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byline: Paula C. Squires

Richmond’s Potterfield Memorial Bridge wins a best project award

The first dedicated pedestrian and cycling bridge to cross Richmond’s James River, the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, has won a best project award in the mid-Atlantic region for landscape/urban development.  

                                        
Howard Shockey & Sons, the general contractor for the project, announced the award from ENR MidAtlantic magazine, one of several honors the $11.3 million project has earned since it opened in 2016.


ENR judges weighed the project teams’ ability to overcome challenges, the project’s contribution to the industry and community, its safety and construction and design quality.


Besides Winchester-based Shockey, the project team included the city of Richmond, owner; Hargreaves Associates, lead design firm; VHB, civil engineer; Moffatt & Nichol, structural engineer; and AECOM, construction manager/owner’s representative. The firms, all with offices in Richmond, completed the 17-month project on time.


The bridge was named after T. Tyler Potterfield, a late senior planner for the Richmond Department of Planning and Development Review.
After opening last winter, the 1,700-foot-long, 10-foot wide bridge drew 35,000 people in its first month.  It offers views of the Richmond skyline as people walk or ride across a span 20 feet above the river’s falls.


Design and construction of the bridge, which links the city’s downtown to the Manchester neighborhood, was complicated by its location within the river’s floodplain. Another challenge was a nearly four-month moratorium on work in the James River to protect local fish migration.


Built on a decommissioned hydro power dam constructed around 1900, the bridge reused some existing piers that had been damaged but were able to be repaired and recycled.


The bridge has picked up several other awards including:
Project of the year — Transportation | American Public Works Association, Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Public Works Project of the Year | American Public Works Association
Engineering Excellence Merit Award — Special Projects   American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC ) of Virginia

S. L. Nusbaum Realty Co. will serve as leasing representative for Dominion Enterprises Office Tower

S. L. Nusbaum Realty Co. has been named the exclusive leasing representative for the Dominion Enterprises Office Tower at 150 Granby Street in Norfolk.

The 20-story office tower offers 310,666 square feet of Class A office space and views of the Elizabeth River from its site in the downtown Financial District at the corner of Granby Street and City Hall Avenue.

The building is a short distance from The Main Norfolk Hilton hotel and conference center, the new Waterside District, MacArthur Center Mall, and other dining and entertainment options.

150 Granby Street has more than 102,900 square feet of space available on four floors and there also is leasable space on the first floor.

The building offers on-site parking, multiple conference rooms and meeting areas on the 20th floor. Building signage also may be available.

Nusbaum’s Stephanie Sanker and Sam Rapoport will provide leasing services.

Publix continues to expand in the Richmond region

Publix, a Lakeland-Fla.-based grocery, has opened its eighth store in the Richmond region and its first in Chesterfield County.

The 63,557-square-foot Publix at Harbour Pointe Shopping Center at 13700 Hull Street Road opened in Chesterfield on Saturday. Meanwhile, the company has reportedly paid $1.9 million for land for another store in a mixed-use development that would be called Publix at Cosby Village. The six-acre site is located at 15930 Hull Street Rd. in Chesterfield. 

Publix also opened a store in Colonial Heights last week on Nov. 1 at 3007 Boulevard. The company has scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony on Wed., Nov. 8, for construction to begin on a store in Hanover County where Publix plans to build in the Brandy Creek Commons development on an 18-acre site on Mechanicsville Turnpike and Brandy Creek Drive.

Publix opened its first store in the Richmond region in July. It entered the market last year when it bought up many of the Martin’s stores that had to be sold off as a result of the merger between Ahold and Delhaize Group.

Humm Kombucha to build East Coast manufacturing facility in Roanoke

Humm Kombucha plans to build a $10 million East Coast manufacturing facility in Roanoke.


The 100,000-square-foot facility would be built on a 12-acre site in the Roanoke Centre for Industry & Technology. The company is expected to employ 50 people in Roanoke.


The Bend, Ore., company makes fermented tea. It is the second company from that Oregon city to come to Roanoke. Last year, Bend-based Deschutes Brewery announced it would build a brewery in the same industrial park.


The Roanoke Regional Partnership estimates that the Humm project would have a $58 million annual economic impact on the regional economy.


“Through its friendship with Deschutes, Humm saw that the Roanoke region was a good fit from both business and cultural perspectives,” Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, said in a statement.  “Being the East Coast home of Humm Kombucha just adds energy to what is going on here.”


The company started in 2009 when its co-founders began selling their product at farmers’ markets and by home delivery. Today, Humm employs 100 people in Bend. Its product is available in all 50 states as well as Sweden at retail outlets such as Target, Safeway, Wal-Mart, Costco and Publix. 


The city of Roanoke, the Roanoke Economic Development Authority, Roanoke Regional Partnership and Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked to secure the project for Virginia. Gov. Terry McAuliffe approved a $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the city with the project.


The company is eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.


Construction is expected to begin soon. Humm Kombucha plans to be in operation in 2019.

