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Read about the 2021 Virginia CFO Award winners.
byline: Virginia Business
Diversity Leadership Series: Ron Carey and Brian Robertson
Brought to you by Virginia Business and Bank of America, join us every other month for the Diversity Leadership Series — virtual fireside chats with a diverse group of Virginia business leaders sharing their insights and thoughts on leadership, their career paths, and diversity and equity. Our series kicked off on July 20 with Brian Robertson, CEO of Mechanicsville-based Marion Marketing Global LLC, interviewing Ron Carey, founder and CEO of Tilt Creative + Production, a Richmond-based agency that produces advertising and promotional content for clients such as Capital One, Walmart and Audi of America.
JULY FOR THE RECORD
Roanoke/New River Valley
Appalachian Power in late May issued two requests for proposals to help the company comply with provisions of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Under the VCEA, Appalachian Power must meet annual interim requirements as it works to achieve 100% carbon-free energy generation in its Virginia service territory by 2050. The utility is seeking bids for up to 100 megawatts of solar and/or wind resources via one or more long-term power purchase agreements. Projects must be operational by Dec. 31, 2024. The second RFP centers on renewable energy certificates, market-based instruments issued when one megawatt-hour of electricity is generated and delivered to the grid from a renewable resource. All RECs purchased must be produced by solar or wind facilities in Virginia and operational by the end of 2024.
(Smith Mountain Eagle)
A proposal by Energix US to build a solar farm in Franklin County has been put on hold. The company postponed its application for several months in June, giving the county time to update its regulations for renewable energy companies. Franklin is one of several area localities that is facing a significant increase in applications from companies to construct solar farms, due to the Virginia Clean Economy Act that requires utilities to provide carbon-free electricity to state customers by 2050.
(The Franklin News-Post)
After more than five years of planning, Rocky Forge Wind may have run out of time. A citizens group opposed to putting giant turbines on top of North Mountain is asking Botetourt County to declare the wind farm project dead, citing its failure to meet a May 26 deadline for approval of site plans. Apex Clean Energy, the Charlottesville company building what would be the state’s first onshore wind farm, counters that the General Assembly extended the deadline into next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. County zoning administrator Drew Pearson will decide who is right in the latest of a series of complications for the project. (The Roanoke Times)
Blaring horns from vehicles streaming out of the Volvo Trucks North America plant at noon June 7 announced the start of a promised United Auto Workers strike. The roughly 2,900 union local members and the company were still at odds over a new contract, after unionized workers overwhelmingly rejected a second version. Although negotiators did not provide details about specific problems, the UAW says issues remain over wage increases, job security, work and holiday schedules, health and safety, pensions and 401(k), health insurance and overtime. (The Roanoke Times)
PEOPLE
Andy Bruns, a former regional newspaper publisher for Lee Enterprises, has been tapped as executive editor of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, the chamber announced June 4. Bruns replaces Christopher Finley, who resigned in March to become director of marketing and public relations for LewisGale Regional Health System. Bruns oversaw The Roanoke Times and The News & Advance in Lynchburg, among other publications. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Erin Burcham, the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s director of talent solutions, is leaving the economic development group to become executive director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council, the organization announced in late May. Burcham previously was marketing and program coordinator at Virginia Tech Roanoke Center and event planner for Roanoke’s EventZone. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Eastern
Eastern Virginia Medical School will pay a PR firm that has ties to a blog publicizing negative stories about its hospital partner Sentara Healthcare close to half a million dollars. Since the medical school’s initial contract with Tigercomm was signed in November 2020, it has extended its agreement with the company through June, increasing its expected payments to $497,000, an EVMS spokeswoman confirmed in early June. Although the firm is providing a legislative strategy, crisis communication advice and assistance with branding and marketing, a Washington Post article brought to light that Tigercomm shares a founder with Checks & Balances Project. The blog has tried to attract media attention to its negative stories about Sentara since November. An EVMS spokesperson said the school doesn’t have a contract with Checks & Balances or the blog’s financer. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Norfolk’s Lyon Shipyard plans to expand its operation, investing $24.4 million and creating 119 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in June. The 93-year-old ship repair and industrial service provider plans to build a new marine travel lift and a larger waterfront dry dock on the Elizabeth River. Lyon’s customers include the U.S. Navy, the Army, the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, as well as commercial maritime companies. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Before Blake Bailey released an acclaimed biography of Philip Roth and before his world came crashing down over allegations of rape and sexual misconduct, he taught at Old Dominion University from 2010 to 2016. More than a dozen people say he sexually harassed and abused four women during his time there. And they say when they voiced concerns to administrators, it went nowhere. As an educator and Pulitzer Prize finalist biographer, Bailey was considered a star in the ODU English department, but Bridget Anderson, an ODU linguistics professor, says he tormented her. Attorneys for ODU and Bailey deny the accusations by Anderson and other women at ODU who said they were accosted by Bailey or saw or heard of him abusing others. Bailey has been accused of sexual assault by former colleagues and students in articles published earlier this year by several publications. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Smithfield-based Pack Brothers Hospitality LLC announced plans in May for a conference center, hotel, 500-seat restaurant and an overhauled
