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Virginia ranked No. 11 in Area Development magazine’s 2017 Top States for Doing Business.
This year’s list was the first time the commonwealth was ranked in the magazine’s survey since 2010. The annual ranking, which began in 2010, increased its list from 10 to 20 states last year.
“This new ranking is evidence that the steps we are taking to build a new Virginia economy are paying off and that independent observers are taking note,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement.
The commonwealth ranked in the top 10 in five of 12 subcategories that impact companies’ location and facility plans, including: Cooperative & Responsive State Government, fifth; Leading Workforce Development Programs, seventh; Competitive Labor Environment, eighth; Favorable Regulatory Environment, ninth; and Speed of Permitting, ninth.
These rankings represent significant advances for Virginia as the state has not placed in any subcategories since 2013. This year also marks the first time Virginia has ever placed in the Cooperative & Responsive State Government, Competitive Labor Environment and Speed of Permitting categories.
Area Development’s 2017 Top States for Doing Business rankings reflect the results of the magazine’s recent survey asking site selection consultants to give their top state picks in 12 categories.
byline: Robert Powell, III
Virginia Mortgage Lenders Association names new president
Chip Glover has been named president of the Virginia Mortgage Lenders Association for 2017-2018.
He is executive vice president and director of capital markets for TowneBank Mortgage in Virginia Beach.
Glover succeeds Rob Arthur, area manager and senior loan officer at Fidelity Bank Mortgage, as VMLA’s 54th president.
Glover graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in real estate and urban development.
He began his financial career in the savings and loan industry as an appraiser.
State grant aimed at developing heavy construction workforce
Heavy construction workforce development programs have opened at Northern Virginia and Lord Fairfax community colleges.
On Tuesday, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced a $453,686 Workforce Development Capacity and Technical Assistance grant to Lord Fairfax Community College to assist it with the development of the new program.
The grant, administered by the Virginia Community College System, will help the college purchase heavy construction equipment simulators that enable prospective workers to train on the equipment they will be using on the job.
McAuliffe’s office said the new programs will support the efforts of Northern Virginia’s heavy construction industry to identify and train talent as infrastructure improvement projects proceed on I-95, I-395 and I-66.
The Heavy Construction Talent Development program was developed through a partnership with the Heavy Construction Contractors Association (HCCA), Alban CAT of Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Community College, Lord Fairfax Community College and the Commonwealth of Virginia, including the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Office of the Governor.
State recognizes employers for hiring veterans
The commonwealth recognized 14 companies on Thursday for their efforts in hiring and training veterans.
The Virginia Values Veterans, a Virginia Department of Veterans Services program, presented awards during the 2017 Virginia Workforce Conference, hosted by the Virginia Chamber Foundation at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
More than 700 businesses, government agencies and educational institutions have been certified under the V3 program and have hired 26,852 veterans since 2012.
The 2017 Virginia Values Veterans Award winners are:
Governor’s Award (total number of annual veteran hires)
• Small company: Blueforce Inc., Hampton (62 hires)
• Medium company: ITA International LLC, Virginia Beach (110 hires)
• Large company: Top Guard Security, Hampton (258 hires)
• Enterprise company: Sentara Healthcare, Virginia Beach (470 hires)
Triumph Award (most transformative hiring process)
• Dominion Energy, Richmond
Readiness Award (best workforce readiness initiative)
• FDM Group, Reston
Advancement Award (best in career development)
• GBS, Virginia Beach
Breakthrough Award (most innovative retention program)
• Networking Technologies + Support Inc., North Chesterfield
MVP Award (most inspiring workplace culture)
• First Data, Glen Allen and Chesapeake
Impact Award (community impact and advocacy for veteran issues)
• Altria, Richmond
Influencer Award (best workforce readiness initiative)
• Pro-Sphere, Alexandria
Trailblazer Award (best premier employer with superior efforts in recruitment, hiring, retention and more)
• ITA International LLC, Virginia Beach
Phoenix Award (most inspiring success story for going above and beyond to support a Veteran hire)
• Bon Secours, Richmond
V3 Grant Award (companies approved for maximum grant initiative award of $10,000 in FY17)
• Cape Henry Associates, Virginia Beach
• PD Systems, Prince George
Fairfax County office building sells for $8.3 million
KLNB, a Maryland-based real estate brokerage firm, has announced the sale of 5904 Richmond Highway, a 78,000-square-foot office building in Fairfax County, for $8.3 million.
