
Three years ago, in the Dream Launch’s first year, Wall’s venture won out of more than 100 competitors. She received $35,000.
“The Dream Launch gave me the option to pull the trigger,” Wall says. “Getting the funding to do things like that is very hard. I said, ‘If I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.’”
‘The secret sauce’
Though redevelopment in the River District is bringing new life to Danville’s downtown, the region relies on a strong manufacturing base to fuel its economy and job growth.
About 18% of its workforce is in manufacturing. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is the largest employer, with about 2,500 workers.
The availability of a solid workforce trained in advanced manufacturing is key to the region’s success in attracting new companies.
“When I first started in this career, site consultants would want to know about the site,” says Matthew Rowe, director of economic development for Pittsylvania County. “Now when I get a call, the site consultant is asking, ‘How is your workforce and how is your site?’ If you don’t have the workforce that is able to make the product in an efficient way and is committed to manufacturing, you’ll fail.”
The area’s workforce largely is homegrown, and its development starts in local middle schools where students are exposed to advanced manufacturing while studying 3D modeling, virtual welding, 3D printing, robotics and more, Rowe says. Once in high school, students can continue to learn through more specific training programs offered by Danville Community College.
Rowe
“Companies are going to locate as close to that talent pool as possible to avoid risk,” Rowe says. “It allows them to have access to that workforce easier. That is the secret sauce.”
In fact, through a leadership program and a training academy, Danville Community College is helping to train new employees for Morgan Olson, a Michigan-based manufacturer of step vans. Last year, the company opened a manufacturing facility in the former Ikea plant in Ringgold, just outside city limits in Pittsylvania. It chose Ringgold, in part, because of the area’s workforce and training opportunities.
“There’s obviously enough talent in the region to indicate that workers would be inclined to pursue jobs at production sites such as these,” says Michael Lewis, director of human resources at the Ringgold facility.
As part of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, Morgan Olson will receive help with training the 700-plus employees the manufacturer expects to hire by the end of 2021. As of late February, the company had hired 407 employees for jobs ranging from paint technicians and material handlers to assemblers and machine operators. Their pay ranges from $15 to $20 an hour, Lewis says.
Additionally, Pittsylvania County is working hard to land the first corporate tenant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, a 3,528-acre industrial park. Jointly owned by Danville and Pittsylvania County, it’s billed as the largest industrial park in Virginia.
Generally, prospective companies considering the site have as many as 2,500 employees and could make more than $1 billion in economic development investment, Rowe says.
The coronavirus pandemic slowed site visits in 2020, and the county had video meetings with some companies. But it’s not easy to land a real deal on a virtual platform, Rowe says.
“If you are a CEO, you want to walk and see and taste and smell that community,” he says.
Last year, Dominion Energy Inc. canceled its plans to build a $200 million power plant at the megasite.
In Hurt’s Southern Virginia Multimodal Park, Staunton River Plastics, a packaging manufacturer, has delayed construction of its $34 million facility by about six months due to the pandemic. Construction was rescheduled to begin in March, Rowe says.
“The pandemic hasn’t changed the business demand at all,” he says. “We have stayed just as busy as ever. It has impacted the efficiency of conducting business.” ν
Catrina Mullins can picture the scene: A stage, musicians and a grassy lawn. People leaning back in chairs or sitting cross-legged on blankets on the ground, tapping their toes to familiar tunes. Others open windows to listen to the sound from their hotel rooms, which look out onto the lawn.
This is what an outdoor concert at the Sessions Hotel in Bristol could look like — eventually.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, construction of a music stage was postponed at the boutique hotel, which opened in June 2020, a delay from its originally scheduled March 2020 debut.
Right now, Mullins, the hotel’s general manager, is making preliminary plans for stage construction to begin this spring, and she’s hoping to schedule a June concert series.
However, depending on state COVID-19 restrictions this year, there may not be clearance for such events, she realizes.
Like many people whose livelihood depends on tourism, Mullins is hoping for the best in the midst of a challenging pandemic that isn’t over yet.
“We would love to have our stage up and going where people can gather but still feel safe,” Mullins says. “That’s really important right now.”
