Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

byline: Katherine Schulte

Va. median home sales price breaches $400k for first time

The statewide median sales price for a home in May rose above $400,000 for the first time, according to the ‘ May 2022 Virginia Report.

The median price was $401,082, up 8.7% and more than $32,000 from a year ago.

In total, 13,048 homes sold in Virginia in May, an 8.5% decrease from the same time last year. Although sales activity rose 8.8% between April and May, “this increase is considered a typical seasonal bump,” according to the report.

Compared to last year, nearly all regions in the commonwealth are experiencing a cooling market through the first five months of this year.

“The moderating trend we are seeing reflects not only a return to more normal levels, but also a cooling of demand from home buyers,” Virginia Realtors Chief Economist Ryan Price said in a statement. “Buyers are feeling the weight of surging home prices, high inflation, mortgage rate jumps and an extremely competitive market with few options to choose from.”

There was approximately $6.6 billion in sold volume in Virginia in May, up less than 1% from a year ago. Higher prices led to the uptick, as there were fewer sales overall.

In Virginia’s market, the shrinking trend in supply seems to be changing. Statewide, the market had 16,875 active listings at the end of May, a 5.6% decrease from last year, but the smallest decline in three years.

The number of active listings at the end of May was 9% higher than at the end of April — a larger increase than a typical seasonal bump.

The average days on market statewide in May was 17 days, five days faster than last May. Homes in the $600,001 to $800,000 price band sold fastest, with an average of 13 days to closing.

Hanley Energy to add 343 jobs in Ashburn

Irish management company Hanley Energy will invest $8 million to expand its Hanley Energy Electrical division in , a project expected to create 343 , announced Thursday.

Hanley Energy will open a facility at 44381 Russell Branch Parkway to serve the market in with equipment installation and service. Electricians and apprentice electricians will be among the new positions.

“Virginia has emerged as one of North America’s premier locations for technology, and Loudoun County is the epicenter of the data center industry. This contribution is a perfect fit for Hanley Energy and its vital services that keep this sector growing,” said in a statement.

Hanley Energy provides critical power and energy management solutions. It specializes in designing and building turnkey solutions to deliver power from the grid to data center IT racks.

The company has operated in Ireland for 13 years, and it established its U.S. in Loudoun County in 2016.

Hanley Energy CEO Clive Gilmore said, “We are greatly looking forward to moving into our new facility next month. This impressive facility will increase our output, range of products and services to our ever-growing U.S. market.”

The worked with Loudoun County to secure the project for Virginia. VEDP will support Hanley Energy through the , which provides consultative services and funding to support employee recruitment and training to companies creating jobs.

Northrop Grumman division lands $458M Navy contract

A division of -based Corp. won a $458 million contract to support the ‘s Columbia and Dreadnought Fleet Ballistic Missile Program, the announced Friday.

Under the cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, Northrop Grumman’s Marine Systems in Sunnyvale, California, will provide fiscal 2022 through 2026 shipyard field operations, program management, systems engineering, documentation, logistics and hardware production activities.

The Columbia class of ballistic missile submarines will include 12 submarines designed to replace the 14 Ohio-class submarines. Ballistic missile submarines provide a launch platform for intercontinental .

Work is expected to be completed Nov. 30, 2027, and will primarily take place in California. About 4% of the work will be performed in Washington, about 3% in Florida, 0.8% in Maryland, 0.5% in Georgia and about 3% in the United Kingdom.

A Fortune 500 , Northrop Grumman employs roughly 90,000 people worldwide and reported $35.67 billion in 2021 revenue. In March, the company won two worth nearly $200 million for Navy projects.

Two govcons to merge, move HQ to NoVa

Colorado-based Inc. and Mississippi-based The Co. will merge to form a company that will be based in Northern Virginia.

Vectrus shareholders approved the all-stock , expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, on Wednesday. The combined company will be named Inc. and will trade on the NYSE under the ticker VYX. Vectrus shares currently trade under the ticker VEC. At 4 p.m. Friday, Vectrus shares were trading for $31.73, a drop of about 0.94% from its cost at opening.

“Today’s overwhelming approval marks a significant step toward completing our merger with Vertex, and creating one of the leading providers of critical mission solutions and support to defense clients globally,” Vectrus CEO Chuck Prow said in a statement.

The new company will be in what is currently a Vectrus’ office at 7901 Jones Branch Drive in .

The combined company will have 2021 pro forma revenue of about $3.4 billion and an adjusted EBITDA of about $283 million. Under the agreement, Vertex shareholders will own approximately 62% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis. Vectrus shareholders will own approximately 38%.

Prow will serve as CEO of V2X, and Vectrus Chief Financial Officer Susan Lynch will serve as V2X’s CFO. The V2X will have 11 members, six from the current Vectrus board (including Prow) and five from Vertex, including Vertex President and CEO Ed Boyington.

Vectrus has about 8,100 employees across 205 locations in 28 countries. In 2021, the company reported $1.78 million in revenue.

