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byline: Katherine Schulte

Hitt Contracting promotes senior leadership

Falls Church-based general contractor Hitt Contracting announced Thursday four promotions and one retirement in its national business.

Jeremy Bardin, Hitt’s co-president since 2017, will retire in December. Replacing Bardin as co-president, Evan Antonides has been promoted to oversee Hitt’s Southeast and Texas operations and its mission-critical work nationwide, and will serve alongside Drew Mucci, the company’s other co-president.

Executive Vice President Brian Kriz is beginning a new role overseeing Hitt’s dedicate site operations team nationwide. Aaron Martens and Triloka Shanbhag have been appointed vice presidents and co-business unit leaders for Hitt’s mission critical sector.

Bardin joined Hitt in 2002. In 2007, he was promoted to executive vice president overseeing strategic growth and development of Hitt’s base building, hospitality and mission critical sectors. Hitt’s mission critical sector builds data centers, network operations centers and mission critical facilities for tech firms. In 2017, he became co-president of the company.

Antonides joined the firm in 2006 after his graduation from Virginia Tech. He most recently served as executive vice president for growth and development of Hitt’s Texas offices and the company’s mission critical and data center construction operations.

Kriz joined Hitt as a laborer in 1993 and rose to executive vice president overseeing the corporate interiors sector. In his new role, Kriz will lead more than 500 site operations team members on jobsites throughout the country.

Martens joined Hitt in 2013 and built a portfolio of data center work in Northern Virginia and Texas. Shanbhag joined Hitt in 2017, specializing in project management of confidential data center projects.

Founded in 1930, commercial construction firm Hitt Contracting has more than 1,600 employees in 14 U.S. office locations. The company reported $5.6 billion in 2023 revenue, and is led by CEO Kim Roy.

Shentel to sell cell towers portfolio for $310.3M

Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) has entered into an agreement to sell its portfolio of cellular towers and associated operations to Vertical Bridge Holdco for $310.3 million in cash, the Edinburg-based company announced Friday, a move that appears to largely transition Shentel out of the last remnants of its cellular phone business. Vertical Bridge is the nation’s largest private owner of communications towers.

“The proceeds from the sale of our tower business will provide Shentel with additional growth capital to support the planned expansion of our Glo Fiber line of business to approximately 600,000 homes and business passings by the end of 2026,” Shentel President and CEO Christopher E. French said in a statement. “With the expected closing of this transaction and the previously announced $356 million of committed financings supporting our pending acquisition of Horizon Telcom, we believe our capital structure is well balanced and will provide future financial flexibility.”

Shentel announced its plans to acquire Horizon Telcom for $385 million in October 2023.

The Shentel Tower Portfolio consists of 226 tower portfolio sites, including 218 macro cellular towers and eight small cell sites. Shentel will keep one macro cellular tower that is not included in the sale. T-Mobile USA was the primary customer for Shentel’s cell towers. Shentel previously sold other components of its cellular phone business to T-Mobile USA, selling its wireless assets and operations for $1.94 billion in a deal that closed July 1, 2021. 

“We are pleased to add these purpose-built broadband telephony towers to our growing portfolio,” Vertical Bridge President and CEO Ron Bizick said in a statement. “The towers are high-quality assets with available capacity for additional tenants and are located in difficult areas to build new towers due to zoning restrictions and terrain challenges. The geographic concentration of the portfolio offers a unique opportunity for future deployment of existing and new technologies.”

Shentel isn’t the only U.S. telecommunications company selling its cell towers. In August 2023, Chicago-based Telephone and Data Systems and United States Cellular announced each was initiating “a process to explore strategic alternatives for UScellular.” At the end of the second quarter of 2023, TDS owned 83% of UScellular. As of Dec. 31, 2023, UScellular owned 4,373 towers.