It’s no secret that businesses across the world that rely on travelers and tourism dollars still are reeling from the financially crippling 2020. What lies ahead in 2021 for the industry is unknown, but tourism experts and business owners don’t project a return to pre-pandemic bookings and revenues until at least 2022.
Still, some are making plans, albeit cautiously, for a 2021 that has some potential for an upswing.
Though Monticello was forced to close for more than three months due to the pandemic, its virtual livestream program generated 700,000 views and outdoor tours also were popular. Monticello photo courtesy Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
Linnea Grim, vice president of guest experiences for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, says she expects 2021 to be a “bridge year” for the private nonprofit organization, which owns and operates Monticello, Jefferson’s historic home in Charlottesville. This year could set the stage for a 2022 rebound, she says.
Though the pandemic forced Monticello to close from March 2020 through June 2020, the organization performed better than it had initially expected. It reopened with strict public health and safety guidelines, capacity caps and new virtual programs to keep visitors connected with Monticello and its grounds. The offerings include live guided tours of the site and a weekly livestream program featuring an actor who portrays Jefferson, as well as other guest scholars discussing historical topics. The 74 livestreams so far have generated nearly 700,000 views, Grim says.
The organization still offers in-person tours of Monticello, but those are self-guided and restricted to small groups. Private, behind-the-scenes tours also are available for groups of five people.
Other outdoor activities, including grounds-only ticketed tours and historical information stations, were a hit with tourists during summer and fall 2020, Grim says.
The winter months drew more people back to Monticello’s digital offerings, and beyond the pandemic, those virtual options may be here to stay, Grim says.
Grim
“We are thinking as we move forward, we will continue the digital way of connecting guests with the history of Monticello,” she says, adding that virtual offerings seem to “whet the appetite for people to go places” and make future travel plans.
Meanwhile, after closing for most of the 2020 summer season, popular theme park Busch Gardens Williamsburg reopened for limited capacity, reservation-only events from August 2020 through January 2021. It also opened, by reservation only, on some weekends in February with plans to continue in March. As of early February, it was unclear whether the park would be able to increase its 4,000-person visitor capacity for the spring season, according to Cindy Sarko, Busch Gardens’ spokeswoman.
The Kings Dominion amusement park in Doswell was closed all last summer due to the pandemic, marking the first summer season the park missed in its 45-year history. It reopened briefly for a limited-attendance 2020 holiday season event but does not plan to reopen for the 2021 season until May 22.
‘A virtual standstill’
As for other tourism-related businesses, hotels still are scrambling to fill guest rooms and make up for a devastating past year.
Statewide, hotel occupancy was down about 49% in 2020, compared with 2019, says Vinod Agarwal, a professor of economics at Old Dominion University and deputy director of the university’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. The center produces reports using data from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides global hospitality market data.
Across the country and in Virginia, hotels located in large metropolitan areas were most impacted by the pandemic because they rely on corporate business, which is largely driven by airline travel, Agarwal says. For example, hotel occupancy in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, which includes Northern Virginia, was down 94% in 2020, compared with the prior year.
“Business travel simply went away,” he says, adding that he expects video conferencing, Zoom and other virtual methods for meetings and conventions to stick around for a long time.
Agarwal
“Business travel will not be the same as it used to be,” Agarwal says.
High-end hotels appear to have suffered the most from lack of travelers, because much of their business came from conventions and corporate meetings. Typically, corporate travelers bring more than hotel business to a city. While there, they also spend money on entertainment, sporting events, retail and more. That kind of business is “bread and butter” spending for large metropolitan areas, Agarwal says, adding, “until those things come back, the big markets will continue to suffer.”
McLean-based Hilton Worldwide Holdings is one of many hotel companies that saw significant sales losses during the pandemic. Declining revenue for the first two quarters of 2020 forced the company to lay off 2,100 of its worldwide corporate employees, about 20% of its workforce. It also reported a net income loss of $81 million for the third quarter of 2020.
“Never in Hilton’s 101-year history has our industry faced a global crisis that brings travel to a virtual standstill,” said Christopher Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, in a June 2020 statement. Speaking in fall 2020, Nassetta said it could be 2023 until the hospitality industry recovers to pre-pandemic levels.
