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byline: Robert Powell, III

Internet Society names new CEO

Kathryn C. Brown has been named CEO of the Internet Society in Reston.

Brown was senior advisor at the Albright Stonebridge Group and senior vice president for public policy and corporate responsibility at Verizon.

Earlier in her career, Brown served in the Clinton’s Administration where she was involved in policy development that was instrumental to the deployment and adoption of the global Internet.

Brown succeeds outgoing CEO Lynn St. Amour, who announced in February 2013 that she would be stepping down at the conclusion of her contract.

The Internet Society is a global organization involved in a wide spectrum of Internet issues, including policy, governance, technology and development.

Huntington Ingalls acquires the S.M. Stoller Corp.

Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries has acquired the S.M. Stoller Corp., a privately held consulting and engineering services firm.

The value of the deal was not disclosed. The company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of HII and will operate under its Newport News Shipbuilding division (NNS).

Stoller, based in Broomfield, Colo., has provided environmental and technical support to the U.S. government and nuclear power industry for more than 50 years. Its customers include the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense.

“With this strategic acquisition, Newport News Shipbuilding is positioned for expanded growth within the DOE, environmental management and commercial nuclear services markets,” Matt Mulheri, Huntington Ingalls corporate vice president and NNS president, said in a statement.

Stoller’s  services range from complex multi-year remediation projects to short-term evaluations of local groundwater quality in anticipation of commercial construction. The company has 18 offices nationwide and performs work in 29 states.

NNS is the nation's sole designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. It also is one of only two shipyards that designs and builds nuclear-powered submarines.
The division recently expanded its nuclear and manufacturing expertise into Department of Energy and alternative energy business ventures.

Migration in and out of Virginia fairly even last year

A national moving company says the number of household moves into and out of Virginia last year were fairly even.

Evansville, Ind.-based Atlas Van Lines lists the Old Dominion among “balanced” states in its annual migration pattern study.

In fact, the company said the majority of states, 31, showed a balance between inbound and outbound moves during 2013 despite a 6 percent increase in total interstate household moves from 2012.

The Atlas survey showed Virginia had 3,378 inbound moves during the last year, compared with 3,235 outbound moves.

In 2012, the commonwealth saw 3,411 inbound moves and 3,262 outbound moves.

Virginia ranked fourth among states with the highest number of total interstate household moves last year and during the past 10 years, according to Atlas. The Old Dominion had 6,613 interstate moves in 2013 and 77.261 moves in the past decade.

The states ahead of Virginia on both lists were California, Texas and Florida, the first, second and fourth most populous states in the U.S. Virginia, by comparison, is 12th in population.

Atlas describes a state as “outbound” if 55 percent of the moves during the year are leaving its borders. A state is labeled “inbound” if 55 percent of the moves are coming from another state.

In 2013, Virginia’s neighbors in the South and mid-Atlantic were generally balanced, with the exception of inbound trends in North Carolina, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.

North Carolina ranked second among the states with the highest percentage of inbound household moves last year, 60 percent, behind North Dakota with 67 percent.

The Tarheel State also ranked third in inbound percentage over the past 10 years, 58 percentage compared with Washington, D.C.’s 67 percent and Alaska’s 59 percent.

Elsewhere, two states that showed an “outbound” trend in 2012 are now “balanced,” Vermont and West Virginia.

Also two former “inbound states,” Alaska and Washington, became balanced.

On the other hand, two “balanced states,” Delaware and Pennsylvania became “outbound” in 2013 while Idaho and Montana became “inbound.”

California’s more than 14,500 household moves in 2013 accounts for 19 percent of total interstate moves.

Connecticut experienced the highest percentage of outbound moves, totaling 60 percent, while New York was close behind with 59 percent.

Troutman Sanders names two new partners in Richmond

Two Richmond lawyers were among nine new partners in five offices announced by Troutman Sanders LLP.

The new Richmond partners are William G. Homiller and John D. McPhaul II.

Homiller’s practice focuses on all areas of commercial real estate, including development, acquisition, sale, financing, land use and zoning, and construction.

McPhaul specializes in representating commercial lending institutions, including major national, regional and local banks, in a variety of financing transactions.

Troutman Sanders LLP is an international law firm with more than 600 lawyers and offices located throughout North America and Asia.

REIT refinances Florida hotel

Williamsburg-based  SoTHERLY Hotels Inc. has announced the $57 million refinancing of the Crowne Plaza Hollywood Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach, Fla.

