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byline: Robyn Sidersky

Dollar Tree considers selling or spinning off Family Dollar

Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 discount retailer Dollar Tree is considering selling or spinning off its Family Dollar brand, which it acquired in 2015 for $8.5 billion.

“Dollar Tree has been on a multiyear journey to help the company fully achieve its potential,” CEO and Chairman Rick Dreiling said in a statement Wednesday. “Last year, we announced a comprehensive review of the Family Dollar portfolio, including the planned closure of approximately 970 underperforming Family Dollar stores to focus on enhanced investments in remaining Family Dollar stores that present favorable opportunities for long-term growth and transformation, with more attractive returns on capital.”

Dreiling noted that “unique needs” of each of its brands has led Dollar Tree to examine selling or spinning off Family Dollar. The company has not set a timeline for making a decision.

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for $8.5 billion in 2015, overcoming antitrust concerns and competing bidders. As of Feb. 3, Dollar Tree was operating more than 8,350 Family Dollar stores across the continental United States. In its 2024 first quarter earnings report, Dollar Tree said it would close 370 Family Dollar stores (and 30 Dollar Tree stores) over the next several years at the end of each store’s current lease term. As the end of the first quarter of this year, it had closed 550 retail locations, including Dollar Tree stores, and expects to close another 150 by the end of this fiscal year.

The move comes shortly after Dollar Tree announced its intention to acquire 99 Cents Only, another discount retailer in the western part of the country.

Following the January 2023 C-suite shakeup that brought in Dreiling as the company’s new CEO, Dollar Tree continued to see executive personnel changes last year. In June, Dollar Tree Vice President of Investor Relations Randy Guiler retired after 10 years, to be succeeded by Robert LaFleur, who joined from Chewy. In August, Jonathan Leiken joined Dollar Tree as executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary, and Diane Randolph, a former chief information officer for major retailers, joined Dollar Tree’s board of directors.

The company’s first quarter sales increased 4.2% year-over-year to $7.63 billion. Family Dollar’s same-store net sales grew .1%.

Dollar Tree, which ranks No. 143 on the 2024 Fortune 500, posted $30.6 billion in revenue for fiscal 2023. Dollar Tree shares were trading for $114.55 as of 11:30 a.m. June 5, down from a year-to-date high of $150.02 on March 7.

Dominion closes sale of Utah gas utility for $4.3B

Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility Dominion Energy has closed on its $4.3 billion sale of subsidiaries Questar Gas and Wexpro to Canadian pipeline and energy company Enbridge, Dominion announced Monday.

Salt Lake City, Utah-based natural gas utility Questar serves more than 1.2 million customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Wexpro supplies natural gas under a cost-of-service agreement to Questar.

The deal was first announced Sept. 5, 2023. This is the second of three deals announced at that time to be finalized so far

Earlier this year, Dominion and Enbridge closed on the $6.6 billion sale of East Ohio Gas to Enbridge. That deal was announced at the same as as the Questar sale. The third component of the announcement, the sale of Public Service Co. of Gastonia, North Carolina, to Enbridge, is expected to close later this year.

In announcing the three sales, Dominion Chair, President and CEO Bob Blue said that the transactions provide Dominion, which is developing a 2.6-gigawatt, $9.8 billion wind farm 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast and a massive solar project at Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia, with a “significant step” in its business review, “which is focused on repositioning the company to create maximum long-term value for shareholders, employees, customers and other stakeholders,” in addition to strengthening the company’s credit position.

From salutes to startups

When Navy veteran Leland Remias was preparing to launch his Newport News real estate startup, VroomBrick, he looked for every resource possible to help him learn about business and scaling up.

First, he completed an MBA from William & Mary in May. And in 2022, he participated in the Veteran Startup Challenge, a five-week intensive boot camp that teaches foundational skills of innovation and entrepreneurship to current and former service members.

“There’s no shortage of resources if you seek them out,” says Remias, who left the Navy as a lieutenant after five years. “It just boils down to seeking out what you need, what the opportunity is.”

There’s also no shortage of veterans — or veteran entrepreneurs — in Virginia.

The commonwealth ranks No. 5 among states with the most military veterans, with the U.S. Census Bureau estimating that 671,519 veterans — or nearly 8% of Virginia’s population — called Virginia home in 2021.

As of 2023, there were 63,321 veteran- owned businesses and 6,974 businesses co-owned by vets in Virginia, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Veteran-owned businesses make up about 5.9% of all businesses nationwide, but that percentage is nearly double in Hampton Roads, which has the nation’s highest concentration of veteran-owned businesses among metro areas with more than 1 million people, according to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.