Revenue also was down at midscale and economy hotels in 2020 but not by as much as the upscale facilities. That’s because some leisure travel has continued, Agarwal says.
“People going on vacations, they decided to go on vacation but not too far,” he says. “They went to smaller, short-driving destinations.”
Other areas of Virginia with big declines in hotel sales and occupancy were Charlottesville and Blacksburg, which rely heavily on out-of-town travelers for football games and other large university events. In 2020, attendance was significantly limited for these events due to COVID-19 stunting travel activity, says Agarwal.
In Williamsburg, hotel occupancy dropped 49% in 2020, compared with 2019, according to the Dragas Center report. The area’s major attractions, including Busch Gardens, Water Country USA and Colonial Williamsburg, closed or had limited capacity due to the pandemic.
“There was not much to do there [for travelers],” Agarwal says.
In the western part of the state, The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs took some drastic measures to make up for lost sales in early 2021. The rural resort, which offers skiing and ice skating in the winter, scaled back its operations and closed for several days each week in January and February. The coronavirus has had a significant impact on the industry, as well as the resort’s customer traffic, specifically harming travel from large business groups, says Lynn Swann, director of marketing and communications for the resort.
“Our priorities are to operate our resort in an efficient, responsible manner to manage our cash flow,” she says. “We made this decision to protect the long-term viability of the resort. We feel like this is the most responsible and least impactful approach given the current challenges.”
In late January, Swann said it was unclear whether the resort would have an altered schedule beyond February.
“We will continue to re-evaluateour future business levels, and we will try to make decisions accordingly,” she says.
Terry
It could be 2023 before the hotel industry returns to some level of normalcy — and that is optimistic, says Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, & Travel Association. “I think that depends on where you are located,” he says. “If we see enough vaccines getting out there, I think the beach areas should have a good summer [in 2021].”
Race for recovery
Like many hotels, the Sessions offers extensive COVID-19 cleaning protocols, which includes eliminating guest room items that could be touched by many people, such as throw pillows, robes, cups and pens. But customers individually can request items from the hotel, Mullins says. “When you get your robe, it comes in a zipped bag,” she says.
Cleanliness now is a bigger part of many hotel marketing campaigns, Agarwal says. “They are no longer talking about pricing or services,” he says. “The focus has shifted to cleanliness and safety and security of the hotels.”
Like hotels, airline travel has seen a major sales slump during the pandemic, and business likely will not rebound until 75% to 90% of the population receives COVID-19 vaccinations, says Rob Britton, a retired airline executive and adjunct professor of marketing at Georgetown University.
Britton
At its lowest point last April, airline passenger volume was down 96%, according to Airlines for America, an industry trade group that represents some of the nation’s major airline carriers. Even now, air travel demand is “severely depressed,” and the group projects that passenger volume likely will not return to 2019 levels until at least 2023.
“Right now, every airline is in a race against the return of demand — how quickly will demand return versus how soon … they run out of cash,” Britton says, explaining that the costs of certain fixed expenses, such as airport rental space for aircraft, are causing the greatest stress for airlines.
“Nowhere in the [country] is there an airline making money,” he says.
Even so, leisure airline travel may return faster than business air travel, because there is strong pent-up demand, particularly among some younger adult populations who may not be as concerned about contracting COVID-19, Britton says.
Despite the challenges, the pandemic has created opportunities for some tourism and retail-related businesses to explore new sales concepts.
Gary Cohen, executive vice president of Maryland-based Glory Days Grill, a full-service restaurant chain with locations in Virginia and five other states, saw the huge demand for food delivery during the pandemic, and he decided to capitalize on it.
Cohen
Last year, he launched a “ghost kitchen,” a separate, delivery-only food business offering a small menu of wings, chicken tenders, cheese fries, fried shrimp, and macaroni and cheese, for delivery by a third-party company.
So far, it has generated additional revenue, and it required a very small investment compared with opening a new full-service restaurant. Plus, Cohen has been able to keep many of his staff employed with this new food service concept.
“From a business perspective, it’s about return on investment,” Cohen says.
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
Georgie Márquez
