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Erin D. Corrie joined the Norfolk office of Colliers International as senior director of industrial brokerage.
Corrie has 20 years of experience in the port/maritime industry. Since moving to brokerage in 2013, she has focused on a commercial real estate specialization in industrial sales, leasing, acquisitions, disposition and site selection services.
The addition of Corrie brings the number of Colliers International employees in Central and Eastern Virginia to 48.
JLL’s Hampton Roads Property Management Team has been selected to manage 824 North Military Highway in Norfolk. The 190,000-square-foot property, located along the Military Highway corridor, is under renovation for office occupancy.
It is part of a new vision for the revitalization of the corridor, with the city collaborating with stakeholders and citizens to transform the area into a walkable urban center.
JLL’s Tenant Representation and Project and Development Services teams initially consulted with the Norfolk Economic Development Authority (EDA) to convert the former JCPenney department store space to an office building. Movement Mortgage will occupy the entire the first floor in May, bringing 600 to 750 new jobs to the location.
Management of the project will begin immediately. According to JLL, recent announcements of the state’s second IKEA location and the opening of Norfolk Simon Premium Outlet Center located nearby will help drive traffic to the Military Highway corridor. The city also has identified the potential to extend light rail service to the areas and support mixed-use development along Military Highway for greater density.
“The addition of jobs is a differentiator for the area,” Deborah Stearns, senior vice President, JLL, said in a statement. “Attracting a strong labor foundation is an important initiative in Norfolk, and this location is central to future development in the city. We are pleased to also welcome Optima Health to the property who will add 200 jobs to service a recently won contract – bringing the leasing of 824 North Military to 75 percent.”
At 23, Kriston Moore works at a McDonald’s for $7.25 an hour. A single father of three children under four years old, he wants to increase his earning potential beyond minimum wage.
Moore enrolled in a program known as Middle College. He has obtained a GED (the equivalent of a high school diploma) and a manufacturing technician certificate. Now he’s a student in a five-month course that will earn him a CLA, short for certified logistics associate. When he graduates in June, Moore will have the skills to work as a technician in the warehouse and distribution industries, where he could earn twice what he’s making now.
“I want a good-paying job in manufacturing to the support the children,” he says.
Moore’s ultimate goal? “I’d like to become a pediatrician. I like kids,” he says.
Moore learned the value of an education the hard way. Homeless at 14, he says he knocked around Chicago and didn’t finish high school. While he was able to make “good money” working in a commercial kitchen, he moved to Richmond and decided to get his high school diploma.
That’s when he found out about Middle College at Reynolds Community College in downtown Richmond. It’s one of eight Virginia community colleges helping young adults, ages 18 to 24, obtain their GEDs and continue on to college. That’s been the traditional design of Middle College, which started in 2003 and helps about 2,000 students a year.
With Virginia’s increased emphasis on workforce credentials, however, Middle College is evolving. It’s beginning to focus more on short-term skill training programs that may be supported by grants from area employers.
In another new wrinkle, Reynolds Community College is piloting a different design model in the program. Under this approach, the college partners with existing adult-education resources for academic courses, while integrating workforce training into the instruction for high-demand fields such as logistics, nursing and customer service. The training leads to industry-recognized credentials, which help the students get jobs.
While some Middle College students pursue two- or four-year college degrees, that path is the exception rather than the rule, says Jim Andre, director of Middle College and Adult Career Services. After getting their GEDs, many students immediately go to work or join the military. In response to that trend, “the focus has moved to: ‘What can we do to help individuals coming through this program get jobs? How do we meet the demands of the employers in our region in training the workforce to be ready?’ ”
By matching up young adults with Middle College (which they can attend for free), Andre believes community colleges are helping to build the workforce of the future. “There are a lot of young Virginians out there, a growing number, who aren’t connected to any kind of education, and they are economically wandering,” he says. “ … In an era of low unemployment, these are the folks that we can help be career-ready for Virginia’s high-demand career occupations.”