But veteran-owned businesses in Virginia are hardly limited to Hampton Roads. For example, Alexandria-based fintech startup Parlay is led by veterans and military spouses. With five full-time workers and three contractors, Parlay was founded in 2022 and has raised $1.7 million.

Co-founders Alexandra McLeod and Jay Long turned for help with Parlay to organizations like Hivers & Strivers Capital — a Great Falls-based venture capital firm that exclusively invests in veteran-led companies — and the Tysons-based PenFed Foundation, which has a Veteran Entrepreneur Program connecting founders with mentors.

“I think one of the most incredible parts of being a veteran entrepreneur in Virginia is your biggest challenge is not access to resources but … navigating all of them,” says Long, a 2013 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who served as an Army infantry officer through 2022. “Each accelerator had something different to teach us.”

The biggest benefit at PenFed Foundation, the charitable arm of Pentagon Federal Credit Union, was getting connected to the veteran ecosystem, Long says.

This spring, PenFed’s Veteran Entrepreneur Program changed its focus from a traditional accelerator to more of an incubator/consultant model, says program manager Matthew Boyd. He works with a cohort of five or six companies for a six-week intensive period, but offers up to a year of support, including mentorship. A cohort will begin in June, and then another in September, with plans to expand to three or four cohorts annually, he says. A national program, it’s open to veterans and military spouses and targets those who have a minimum viable product ready to launch or are in the seed round raising capital, are generating revenue and are ready to take their company to the next level, Boyd says.

Another Northern Virginia-based supporter of veteran entrepreneurs is Hivers & Strivers Capital. Founded in 2017, the VC firm has deployed $80 million and has 16 active veteran-owned companies in its portfolio, says co-founder and partner Doug Doan, an Army veteran and West Point graduate. A typical first check to a founder from Hivers & Strivers totals between $250,000 and $500,000 in exchange for 10% to 15% equity, he says, and the firm often increases backing as companies grow.

Because Virginia has so many veterans, most general entrepreneurial support organizations here also help a significant number of veteran founders. One example is Virginia Apex Accelerator. An accelerator for small businesses seeking to be government contractors, it’s administered by George Mason University and co-funded by the federal government. Statewide Director Lisa Wood says her team spends a lot of time helping veterans learn about the government procurement process. Veteran founders, she says, are “very open to new concepts and very driven to succeed.”

Another program aimed at veteran entrepreneurs is the Veterans Business Outreach Center at Old Dominion University’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, funded partially by the SBA. Staff members travel around Virginia and West Virginia teaching the SBA’s Boots to Business classes, a free training program offered through the Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program.

Boots to Business is open to active-duty service members, veterans, U.S. military reservists and National Guard members, along with their dependents and transitioning service members. It includes a two-day classroom course and an eight-week online course. Participants learn how to evaluate business concepts and other foundational knowledge required to develop a business plan. “We’ll be teaching it 80 times this year,” says VBOC director Don Miller.

VBOC has helped eligible veterans, their dependents and transitioning service members start nearly 500 veteran- or veteran-family-owned businesses over the past decade, Miller says. “We’re not getting them started and walking away.” 

Freelance writer Sandy John contributed to this story.

A sampling of resources for veteran entrepreneurs

Hivers & Strivers Capital
Venture capital fund that invests exclusively in companies led by U.S. military veterans
hiversandstriverscapital.com

Veteran Entrepreneur Program
Incubator/consultant model, working with five to six companies for six-week intensive period, with up to a year of support. Cohorts start in June and September.
penfedfoundation.org/how-we-help/veip

Veterans Entrepreneurs Scholars program at William & Mary
An intensive five-week entrepreneurship boot camp that trains current and former service members about innovation and entrepreneurship
wm.edu/offices/veterans/certificates/entrepreneurs

Veterans Startup Challenge
An initiative to train military veterans to create their own jobs through entrepreneurship and to begin careers in tech
veteranstartupchallenge.org

Virginia Small Business
Development Centers Offers a variety of resources for veteran-owned small businesses
virginiasbdc.org/veteran-owned-small-business-resources

Virginia APEX Accelerator
Offers classes and counseling for businesses that want to be government contractors, especially with the Department of Defense
virginiaapex.org

Veterans Business Outreach Center
Provides entrepreneurial development services to eligible veterans who own or are considering starting small businesses
ww1.odu.edu/iie/vboc

Atlantic Park expected to open in spring 2025

The $350 million Atlantic Park project backed by music icon Pharrell Williams in his hometown of Virginia Beach is progressing, with the 2.6-acre surf lagoon, entertainment venue and other pieces of the project expected to be delivered in spring 2025, Kathy Warren, Virginia Beach’s planning director, told the city council Tuesday.