Joshua Simon, principal at KLNB, represented the buyer — a joint venture of Rock Creek Property Group and Avanti Holdings Group, LLC — and has also been retained to handle leasing of the building. The property sold on Sept. 8 for nearly $106 per square foot.
The structure is a newly renovated office building in Fairfax’s Huntington submarket with suites ranging from 1,800 to 15,780 square feet. The building has access to Route 1, Old Town Alexandria and National Harbor. It’s within walking distance to the Huntington Metro Station and Mount Vernon Trail.
In a statement, Simon described the Huntington area as “an untapped submarket with great potential and high expected future density.
As companies continue to look for lower lease rates compared to Old Town Alexandria, they will immediately see value in Huntington thanks to its prime location and anticipated growth.”
5904 Richmond Highway is currently 65 percent leased, with a remaining five office suites available.
KLNB’s offices are located in Towson and Columbia, Md.; Washington, D.C.; and Dulles and Tysons, Va.
Virginia metro-area jobless rates decline in August
Unemployment rates in most of Virginia’s urban areas declined slightly in August.
Virginia Employment Commission figures reported on Wednesday showed that jobless rates dipped in six of Virginia’s 11 metropolitan statistical areas during the month.
In four metro areas, the unemployment rate remained unchanged from July. In one urban area, Richmond, the rate ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point.
The numbers cited in the VEC report are not seasonally adjusted, meaning they do not take into account seasonal changes in the workforce.
Using that type of data, Virginia’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in August, unchanged from July. The national jobless rate was 4.5 percent, down from 4.6 percent.
In Virginia’s metro areas, unemployment ranged from 3.2 percent in Northern Virginia to 4.6 percent in the Lynchburg area.
Here is a breakdown of metro-area results:
Bristol area: 4.1 percent in August, down from 4.4 percent in July.
Charlottesville: 3.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent.
Hampton Roads: 4.3 percent, unchanged.
Harrisonburg: 3.9 percent, down from 4 percent.
Lynchburg: 4.6 percent, unchanged.
New River Valley: 4.2 percent, down from 4.3 percent.
Northern Virginia: 3.2 percent, unchanged.
Richmond: 4 percent, up from 3.9 percent.
Roanoke: 4 percent, unchanged.
Staunton-Waynesboro: 3.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent.
Winchester: 3.3 percent, down from 3.4 percent.
IKEA announces contractors for Norfolk store
Rendering: BusinessWire
Home furnishing retailer IKEA on Tuesday announced the contractors involved in building its 338,000-square-foot Norfolk store while revealing the store will not open until spring 2019.
The Norfolk store will be the company’s second in Virginia. The other location is in Woodbridge.
IKEA has picked Memphis-based Linkous Construction Co. as construction manager. The company has built nearly 40 million square feet of commercial, industrial and institutional projects in the past three decades, including the IKEA store in Memphis that opened last December.
Other firms assisting with the project are: Divaris Real Estate for site selection support; Wilcox Savage for local land use counsel; Kimley-Horn for civil and traffic engineering; IMEG for structural engineering; ACIES Engineering Inc. for mechanical, electrical and plumbing design; Code Consultants Inc. for code consulting and fire protection; GET Solutions Inc. for geotechnical services; and GreenbergFarrow for development coordination and project architect.
The Virginian-Pilot first reported today that the 2019 opening date is a year later than originally planned. An IKEA spokesman told the newspaper that the change in the schedule was caused by challenges the retailer faced in configuring the store on the property.