Shentel has been focused on growing its Glo Fiber business, an optical fiber home and business broadband service, within and outside of Virginia. In January, the company launched the service in initial neighborhoods in Spring Garden Township, Pennsylvania, expecting to complete construction by the end of the year and serve more than 4,500 homes and businesses in the area. Also in January, Shentel announced it would deploy Glo Fiber in Springettsbury Township, Pennsylvania, with construction slated to begin in 2025.

In February, the company announced it would deploy Glo Fiber in Kingsmill in Williamsburg, with construction expected to begin in the third quarter of 2024. Shentel also announced in February a colocation agreement with CoreSite to provide Glo Fiber Business service in Washington, D.C.

Shentel expects a March closing for the towers deal with Boca Raton, Florida-based Vertical Bridge, which will pay the $310.3 million on the initial closing date. “Subsequent closings will occur as closing conditions are met for any remaining sites,” according to a news release.

Shentel expects to pay up to $10 million in 2024 income taxes as a result of the gain on the sale after net operating loss carryforwards. The tower portfolio generated $18.6 million in revenue, $9.5 million of operating income and $11.6 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2023.

Shentel provides broadband services to customers in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The company owns a regional network with about 9,900 route miles of fiber. As of summer 2023, Shentel had 649 employees in Virginia out of a total workforce of 845.

Vertical Bridge REIT is a private owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations. Its portfolio has more than 500,000 sites, including towers, rooftops, billboards, utility attachments, convenience stores and other locations that support wireless network deployments, spread across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Va. housing market off to slow start in 2024

The housing market in Virginia had a relatively slow start in 2024, according to January data released Feb. 23 by Virginia Realtors.

In January, 5,640 homes sold in the state, only 31 more sales than January 2023. Overall in 2023, Virginia home sales dropped 20% compared with 2022 and were the lowest the market had seen since 2014.

Inventory remains tight, according to Virginia Realtors. At the end of January, Virginia had 15,229 active listings, up 362 listings — 2.4% — from a year ago. Although active listings have increased, the numbers reflect homes staying on the market longer, not necessarily more sellers listing homes, according to Virginia Realtors.

In January, the Virginia market saw 8,034 new listings, down 122 new listings from a year ago, a decrease of 1.5%.

“Many homeowners looking to buy another home remain reluctant to lose the low mortgage rates they are currently locked into,” Ryan Price, Virginia Realtors’ chief economist, said in a statement. “Because of this, many would-be sellers are choosing to pause their plans and not list their home for sale.”

For the week that ended Jan. 11, the national average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.66%, according to Freddie Mac data. In the week ending Jan. 18, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.6%, and in the week ending Jan. 25, that rate was 6.69%.

The situation could change, though, if mortgage rates fall as the year continues, Virginia Realtors CEO Terrie Suit said in a statement: “More move-up buyers could be enticed to enter the market, and this could provide some much-needed inventory supply across the commonwealth.”

In February, however, mortgage rates rose. This week, mortgage rates increased for the fourth consecutive week, reaching a two-month high and nearing 7% again, according to a Freddie Mac summary. As of Feb. 29, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.94%, and the four-week average was 6.81%, according to Freddie Mac data.

Despite relatively flat sales, upward pressure on home prices continues, according to Virginia Realtors. The statewide median average sales price in January was $371,889, nearly $22,000 higher than in January 2023, a 6.3% increase. Of the state’s local markets, 67% had a higher median sales price this January than in the same month last year.

“The accelerated price growth has been driven by the low supply of homes for sale,” Tom Campbell, Virginia Realtors 2024 president, said in a statement. “We predict this trend will continue into the spring unless more listings come on the market.”

Philanthropy: Accelerating advances

Over the past year, Virginia philanthropists continued to support medical research and higher education, with several demonstrating their commitment through subsequent donations.

Northern Virginia philanthropists Dwight and Martha Schar carried on their longtime support of Falls Church- based Inova Health System, providing a $75 million matching gift to the health system in May 2023. Inova will use the gift to support research, outreach, prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular ailments, including hiring more health care professionals and expanding specialty services. Counting this most recent gift, the Schars have donated $126 million to Inova since 1993. Dwight Schar founded Reston-based Fortune 500 company NVR, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders and mortgage banking companies.