Atlantic Park, a joint project between Williams and Venture Realty Group, backed with about $153 million of public funding, broke ground in March 2023. The rest of the funding is privately raised. The development is between 18th and 20th streets at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, adjacent to the ViBe district.

It will have 300 apartments, 106,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 10,000 square feet of office space, 20 surf bungalows, a 3,500-person amphitheater (that can expand to 5,000), two parking garages with nearly 1,500 spots, the surf lagoon and a half mile of upgraded public streets, according to Warren.

“This is going to be a game changer for the city,” City Council Member Barbara Henley said in the meeting. “It’s going to be an entirely different thing in that part of the city than we have ever had before.”

The surf lagoon will feature wave-making technology from Wavegarden, an engineering company based in northern Spain, and will generate about 1,000 waves per hour. It’s about 47% complete, according to Warren’s presentation, and 24% of its budget has been expended. It is expected to open in spring 2025.

The entertainment venue at Atlantic Park will hold up to 5,000 people. Photo courtesy Virginia Beach

The two parking garages, which will have 1,475 spaces, are about 71% complete and will also open in spring 2025. These will be owned by the city, getting built at a cost of $47.7 million. Off-site infrastructure is about 56% complete, the entertainment venue is 29% complete and the mixed-use component is 20% complete.

The entertainment venue, called The Dome, in recognition of the original use for the site, can seat 3,500 people inside and expand to hold another 1,500 people outside. The venue will be owned by the city and costs about $54.8 million. The first concert will be in spring 2025.

The entertainment venue’s name harks back to the property’s roots as the site of The Dome, a geodesic dome concert venue and civic center that was demolished in 1994. Acts such as The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and The Monkees were among the musicians that rocked the house in The Dome’s heyday.

OVG360 — a venue management and hospitality division of Los Angeles-based global sports and entertainment company Oak View Group — and Live Nation will operate and manage programming for the entertainment venue.

The off-site infrastructure, which is 56% complete, will be done in fall 2025. The mixed-use residential will open from spring to fall 2025, and mixed-use retail will open from spring to summer 2025. This part is 20% done.

The public-private partnership is also funded by private investment, including the sale of Atlantic Park Community Development Authority (CDA) Revenue Bonds and Virginia Small Business Financing Authority (VSBFA) Sports and Entertainment Facilities Revenue Bonds. The Atlantic Park CDA is the first community development authority in Virginia Beach and relies on project tax revenues to provide support for the project’s infrastructure. The VSBFA bonds will finance the surf lagoon, which will be owned by P3 VB Holdings, a nonprofit that will contribute excess revenues from the surf park to community organizations.

Along with Venture Realty and Williams, the project is being developed by the Virginia Beach Development Authority, Newport News-based W.M. Jordan, Virginia Beach-based Bishard Development and Virginia Beach-based Priority Title & Escrow/Virginia Beach-based H2O Investments.

Dollar Tree to acquire 99 Cents Only stores

Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 discount retailer Dollar Tree has acquired 170 leases of another discount retailer, 99 Cents Only, the company announced Wednesday.

The stores are across Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas.

In April, Commerce, California-based 99 Cents Only filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and initiated a process to sell its assets, including inventory, owned real estate and store leases, according to a news release from Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree’s purchase includes the North American intellectual property of 99 Cents Only stores, on-site furniture, fixtures and equipment. There are 371 total 99 Cents Only stores, so Dollar Tree is not buying all the locations.

According to a Reuters report about the bankruptcy, 99 Cents Only planned to close 125 stores by April 30 and the rest by May 31. In its release, Dollar Tree said it “looks forward to welcoming customers from 99 Cents Only Stores as early as fall 2024.”

“As we continue to execute on our accelerated growth strategy for the Dollar Tree brand, this was an attractive opportunity to secure leases in priority markets where we see strong profitable growth potential,” Michael Creedon Jr., Dollar Tree’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “The portfolio complements our existing footprint and will provide us access to high-quality real estate assets in premium retail centers, enabling us to rapidly grow the Dollar Tree brand across the western United States, reaching even more customers and communities.”

Dollar Tree had 16,774 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of Feb. 3. The stores operate under the brands Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree Canada.

Kaufman & Canoles names Williamsburg managing partner

Dustin H. DeVore has been named managing partner of Kaufman & Canoles’ Williamsburg office, effective May 21, the law firm announced.

DeVore joined Kaufman & Canoles in 2002 and chairs the firm’s lender representation practice group and the firm’s credit union team. Outside the firm, he serves on the board of directors of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance and has also served on the boards of Child Development Resources, the Williamsburg/James City County City Education Foundation, Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate, the James City County Technology Incubator (now Launchpad) and the Williamsburg Bar Association.

