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byline: Robyn Sidersky

Visit Alexandria CEO announces retirement

Visit Alexandria President and CEO Patricia Washington will retire at the end of June 2024, the tourism organization announced Friday.

Washington has led Visit Alexandria since 2012. She led two rebranding efforts and four brand campaigns and helped Alexandria become a national tourism destination, according to a news release announcing her retirement. The City of Alexandria’s sales, meals and lodging tax receipts have grown from $55 million to $80 million per year during her tenure.

She serves on the boards of the Alexandria Arts Alliance and Heard, a nonprofit providing arts services to underserved children and adults. She also held leadership roles on the U.S. Travel Association’s Destinations Council advisory board and the Northern Virginia Tourism Partnership.

“It’s been such a privilege to lead Visit Alexandria’s vision, culture and content-first marketing strategy for more than 11 years, and this feels like the right time for my retirement both organizationally and personally,” Washington said in a statement. “Visit Alexandria is in excellent shape, with a high-performing staff, strong partnerships, clear plans, stable finances and growing tourism revenues. On a personal level, I’m hoping to do some more extensive travel and have more time to pursue interests at a point in life where I have the passion and energy to fully explore them.”

Her announcement comes on the heels of an announcement of plans to move the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards from Washington, D.C., to Alexandria as part of a $2 billion deal to develop an entertainment district near Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus.

“This is a game-changing opportunity for the City of Alexandria and for Visit Alexandria’s next leader,” Washington said.“I will be working diligently over the next six months to lay the groundwork for the city to maximize the potential benefit and to ensure a smooth transition to my successor.”

The city will search for a new president and CEO with a search task force chaired by Visit Alexandria’s Vice Chair Denise Jackson. The task force has engaged SearchWide Global to assist.

Riddle Associates names new president

Riddle Associates, a Chesapeake-based commercial industrial real estate brokerage, promoted Lindsey Riddle Elliott to president and principal broker in November, the brokerage announced Wednesday.

Elliott formerly served as executive vice president and has been with Riddle for 15 years. She replaces her father, Robert L. Riddle, who founded the firm in 1988 and is now semi-retired. The independently owned commercial industrial real estate brokerage company provides services in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. It has five employees and six agents.

Elliott is a 2008 graduate of George Mason University. She earned her Virginia real estate license in 2008 and her broker’s license in 2011. She also earned her North Carolina real estate license in 2021.

Framatome plans $49.4M expansion, creating 515 jobs

Framatome, a French nuclear power company with its United States headquarters in Lynchburg, will invest $49.4 million to expand, modernize and enhance its facilities, creating an estimated 515 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday.

The expansion will meet increased demand for servicing existing nuclear power plants and developing solutions for advanced and small nuclear reactors. At the end of October, Framatome had 1,350 employees in Lynchburg, where it has had a presence since 1989. Framatome designs, services and installs components, fuel and instrumentation and control systems for nuclear power plants worldwide.

“We are building the world’s leading nuclear energy hub right here in Virginia, thanks to the continued growth of industry leaders like Framatome,” Youngkin said in a statement. “The commonwealth is implementing an all-of-the-above energy plan to ensure abundant, reliable, affordable and clean energy, and Framatome is key to increasing our workforce in this critical technology for our future. Virginia can set the standard when it comes to energy innovation and has a pipeline of world-class talent prepared to meet demand.”

Virginia competed with North Carolina and Pennsylvania for the project.

In 2018, Framatome moved its North American headquarters from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Lynchburg and now has three operational and corporate sites in Lynchburg for its fuel, installed base and instrumentation and control (I&C) business units.

The company also operates its Framatome Nuclear Technology Academy at Lynchburg’s Central Virginia Community College, with the academy announcing a major revamp in May.

“The greater Lynchburg region and the commonwealth of Virginia have been Framatome’s North American base of operations for over a half-century. Now, we’re strengthening our commitment to our home and our shared goal of safe, reliable, low-carbon power generation,” Kathy Williams, CEO of Framatome North America, said in a statement. “Our extensive investments in facility expansion and modernization, broadening our labor pool and escalating recruitment will help energize our community and align us with the Commonwealth of Virginia as catalysts in the transition to a clean energy future.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Lynchburg to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $5 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund to assist Lynchburg with the project. Framatome is eligible to receive state benefits from the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for full-time jobs created, as well as benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. VEDP will also provide support to Framatome through its Virginia Talent Accelerator Program.