After receiving a two-year, $1 million grant this past fall from USA Funds, a nonprofit that focuses on higher education and workforce challenges, the Community College Workforce Alliance — in conjunction with Reynolds and John Tyler Community College in Midlothian — is expanding and creating programs that Andre hopes to roll out statewide. The grant should serve about 135 young adults, with a focus on African-American and Hispanic Virginians. The money provides eligible students with everything they need to complete a short-term, workforce-training program. “We want to help them work towards a career, instead of just trying to get a job,” says Mary Jo Washko, who directs the Middle College program at Reynolds.
For instance, Washko says the CLA qualifies students for more than a “pick-and-pull” job in logistics. “It helps their exposure to the field of logistics.” With Richmond home to a deep-water hub and located at the crossroads of major interstates, there are jobs in the area. Plus, instructors help students make connections with employers in the field, she says.
Middle College has long enjoyed partnerships and grant support from the business community, adds Washko. Capital One Financial Corp., Virginia Credit Union, Goodwill Industries and the Jackson Foundation all have been past supporters.
One of the strengths of Middle College, says Washko, is that students feel they have a home base on campus. Located in a corner nook in Room 626 on the Reynolds campus, the space has a computer lab and a classroom. It draws about 350 applicants a year.
To be considered for one of the new programs like logistics, applicants must be able to score at a ninth-grade level or above on math and reading tests. They also must commit to a five-month program, sign a commitment form and submit an essay on why they didn’t finish high school. Students attend class for a half a day Monday through Thursday.
“A lot of our students don’t have great support systems,” says Washko. Many of the students have children and child-care issues, and others will be the first in their families to graduate from high school.
The new pilot program for Middle College includes several components: GED and basic skills preparation and testing, workforce training and testing, college and workforce readiness exposure activities, digital and financial literacy, bus tickets and free parking and class materials and testing fees.
By integrating education, partnerships and career pathways, Washko says the program gives students a “fantastic opportunity.”
Moore agrees. “The staff, the teachers: They do not want to see you fail. They want you to succeed. It makes you feel so special.”
Moore enjoys being in a class of 50 other students, and he likes the idea of graduating with his classmates. Middle College, he says, “opened up my mind and gave me a different mindset. It brightened my horizons. I’ve got my GED now, which opens me up to a lot more jobs. So why not go on, instead of putting yourself in a box?”
Donald Pippin, director of Middle College for Danville Community College since 2007, says the program is life changing for students and teachers. “We have a lot of students who have babies, a lot who have no home support, and some of them live in homes where no one has ever worked or had a high-school diploma … We have several students who are homeless, and some don’t have food,” he says. “When they get that GED and graduate, it’s a big thing for them.”
Danville Community College throws a graduation celebration with caps and gowns, a processional march, special awards and a party. “For many of our students, this is the first accolade they have ever received for an academic credit,” says Pippin.
Typically, Danville’s program has about 65 to 70 students a year, most of them African-American women. Of this number, nearly 80 percent obtain their GED and about 55 percent enroll in college to pursue a degree, says Pippin. Before they leave the program, 96 percent earn a National Career Readiness certificate. That credential is good in any state, assuring employers that a student has certain workforce skills.
For a larger picture of the program’s impact, Pippin offers these statistics. From fall 2004 through December 2016, 781 students enrolled in Danville’s Middle College classes. Of that group, 483, or nearly 62 percent, earned their GED, and 542, or 69 percent, earned career readiness certification.
Danville offers short-term training programs in welding and precision machines, and some of its students go on to get jobs at BWX Technologies Inc., a nuclear power company in Lynchburg. “They need something more than a GED,” says Pippin. “That’s why we put them in short-term skill programs, to get them in the workforce, to get them wages and jobs, and to be productive citizens in the community.”
While Middle College programs are free, college is not. Nearly all of former Middle College students are eligible for federal Pell grants to help pay for tuition, says Pippin.
Jeff Kraus, assistant vice chancellor for communications for the Virginia Community College System, says the commonwealth took an innovative approach 14 years ago in creating Middle College.