To support cancer and neuroscience research, the Red Gates Foundation, established by the estate of Richmond philanthropist Bill Goodwin’s late son, Hunter, committed $50 million to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in September 2023. Hunter Goodwin’s parents and estate made a $250 million donation in 2021 to kickstart a national cancer research foundation.

In the past year, Virginia universities reported record gifts, multiple of which funded scholarships.

In October 2023, philanthropists David and Kathleen LaCross added $50 million to their October 2022 donation of $44 million for the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. David LaCross, who founded and sold financial tech company Risk Management Technologies, earned his MBA from Darden, and Kathleen LaCross earned her bachelor’s degree from U.Va. Their 2022 gift launched Darden’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative, and the $50 million donation will help pay for additional AI research and instruction, as well as a residential college at Darden.

U.Va. Darden also received a $5 million commitment from Stephen and Phyllis Bachand in December 2023 to establish a professorship focused on business ethics. The university will match the gift from the former president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corp. and his wife to reach the endowment required to establish a professorship.

Additionally, donors supported U.Va.’s McIntire School of Commerce, with Ramon W. Breeden Jr., founder and chair of Virginia Beach-based developer The Breeden Co., giving U.Va. $50 million to be divided between the university’s renovation and expansion of McIntire and work on a new athletics complex.

U.Va. alumnus John Connaughton and his wife, Stephanie, donated $10 million in March 2023, funding need-based undergraduate scholarships for McIntire students. John Connaughton is co-managing partner of Bain Capital, and Stephanie Connaughton is an angel investor and senior adviser to several startups.

In Northern Virginia, George Mason University’s business school received a $50 million bequest from the late Donald G. Costello, a Loudoun County native and business owner, in April 2023. The largest individual gift in George Mason’s 75-year history, the bequest establishes an endowment for undergraduate and graduate business student scholarships, and the university renamed its business school for Costello.

In October 2023, Virginia Tech announced it had received a $10 million donation from Preston White, the founder of Virginia Beach-based contractor Century Concrete, and his wife, Catharine, to create the Preston and Catharine White Endowed Diversity Scholarship.

The late Irene Piscopo Rodgers, a 1959 graduate of the University of Mary Washington, bequeathed $30 million to her alma mater, the largest donation in the university’s 115-year history. The gift, announced in March 2023, will grow UMW’s undergraduate research program and support four new scholarships.

University of Richmond alumni and previous donors Carole and Marcus Weinstein gave to the university twice last year, donating $25 million to support a student learning center and $3 million for the chaplaincy to support Jewish life. In September 2023, UR’s Robins School of Business reported a $10 million gift from an anonymous alumnus to establish an endowed scholarship fund.

As in previous years, the commonwealth’s philanthropists remain forward-looking, supporting the immediate and future development of both health care and education. 

 

Amentum secures $591.6M Navy contract

Chantilly-based federal contractor Amentum Services has won a $591.6 million contract from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to support eligible allied naval forces, the company announced Tuesday.

Under the contract from the NAVSEA International Fleet Support Program Office, Amentum will provide life-cycle support and follow-on technical solutions — including system upgrades; systems integration support; training; and efforts related to transferring, acquiring, operating and maintaining naval vessels — to foreign military sales customers.

“As a longtime partner for the U.S. Navy, we enable technological advances and engineering solutions to provide important international fleet support and secure the interests of our nation and our allies around the world,” Jill Bruning, president of Amentum’s Engineering, Science and Technology Group, said in a statement.

Amentum has more than 35,000 employees in 79 countries. The company was founded as a spinout of AECOM’s Management Services Group in 2020 and moved its headquarters from Germantown, Maryland, to Chantilly in 2023.

United Way of SWVA spins off workforce programs

The United Way of Southwest Virginia is spinning off its workforce development programs by establishing a new nonprofit, EO, to oversee them, UWSWVA announced Feb. 20.