“With contractors onboard, plans can proceed towards opening the future IKEA Norfolk,” Lars Petersson, IKEA U.S. president, said in a statement.
The store will feature 50 room-settings, three model-home interiors, a children’s play area and a 450-seat restaurant.
Construction of the store is expected to create more than 500 jobs. The store will employ about 250 workers when it opens.
Located eight miles east of downtown Norfolk, the store, which will have 935 parking spaces, will be built on 19 acres at the northwestern corner of Interstate 64 and Northampton Boulevard.
There are currently more than 400 IKEA stores in 49 countries, including 44 in the U.S.
Norfolk Southern promotes two executives
Norfolk Southern Corp. has named William A. Galanko executive vice president law and administration and John M. Scheib senior vice president law and corporate relations.The new positions are effective on Oct. 1.
In his new position, Scheib will have responsibility for law, government relations and corporate communications and will report to Galanko. As executive vice president law and administration, Galanko will have responsibility for human resources and labor relations, in addition to the areas reporting to Scheib.
Galanko joined Norfolk Southern in 1990 as a tax attorney. He was named senior vice president law and corporate communications last year. Galanko holds an undergraduate degree from West Virginia University and law degrees from the College of William and Mary and Georgetown University.
Scheib joined Norfolk Southern in 2005 as general attorney and held positions of increasing responsibility in the NS law department, culminating in vice president law in 2016. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and a law degree from Villanova University. In 2015, he completed the General Management program at Harvard Business School.
IKEA announces contractors for Norfolk store
Home furnishing retailer IKEA on Tuesday announced the contractors involved in building its 338,000-square-foot Norfolk store while revealing the store will not open until spring 2019.
The Norfolk store will be the company’s second in Virginia. The other location is in Woodbridge.
IKEA has picked Memphis-based Linkous Construction Co. as construction manager. The company has built nearly 40 million square feet of commercial, industrial and institutional projects in the past three decades, including the IKEA store in Memphis that opened last December.
Other firms assisting with the project are: Divaris Real Estate for site selection support; Wilcox Savage for local land use counsel; Kimley-Horn for civil and traffic engineering; IMEG for structural engineering; ACIES Engineering Inc. for mechanical, electrical and plumbing design; Code Consultants Inc. for code consulting and fire protection; GET Solutions Inc. for geotechnical services; and GreenbergFarrow for development coordination and project architect.
The Virginian-Pilot first reported today that the 2019 opening date is a year later than originally planned. An IKEA spokesman told the newspaper that the change in the schedule was caused by challenges the retailer faced in configuring the store on the property.
“With contractors onboard, plans can proceed towards opening the future IKEA Norfolk,” Lars Petersson, IKEA U.S. president, said in a statement.
The store will feature 50 room-settings, three model-home interiors, a children’s play area and a 450-seat restaurant.
Construction of the store is expected to create more than 500 jobs. The store will employ about 250 workers when it opens.
Located eight miles east of downtown Norfolk, the store, which will have 935 parking spaces, will be built on 19 acres at the northwestern corner of Interstate 64 and Northampton Boulevard.
There are currently more than 400 IKEA stores in 49 countries, including 44 in the U.S.
Mitchell Wiggins announces promotions
Lea Rasmussen, CPA, and Melissa Sikes, CPA, have been promoted to partner at the Richmond-based accounting firm Mitchell Wiggins.
In other promotions, Carman Faison, CPA and Robert Saur, CPA, have been named to senior manager and Josh Morrison, CPA, has been named manager.
Rasmussen has over 16 years of professional experience. She is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. Sikes has more than 17 years of professional experience. She is a graduate of Bridgewater College.
Faison joined Mitchell Wiggins in 2005, Saur has been with the firm since 2007 and Morrison has worked there since 2011.
The firm has more than 50 employees, including 28 certified public accountants.