300-slip marina on part of Fort Monroe in Hampton. The company plans to invest $40 million in the project and has been granted a 40-year ground lease by the Fort Monroe Authority. The anticipated opening date is spring 2025, Pack Brothers said. Fort Monroe was decommissioned in 2011 and was proclaimed in part as a national monument, but the fort sought redevelopment plans for other parts of the land. It received 18 proposals, and Pack Brothers’ plan landed on top. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Sentara Healthcare and Greensboro, North Carolina-based Cone Health said in June they had abandoned plans for a merger first announced in August 2020. The two health care systems’ boards came to the mutual agreement to end affiliation plans in late May, which would have had a combined $11.5 billion in annual revenue and
17 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina. Sentara, which previously announced the hiring of Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne as a senior vice president and chief of staff, said the two systems are better able to serve their communities by remaining independent. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Shenandoah Valley
The Frederick County Economic Development Authority plans to launch a six-month digital and social media campaign in July to attract job seekers to the community. In 2019, the EDA, in partnership with Winchester and the counties of Clarke, Page, Shenandoah and Warren, awarded an $88,400 contract to a New York firm to develop a strategy to attract young adults to the northern Shenandoah Valley and encourage those who live there to stay in the region. The EDA received a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corp. to launch the campaign, which will link to LiveLoveShenandoah.com.
(The Winchester Star)
SIBO Group, a Slovenian manufacturer of closure solutions for tubes, containers and other packaging systems, will invest $2.6 million to establish its U.S. corporate headquarters and a new manufacturing operation in Harrisonburg. The subsidiary will operate as SIBO USA LLC, and the project is expected to create 24 jobs. SIBO Group got its start producing plastic closures for the cosmetics industry, and it now manufactures more than 5 billion pieces each year for more than 300 customers, exporting to more than 65 countries. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Staunton‘s west end will be seeing revitalization efforts thanks to a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The city received a $300,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant in May to help assess, clean up and revitalize former industrial and commercial sites. Priority sites for assessment include the former Unifi Manufacturing site, the vacant Chestnut Hills shopping center, the National Biscuit Co. (Nabisco) warehouse and the Rose Time Scrap and Metal Recycling facility. (News Leader)
In June, Valley Health celebrated the completion of its nearly $100 million Warren Memorial Hospital, which replaces the smaller hospital of the same name that opened in 1951. The new hospital has an inpatient rehab center, a second CT scanner and a helipad. There also is a new physical therapy and sports medicine department, a Valley Pharmacy retail location on the second floor, and 36 private inpatient rooms. (The Northern Virginia Daily)
A long-awaited state report on an alleged culture of racism at Virginia Military Institute was released June 1, concluding that “VMI has … traditionally been run by white men, for white men,” although the state-funded military institution in Lexington has made “incremental steps towards a more diverse, inclusive VMI.” The Washington, D.C.-based law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP conducted the investigation beginning in January. The report also discusses “prevalent” sexual assault against current female cadets, as well as racial epithets used against cadets of color over decades. However, the institute has “inadequately addressed” these issues, the report concludes. Gov. Ralph Northam, a 1981 VMI alumnus, said in a statement that he and other state officials “will hold [VMI] accountable.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Washington and Lee University will maintain its name, its board of trustees announced in June, after a nearly yearlong review of whether to reconsider its linkage to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who served as the president of what was then known as Washington College. The board, acknowledging that having the university named after Lee can be painful for people who experience racism, voted 22-6 to keep the name. At the same time, the board said it would expand diversity and inclusion initiatives and a series of changes to campus buildings and symbols, practices and governance. Faculty members were mostly in favor of a name change, voting to do so 188-51 last summer. (The Roanoke Times)
Southwest Virginia
Bristol, Virginia, city government accepted bids in June for a proposed $5.85 million construction project expected to impact Interstate 81’s Exit 5 for more than a year. The project is fully funded through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale program, and it is expected to start this summer and continue throughout 2022, according to the city’s director of public works. Plans call for widening about 1,000 feet of U.S. Highway 11, including two westbound lanes and three eastbound lanes, plus a 16-foot median and adding lanes to both I-81 off-ramps. (Bristol Herald Courier)
The Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority received a loan of up to $1.175 million from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority in June to purchase the former Mountain Forest Products mill site, a 433-acre property in Dickenson and Wise counties, for future economic development. The site, which is adjacent to the IDA’s Red Onion industrial site, also includes three steel-frame buildings that total 30,063 square feet. The chairman of Dickenson’s Board of Supervisors, Josh Evans said that the county plans to use the property to “aggressively recruit high-paying employers to locate here.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)
As COVID-19 began spreading across the country last spring, inmates at the Regional Jail at Duffield devised a plan to make some extra money in an illegal conspiracy to collect unemployment benefits, according to court records. The scheme is just one of several conspiracies involving unemployment fraud, and this one resulted in a half-million dollars going to ineligible conspirators, prosecutors said. Since the start of the pandemic, the Virginia Employment Commission has paid approximately $12 billion in unemployment claims. The Associated Press reports the VEC has admitted to paying more than $50 million in fraudulent claims. Twenty-four people have been indicted in connection with the jail scheme. (Bristol Herald Courier)
SunCoke Energy Inc., the largest independent producer of high-quality coke for blast furnace steel production in the Americas, plans to invest $50 million in its Buchanan County manufacturing operation, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late May. The project will retain approximately 100 jobs at the Jewell Coke plant, where the Illinois-based company has been for 60 years. Virginia competed with Ohio for the project, which will include production upgrades and renovations to the facility. The company plans to produce foundry coke, a diversification of its product line. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Two-Way Radio Inc., a Wytheville-based provider of communications systems and devices for public safety and industrial clients, was acquired by Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Mobile Communications America Inc., the companies announced in June. Financial terms of the deal between the two Motorola dealers were not disclosed. Founded in 1948, Two-Way serves clients in Southwest Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky. The acquisition marks MCA’s entrance into the Virginia and West Virginia markets. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
The town of Wytheville said goodbye in late May to Town Manager Steve Moore, who retired after more than three decades of service to the town. Raised in Bridgewater, Moore graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in architecture. He was hired as the assistant town manager and planning director in 1990, and last summer, upon the retirement of longtime Town Manager Wayne Sutherland, Moore took over the town’s top spot and led the town through much of the COVID-19 pandemic.(SWVA Today)
Northern Virginia
Virginians should brace for endless political ads on TV and mailboxes crammed with fliers now that two multimillionaires are squaring off in a run for governor. In his victory speech after the June 8 Democratic primary, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin “has already pledged $75 million of his own private equity money to buy the governor’s mansion.” Youngkin’s campaign said the former Carlyle Group co-CEO plans to raise $75 million for his campaign but has not specified how much will come from his own bank account. No matter the source, $75 million would be a record-smashing sum for a single gubernatorial candidate in Virginia. That would exceed the combined $66 million spent on the governor’s race four years ago. (The Washington Post)
MicroStrategy Inc. is projecting it will take a substantial financial hit in the second quarter after investing heavily in Bitcoin. The Tysons company, which sells business intelligence software to customers, expects a loss of at least $284.5 million for the three months ending June 30, it disclosed in early June in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The notice comes after the company spent much of the past year buying up the cryptocurrency, spending a total $2.25 billion as of May 18. The value of bitcoin slid from $58,000 apiece on May 10 to $35,000 as of June 7. (Washington Business Journal)
One Loudoun could soon become one of the largest residential communities in Greater Washington as the property’s owner looks to swap out old plans for office construction for a massive increase in apartments and town homes. The developer that controls the bulk of the 360-acre project, Retail Properties of America Inc., recently filed documents in Loudoun detailing its plans to rezone a large chunk of the property to add 1,954 residential units there over time. The new plans target the 76 acres comprising the northern section of One Loudoun, closest to the intersection of state Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway. (Washington Business Journal)
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) announced in early June that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arlington-based Halfaker and Associates LLC, a technology solutions provider to the federal government’s health, intelligence, defense and security sectors. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Halfaker’s clients include the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
People
Real estate developer Milton V. Peterson, founder and chairman of the Fairfax-based Peterson Cos., died in late May at his Fairfax County home at the age of 85. Peterson was known fordeveloping major real estate projects across the Washington, D.C., metro area, including National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. In the 1970s, he partnered with Tysons real estate developer Til Hazel to form the Hazel/Peterson Cos. They developed several planned communities, including Burke Centre, Franklin Farm and Centre Ridge. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Former U.S. Sen. John W. Warner III, who died in late May at the age of 94 in Alexandria, was remembered as a principled, patriotic and bipartisan politician who was one of Virginia’s longest-serving senators and the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The last Republican to hold one of Virginia’s Senate seats, Warner was a World War II and Korean War veteran born in Washington, D.C., in 1927. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Southern Virginia