EO, which stands for Endless Opportunity, is also Latin for “go.” The new nonprofit will manage what has been the UWSWVA’s $10 million portfolio of grant-funded workforce development programs, including the Ignite Career Expo, Ready Regions, the Rural Summit and the $23 million Regional Workforce and Child Development Hub, which UWSWVA has been building in Abingdon by converting a former Kmart.

The United Way chapter will focus on convening partners, identifying community needs and harnessing the financial resources and capacity to address those needs, while EO will be “more of a program implementer and house and deliver and manage on the cradle-to-career continuum,” from early childhood initiatives to programs to directly address labor shortages, said Travis Staton, now president and CEO of EO and interim president and CEO of UWSWVA.

EO “would be the implementer of some of those programs and initiatives so that United Way can really focus on a high level, getting resources, communicating the need, the challenges, figuring out what partners and resources need to tie together to meet those needs,” Staton said. “But EO would be the implementer of those initiatives and of those programs, so it would technically be almost like a partner agency of the United Way.”

UWSWVA will continue to serve as a fundraiser and will continue to host events like its Impact Awards. The nonprofit will also remain an organizer for disaster response efforts, according to a news release.

“Over last 18 years, we’ve just had incredible growth, and as things continue to grow and get more complex, it will help, I think, both organizations with their mission delivery, and be able to concentrate and focus on their roles in the community … so it really is about mission amplification for both organizations,” Staton said.

UWSWVA expects the transition to take six months, and EO will share its logo and brand in the coming weeks, according to a news release. EO employs 40 people, according to Beth McConkey, UWSWVA’s vice president of development and outreach, and the reorganized UWSWVA will have five full-time staff members.

A search for the UWSWVA’s new leadership will begin in March, with the intent to have Staton’s successor in place by June 30, McConkey said in a statement.

Currently, both nonprofits have the same members on their boards of directors, but over the transition period, the boards will be diversified, McConkey said, and the boards will not have a more than 50% overlap in representation.

As for the Regional Workforce and Child Development Hub, EO owns the building and will manage and operate the facility, as well as the hub’s workforce development programs. Ballad Health will manage the facility’s child care portion. UWSWVA will lease office space in the facility for its headquarters, Staton said.

The hub, which will house STEM labs for teacher training, an early childhood care and education center, workforce development and training programs and a shared services alliance for child care providers in the region, is scheduled to be complete at the end of July or early August.

Through its youth workforce programming, the center will serve 21 school districts and will have about 30,000 students a year visiting the center for learning and hands-on activities with employers.

“That requires a lot of capacity and a lot of resources,” Staton said, “and so EO will be well-positioned to focus and concentrate on that day-to-day delivery of programs and operations to drive that impact, and United Way can still function at that higher level of, ‘Well, what additional resources are needed for Southwest Virginia? What other community needs even besides child care and workforce need to be addressed? And can we raise support and resources for those causes, too?’”

UWSWVA’s programs and initiatives serve the counties of Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Montgomery, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe and the cities of Bristol, Galax, Norton and Radford.

Dominion to sell 50% interest in Va. Beach offshore wind farm for $3B

Dominion Energy announced Thursday it has reached an agreement with investment firm Stonepeak to sell a 50% noncontrolling stake in the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project off the Virginia Beach coast for nearly $3 billion.

If the sale is approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission, as well as federal regulatory agencies, Richmond-based Dominion will retain full operational control of construction and operations of the $9.8 billion CVOW project, which has received final federal approvals and is expected to start construction in May. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year, according to Dominion’s news release.

“The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project continues to proceed on time and on budget and consistent with our previously communicated timing and cost expectations,” Bob Blue, Dominion’s chair, president and CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “A competitive partnership process attracted high-quality interest, resulting in a compelling partner for CVOW. Stonepeak is one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, with more than $61 billion in assets under management and an extensive track record of investment in large and complex energy infrastructure projects, including offshore wind. Their significant financial participation will benefit both our project and our customers.”