DeVore takes over from Gregory R. Davis, whom he’s worked with for the past 22 years. Davis will continue at the practice, where he focuses on trust and estate matters.

“Dustin’s deep-rooted commitment to excellence and the community makes him the ideal candidate to lead our Williamsburg office,” Kaufman & Canoles President and CEO Jason R. Davis said in a statement. “Under his guidance, we are poised to further strengthen our presence on the Peninsula and uphold our tradition of delivering unparalleled legal services.”

DeVore is an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute, where he earned his bachelor’s degree with distinction, and earned his law degree from the William & Mary Law School and was a member of the school’s Law Review. He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve from 1994 until 2000.

Created by the merger of two law firms in 1982, Kaufman & Canoles had 92 lawyers in Virginia as of Jan. 1.

Va. Chamber honors four execs with lifetime achievement awards

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce honored four Virginia business leaders with lifetime achievement awards during a May 16 ceremony at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

The honorees were: Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Howell Agee; Michael Daniels, chairman of the board of CACI International; Benjamin Davenport Jr., chairman of the board of First Piedmont and Davenport Energy; and James Dyke, senior advisor with McGuireWoods Consulting.

“We are delighted to recognize the individual achievements of each honoree who has helped shape Virginia as a best state for business,” Virginia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barry DuVal said in a statement. “Their visionary leadership and commitment to excellence serve as an inspiration for current and future generations of business leaders.”

Honored by the chamber for her “lifetime of exemplary leadership in health care and economic development in the commonwealth,” Agee oversees a $2.4 billion health system that employs 14,000 workers and serves more than 1 million people across western Virginia and West Virginia. It has seven hospitals and a physician group with more than 1,000 doctors. She has served as CEO since 2011 and also served as president until 2023. Prior to that, she served as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Daniels was honored for “a career dedicated to positioning the commonwealth as a technology leader and promoting a thriving economy supported by a world-class workforce.” CACI’s chairman since January 2021, he previously served as chairman and CEO of Network Solutions and held several executive roles at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), among many other executive roles. He also was a former senior White House adviser on international technology and a senior adviser to the National Security Council.

Davenport was honored for his “lifetime commitment to excellence in education, workforce development and improving the business climate of the commonwealth.” A Virginia Tech alumnus, Davenport is a past rector for Tech, which in 2016 awarded him the university’s highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Medal. He serves on boards for GO Virginia and The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. Davenport Energy supplies propane and fuel oil to more than 30,000 customers in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, and gasoline and diesel fuel to more than 200 convenience stores.

The commonwealth’s first Black secretary of education, Dyke was honored for “a lifetime commitment to excellence in education, workforce development, diversity and improving the business climate of the commonwealth.” Dyke also is a past chair (1999-2000) of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, breaking barriers as the first Black professional to hold that position since the chamber’s 1925 founding. Dyke was valedictorian of Howard University’s law school in 1971, and, in addition to serving under Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, he was a domestic policy adviser to Vice President Walter Mondale and was instrumental in opening Virginia Military Institute to women after a landmark 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down VMI’s males-only admissions policy. Dyke’s clients at McGuireWoods Consulting have included George Washington University and the George Mason University Foundation.

In accepting the award, Dyke thanked the chamber for “giving me the opportunity to help develop bipartisan, policy-focused business support for needed improvements in education and workforce preparation programs — changes that will provide every Virginian with the opportunity to succeed and help grow our economy.”

Wood veneer facility to reopen in West Point

A former manufacturing facility in West Point will come roaring back to life with a $2.5 million investment by West Point Veneer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coldwater Veneer, that will create 92 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office announced Tuesday.

Once open, the mill will produce wood veneer and ship it globally via the Port of Virginia. The mill is located at 320 Dupont St. in West Point.

“We are very pleased to announce the re-opening of our hardwood veneer mill since it was closed in December of 2017,” Dean Calhoun, CEO of Coldwater Veneer, said in a statement.

Coldwater, Michigan-based Coldwater Veneer’s customers include dealers and manufacturers of wood veneer faces, panels, doors, furniture, cabinets, store fixtures and other applications.

The investment in the reactivated facility will increase capacity to meet growing demand in the global wood veneer market, according to a news release. The new jobs will include administrative positions, material handlers and marine operators.

Calhoun originally purchased the mill from its prior owner in 1997 and at its peak, it had 125 employees. Then, in 2017, Calhoun sold it, and the new owner closed it, according to Allen Frydenberg, chief financial officer of Coldwater Veneer. He later repurchased it.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Town of West Point to secure the project and will provide support through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program. Coldwater Veneer will also receive benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Grant Program.