Averett University inked an agreement in late May eliminating some hurdles for students wanting to obtain a law degree. The Danville-based university is partnering for the first time with Appalachian School of Law in Grundy to provide two new educational pathways. Representatives from both schools signed the agreement. On one path, Averett pre-law students who meet certain qualifications will spend three years as undergraduates at Averett and graduate two years later from Appalachian, saving tuition costs. (Danville Register & Bee)
The Danville Planning Commission voted in June to recommend rezoning the former Dan River Inc. site at Schoolfield to allow the Caesars Virginia casino there. If approved by City Council, the property would be rezoned from industrial manufacturing to casino entertainment district, a new category in the city. Rules within the district, which must be at least 75 acres in size, include a 70-decibel limit on outside noise between 9 a.m. and midnight, and a 50-decibel limit between midnight and 9 a.m. when measured at the property line of a residential zone. Also, a 25-foot landscaped buffer must be built along any property line abutting a residential area. (Danville Register & Bee)
Mecklenburg County and Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative/Empower Broadband were among the applicants whose funding requests were approved by the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission in late May. The commission approved an $880,643 loan for MEC’s Empower subsidiary to bring high-speed broadband internet to customers across five counties — Brunswick, Charlotte, Greensville, Halifax and Mecklenburg. The county was awarded a $28,000 grant to conduct a study on upgrades to the Kinderton Technology Park in Clarksville, and Mecklenburg County will provide matching funds. The study is the final step before marketing the property to technology companies through the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. (SoVaNow)
MEP Ltd., a manufacturer of complex plastic and metal components for the aerospace and defense sectors, will invest $6.4 million to establish its first U.S. operation in Danville, creating 45 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in June. The company, which will operate in the U.S. as Making Everything Possible LLC, will locate in the Cyber Park industrial technology park jointly owned by the city and Pittsylvania County. While the new facility is under construction, MEP will occupy approximately 5,500 square feet at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, MEP Ltd. has $3.2 million in global sales (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Walraven Inc. will invest $7.15 million to relocate its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing operation from Cadillac, Michigan, to the Danville-Pittsylvania County area, creating 46 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in June. A manufacturer of installation systems such as pipe hangers and in-wall solutions for plumbing and mechanical applications, Walraven will move into the Cane Creek Shell Building at Cane Creek Centre, the joint industrial park for Danville and Pittsylvania County. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Walraven manufactures products in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, China, India, Dubai, Canada and the United States. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
Spencer Thomas was named CEO of the Sovah Health-Martinsville hospital in June. He will start his new job in August. He served as CEO of Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford, North Carolina, since 2017 and before that was the chief operating officer of Sovah Health-Danville. Tory Shepherd, Sovah-Martinsville’s COO, has served as its interim CEO since January, after Dale Alward left. (Martinsville Bulletin)
Central Virginia
Henrico County-based Community Bankers Trust Corp., the parent company of Essex Bank, entered into a $303.3 million deal to be acquired by Charleston, West Virginia-based United Bankshares Inc., United Bank’s parent, in early June. If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the deal would create the nation’s 38th largest banking company based on market capitalization, worth about $29 billion in assets. Essex Bank and Community will be branded as United after the merger, which will bring United Bank into the Lynchburg, Richmond and Northern Neck markets. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The city of Petersburg filed a lawsuit in June against Bethesda, Maryland-based C.A. Harrison Cos., a development company owned by former NFL player Chris Harrison, who promised in 2015 to replace the city’s shuttered and dilapidated Ramada Inn with a brand-new hotel, 100 apartment units and retail space. Six years later, redevelopment has not taken place. The city seeks to force Harrison’s company to either “abate the unsafe conditions” at the property or allow the city to demolish the building. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Richmond City Council voted 8-1 in mid-June to approve a casino referendum to appear on the city’s Nov. 2 ballot. If greenlit by city voters, the proposed
$600 million ONE Casino + Resort would be the nation’s only Black-owned casino. Owned by Maryland-based Urban One Inc., which owns and operates 55 radio stations and the TV One cable network, the casino would be built on 100 acres owned by Altria Group Inc. on the city’s South Side near Interstate 95. Next, the city will submit the preferred operator and site to the Virginia Lottery Board for precertification and petition Richmond Circuit Court to hold the referendum. Richmond is the last of five Virginia cities voting on whether to allow a commercial casino under a law passed in 2020 by the General Assembly. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The University of Virginia plans to invest $100 million in a new democracy institute, President Jim Ryan announced in June.