Under the deal announced Thursday, Dominion Energy expects to receive $3 billion — representing 50% of the offshore wind farm’s construction costs through the anticipated closing of the deal by Dec. 31, minus $145 million, the initial withholding amount. If total construction costs remain at the current budget of $9.8 billion or less, excluding financing costs, Dominion will get back $100 million from the withholding amount.

However, if construction costs more than $11.3 billion, the Fortune 500 utility will receive no money back from the withheld $145 million. If the project costs reach $11.3 billion, Stonepeak and Dominion would each contribute 50% of additional capital costs needed to fund construction, but if the project costs between $11.3 billion and $13.7 billion, Stonepeak would not be required to contribute more capital to pay the additional costs, although it has the option to do so, the announcement says.

In terms of structure, Stonepeak would invest in a newly formed subsidiary of Dominion Energy Virginia, which would be a public utility based in Virginia. The transaction is expected to improve Dominion’s estimated 2024 consolidated FFO-to-debt by approximately 1% and reduce the utility’s overall financing needs during construction, according to the announcement Thursday.

McGuireWoods and Morgan Lewis served as Dominion’s legal advisers on the deal, while Citi and Goldman Sachs acted as co-financial advisers for the utility.

The 2.6-gigawatt CVOW, the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S., is expected to power 660,000 homes once it is fully constructed in late 2026. CVOW will consist of 176 turbines and three offshore substations in a nearly 113,000-acre lease area off the coast of Virginia Beach. Vinson & Elkins served as legal adviser to Stonepeak, while Mizuho Securities USA, through its affiliate Greenhill & Co., and Santander US Capital Markets served as co-financial advisers.

Keeping finances solid

In September 2023, during Dominion’s second-quarter earnings report, the utility said it intended to sell a noncontrolling interest in the CVOW to lower risk in the project and solidify the company’s balance sheet. In November 2023, Dominion officials said during its third-quarter earnings call that it was in advanced stages of the process to find a co-investor. The utility also announced in November it had filed an adjustment with the SCC that would lower the levelized cost of electricity estimate for CVOW from $80 to $90 per megawatt hour (MWh) to $77/MWh.

“Dominion’s framework may be somewhat more appealing for an investor to potentially become a part owner of the project,” said Mike Doyle, a senior equity analyst for utilities at Edward Jones, in an interview with Utility Dive last November. However, he added that the lowered price was surprising, given that costs are rising across the U.S. offshore wind industry, as some developers have had to cancel existing power-purchase agreements due to higher project costs.

Speaking with Virginia Business on Thursday, Doyle said he was a little surprised by the Stonepeak deal, “given the state of the offshore wind industry in the United States” and its higher costs, and the cost-sharing agreement between Dominion and the investment firm is unusual. “This [deal] has a little different structure. It probably is more intriguing to the investor.”

The fact that Dominion has remained on budget with the wind farm is significant, Doyle said. “They’re doing better than most.” He also said he doesn’t expect to see any big regulatory difficulties, especially if CVOW’s expenses stay on course. “Virginia is pretty motivated to get this done. Regulators want to see it happen.”

In Thursday’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report, Dominion reported $2 billion in net income for the calendar year 2023, up from $1.3 billion in 2022, and $14.39 billion in revenue for last year.

At start of trading Thursday, Dominion’s stock was at $45.62 a share, reaching a high of $46.96 before 10 a.m. and then fell to $44.88 before noon. As of 12:45 p.m., it was back up at $45.47 a share, a 1.78% decrease.

Stonepeak, which has 56 investments in 61 countries, specializes in infrastructure investments. In 2022, the firm raised about $14 billion, including $100 million from the Virginia Retirement System, to invest in assets such as telecommunications towers and warehouses. According to Stonepeak’s website, the firm invested in Dominion Midstream Partners, a limited partnership formed by Dominion to build its portfolio of natural gas assets, beginning in December 2016. In January 2019, Stonepeak realized its investment in Dominion, the site says.