Wizards, Capitals plan move to Alexandria in $2B deal

The Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards are planning a move across the Potomac River to a new home in Alexandria in a $2 billion deal that would see the professional sports franchises exit Washington, D.C., by 2028, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced early Wednesday.

The nonbinding agreement to build a new arena for the Capitals and Wizards, which would become the first professional sports teams to play in Virginia, is part of a 9 million-square-foot entertainment complex and promises to add to the transformation of the Potomac riverfront in Alexandria’s developing National Landing neighborhood, where a new Metro station opened in May after decades of planning. The location, once a rail yard, had previously been eyed for development in the 1990s by the late Jack Kent Cooke, former owner of the NFL team now known as the Washington Commanders. Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus, which is under construction, would be a neighbor, and Amazon.com’s HQ2 campus is just two stops away in Arlington County.

Ted Leonsis, founder, CEO and chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Capitals, a National Hockey League franchise, and the National Basketball Association’s Wizards, as well as the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, noted that the new home for the teams is only four miles from their current one at D.C.’s Capital One arena, where each team has played for more than two decades.

“Our commitment would be to build really iconic, fan-centric businesses,” Leonsis said during a press conference announcing the deal Wednesday.

The project is a partnership between the state, Monumental, which would invest $403 million in the deal, the City of Alexandria and JBG Smith, the developer of Amazon.com’s HQ2. It would include the sports arena, as well as corporate headquarters for Monumental, a media studio, a Wizards practice facility, a performing arts venue and an expanded e-sports facility, along with retail, restaurants, hotels and conference and community spaces. The first phase, which includes the arena, could generate $12 billion in economic impact and create 30,000 jobs over the next several decades, Youngkin said. The district is planned for a 2025 groundbreaking with the project being completed by 2028.

The framework of the deal rests on approvals from the Virginia General Assembly and Alexandria City Council. The state legislature, which convenes Jan. 10, 2024, for its upcoming session, will be asked to approve the creation of a new Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority that would own the land and buildings within the entertainment district. The $2 billion investment would be supported through bonds issued by the proposed authority, which would be repaid through annual rent paid by Monumental and arena parking revenues, naming rights and incremental taxes generated by the arena and development of the first phase, according to Youngkin. The City of Alexandria would contribute $56 million toward construction of the performing arts venue and $50 million toward underground parking development. The land and buildings would be owned by the authority, which would enter into a 40-year lease with the company. 

The project includes $110 million in on-site infrastructure, including site development and roadway, signal and intersection improvements funded through bonds.

Youngkin called the deal an “affirmation of what’s happening in Virginia,” citing deals that have brought national attention to Northern Virginia, including Amazon’s HQ2, as well as the headquarters relocations of global Fortune 500 defense and aerospace contractors Boeing and RTX in back-to-back announcements in 2022.

“This visionary sports and entertainment development district will bring together entertainment sports and technology like nowhere in the world,” Youngkin said. “This once-in-a-generation historic development will be the best place to live, work, raise a family and watch hockey and basketball.”

Rendering of a potential $2 billion, 9 million-square-foot entertainment complex that would include a new arena for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards teams, overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria

He also called the deal a good one for Virginia’s taxpayers, a refrain similar to statements he’s made while attempting to bring the Washington Commanders’ stadium to the state during the past two years. On Wednesday, Youngkin said while his focus has been on what he deemed a “monumental deal” to bring the Wizards and Capitals to Alexandria, he would continue to engage in discussions with the Ashburn-based Washington Commanders, now owned by a group that includes Maryland-born billionaire Josh Harris and NBA legend Magic Johnson.