Vertex provides turnkey lifecycle support for government and commercial clients and has about 6,000 employees across 125 locations. Private equity firm American Industrial Partners’ Capital Fund VI LP is the majority owner of Vertex. The company rebranded from Vertex in March. In December 2021, Vertex acquired Raytheon Technologies’ Defense Training and Mission Critical Solutions segments.

Henrico Doctors’ Hospital names new chief medical officer

Dr. Ajit Singh is the new chief medical officer of Doctors’ Hospital, HCA Virginia announced Wednesday.

Henrico Doctors’ Hospital encompasses the Forest, Parham and Retreat campuses.

“Ajit values teamwork and is passionate about providing best-in-class care to our patients,” Henrico Doctors’ Hospital CEO Ryan Jensen said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have such an accomplished and collaborative leader join our campuses and help guide us during this challenging moment in healthcare.”

Singh has been with for 13 years and was most recently the chief medical officer of HCA Virginia’s Johnston-Willis Hospital. While there, he improved physician engagement survey results and helped decrease hospital-associated infections, HCA said in a news release.

Prior to joining HCA Healthcare, Singh was chief medical officer of Terre Haute Regional Hospital in Indiana.

Singh holds bachelor’s degrees in and surgery and a postgraduate degree in dermatology from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in India. He completed a family medicine residency at Southside Hospital, now South Shore University Hospital, in New York, and he holds an MBA from Indiana University.

HCA Virginia Health System operates 14 , 27 outpatient centers and five freestanding emergency rooms and is affiliated with 3,000 physicians.

Lego to build $1B factory in Chesterfield

It’s highly unlikely that it will be built from brightly colored plastic bricks, but the Group will be bringing a $1 billion toy manufacturing plant to ‘s Meadowville Technology Park, creating more than 1,760 , the company and Virginia Gov. announced Wednesday during a press conference at the Science Museum of Virginia.

“The ‘s decision to establish its U.S. manufacturing plant in Virginia shines a global spotlight on the advantages that make the commonwealth the best business location in the nation, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with this iconic company,” Youngkin said. “This transformational project will … bolster Virginia’s manufacturing industry, which continues its renaissance with major investments by high-caliber corporate partners like the Lego Group. Thank you to the Senate and House leadership in partnering with our team in this process.”

Billund, Denmark-based Lego Group plans to invest the $1 billion over a 10-year period, with groundbreaking on the 1.7 million-square-foot facility starting later this year on the 340-acre site at the technology park. The international toy company plans to begin operations from a temporary building in early 2024, creating 500 jobs. The permanent will begin production in the second half of 2025.

Lego will begin hiring workers for the moulding, processing and packing plant in late 2022 or early 2023, with plans to reach its full workforce of more than 1,760 workers within 10 years. Lego CEO Niels B. Christiansen said he thinks the average annual salary for employees at the facility will be “north of $60,000.” As part of the project, the company plans to build an onsite solar park that it says will offset 100% of the factory’s needs.

Christiansen said, “We were impressed with all that Virginia has to offer, from access to a skilled workforce, support for high-quality manufacturers and great transport links. We appreciate support for our ambition to build a carbon-neutral run facility and construct a solar park and are looking forward to building a great team with support from the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program.”

From left: Lone Dencker Wisborg, ambassador of Denmark to the U.S., Lego CEO Niels Christiansen, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia first lady Suzanne Youngkin

Chesterfield Economic Development first received an email from a consultant working with Lego in October 2021.

“It’s been very interesting in that as we’ve been working to get it ready to go and everything like that, it’s become clear from the team, it’s taken us seven months to get here, but the first day they met us on the site, they picked the site. … They didn’t tell us that ’till about a month ago,” Chesterfield Economic Development Director Garrett Hart said.

The Chesterfield factory will be the seventh factory worldwide for Lego, which reportedly produces as many as 36 billion Lego bricks annually, and its only U.S. manufacturing facility. A factory in Monterrey, Mexico, is currently the primary supply source for the company’s U.S. market and will be expanded and upgraded to meet growing demand for its products, the company said in a news release. Lego is also expanding its manufacturing in Europe and China, and it announced plans in late 2021 to build a factory in Vietnam to support growth in the Asian market.

Lego factory chesterfield county
Rendering of Lego factory planned for Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership () worked with Chesterfield County, the Greater Richmond Partnership and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment (MEI) Project Approval Commission to secure the project. Lego will be eligible to receive an MEI custom performance grant of $56 million based on an investment of more than $1 billion and the creation of jobs estimated to be in excess of 1,760, as well as site development improvements estimated at up to $19 million, subject to approval by the Virginia General Assembly.

Support for Lego’s efforts will be provided through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a workforce initiative program created and administered by VEDP in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System and other higher education partners.

Founded in 1932 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, Lego is celebrating its 90th birthday. The company, which began making its iconic interlocking plastic bricks in 1947, reported 2021 revenue of $4.38 billion and employs about 24,500 workers worldwide, including around 2,600 employees in the United States, where it has been operating since the 1960s. Its U.S. is in Enfield, Connecticut.