Rob Kupchak, Stonepeak’s senior managing director, said in a statement, “Having previously partnered with Dominion Energy, we look forward to extending our relationship through CVOW, which is a fitting addition to our global renewables strategy given its potential to provide meaningful renewable capacity to the U.S., advanced stage of development, and downside-protected fundamentals. Dominion Energy’s impressive track record building and operating large-scale infrastructure projects paired with Stonepeak’s experience successfully constructing offshore wind assets gives us confidence in CVOW’s path forward, and we are excited to partner with Dominion in delivering this critical renewable energy generation resource to its customers.”

Different from other partnerships

This deal goes against the trend seen in owner partnerships of other offshore wind farms along the East Coast, said Timothy Fox, a managing director with Washington, D.C.-based research firm ClearView Energy Partners.

“I would call this partnership an outlier,” he said, “because we’re seeing the splitting of projects among companies rather than a partnership,” like BP and Norway-based Equinor’s division of two offshore wind projects off New York that they had previously been 50-50 partners in. Similarly, New England utility Eversource Energy sold its 50% stake in two offshore wind projects off the New York coast to Global Infrastructure Partners, exiting its partnership with Ørsted, earlier this month.

A likely reason that Dominion Energy is bucking this trend by gaining a partner is “because Virginia’s regulatory structure is unique among the states pursuing offshore wind,” Fox said.

“Virginia policy allows the incumbent utility to develop the project and get a cost-of-service return, basically guaranteeing they get a percent return on their investment,” he said. “And the ratepayers in Virginia pay Dominion for the project, and a return. That’s not the case for any other project along the East Coast,” projects which are being developed by independent project developers who have greater risk.

Along with Dominion’s business model as the developer and power offtaker from the CVOW project, its delivery timeline guarantees likely helped seal the deal, according to Atin Jain, a senior associate with BloombergNEF.

“In tough market conditions, certainty trumps everything else. Dominion’s assurance of ‘on-budget’ and ‘on-time’ delivery for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project likely did the trick in getting the deal rolling,” Jain said in a statement.

Biden executive order on Chinese cranes affects Port of Va.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order Wednesday addressing cybersecurity and espionage concerns over Chinese-made cranes in use at U.S. ports, including the Port of Virginia. Additionally, the Biden administration announced a plan to invest $20 billion on infrastructure security at U.S. ports, including support for domestic manufacturing of ship-to-shore cranes.

National security concerns about espionage and other cyber crime risks associated with ship-to-shore cranes manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., known as ZPMC, became public in March 2023 following a report from The Wall Street Journal. ZPMC is owned by the Chinese government, and its major shareholder is China Communications Construction Co.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, Rear Adm. John Vann, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Command, said: “The People’s Republic of China-manufactured ship-to-shore cranes make up the largest share of the global market and account for nearly 80% of cranes at U.S. ports. By design, these cranes may be controlled, serviced and programmed from remote locations. These features potentially leave PRC-manufactured cranes vulnerable to exploitation.”

Federal officials would not disclose if there have been any known cybersecurity incidents associated with the ZPMC cranes.

The issue is so critical, Vann said on Tuesday, because “America’s system of ports and waterways accounts for over $5.4 trillion of our nation’s annual economic activity, and our ports serve as a gateway for over 90% of all overseas trade.”

All 27 of the Port of Virginia’s ship-to-shore cranes were manufactured by ZPMC, according to Cathie Vick, the Virginia Port Authority’s chief development and public affairs officer. The port also has four cranes on order from ZPMC that will be delivered to the Virginia International Gateway terminal in December 2024 and another four cranes that will be delivered to Norfolk International Terminals in August 2025, Vick said Wednesday.

Biden’s executive order expands the Coast Guard’s authority to address cybersecurity concerns. Additionally, the Coast Guard will issue a maritime security directive listing risk management steps for owners and operators of Chinese-made ship-to-shore cranes.

“Before any new cranes are put into service they are subject to a detailed forensic cyber analysis that is performed by one of the nation’s federal law enforcement agencies,” Vick said in a statement. “New cranes awaiting analysis are isolated with dedicated firewalls to ensure there is no contact with port networks or the internet.