The company has a 25 percent interest in the hotel through a joint venture with the Carlyle Group.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch loan is collateralized by an interest-only, nonrecourse first mortgage on the hotel with a floating interest rate of the one-month LIBOR rate plus 3.95 percent. The loan matures in January 2016.

Proceeds from the loan were used to repay the existing first mortgage and to make distributions to the joint venture partners.

The company used about $3.5 million of its share of the distribution proceeds to extinguish its indebtedness related to the joint venture.

SoTHERLY Hotels Inc., formerly MHI Hospitality Corp., is a lodging real estate investment trust focused on the acquisition, renovation and repositioning of full-service hotels in the South.

The company’s portfolio consists of investments in 11 hotel properties, 10 of which are wholly-owned and comprise 2,372 rooms.

All of the company’s properties operate under the Hilton Worldwide, InterContinental Hotels Group and Starwood Hotels and Resorts brands.

Virginia CPAs increasingly believe economic recovery is sustainable

Virginia CPAs are more optimistic than they were two years ago that the national economy is in a sustainable recovery. Many, however, believe we are still more than four years away from a full recovery from the Great Recession.

Those are two of the findings of the 2014 Virginia Economic Outlook Survey conducted in December by the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. VSCPA polled its 7,900 members to get their opinions on the state of the economy and to find out what issues are most important to Virginia businesses. About 5 percent of the CPAs responded.

A slight majority of respondents (51.1 percent) said they believe the U.S. is in a sustained economic recovery. That response represents a jump of nearly 20 percentage points from the last VSCPA survey two years ago when more than two thirds of the CPAs said no sustained recovery was underway.

Nonetheless, a plurality of respondents in the new survey, 37.4 percent, think the U.S. is still more than four years away from a full recovery. By contrast, 32.2 percent of CPAs believed a full recovery was only one to two years away in the previous survey.

Looking at prospects for 2014, 35.7 percent, said they were “somewhat pessimistic” about the national economy, while 30.4 percent were “balanced” between optimism and pessimism, and another 25.5 percent were “somewhat optimistic.” Two years ago, nearly half of the respondents, 49.7 percent, were “somewhat pessimistic” in sizing up the economy in 2012.

CPAs also were  divided in their outlook for Virginia’s economy in the new survey, with one third, 33.2 percent, saying they were “somewhat optimistic” about 2014, with 32.1 percent having a balanced view and 27.7 percent saying they were somewhat pessimistic.

Health-care costs were consistently cited by CPAs in the new survey as the biggest concern of Virginia businesses. A majority of respondents, 57.6 percent, said health care was the top financial problem facing business, up from 39 percent two years ago. In addition, 76.4 percent of the CPAs said the cost of health care is the top issue that needs to be addressed in the 2014 General Assembly session, which begins on Jan. 8.

By contrast, the effects of sequestration, automatic cuts to the federal budget, drew a mixed response from the CPAs in the new survey. Virginia is considered vulnerable to federal budget swings because defense spending represents a big part of the state economy. A plurality of respondents in the new survey, 48 percent, said sequestration would have a major effect on Virginia’s economy in 2014, while 47.1 percent described sequestration as having a marginal effect on the Old Dominion.

The CPAs’ response to this issue, however, varied widely by region. Fifty-six percent of respondents in Central Virginia and 50 percent in Southwest Virginia said sequestration would have a marginal effect on the state.  In Northern Virginia, opinion was divided, with 48.7 percent saying the budget cuts would have a marginal effect and 47 percent saying they would be a major economic factor.

Concern about sequestration was most pronounced in Southeast Virginia, home of major military installations in Hampton Roads. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents there said sequestration would have a major effect on Virginia’s economy. 

Southeast Virginia CPAs also cited infrastructure challenges, as well as health-care costs, as among the most pressing issues facing the state. Like Northern Virginia, the region has been seeking solutions for traffic congestion for years.

All regions of the state overwhelming described Virginia’s business climate as good compared with neighboring states. Pluralities of respondents in Northern, Southeast and Central Virginia say the commonwealth’s pro-business climate has had the greatest impact in attracting or retaining companies. Southwest Virginia, however, cited the availability of an educated workforce as the biggest issue there.

A majority of respondents in the new survey, 54.5 percent, work in public accounting, with the rest working in business, industry and other sectors. Forty-nine percent represent businesses with more than 50 employees. Another 44.8 percent represented businesses with two to 50 employees, and 6.2 percent represented sole proprietorships.