Lego operates 168 retail stores around the world, about 100 of which are in the United States, and has built eight Legoland amusement parks, which are owned by the Blackstone Group’s Merlin Entertainments subsidiary.

Hampton Roads Community Foundation elects new chair

The Community Foundation elected Sharon Goodwyn as , the foundation announced last week.

An attorney at LLP, Goodwyn is the first African American and the first woman to serve as chair of the foundation, which was established in 1950. She served as vice chair of the board for three years.

“I am deeply grateful for the board’s faith in my ability to uphold and advance the community foundation’s vision, mission and values,” Goodwyn said in a statement. “There’s no place quite like the community foundation, and there’s no better time to lead its work in addressing racial inequities in our region, growing its charitable footprint and working together to create a thriving community for all.”

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation has provided more than $344 million in grants and scholarships since its founding in 1950. In 2021, the foundation provided more than $20 million in grants and scholarships, including nearly $1 million to Black-led nonprofits. The foundation has $525 million in assets.

Goodwyn has worked for Hunton Andrews Kurth for more than 30 years. She earned her law degree from the University of Virginia and holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard University.

She also has served as a board member of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Virginia Wesleyan University, St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children and the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore.

The 15-member board elected Frank Batten Jr., chairman of Dominion Enterprises, as vice chair.

 

Port of Va. partnering with Norfolk Southern

The is part of a new partnership with Corp., Hapag-Lloyd and Union Pacific . The partners will provide expedited train from the East Coast to the western U.S., Southern announced last week.

The partnership, called OceaNS Bridge Express, will start at the Port of Virginia’s Norfolk International Terminals and interchange with Union Pacific in Chicago, with connections to West Coast markets.

“Union Pacific’s intermodal network is strategically positioned to provide container shippers an alternative with this overland service to the West Coast,” Kari Kirchhoefer, Union Pacific’s vice president of premium, said in a statement. “Our joint service product to Seattle/Oakland/Los Angeles/Long Beach will expedite these transatlantic shipments to consumer markets in the west.”

Although ports in the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District (including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland) have reported delays getting containers out of ports, Port of Virginia spokesman Joe Harris told Virginia Business in April that that wasn’t the case for the Port of Virginia.

“There has been some vessel queuing here and one of the biggest drivers of this is the fact that 90% of the world’s vessel fleet is off schedule,” he said. “Over the long term, we expect to maintain our efficiency.”

Norfolk Southern Corp., whose service area includes 22 states and Washington, D.C., moved its from Norfolk to Atlanta last year.

Gee appointed permanent director of Va. Lottery

Gov. Glenn announced Friday he has appointed Kelly T. Gee as permanent executive director of the , after she served as acting director since January.

When she joined the agency in 2018, Gee served as manager of government relations, where she was responsible for managing legislative outreach efforts. She assumed the permanent position on June 6.

Gee served as former House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox’s deputy chief of staff after eight years as an employee in the Virginia General Assembly. From 2011 to 2012, she served as a legislative associate for Stateside Associates.

She holds an undergraduate degree in government from William & Mary and master’s degree in political science from Virginia Tech. Gee replaces former executive director Kevin Hall, who left at the end of former Gov. Ralph Northam’s term in January.

Gee assumes the role amid a battle over a second casino referendum in Richmond. The General Assembly’s two-year budget, passed on June 2 and currently with the , includes a provision that would delay a second casino vote in Richmond, where voters defeated a referendum last year. The language would not allow the referendum to appear on Richmond’s ballots until November 2023 — leaving the door open for a possible casino in Petersburg instead.

The also is responsible for issuing casino licenses for permanent and temporary resorts. In April, the Virginia Lottery Board awarded its first license for the Hard Rock Bristol casino, which is preparing to open a temporary casino in July.

Editor’s note: This article has been amended to correct the name of consulting firm Stateside Associates. The earlier article identified the firm as Statewide Associates.

Derivatives exchange company to create 37 jobs in Fairfax

Tysons-based derivatives exchange company Nodal Exchange will invest $300,000 to expand its , creating 37 jobs, Gov. announced Thursday.

The company will increase capacity at its headquarters, located at 1921 Gallows Road in .

“Nodal Exchange offers the largest suite of and environmental contracts in the world, and we are proud that this Virginia-grown business manages risk in such a critical market, resulting in impressive growth at its headquarters in Fairfax County,” said in a statement.

Founded in 2007, Nodal Exchange is part of EEX Group, a group serving international commodity markets. Nodal Exchange offers more than 1,000 power contracts. The company also offers natural gas and environmental contracts, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nodal Clear, is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a derivatives clearing organization.

“Nodal Exchange was founded in Fairfax County, Virginia, which we believe is an ideal location for attracting and retaining an outstanding professional team necessary for operating a derivatives exchange and clearing house. … It is a wonderful location with a highly educated and diverse workforce,” Nodal Exchange and Nodal Clear Chairman and CEO Paul Cusenza said in a statement.

The worked with the to secure the project for Virginia. The will support Nodal Exchange through the , which provides consultative services and funding to support employee recruitment and training to companies creating jobs.