The investment is made possible with a $50 million gift from alumni Martha and Bruce Karsh. The Karsh Institute of Democracy at U.Va. will be a nonpartisan institute dedicated to the study, teaching and promotion of democracy. The Karshes’ gift will support the institute and provide funds for construction of a prominent building in the Emmet Street-Ivy Road area of Charlottesville, which will serve as a hub for public forums, research and classes. The building is expected to open by 2026, but the institute will operate before then.
(The Daily Progress)
Joining hundreds of colleges across the country, Virginia Commonwealth University will require its on-campus students to be vaccinated against
COVID-19 this fall, the university announced in June. Students who take classes, work or live on campus are required to report their vaccination by July 15. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, nearly 500 colleges nationally will require immunizations, as of early June. In Virginia, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University and James Madison University have announced that students must get their shots to attend school in person. VCU is encouraging staff members to get vaccinated, but they are not required to do so. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
A federal court settlement in May gives the Virginia Employment Commission until Labor Day to resolve the questions and claims of nearly all 92,000 unemployed Virginians who have been waiting for jobless benefits during the pandemic and the economic crisis it caused. In June, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission announced it
has accelerated a staff study of the VEC and its handling of the crisis, with an interim report due in late September after the Labor Day deadline. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
July Out & About
Congratulations to the 2021 Virginia CFO Awards winners!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Virginia CFO Awards, honoring the commonwealth’s top nonprofit and companies’ chief financial executives, announced Friday by Virginia Business Editor and Chief Content Officer Richard Foster. Watch the video below for this year’s nominees, finalists and winners in four categories:
- Small companies (fewer than 100 employees)
- Large companies (more than 100 employees)
- Small nonprofit/foundation (fewer than 100 employees)
- Large nonprofit/foundation (more than 100 employees)
Thank you to our sponsors and everyone who attended this year’s virtual celebration, and stay tuned soon for profile features on the winners, which will appear in the August issue of Virginia Business.
2021 Virginia CFO Awards
JOIN US JUNE 18 AT 11:30AM FOR
THE CFO of the YEAR AWARDS 2021
2021 VIRGINIA CFO AWARDS
Small company CFO
Small nonprofit/foundation CFO
Large company CFO
Large nonprofit/foundation CFO
Service and Integrity Award
Keynote: THE ROAD AHEAD A LOOK INTO A POST CORONA VIRUS WORLD
Hear from Marci McGregor, Senior Investment Strategist from Bank of America‘s Chief Investment Office,
with an economic update on what lies ahead as the country continues to recover from the virus.
Sponsored by Bank of America.
BreakoutSession: “TAX IMPLICATIONS IN THE NEW ERA”
Federal and State tax law changes and their effect on business.
Speaker: Ryan McIntire, Partner and Co-Tax Services Leader
Sponsored by Brown Edwards
Cost: $15 pp OR $75 for entire team (10 registrations)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY!