A new office building is up and running in Virginia Beach

Atherton Construction & Development and Parker Burnell Real Estate celebrated the opening of Independence Professional Place with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.

The $3.2 million,16,000-square-foot, two-story building is located at 1436 S. Independence Blvd., not far from the Town Center of Virginia Beach. Construction began on the building in May 2016 and was completed in February.

Burnell Real Estate Group brokered the fully leased building for the home offices of Atherton Construction & Development Inc., Parker Burnell Real Estate Group, The Foleck Center for Cosmetic & General Dentistry, Hamilton’s Realty, and VA Mortgage Corp. Nicholas Financial also leased space for one of its local franchises.

“We welcome the newest addition to the thriving area surrounding Town Center,” Virginia Beach Economic Development Director Warren Harris said in a statement.
“It is a strong statement of Virginia Beach’s development strength to build and open with 100 percent occupancy.”

Kerry Finley of Finley Design designed the building, and Brad Martin with American Engineering provided engineering services.

Dodson Property Management acquires Shockoe Co. in Richmond

Dodson Property Management has acquired Shockoe Co. in a deal that will merge two Richmond-based residential and commercial property firms.

The combined company will oversee more than 3,700 residential units and 1 million square feet of commercial space across Central Virginia, Hampton Roads and North Carolina.

Terms of the deal, which closed on Nov. 1, were not disclosed.

Founded in 1986 under the direction of co-founders Mark R. Merhige and Bill Elliott, Shockoe Co. has grown into a full-service property management provider with a portfolio of more than 800,000 square feet of commercial space and 400 residential units in Virginia and North Carolina.

Shockoe manages several residential and commercial buildings in Richmond, along with grocery-anchored shopping centers, strip retail and industrial properties in Hampton Roads and Charlotte, N.C.

Under terms of the agreement, Shockoe will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Dodson. Dodson will handle all day-to-day property management, leasing, sales and maintenance needs for Shockoe’s residential and commercial properties.

Shockoe’s 18 employees will continue in their same roles with Dodson, which now has a staff of 95. Merhige will join Dodson as director of commercial brokerage and strategy. Elliott, stockholder in Shockoe Co., will remain as a stockholder in Dodson Property Management.

Dodson Commercial, located at Dodson Property Management’s Richmond headquarters at 409 E. Main St., will move to Shockoe’s space at 1315 E. Cary St.

“Mark Merhige is a legend in the Richmond real estate industry; he and the Shockoe team are well-connected and respected in the local market, and they have played an instrumental role in the rehabilitation of Shockoe Slip and other historic districts,” Duke Dodson, president of Dodson Property Management, said in a statement. “I look forward to working alongside Mark and his team …”

The deal increases Dodson’s multi-family management division, adds association management and expands its commercial presence in the Richmond’s Central Business District, the metro region and beyond. In addition, Dodson’s maintenance division, River Bend Property Services, will add three new employees from Shockoe.

For Merhige, the acquisition by Dodson allows him to exit focus on development of its commercial brokerage division.

“We have collaborated with Dodson for years and came to the conclusion that this was a good fit and made sense for them to expand their commercial presence,” Merhige said in a statement.  “The Shockoe team has been going strong for decades; there’s a lot of gray hair at Shockoe, and we are looking forward to joining a young, sophisticated team and sharing the knowledge we have gained to help position Dodson for continued future growth.”

Ford’s Colony Realty in Williamsburg is under new ownership

Long-time Williamsburg residents David and Nancy Walker have purchased Ford’s Colony Realty.

The new owners announced the change in ownership Thursday. David Walker said the couple bought the realty firm over the summer for an undisclosed price

The Walkers have owned several homes at Ford’s Colony in the past, although they currently live in Colonial Williamsburg on land inherited by Nancy Skillman Walker, a third-
generation Williamsburg resident.

Walker said the couple is “in a transition period now,” with the realty firm. They  plan to update Ford Colony’s marketing efforts with the latest technology including the firm’s websites, photography, presentation materials, and more.

“I’m excited to assemble a team to navigate the constantly changing landscape of lifestyle realty in Williamsburg with technology and marketing tools playing a central role,” he said in a statement and confirmed in an interview with Virginia Business.

The Walkers invested in Ford’s Colony, a master-planned community with about 2,600 homes today, 40 years ago, when it was named Middle Plantation. They, together with partners, built more than 40 houses in the development and have lived in five homes in the neighborhood. At one time, Walker said they were the largest individual lot holders in the subdivision.

The couple’s son, Scott Walker, a broker with Precision Realty in the Richmond area, will serve as a consultant and adviser, Walker said.

Ford’s Colony is a 3,000-acre, gated community that offers 24-hour security, three golf courses, a country club, pools, and walking and biking trails.

Virginia Beach breaks ground on 128-bed veterans care center

Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Virginia Beach Mayor William D. Sessoms Jr. led city and military veteran leaders Wednesday in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Jones & Cabacoy Veterans Care Center.

The 128-bed facility will be built in Virginia Beach’s bio health corridor on a 26-acre site near the intersection of Nimmo Parkway and West Neck Road on land donated by the city at no cost to the state.