“It makes sense that we are shifting as different avenues of opportunity become available,” he says. “We know nationally that, when it comes to industry certification credentials, one out of three who earn a credential go on to earn traditional college degrees. That’s more practical on the front end and more valuable to the people we’re serving.”
The sun is finally shining on solar development in Virginia. After failing to act on solar energy legislation in 2016, this year’s General Assembly passed three bills that advocates say will boost development of this renewable source.
The package comes as prices for new solar generation are falling and other states are already far ahead of Virginia in the quest to harvest jobs and investment from the sun.
The legislation, which at press time was awaiting the governor’s signature, addresses three areas: community solar, small agricultural generators and the expansion of a streamlined permitting process for small renewable projects.
In brief, the community solar bill requires Dominion Virginia Power and Appalachian Power to conduct a three-year pilot program for retail customers. The utilities would buy electricity from third-party providers and offer it to their customers at a blended rate. In Appalachian’s service area, the minimum generating capacity of an eligible solar provider would be 0.5 megawatts (MW) and the maximum capacity, 10 MW. In Dominion’s service area, the range would be at least 10 MW up to 40 MW.
The permitting bill increases the capacity of small renewable energy projects (solar and wind) — from 100 to 150 MW — that could be eligible for an expedited process, exempt from environmental review by the State Corporation Commission.
The bill on agricultural generators allows farmers to use up to 25 percent of their land for a solar generating facility. They also could sell excess energy — not used in farming operations — to their utility.
Karen Schaufeld, whose family owns a 260-acre farm in Leesburg, is especially pleased that farms will be allowed to sell excess solar energy as a crop, “much like you would sell peaches or corn.”
Schaufeld already has installed a group of solar arrays at her farm on a field that wasn’t particularly fertile for growing crops. She has enough arrays to generate 466 kilowatts, which power the needs of all nine buildings on her New River Farm.
Schaufeld is the founder of Powered by Facts, an advocacy organization for farmers interested in renewable energy. That role landed her a seat at the table of a collaborative process that helped beget this year’s solar energy legislation.
Reaching a consensus
In spring 2016, shortly after the General Assembly session, a joint House/Senate labor and commerce subcommittee recommended that stakeholders begin meeting with a professional mediator to settle their differences over solar development. The process continued for eight months and included more than 50 meetings or telephone conferences.
“The process was unprecedented,” says Katharine Bond, a senior policy adviser with Dominion. “It was the first time solar advocates and representatives from Dominion sat around the table dozens of times to see if we could reach consensus on a number of topics.”
The upshot was that the ball did move on solar energy. This time around Mark Rubin, executive director of the Virginia Center for Consensus Building at Virginia Commonwealth University, was hired to mediate meetings involving Dominion Virginia Power, Appalachian Power, the Maryland, D.C. and Virginia Solar Energy Industries Association, the state’s electric cooperatives and Powered by Facts.
Rubin said he charged an hourly rate, which he did not disclose, and added that each player in the group shared in a portion of the cost. While environmental groups, such as the Virginia League of Conservation Voters and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) were not at the table, they were consulted, according to Rubin.
“We vetted everything with the environmental groups, the business groups. Once we had a product, we talked to a large swath of people to get their reaction, and we made changes based what we heard, “ says Rubin.
The result? “The parties all worked hard to work through any issues that they had, and they were very positive about it,” says Rubin. “They shared a lot of information that I think they had not shared before. They created some trust and respect that allows them to do this some more. I do think that, in general, using a collaborative approach can be very helpful on complex, policy issues such as energy.”
Another benefit, he added, is that when stakeholders are in agreement over proposed legislation, “that has a big advantage. The legislators think the bills have been worked over pretty well, so that usually helps in the legislative process.”
Rubin says the group is gearing up to meet again, so they can begin work on bills that might go before the 2018 General Assembly. “There are other subjects we are going to see if we can tackle. Clearly we need to talk about net metering reform. That would affect residential rooftop solar. I know that’s a big issue.”