Virginia’s population pegged at 8.3 million

Virginia’s population rose less than 1 percent in the past year to an estimated 8.3 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The commonwealth added an estimated 73,777 residents from July 1, 2012 to the same date in 2013, a growth rate of 0.9 percent.

Since 2010, when the last national census was conducted, Virginia’s population has increased by nearly 260,000 people, an increase of 3.2 percent.

Virginia remains the nation’s 12th largest state in population behind California, 38.3 million; Texas, 26.4 million; New York, 19.7 million; Florida, 19.6 million; Illinois, 12.9 million; Pennsylvania, 12.8 million; Ohio, 11.6 million; Georgia, 10 million; Michigan, 9.9 million; North Carolina, 9.8 million; and New Jersey, 8.9 million.

In addition to North Carolina, the estimated populations of neighboring states and the District of Columbia are: D.C., 646,449; Kentucky, 4.4 million; Maryland, 5.9 million; and Tennessee, 6.5 million.

The Census Bureau estimates that on New Year’s Day the nation will have a population of 317.3 million, an increase of 0.7 percent since Jan. 1, 2013.

FAA picks Virginia Tech for drone testing

Virginia Tech is one of six sites nationwide selected by the Federal Aviation Administration for research and testing of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly known as drones.

The FAA picked the sites from 25 proposals from 24 states.

The agency said Virginia Tech plans to “conduct UAS failure mode testing and identify and evaluate operational and technical risks areas.”

The Virginia Tech proposal includes test locations in Virginia and New Jersey.

New Jersey and Virginia submitted a joint proposal led by Virginia Tech as the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership. The partnership includes academic, industry, state government and economic development organizations.

The University of Maryland, College Park, was the lead agency in the Maryland application for an FAA test site, which was not selected. The university will become part of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership.

The Commonwealth of Virginia will award $1 million during fiscal year 2014 to Virginia Tech to operate an unmanned aircraft systems test site. In the introduced budget, Gov. Bob McDonnell has recommended an additional $1.6 million over the next two fiscal years for the project.

The five other winning proposals were from the University of Alaska, the State of Nevada, New York’s Griffiss International Airport, North Dakota Department of Commerce and Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.

The test site selection is the result of moves by Congress to have drones share the airspace with airplanes by the end of 2015.

In choosing the six test site operators, the FAA considered geography, climate, location of ground infrastructure, research needs, airspace use, safety, aviation experience and risk.

The first site is expected to begin operation within 180 days, according to published reports.

Among other requirements, test site operators must comply with federal, state, and other laws protecting right to privacy, have publicly available privacy policies and a written plan for data use and retention, and conduct an annual review of privacy practices that allows for public comment.

Integrating drones into the national airspace could add more than $13.6 billion to the nation’s economy by the end of the decade, reaching as high as $82.1 billion by 2025, according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

Kroger Marketplace planned for Suffolk

Twelve acres of land in Suffolk have been sold for the development of a 113,361-square-foot store.

Virginia Beach-based Divaris Real Estate Inc. said the Kroger Marketplace store will anchor the retail component of the 40-acre Hampton Roads Crossing, a mixed-use project in the Habour View section of northern Suffolk.

The Kroger Marketplace store will open next November. Additional stores in Hampton Roads Crossing are expected to open during the summer 2015. 

In addition to retail, plans for Hampton Roads Crossing call for commercial business districts and 1,000 residential units.

The new Kroger store is the latest one using the company’s Marketplace concept in Virginia. In addition to groceries, the giant stores also features apparel and home furnishings.

Stores have been opened or announced in Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover counties and the Hampton Roads cities of Virginia Beach and Portsmouth.

The Kroger site was sold by Terry/Peterson Investment Thirty. Levi Thomson of the Virginia Beach office of Divaris Real Estate handled the transaction on behalf of the seller.

Thomson and Eric Bucklew of Divaris Real Estate are handling the leasing of Hampton Roads Crossing.

Commercial real estate company to manage Portsmouth Distribution Center

Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer has been selected by Portsmouth Distribution Center LLC for the property management of the 200,000-square-foot industrial facility.

The distribution is located at 3050 and 3100 Elmhurst Lane in Portsmouth.

The portfolio manager is Todd F. Taylor of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s Virginia Beach office.