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byline: Veronica Garabelli

Virginia Beach awards grants to two businesses

The Virginia Beach Development Authority has awarded Economic Development Investment Program (EDIP) grants to World Distribution Services and Point One USA LLC.

World Distribution received a grant of $35,000, while Point One’s grant totaled $45,000.

“Our mission is to help grow our local economy and investing in the potential of these small but mighty businesses is exactly what the grants program is designed to do,” Interim Economic Development Director Taylor Adams said in a statement.

Based in Cleveland, World Distribution provides logistics solutions. It specializes in international and domestic warehousing, distribution services, and local and national transportation services.

The company plans to expand from its current 180,000-square-foot location to 320,000 square feet of space at 1537 Air Rail Ave. It will invest a total of $6.23 million in renovation costs, furnishings, and machinery and tools. The project is expected to create 35 jobs.

Founded in Virginia Beach in 2013, Point One is a military and law-enforcement training operation. The company was awarded its grant for job creation and a capital investment of $1.5 million.

Point One plans to relocate its headquarters from Taylor Farm Road to an 11,000-square-foot facility at Crusader Circle. The new site will be used for manufacturing, warehousing and packaging.

Point One also plans to add 15 full-time jobs with an average salary of $65,000 in the next three years.

Unemployment rate jumps in metro areas

Unemployment climbed during January in Virginia’s metro areas.

The Virginia Employment Commission reported on Friday that jobless rates grew from a half to eight-tenths of a percentage point in the commonwealth’s 11 metropolitan statistical areas.

The biggest increases took place in the New River Valley and Lynchburg areas.

The lowest increases were seen in Richmond and Harrisonburg.

Despite the higher rates, January’s metro-area figures remained low, with 10 of the 11 MSAs reporting numbers of less than 4 percent. Bristol’s rate was 4 percent.

A breakdown shows:

Bristol: 4 percent in January, up from 3.3 percent in December.
Charlottesville: 3 percent, up from 2.3 percent.
Hampton Roads: 3.6 percent, up from 3 percent.
Harrisonburg: 3 percent, up from 2.5 percent.
Lynchburg: 3.6 percent, up from 2.8 percent.
New River Valley: 3.5 percent, up from 2.7 percent.
Northern Virginia: 2.8 percent, up from 2.2 percent.
Richmond: 3.3 percent, up from 2.8 percent.
Roanoke: 3.1 percent, up from 2.5 percent.
Staunton-Waynesboro: 3 percent, up from 2.4 percent.
Winchester: 2.9 percent, up from 2.3 percent.

In smaller, “micropolitan” areas:

Big Stone Gap: 5.4 percent, up from 4.3 percent.
Danville: 4.1 percent, up from 3.4 percent.
Martinsville: 3.9 percent, up from 3.3 percent.

Arlington had the lowest overall jobless rate among Virginia localities, 2.3 percent, while Lancaster County had the highest, 7.2 percent.

Shamin Hotels buys another hotel on Virginia Beach Oceanfront

The commonwealth’s largest hotel operator has acquired another property on Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront.

Chester-based Shamin Hotels says it has purchased the 214-room Sheraton Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel from Coastal Hospitality Associates LLC. The sale includes the roughly 300-space parking garage at 205 36th St. Financial terms of the deal, which closed Thursday, were not disclosed.

The Virginia Beach Real Estate Assessor’s Office website assessed the property at 3501 Atlantic Avenue at more than $18 million for fiscal year 2020. The hotel’s sales price hasn’t been listed. 

The deal represents Shamin’s third recent hotel acquisition on Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront. Last summer, Shamin bought the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront on 30th Street and the Hilton Garden Inn on 33rd Street from Gold Key|PHR Hotels & Resorts. Shamin now owns almost 50 hotels in Virginia, including 13 in Hampton Roads.

The new properties span a four-block strip of the Oceanfront, close to Neptune’s Park.  The hotels offer a significant amount of meeting and banquet space, enabling them to compete for large conferences, Amin says.

“We'll be able to cross-sell the hotels and provide growth opportunities for our associates as we continue to invest in the area,” he says.

Amin says the company has been drawn to the growth of Virginia Beach, which is becoming a year-round destination instead of a seasonal attraction.

“There's a lot of conferences and groups that actually come to the Oceanfront in the spring and fall, off season,” he says.

The company’s latest Virginia Beach property will remain a Sheraton hotel, Amin says. He plans to upgrade the hotel during the next couple of years to make it comparable to the local Hilton properties Shamin owns. The company plans to retain all the hotel workers previously employed by Coastal Hospitality Associates LLC.

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Virginia Business Meet the Editors Hampton Roads

March 13, 2019

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Colliers awarded leasing space in Innsbrook

Colliers International announced it has won leasing responsibilities for buildings in the Innsbrook area of Henrico County.