Will Cleveland, a SELC staff attorney in Charlottesville, says overall the process was “… a good thing, but the group could use more transparency and be a little broader in its formal membership. Not everyone who had a stake in the game was included, and I’m not just talking about the environmental community. There was no consumer advocate.”
Just the first step
Other players say that this year’s package of laws is only a first step, but it was an important step. “We broke the logjam. Nothing had been getting done,” says Schaufeld.
She cites as progress the bill that allows farmers to build up to 1.5 megawatts of renewable capacity on their land or as much as 150 percent of the amount of electricity they use; whichever is less. That’s an increase from prior rules, which allowed only 100 percent of consumption.
Small agricultural generators must enter into a power-purchase agreement with their utility to sell the electricity generated, and the utility must pay them at a fair market price.
This approach gives farms another way to generate a reliable income stream, says Schaufeld, and helps keep land in agricultural use. “It creates a predictable, streamlined process. Here’s how much you can produce, how much you can sell, and what you can sell it for.”
Asked about the upfront capital cost of installing her solar arrays, Schaufeld says the expense is about $2,000 per kilowatt, with about a 10-year payback for most farmers. “That’s why it matters that a farmer gets paid a decent price for the energy,” she says.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national average for the cost of new solar generation is falling. In 2010, the average levelized capital cost for solar PV (photovoltaic) was $396.10 per megawatt hour. In 2016, the national average (excluding tax credits) had dropped 81.2 percent to $74.20.
Last year saw the U.S. solar market nearly doubled in size for new installs, compared to the previous year, with 14,626 MW installed, according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). For the first time, solar ranked as the No. 1 source of new electric generating capacity additions on an annual basis.
Helping to drive that growth is a 30 percent federal tax credit. It allows Americans to deduct 30 percent of the cost of installing a solar energy system on their federal taxes. Some states, not including Virginia, offer an additional tax credit. Among the states, Virginia ranks 20th for solar energy production, with less than 400 MW installed, 184 solar companies and 3,236 solar jobs.
Utilities urged to do more
In February 2015, Dominion committed to developing 400 megawatts of large-scale solar generation facilities in Virginia and placing them in service by 2020. In February this year, the company reported that it had invested $800 million in solar power. “We’re already at 398 MW, and we should have more than 400 MW in operation by the end of this year,” Bond says. “That’s due in part to phenomenal partnerships we have with companies across the state.”
Dominion has collaborated with companies such as Amazon, Canon, Capital One Financial Corp. and Microsoft, along with many colleges to operate and develop solar facilities.
Yet the state is pushing to do more. Legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2015 said that development of up to 500 megawatts of solar projects in the state by 2020 was “in the public interest.” That language was included in a controversial Senate bill, proposed by state Sen. Frank W. Wagner (R-Virginia Beach), that froze Dominion’s base rates — which make up about 60 percent of the typical residential bill — at 2015 levels for five years.
At the time, Dominion said the legislation was needed to help provide price stability for customers as the company dealt with federal air-quality regulations, including those limiting power station carbon dioxide emissions. However, President Donald Trump has said he will work to overturn regulations under the Clean Power Plan pushed by former President Barack Obama’s administration. That turn of events prompted cries from some legislators during this session to overturn Dominion’s rate freeze.
Wagner, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, was also the legislator who introduced the successful package of solar bills this year. He’s one of three Republications seeking the nomination to run for governor in the fall.
Wagner is pleased with how things turned out. “We got a first down, and we need to keep moving, because solar is going to be an important part of the mix in Virginia.”
As for the rate freeze, he says there’s still uncertainty about what the energy policy will be in Washington, and he sees no reason to overturn it.
“The actual kilowatt rates are less today than they were when the bill passed. I can’t name a single other commodity where the rates were cheaper than they were three years ago, so I think we’re on the right track.”
Berman Kappler Properties has selected Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer to provide property management services for a 318,0000-square-foot, three-property portfolio in the Richmond metro area.