““I am proud to be here today to break ground on the new Jones & Cabacoy Veterans Care center, named for two Tidewater natives, who bravely served both Virginia and our nation,” McAuliffe said in a statement.

The center will join other partner organizations that are part of the VABeachBio Initiative, which aims to attract biomedical and health-care businesses to Virginia Beach.

The corridor, in the Princess Anne Commons area, already is home to a number of regional partners, including LifeNet Health’s world headquarters and Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Operation Smile’s world headquarters, Sentara Princess Anne Hospital and two facilities operated by Children’s Hospital of The Kings Daughters.

The center will offer an on-site laboratory, X-rays, physical therapy and other ancillary healthcare services including Alzheimer's/dementia care and short-term rehabilitative services.

“We are proud that Virginia Beach was chosen for the new veterans care center,” Sessoms said in a statement. “The thousands of active duty service members, family members, and veterans who live and work here are a critical part of this community.”

When completed in 2020, the Jones & Cabacoy Veterans Care Center will be one of four veterans care centers in Virginia.  A groundbreaking ceremony was held Oct.  26 for the new 128-bed Puller Veterans Care Center, which will be constructed simultaneously in Fauquier County.

These two new  centers join the Virginia Veterans Care Center in Roanoke, opened in 1992, and the Sitter & Barfoot Veterans Care Center in Richmond, opened in 2007.  They are operated by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.

The Jones & Cabacoy center is named in honor of two war heroes. According to bios provided by the governor’s office:

Col. William A. Jones III was born in Norfolk. He graduated from West Point in 1945 and transferred to the newly formed U.S. Air Force. He served in the Vietnam War with distinction and received the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry and intrepidity in action when, in 1968, he went on a rescue mission to retrieve a fellow pilot, took on enemy fire, managed to return to base safely and conveyed information to save the pilot before seeking medical treatment for himself. Jones died in an airplane accident near Woodbridge in 1969.

Army Staff Sergeant Christopher F. Cabacoy was a Virginia Beach native. He graduated from Tallwood High School in 1997 and studied engineering at Old Dominion University before joining the U.S. Army in 2000. He served 10 years with distinction in the U.S. Army, assigned to the 1st Squadron, 71st Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division based at Ft. Drum, N.Y. He died on July 5, 2010,  when insurgents in Kandahar, Afghanistan,  attacked his vehicle with a homemade bomb.

Cleaner air for Virginia

The summer of 2017 was the cleanest ground-level ozone season in Virginia in at least 20 years, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

“We have made tremendous improvements in Virginia's air quality in the past two decades,” DEQ Director David K. Paylor said in a statement.  “Though we still have work to do to ensure that our air remains clean, the progress we have seen so far is a great benefit to all Virginians.”

Paylor said the trend for air quality in Virginia has been one of steady improvement. Pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and particles have shown consistent declines for 20 years or more. Emissions of these pollutants have decreased by nearly 60 percent in the past 20 years.

Paylor noted in a news release that the drop has occurred despite increased demand for electricity and more vehicles on Virginia's highways.

Twenty years ago, DEQ reports that the ozone health standard was 120 parts per billion (ppb), and many urban areas in the state failed to meet it. Over the summer, by the end of September, four days had ozone levels that exceeded the current, more stringent ozone standard of 70 ppb.

These high readings were seen in Arlington and Fairfax counties, with four exceedances, and Henrico and Giles counties, each with one.
Other areas of Virginia had no high ozone days in 2017.

According to DEQ, this year was better than the second-cleanest year of 2013, when five high ozone days were recorded.

By comparison, in the 1990s, the state was reporting multiple ozone exceedances on a single day, and, in some cases, there were dozens of days statewide that experienced high ozone. The average number of high ozone days in the 1990s was 86, including a high of 108 in 1993 and 1998. 

Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility, commented on DEQ’s findings with its own press release.

The company said it has spent $3.7 billion to reduce emissions since 2000 and that it has seen a 43 percent reduction in carbon emissions intensities for its generating stations since that time.

Trader Interactive to move headquarters to Dominion Tower in downtown Norfolk

Trader Interactive, an online marketplace and digital marketing solutions provider for commercial and recreational vehicle dealers, plans to move nearly 200 employees to a new headquarters in downtown Norfolk.

The company, currently located at 150 Granby St., will occupy three floors at Dominion Tower, a Class A office building owned by an affiliate of Harbor Group International LLC, at 999 Waterside Drive.

“Our plans for expansion demanded a new environment for our desired team synergies as we scale the business,” Lori Stacy, CEO of Trader Interactive, said in a statement.  “We saw the opportunity to create a best-in-class space for collaboration and growth, with easy access to downtown Norfolk and great employee amenities like food, a fitness facility, and professionally managed conference and meeting facilities all on site.”

Trader Interactive has more than 300 employees in 26 states. Its Norfolk team includes a mix of employees devoted to technology, sales, marketing, finance, operations, and human resources. They expect to move to the new space in January.