“At the Port of Virginia, we take the issue of cybersecurity very seriously and work continuously to protect our operations against outside threats,” Vick continued in the statement. “As part of this effort, we undertake regular cybersecurity exercises that include close collaboration with several federal entities [and] partners in Hampton Roads to ensure readiness for multiple types of cyber events or threats. We are confident that our protocols will satisfy the requirements of the executive order.”

Biden’s executive order broadens the Coast Guard’s authority to address cyber threats, including granting the authority “to control the movement of vessels that present a known or suspected cyber threat to U.S. maritime infrastructure,” according to the White House.

Some of the cybersecurity regulations implemented in the executive order, including mandatory reporting of cybersecurity incidents or active cyber threats and inspections of relevant vessels and facilities, were already voluntarily included in the Port of Virginia’s protocols, Vick said.

The Biden administration will also direct more than $20 billion to port infrastructure investments over the next five years, including supporting domestic manufacturing of cranes, according to a White House news release. That will include funding to help Paceco, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Japanese company Mitsui E&S Co., to manufacture ship-to-shore cranes in the United States. Paceco previously manufactured cranes in the U.S. from 1958 until the late 1980s, according to the White House.

Currently, no cranes comparable to ZPMC’s are manufactured in the U.S., according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, and an alternative crane used by some U.S. ports from Finnish company Konecranes costs about a third more.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Anne Neuberger, U.S. deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies, said that the administration is not looking at a “rip and replace” strategy for ship-to-shore cranes already in use, but instead was focused on setting cybersecurity requirements “to secure the existing infrastructure” and to also make sure that ports “can go [back] to buying trusted cranes and to bringing back [crane] manufacturing to the United States, given how important cranes are to port operations.”

At this time, the Virginia Port Authority does not have plans to replace its ZPMC-made cranes, and port officials have not had any discussions with the federal government about that, Vick said.

Neuberger said that while the executive order “certainly ties to particular concerns about Chinese cyber activity, we also have concerns regarding criminal activity.” She cited a criminal ransomware attack that disrupted the Port of Nagoya in Japan for more than two days in July 2023.

There have been no reports of cybersecurity breaches affecting Port of Virginia cranes, according to Vick. The federal government has not alerted the port to any instances of cranes in Virginia being used for espionage.

“We are confident that all of the cranes owned and operated by the Port of Virginia are safe and secure and will already comply with the parameters set forth in the executive order,” Vick said in a statement. “We employ best practices and will continue to collaborate with multiple federal law enforcement agencies to ensure the equipment we purchase, own and operate is here for its intended use, which is to move cargo.”

Va. casinos report almost $53M in January revenue

January gaming revenues from Virginia’s three casinos totaled $52.86 million, according to Virginia Lottery data released Thursday.

Virginia’s first casino, the Bristol Casino: Future Home of Hard Rock temporary facility, opened July 2022. The Virginia Lottery Board approved HR Bristol’s casino license in April 2022. Last month, the Bristol casino generated about $9.9 million from its 911 slots and almost $2.17 million from its 29 table games.

Rivers Casino Portsmouth, Virginia’s first permanent casino, opened in January 2023, after the lottery board approved its license in November 2022. The casino reported about $23.5 million in adjusting gaming revenue (wagers minus winnings), of which about $15.66 million came from its 1,466 slots and the remaining $7.88 million from its 81 table games.

The temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville opened in May 2023, after receiving its casino license in April 2023. In January, Caesars Virginia held a topping-off ceremony for the 12-story hotel that will be part of the permanent resort casino slated to open late this year. Last month, the casino reported $12.34 million in revenue from its 808 slots and almost $4.9 million from its 33 table games, for a total of roughly $17 million.

January’s casino gaming revenues were a 9.66% decrease from the $58.5 million reported in December 2023.

Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of January, taxes from casino AGRs totaled $9.5 million.