One of the properties is Colonial Square Shopping Center, a 175,000- square-foot retail center at 3107 Boulevard in Colonial Heights. According to Thalhimer, the center is soon to be anchored by Publix Supermarkets upon completion of store renovations, which are expected to be done by September.
The second property is Centralia Crossing Shopping Center, a 48,000- square-foot retail center at 9801 Chester Road in Chester. Its anchor tenant is a Food Lion supermarket. Berman Kappler said it has plans to expand the center for a total of 100,000 square feet by developing the adjoining eight acres of land it owns. Jerad Nielsen Thalhimer’s Richmond office is the portfolio manager for both retail centers.
The third property is the Bookbindery Building, located in the heart of Richmond’s Museum and Fan District at 2201 West Broad St. Constructed in 1900, the building is a renovated 60,000-square-foot office building with a 170-car parking garage. Mark E. Douglas of Thalhimer’s Richmond office is the exclusive leasing representative, and Nielsen is the portfolio manager.
Berman Kappler Properties, a real estate development company based in Vienna, has acquired and developed more than 2 million square feet of office and retail properties since 1995.
It was a big news day Tuesday for Newport News-based Ferguson, with its United Kingdom parent company announcing a name change, a new CEO and rising sales.
Wolseley plc, the world’s largest distributor of plumbing and heating products to contractors, said it is changing its name to Ferguson plc, subject to shareholder approval. The company said Ferguson is the most significant brand in the Wolseley Group of companies and accounts for 84 percent of the Wolseley’s profits.
“We are proud to have the Wolseley Group adopt the Ferguson name. We have built a very strong brand over the last 64 years and are known for our performance reputation,” Ferguson CEO Frank Roach, said in a statement. “The Ferguson name best represents the group today, and will help create greater shareholder interest in the U.S.”
Effective Aug. 1, new Ferguson plc will report its financial results in U.S. dollars. The company said it would remain listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The company also announced that Roach would retire on July 31. Current Ferguson Chief Operating Officer Kevin Murphy will assume the role of CEO effective Aug. 1. Roach became CEO of Wolseley’s North American Division in 2006. In 2009, he assumed additional responsibilities as chief executive officer of Ferguson.
Murphy joined Ferguson in 1999 through the acquisition of his family’s business, Midwest Pipe and Supply. He has served in a variety of leadership roles and was appointed as Ferguson’s chief operating officer in 2007.
In other news, Ferguson reported fiscal 2017 half-year sales growth of 9.9 percent. The company said it increased its revenue 5.4 percent on a like-for-like basis, which measures growth of Ferguson’s existing stores or branches open for at least one year. Acquisitions contributed 2.5 percent of additional revenue growth, with remaining growth from new locations and two additional sales days this year.
Ferguson increased its market share in all of its major businesses. The company completed six acquisitions during the first-half of fiscal year 2017.
Virginia is one of the fastest-growing solar job markets in the country, according to a survey by the Solar Foundation, a non-profit research organization.
The National Solar Jobs Census 2016 shows that Virginia is second in the Southeast and tied with Utah for ninth in the U.S. for year-over-year solar job growth.
Overall, Virginia ranks 20th in the country in the total number of solar jobs, with 3,236 jobs – a 65 percent increase from 2015. Employment in the solar industry across the U.S. has grown more than 25 percent since 2015, and more than 178 percent since 2010.
The Solar Foundation also released city and county solar industry-related job figures in its State Solar Jobs Census 2016. Fairfax County is the top locality in Virginia for solar jobs with more than 460 jobs in 2016, a 47 percent increase from 2015.
The Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News and Richmond metropolitan statistical areas also saw significant increases in solar jobs in 2016, with 75 percent and 79 percent growth respectively.
In announcing the 2016 census results Tuesday, Gov. Terry McAuliffe said, “Today’s announcement is a testament to the great work we’re doing to build the new Virginia economy, one that is less reliant on federal spending and focuses on growth in innovative sectors like the solar industry. It is clear that Virginia is moving in the right direction, but there is still work to do.
Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore said that companies are “increasingly demanding more renewable energy options when deciding where to make investments. Given this growing component of economic development, it is essential that consumers and businesses have access to affordable, reliable and diverse energy resources.”
Virginia’s growth can be seen in numerous areas of the solar supply chain including nearly 1,750 installation jobs, representing a 46 percent increase over 2015; more than 575 project development jobs, a 108 percent increase; and more than 300 manufacturing jobs, an 88 percent increase.
Women represent nearly 38 percent of Virginia’s solar workforce, and Latino or Hispanic workers represent 22 percent of Virginia’s solar workforce.
Since 2014, more than 174 megawatts of solar have been installed in Virginia, including an 80-megawatt facility built by Amazon and a 20-megawatt public-private partnership with the Commonwealth, Dominion and Microsoft. According to the governor, revenue in the clean energy sector generally has grown four fold in the last three years under to $2 billion.
A 26,000-square-foot, mixed-use project in downtown Fredericksburg has gotten the green light from the city’s Architectural Review Board (ARB). At a meeting this month, the board approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for exterior design plans for 1010 Caroline St.
Firms helping the project include Commonwealth Architects, Lifecycle Construction Services and Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.
The structure at 1010 Caroline Street was built in 1930 as two buildings for the Spotless Co., a department store. In 1955, the buildings were combined and renovated to become the Leggett’s Department Store.
Since the 1970s only a small portion of the building has been utilized by a retail business. The building’s new design pays homage to its mid-century modern design and feel while providing improved usage and function for new business tenants.
The development, scheduled to be complete in November, will include Class A office, restaurant and retail space Jamie Scully of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s Fredericksburg office will serve as the building’s exclusive leasing agent.
“We are excited to bring this wonderful building into a new era of life and use, while increasing foot traffic for all businesses on Caroline Street ” Sean J. Haynes, president and owner of the Fredericksburg-based Rappahannock Development Group, said in a statement.
Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer has announced the sale of about 4.83 acres of land situated along 134 in Chesterfield County.
According to Thalhimer, Rockford Pinnacle LLC purchased the land from Brandywine Realty Trust for $1.1 million as an investment for future development.
David M. Smith and David Butchello of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled the sale negotiations on behalf of the seller.
The main event in the city of Norfolk on Friday night was The Main, the city’s newest downtown hotel and conference center. Dancers danced, champagne flowed and the governor of Virginia anointed The Main as a transformative property that will help reposition not only this port city, but also the state, as a prime tourism and conference destination.
“When you think that this was an old bus terminal not too many years, ago, a decrepit, vacant bus terminal, and you walk in here now today and you see all these beautiful rooms and go upstairs, I just saw the new craft brewery, this will transform Norfolk, Va. This will transform Hampton Roads. This will transform the commonwealth of Virginia,” McAuliffe said during a reception at the $175 million property.
This weekend’s “soft” opening, coming 10 days before The Main officially opens for business on April 3, is a private fundraising event with an ambitious goal of raising $1 million for Norfolk’s vibrant arts community. Norfolk is home to the Virginia Opera, the Virginia Stage Co., and the Virginia Symphony, among other arts groups.
Arriving guests were greeted by dancers whose movements and costumes evoked mermaids as they gracefully batted balloon-like balls back and forth in The Main’s light-filled atrium. As people stood in line to get keys to their rooms, hotel staff delivered flutes of champagne. According to event organizers, about 500 people had registered for the arts-focused weekend, with some packages selling for as much as $1,600.
By early evening, when McAuliffe showed up for the reception, members from the business, local government and arts communities turned out to toast the 22-story glass tower and Hilton-branded luxury hotel that sits at the corner of Main and Granby streets.
Asa Shield, a financial consultant for CCP, a commercial real estate firm in Virginia Beach and a member of the Virginia Symphony board, said The Main “will upgrade downtown Norfolk. This is something we need to attract conventions and tourisms. As for the business community, it will be good because it’s a convenient location for meetings and for guests to stay.”