But while officials tossed around sports terminology Wednesday to demonstrate their commitment to getting the deal with Monumental over the finish line for Virginia, city leaders in D.C. late Tuesday made a Hail Mary pass of their own to retain the teams. As details about the joint news conference by Youngkin and Leonsis in Alexandria made headlines, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Council Chair Phil Mendelson announced a bill that would offer Monumental $500 million in financing to renovate the aging Capital One arena, where the Washington Mystics now plan to move, and extend the ground lease for nearly three decades, The Washington Post reported.

Youngkin didn’t appear fazed by D.C.’s offer. Monumental had sought $600 million from D.C., and Bowser said during a news conference responding to Virginia’s deal that the city had put its “best financial foot forward.”

If Monumental’s deal with Virginia moves forward, it will raise additional economic development questions for the region, says Terry L. Clower, a public policy professor with George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and director of the university’s Center for Regional Analysis. For starters, in a regional economy that still hasn’t seen convention and hospitality traffic recover from the pandemic, will the new development’s hotels and conference space attract new visitors or just compete with already existing venues? Also, instead of seeing a “reduced level of activity” at the Capital One Arena, would D.C. benefit more from allocating that $500 million to “reimagine” and redevelop the Capital One Arena site for another use?

For Youngkin’s part, he said there’s no harm, no foul in D.C. making a last-ditch effort to hang on to the Capitals and Wizards.

“I don’t blame them because I think that this is a very important win for Virginia,” the governor said. “The reality is what can happen here in Northern Virginia is truly unique. It’s truly unique. What I’ve just described is something that can’t be replicated someplace else. And we’re going to work together in I think the most innovative public-private construct that has ever been done in these kinds of developments.”

Virginia Business Editor Richard Foster contributed to this story.

Charlottesville chamber CEO to leave after 7 months

Natalie Masri, president and CEO of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, will leave the organization next month, the chamber announced Monday.

Masri started in the role in June. She will depart on Jan. 16, 2024. Rebecca Ivins, chairwoman of the board, will become interim president and CEO. Sasha Tripp, vice chairwoman of the board will serve as chairwoman of the board.

“The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce will be operating business as usual as we look to select the next president and CEO,” Ivins said in a statement “Sasha and I look forward to working alongside our membership, professional chamber staff and our board of directors to maintain the positive position of the chamber.”

The chamber’s executive committee is working to form a search committee to find its next leader.

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce has about 680 members, primarily located in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

Torc hires chief information security officer

Blacksburg-based self-driving truck company Torc Robotics, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck, hired Summer Craze Fowler as chief information security officer, the company announced Tuesday.

Fowler joins Torc after serving as senior vice president of cybersecurity and IT at Boston-based driverless vehicle company Motional and leading teams at Johns Hopkins University’s applied physics laboratory and Carnegie Mellon University. Before that, she was chief information and responsibility officer at Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle company that shut down in 2022, for four years.

Fowler brings more than 20 years of experience developing and executing successful technical strategies that align with business goals and objectives, according to Torc.

“Joining Torc at such a momentous time for the organization and industry is incredibly exciting,” Fowler said in a statement. “Since my early meetings with the team, Torc’s prioritization of safety and innovation has been clear. I look forward to collaborating with this deeply focused team on our mission to commercialize a hub-to-hub autonomous truck product safely and efficiently.”

Torc was founded as Torc Technologies in 2005 by a group of Virginia Tech robotics students and originally stood for Tele-Operated Robotic Controls. It has test facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico and engineering offices in Austin, Texas; Stuttgart, Germany, and Montreal, Canada. Daimler Truck acquired Torc in 2019. In 2022, Peter Vaughan Schmidt became its CEO.

Va.’s maritime industry has $8B economic impact, report says

Virginia’s non-military maritime industry was responsible for one in five jobs in Virginia and more than $8 billion in state and local taxes during fiscal 2022, according to a recent study conducted by William & Mary.

The Virginia Maritime Association and the Virginia Port Authority commissioned the study to demonstrate the industry’s economic impact. The fiscal year ran July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

The $8.1 billion was generated from multiple types of tax and fee revenues, but the top three — local property taxes, personal and corporate income taxes and sales taxes — accounted for $6.8 billion, or 84% of the total. Every dollar of maritime-related impact on Virginia gross state product (GSP) creates an average 9.2 cents of state and local government revenue, according to the study.