Dominion installs first post for offshore wind project

Dominion Energy plunged the first monopile — after the two existing pilot turbines — into the sea floor Wednesday, kicking off construction of the $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project that will bring 176 turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

Installation of the post started mid-morning and was finished by the afternoon. The installation was delayed two weeks because a support vessel’s arrival was late, according to reporting from The Virginian-Pilot. In a May 1 news release, Dominion said it expected monopile installation to begin between May 6 and 8.

The monopiles are the foundation posts of the turbines being erected in the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia Beach shoreline, starting 27 miles out and extending 15 miles to the east. Expected to be completed at the end of 2026, CVOW will ultimately be 2.6-gigawatt wind farm that will power 660,000 homes.

The Orion, Belgium-based Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering (DEME) Group’s heavy-lift vessel installed the first monopile foundation Wednesday. The 272-foot-long monopiles (about the length of a football field) are 31 feet in diameter, and each weigh more than 1,000 tons. When the turbines are fully assembled, each will be about 836 feet high, and each weighs more than 1,000 tons.

“We are proud to partner with Dominion Energy on this landmark project,” Bill White, president of DEME Offshore U.S., said in a statement. “DEME’s Orion vessel … is uniquely designed to efficiently install CVOW’s massive monopiles, all weighing over 1,000 tons. Our talented project team will include skilled American union pile drivers, creating a robust and prepared workforce. We look forward to working with our consortium partner [underwater cable manufacturer] Prysmian to help deliver Virginia-made energy to the commonwealth.”

The foundation posts have been staged at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal since they started arriving by boat from Germany in October 2023. Massive single vertical steel cylinders, the monopiles are manufactured in Germany by EEW SPC, and the trip to ship them across the Atlantic Ocean takes about 2 1/2 weeks. Eight will be delivered at a time until all 176 arrive in Hampton Roads. About 40 are staged at Portsmouth Marine Terminal, and Dominion’s plan is to have 75 to 100 installed by the end of October, according to a company spokesperson.

The project also includes three offshore substations, manufacturing on which began in fall 2022, although installation of the first substation’s topside foundations is set for late 2024 or early 2025 because the structures require underwater work first.

“This is a monumental day for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind team, who have worked tirelessly to keep this project on budget and on schedule to provide our customers with reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy,” Robert M. Blue, Dominion Energy’s chair, president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are taking extensive precautions to ensure this project is fully protective of the environment and to protect marine species.”

To that end, Dominion will take a break from installing the wind turbines between November 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025. Because of federal protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales, the Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility can’t work on installing the foundations from November through April. With that restriction, Dominion plans to install the remaining foundations in 2025 and begin turbine installation, which can take place year-round, in the 113,000-acre area of the Atlantic Ocean it’s leasing.

In March, a nonprofit conservative watchdog group based in Falls Church, along with other organizations, filed a federal lawsuit against Dominion, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Department of the Interior and other government bodies to prevent construction of the wind farm. They claim that the project will pose a risk to North American right whales under the Endangered Species Act, but Dominion says that it has “put in place strong environmental protections for this project, and are confident the North Atlantic right whale will be protected.”

A hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on the matter has not yet been scheduled, as of Wednesday.

Accenture Federal Services completes Cognosante buy

Arlington County-based Accenture Federal Services has completed its acquisition of Falls Church-based Cognosante, AFS announced Monday.

With the acquisition, AFS plans to create a new federal health portfolio. The deal adds 1,500 employees to AFS’ workforce.

“The health market is a unique mission space in the U.S. federal government,” Accenture Federal Services CEO John Goodman said in a statement. “With the addition of Cognosante’s industry-leading people and capabilities, and by continuing to draw upon Accenture’s proven commercial innovation in health, life sciences and insurance, Accenture Federal Services will accelerate impact for our clients and offer greater career growth opportunities for our people as a result of this acquisition.”

AFS announced plans to acquire Cognosante in April. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AFS also recently won two large contracts. Earlier this month, AFS won a 10-year $789 million cybersecurity contract to provide global U.S. Navy maritime forces with unified cybersecurity operations across the Navy’s shared set of systems built to protect a single, common, continuous security perimeter. The contract includes a base ordering period of five years and an option for an additional five years.

The other is $127 million U.S. Army Enterprise Application Modernization and Migration contract, which will support the Army’s goal of moving applications out of Army data centers and into the cloud, according to a news release. It’s a one-year base with two optional years.

AFS reported $16.2 billion in total revenues for the first quarter of this year.