The commercial real estate services firm announced Monday it will handle leasing for 5600, 5620 and 5640 Cox Road. Franklin Street Properties Corp. owns the buildings.

The project includes three Class A office buildings totaling more than 300,000 square feet. Amenities include an onsite fitness center, cafeteria and conference facility.

The building at 5600 Cox Road is currently available with 127,500 square feet on three floors.

Colliers First Vice President Wood Thornton and Senior Vice President Malcolm Randolph will handle the leasing responsibilities for the buildings.

Specialty Coating and Laminating renews lease in Spotsylvania County

Specialty Coating and Laminating has renewed a lease of 32,500 square feet of industrial space in McK Business Park in Spotsylvania County.

Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced the lease at 3010 Mine Road.  Virgil Nelson and Wilson H. Greenlaw Jr. handled the lease negotiations.
 
Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer also said that Boxley Materials Co. Inc. has leased 10,500 square feet in Salem. Boyd Johnson handled the lease negotiations for the property at 1993 Salem Industrial Drive.

Science Applications International Corp. names new software lead

Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. announced Monday it has named Bob Ritchie head of the company’s software practice, effective immediately.

Ritchie succeeds Kevin Ikeda, who retires this month. In this role, Ritchie is responsible for the strategy and investment, development, integration, and sustainment of software applications, as well as the migration of code and apps to new environments.

The company said software underpins almost everything it does for its customers in defense, space, federal civilian and intelligence markets.

Ritchie began his career as a tech lead for SAIC and was a research fellow in 2016 specializing in micro-services architecture. His past experience also includes working as director of software engineering at Capital One.

Ritchie earned a bachelor’s degree computer engineering from Virginia Tech. He holds eight Amazon Web Services certifications.

SAIC employs almost 3,000 software professionals. It has a total of 23,000 workers and annual revenue of approximately $6.5 billion.

Great Wolf Lodge set to complete $7 million renovation this month

The Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg has announced its on track to finish $7 million in renovations on March 22.

The project includes a transformation of 405 guest rooms, corridors and stairwells. Guests visiting the resort after the renovation can expect a transition from the classic, rustic log cabin look in the rooms, to more of a modern lodge feel with dark wood tones mixed with bright and airy accents.

The resort’s 79,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, attractions and eateries will remain open during the rehabilitation.

Great Wolf Lodge says this is the most extensive renovation since its opening in 2005.

Hundreds of jobs coming to Chesterfield County

The Results Cos. is expanding in Chesterfield County. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company said Monday that it’s investing $1.5 million to add a second call center in the county, which will create 600 jobs.

The company will lease additional space in Midlothian for its new call center. 

The Results Cos. serves various industries, including technology, energy and financial services. It employs more than 1,300 people in Virginia.

The company is eligible to receive up to $210,000 from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides consulting services and funding for employee training activities. The Results Cos. also is eligible to receive a Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for the new, full-time jobs it creates.

The commonwealth competed against New Mexico for the project.

In the works

Construction companies have been busy transforming Virginia’s skylines.  Late last year, Capital One opened a 31-story tower at its Tysons headquarters. The structure is the tallest office building in the Washington, D.C., area.

Partners on that project included general contractor Davis/Gilford Construction and architects Bonstra Haresign Architects and HKS Inc. The building is part of a bigger expansion taking place at Capital One’s headquarters. The project includes a hotel, a Wegmans grocery store and another office building, which will house roughly 3,200 employees.  

A five-story office building in Charlottesville won’t house as many employees, but it still is a welcome addition to the city’s downtown where more office space is needed. Charlotte, N.C.-based Insite Properties is developing the 120,000-square-foot structure, estimated to be finished next year. Additional partners include Atlanta-based Batson-Cook Construction and BB+M Architecture in Charlotte. The project is expected to cost up to $50 million. 

In Hampton Roads, work continues on Ferguson Enterprises Inc.’s third headquarters building in Newport News. The eight-story building is located at City Center at Oyster Point, a district that includes residential, retail and business space. Ferguson, the largest plumbing wholesaler in the U.S., is spending $86 million on the project.

Construction also is underway at Summit Pointe, a $300 million development in Chesapeake. Summit Pointe houses Dollar Tree’s new headquarters tower, completed last October. The project also will include a six-story building with office space and a restaurant. Another structure will house 133 apartments, a restaurant and retail space. Those buildings should be finished early next year.

The following pages outline major players in Virginia’s construction and development industry. The information includes a list of architecture and engineering firms, commercial real estate companies and general contractors.

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., for example, logged $925 million worth of work in Virginia last year. The company’s based in Baltimore but has offices in Herndon, Norfolk and Richmond. Whiting-Turner’s current projects include the expansion of Capital One’s headquarters in Tysons and the construction of the new American Civil War Museum building in Richmond.

Construction & development charts