Virginia’s maritime industry directly added to the commonwealth’s economy in four ways, according to the report:

  • Virginia’s ports handled 65.6 million tons of waterborne commerce, valued at $103.5 billion and directly involving 34,600 skilled workers;
  • Virginia produced 12.8 million tons of waterborne exports with a value of $14.9 billion, directly engaging 41,000 employees;
  • Virginia consumed 7.4 million tons in imports, directly generating $33.1 billion in net new Virginia spending for goods and services provided by 304,800 employees;
  • and Virginia’s private shipping and repair industries logged receipts of $12.3 billion, with 33,500 direct employees.

“This is a maritime asset unlike any other,” David White, VMA’s executive director, said in a statement. “This is a very diverse, unique harbor that includes the second-largest commercial port on the [U.S.] East Coast, the world’s largest naval base, the nation’s largest shipbuilding and ship repair industrial base, the nation’s largest offshore wind project and a growing cruise port. This report affirms that the fortunes of Hampton Roads and all of Virginia are tied to our ports and maritime industries. We are a maritime economy, and our best opportunities for growth and security will come from continuing to innovate and capitalize on these strengths that make us unique and help drive economic investment and job growth across Virginia.”

The maritime-related $110.5 billion sum in direct spending for the output of goods and services employs 380,400 Virginians. The total fiscal 2022 maritime impacts include $178.1 billion in spending with a value-added gross state product of $87.8 billion, equal to 14% of the estimated $649.4 billion total Virginia GSP in 2022. Also, the labor income created was $56.9 billion, involving 729,600 Virginia employees.

Virginia’s ports are the second-largest on the East Coast for tonnage and the Port of Virginia is the third-largest container port on the East Coast, based on TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) handed in 2022.

Virginia ports’ tonnage and cargo values are growing, and Virginia has the potential to become a national leader in the emerging offshore wind industry, according to the report. However, concerns include reduced demand for services with reductions in the Navy fleet.

Va. Beach Vision exec director to retire

Martha McClees, executive director of business advocacy group Virginia Beach Vision, plans to retire next year after 16 years, the organization’s board announced Tuesday.

McClees, who joined VBV in 2008, said in a Nov. 30 letter to the board that she would retire May 31, 2024. The board, led by Virginia Wesleyan University President Scott D. Miller, announced its search for her replacement. The committee will be led by the board’s vice president and include Miller and two previous board presidents, who will screen candidates and make a recommendation to the executive committee.

Virginia Beach Vision focuses on seven areas: business development, comprehensive plan, crisis recovery, flood resiliency, member development, resort development and sustainability.

“It has been my honor, during this 16-year tenure, to work with many of the city’s most dedicated community influencers to identify and promote policies and initiatives that advance the economic stability and high quality of life that we desire in Virginia Beach, and by extension, the Hampton Roads region,” McClees wrote in her resignation letter to the board.

Miller commented on McClees’ contributions.

“Martha McClees has been an exemplary leader and a pivotal force in the growth and success of Virginia Beach Vision,” Miller said. “Her dedication over the past 16 years has not only steered our organization to new heights but also significantly contributed to the economic and community development of Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads region. Her retirement marks the end of an era of visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence. We are deeply grateful for her tireless efforts, strategic guidance and the strong, sustainable position she has established for Virginia Beach Vision. As she transitions into retirement, we are confident that her legacy will continue to inspire and shape the future of our organization and our community. Martha’s foresight and effective leadership have set a high bar, and we are committed to building upon the solid foundation she leaves behind. We wish her all the best in her well-deserved retirement.”

$729M federal transportation package will finish Long Bridge expansion

The most significant rail choke point on the East Coast will be fixed as part of a $729 million federal funding package for transportation projects in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday at an event in Arlington County also attended by a delegation of other state and local officials as well as Democratic congressional representatives.