The host cities of Portsmouth and Danville received 6% of their respective casinos’ AGRs: $1.4 million for Portsmouth and $1.03 million for Danville. For the Bristol casino, 6% of its adjusted gaming revenue — about $724,677 last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia.

Near the end of 2023, Portsmouth received 7% of the Rivers Casino Portsmouth’s AGR. Under Virginia law, 6% of a casino operator’s AGR goes to its host locality until the operator passes $200 million in AGR for the year, at which point the host locality’s tax rate rises to 7%. If an operator passes $400 million in AGR in the calendar year, that rises to 8%. The Portsmouth casino crossed the $200 million threshold in October 2023, so Portsmouth received 7% of the casino’s AGR for part of October and all of November and December.

The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes, which was about $76,000 last month. The Family and Children’s Trust Fund receives 0.2% of the monthly total, about $19,000 in January.

One other casino has received voter approval and is currently underway in Virginia: the $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino in Norfolk. The developers — a partnership between the King William-based Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough — submitted new plans to the city, aiming to start continuous, rather than phased, construction in spring 2024.

The Norfolk Architectural Review Board is the first body to review plans in the approval process, which ends with the Norfolk City Council. The board was set to review the new plans in its Jan. 8 meeting, but developers continued the review until the board’s Jan. 22 meeting and then continued the review indefinitely.

“The Pamunkey Tribe has continued to work diligently with its architecture and engineering teams to produce the additional design work necessary to address the direction provided by [Norfolk] City Council. Until that work is completed, we have asked for a continuance before the ARB,” Jay Smith, spokesman for HeadWaters Resort & Casino, said in a statement after the Jan. 22 meeting.

“As soon as we are confident that the plans meet the needs of the city and Tribe, we will ask to be put on the ARB agenda,” Smith said in the statement. “We know so many residents of Norfolk share our eagerness to open HeadWaters Resort & Casino, and once design is completed, we will employ an aggressive construction schedule to bring this project to life.”

Following Richmond voters’ rejection of a proposed $562 million casino for the second time, Petersburg lawmakers sought to hold a referendum in their city. A bill that would allow Petersburg to do so by amending the eligibility requirements for host cities has passed the Virginia Senate but still faces the House of Delegates.

Logistics company expanding in Winchester

Third-party logistics warehousing provider WCS Logistics, a Winchester Cold Storage company, will invest $27 million to expand in Frederick County and create an estimated 15 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.

WCS Logistics will build an 83,000-square-foot cold storage facility with the capacity for more than 13,000 pallets. The facility will include 68,750 square feet of freezer space, an 8,750-square-foot cold dock, 12 dock positions, insulated metal panel construction and a CO2 cascade refrigeration system, according to a news release from Arco National Construction, the design-build provider for the project.

The new jobs will include warehouse supervisors, forklift operators and customer service representatives, according to WCS Logistics Chief Operating Officer Peter Yates.

The company, which began doing business as WCS Logistics in 2014, has approximately 1 million square feet across four facilities, according to Yates. WCS Logistics opened its most recent cold storage facility, comprising 62,500 square feet, in Frederick County in 2019.

“A true Virginia success story, WCS Logistics has facilitated smooth and efficient movement of perishable goods on the East Coast for more than a century to keep the supply chain moving,” Youngkin said in a statement. “We are proud that the company is choosing to reinvest in the commonwealth and strengthen Virginia’s logistics industry, which is a high-growth sector and a core focus of our economic development strategy.”

Established in 1917 to provide cold storage for the Winchester-area apple industry, Winchester Cold Storage offers freezer, cooler, controlled atmosphere, tempering, climate control, dry storage, office space, lease and build-to-suit storage options. It currently has 30 employees.

“WCS Logistics is proud to announce this investment in our newest facility,” Yates said in a statement. “This is our second expansion in the cold storage market in the last five years, and we are excited to be able to better serve our existing customers and to offer our services to others we have not had the capacity to assist with their third-party logistics needs.”