The imprint of the region’s business community was apparent at the gala. TowneBank served as the main sponsor, and other companies, such as Norfolk Southern Corp. and the law firm of Kaufman & Canoles sponsored specific events. Kaufman & Canoles sponsored a Friday night dinner theater presentation of excerpts from “The Wiz” by Virginia Stage Co. and Norfolk State University.
Besides the dinner theater, guests spent the evening dining at one of the property’s venues – dancing at a Big Band bash or quaffing a few brews at The Grain, a fifth-floor beer garden that serves 100 craft beers.
In a public acknowledgment of the project’s developer, McAuliffe called Bruce Thompson, the CEO of Gold Key | PHR and one of the state’s largest hospitality operators, “the genius behind where we are standing here today.”
Just hours before the reception, Thompson, in jeans, was directing staff on where to move a tree sculpture. He donned a suit for the evening’s festivities. After more than four and a half years of planning, to see the project open and filled with people “gives me goose bumps,” said Thompson.
Thompson, in partnership with the city of Norfolk, built the project with help from the state’s tourism development financing program. Virginia is one of seven states with some form of tourism development gap financing. It assists developers and localities that partner and apply for the financing, which doesn’t kick in until after a facility opens. A developer can apply for as much as 20 percent of a project’s total cost on facilities of more than $100 million. With The Main, Thompson and the city applied for 9 percent of the financing on the $77.5 million expected cost of building the 300-room hotel portion of the project, said Wirt Confroy, director of business development for the Virginia Tourism Corp. The Main is expected to create 250 fulltime jobs, Wirt said.
“The great thing about this program and why the state likes it so much, this is not money taken from another pot and given to the locality,” explained Confroy. “All the money the state contributes is from the new taxes from the new revenue that the project creates … It’s a performance-based tax rebate, really. “
The city of Norfolk also kicked in funding to help with parking and the construction of The Exchange, the hotel's 50,000-square-foot conference center. Norfolk Mayor Ken Alexander said The Main gives Norfolk the state’s largest ballroom – about the size of a football field – which will enable the city to be more competitive in drawing events. With about 6,000 people now living downtown, it also provides a new gathering place.
Other city officials noted that 2017 is turning out to a banner year for new development in Norfolk with the May opening of the new Waterside District, a short distance from The Main on the city's Elizabeth River waterfront, and the June opening of Norfolk Premium Outlets.
Rob Uhrin, a principal with Cooper Carry, said the hotel was designed to actively engage the community with plenty of public spaces, including outside patios off the beer garden and a small outdoor park off the building’s main first-floor seafood restaurant, Saltine. “The days of having an experience for only the hotel guest, those days are long gone,” he said. “It’s all about locals coming in and interacting with the people who are visiting.”
Uhrin, who works out of the Atlanta-based design firm’s Washington, D.C. office, said The Main could just as easily be in New York City as Norfolk. For a 500,000 square-property to have three high-end food and beverage outlets is unusual, he said, and was part of Thompson’s vision for the facility to be a local gathering place. One of the biggest challenges, Uhrin added, was positioning the property on what was a relatively small sliver of land. The response was “stacking ballroom upon ballroom and stacking the parking. One of the biggest challenges in a stacked situation is moving everyone up and down.” A part of the solution to that piece is the facility's dramatic escalator, which moves people from the first to the third floors, allowing visitors to look out onto city streets and offering views from the street into the hotel. “You can see the activity . That is exposed to the street. So it's engaging the whole civic environment. That's why I think it works,” said Uhrin.
As with any opening night, there were a few glitches. Some visitors attended the governor’s reception in the attire they arrived in, because luggage didn’t get sent to their rooms on time. An electrical outlet in the main lobby didn’t work. All in all though, The Main’s Managing Director Kurt Krause said he was pleased with how the first night’s events had gone. By that point, he had been up for 17 hours, and was looking for a good night’s sleep.
The event continues through Sunday with special art exhibits and a performance tonight by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Broadway singer Kelli O’Hara.
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