The package includes funding to finalize the long-planned $1.9 billion expansion and upgrade of the Long Bridge, a nearly 120-year-old, two-track railroad bridge that connects Virginia and D.C. and serves as the main passenger and freight rail connection between the Southeast and Northeast.

“We’re thrilled we secured federal funding to support the construction of a new Long Bridge across the Potomac River and expand rail capacity and reliability in Virginia,” Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine said in a statement. “This is another example of how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is improving transportation networks, reducing congestion, and supporting economic growth in communities across Virginia and the country.”

Owned and operated by CSX Transportation, the bridge operates at 98% capacity at peak times, with nearly 80 CSX Transportation, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express trains crossing it daily. When more than two trains need to use the bridge, any additional trains must wait until the tracks are clear. A new state-owned rail bridge will be built parallel to the existing bridge, which will be dedicated for freight train use.

Once complete, the upgraded Long Bridge will include five rail bridges and two pedestrian/bicycle bridges. In addition to separating passenger and freight train traffic over the Long Bridge, the four-track corridor expansion also will double rail capacity over the Potomac River. The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority plans to begin site prep and construction in 2024 and complete the project by 2030.

The funding was awarded through the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which passed in 2021. U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, D-8th, Gerry Connolly, D-11th, and Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, worked with Warner and Kaine to secure the funding and attended the announcement event Thursday, along with U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-4th, at the Long Bridge Aquatics and Fitness Center in Arlington.

Other funding for the Transforming Rail in Virginia Phase 2 projects will go toward improvements to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro and VRE commuter rail station in Washington and will also pay for laying a third rail track along key sections of the Northern Virginia corridor in Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties.

The Long Bridge expansion project is estimated to contribute $1.1 billion annually to the national economy and support 17,750 jobs, according to a news release from Kaine and Warner’s offices.

“This investment will help transform the rail system in Virginia, improving the flow of people and goods not only within the commonwealth, but up and down the entire East Coast,” Youngkin said in a statement. “I appreciate the collaboration between our senators, our congressional delegation and our secretary of transportation to finalize the funding for this critical project this year and get this accomplished expeditiously. This project’s impact on the commonwealth cannot be overstated — it will ease congestion, make our supply chain more resilient, improve freight movement in and out of our world-class port and boost local economies.”

 

CFBP fines Atlantic Union Bank for overdraft program

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bank on Thursday for illegally enrolling thousands of customers in checking account overdraft programs, according to a news release.

The enrollments took place between 2017 and 2020, according to the bank. The bureau found that Atlantic Union, a subsidiary of Atlantic Union Bankshares, misled consumers who enrolled in the overdraft service by phone and failed to provide proper disclosures.

The CFPB is ordering Atlantic Union to refund at least $5 million in illegal overdraft fees and pay a $1.2 million penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

“Atlantic Union Bank harvested millions of dollars in overdraft fees through a host of illegal practices,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement Thursday. “Americans are fed up with junk fee scams, and the CFPB will continue its work to ensure families are treated fairly.”

The bureau outlined two ways it says the bank violated federal law: charging fees without proper consent and misleading customers about the terms and costs of overdraft coverage.

The bank does not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement. 

“We respectfully disagree with the CFPB’s conclusions about these historical practices and take very seriously our obligation to comply with applicable law,” Atlantic Union CEO John Asbury said in a statement. “We are, and have always been, committed to treating our customers fairly and providing them with the information they need to help them make financial decisions that work for their lives. Nonetheless, we believe it is in Atlantic Union’s best interest to settle this matter so we can continue focusing on providing the products, services and support our customers want.”

Atlantic Union said, in its own release, that before Thursday’s settlement, it proactively made improvements to its overdraft program. 

“In 2022, Atlantic Union also reduced or eliminated certain overdraft-related fees to help reduce the burden of such fees on customers. Among other changes, it eliminated fees on consumer accounts for items returned unpaid due to insufficient funds; reduced the number of overdraft fees that can be charged per day to a single account; and introduced a ‘no-overdraft’ checking product,” the bank said in a news release.

Atlantic Union Bank had 109 branches in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina as of the end of September, and it had more than $20 billion in total assets as of March 31.