June For The Record
Roanoke/ New River Valley
In late April, Salem-based LewisGale Regional Health System broke ground for a new freestanding emergency room in Roanoke. Located on West Ruritan Road, the nearly 10,000-square-foot facility will be named LewisGale Medical Center Blue Hills ER and staffed with board-certified emergency room physicians and nurses. It is expected to open in 2022. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
In May, Roanoke’s Mill Mountain Theatre had its first in-person performance since 2019, staging Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on the front lawn of Heights Community Church in Roanoke’s Grandin Village. The theater’s COVID-19 compliance officers put in their share of work. While seven members of the cast and MMT’s full staff already were vaccinated, actors who hadn’t yet been vaccinated were tested before performances. MMT plans to return to indoor performances at its theater in mid-June, including a production of “Legally Blonde” opening in late September. (WVTF)
Passenger train service will return to the New River Valley for the first time since 1979, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in early May. The $257.2 million deal with Norfolk Southern Railway is in addition to the $3.7 billion rail expansion Northam announced in March as part of the Transforming Rail in Virginia program. The agreement, called the Western Rail Initiative, extends service to the city of Radford and the counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski. It also increases intercity passenger rail service between Roanoke and the Northeast Corridor, and the initiative includes $219 million in infrastructure investments. The completion date is set for 2025. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A new government website and interactive map was launched in late April for citizens to monitor progress on a variety of broadband expansion projects dotting Roanoke County. After a final vote in April to approve a $3 million project with Cox Communications that will expand internet access to more than 300 homes in Windsor Hills, Cave Spring and Catawba, the county has amassed close to $4 million in private, local, state and federal funds for rural broadband in the past year. (The Roanoke Times)
In May, unionized workers at the Volvo Trucks North America plant in Pulaski County soundly rejected a five-year contract, negotiated after a strike that ran from April 17 to April 30. According to a notice posted on the United Auto Workers Local 2069 website, workers voted “no” on aspects of pay, benefits and work schedules by margins ranging from 83% to 91%. It was not clear whether production at the Dublin plant proceeded normally after the vote, with the expected level of UAW-represented staffing, or how or when negotiations would resume. The plant employs more than 3,300 people, about 2,900 of whom are UAW members. (The Roanoke Times)
Wing, a subsidiary of Google corporate parent Alphabet, started using drones to deliver Girl Scout cookies in April to residents of Christiansburg. The town has been a testing ground for commercial delivery drones since 2019, with packages ranging from drugstore offerings, FedEx packages and cold brew coffees, but this is the first time Girl Scout cookies have been delivered by drone. Wing said it began talking to local troops because they’ve had a harder time selling cookies during the pandemic when fewer people were out and about. Federal officials started rolling out new rules in April that will allow operators to fly small drones over people and at night, potentially giving a boost to commercial use of the machines. (The Associated Press)
Eastern Virginia
People in Hampton Roads reported in early May that gas stations were sold out of fuel and station owners saw a spike in demand for gasoline in the days following a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline, which was shut down for several days. The fuel frenzy hit several states but was particularly hard on Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, due in part to a shortage of tanker truck drivers. Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency that loosened the state’s regulations to make it easier to get gas in tanks and also punished suppliers for price gouging. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Integrity Bank for Business opened for business in Virginia Beach in early May. The first new community bank established in Hampton Roads
since 1998, Integrity received regulatory approval in April and is led by former Heritage Bank President and CEO Michael S. Ives. In January it announced that it had raised more than $20 million in stock purchase commitments. The bank plans to focus on serving business customers in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A modular housing manufacturer plans to establish its first East Coast facility in Newport News, investing $2 million and producing 220 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in mid-May. A public-benefit corporation and Certified B Corporation founded in 2018, indieDwell turns recycled shipping containers into small homes with one to four bedrooms to help solve the affordable housing crisis. The company currently has facilities in Idaho and Colorado, with plans to expand to other states, building factories in areas with low to moderate income and a need for affordable housing. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Signs are pointing to the Hampton Roads region’s COVID recovery picking up steam if workers return to fill thousands of jobs that are coming open again, according to Bob McNab, director of Old Dominion University‘s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. Before the pandemic, the region had a tight labor market with low unemployment — 2.9% in February 2020. Wages and income began to rise then, and now broad-based growth is returning on rising consumer confidence, increased vaccination and an increase in demand from deferred consumption and travel. Businesses, particularly in hospitality, have reported they’re having trouble finding workers, with many advertising sign-on bonuses. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare was named one of the top five large U.S. health systems in an annual ranking by Fortune and IBM Watson Health released in late April. Sentara landed in fifth place, receiving five stars for clinical outcomes and operation efficiency and three stars for patient experience. This is the second year Sentara was ranked among the nation’s top 15 health care systems. Also, Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk was named the No. 2 teaching hospital in the U.S. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Agriculture startup Sunny Farms LLC plans to build a $59.6 million, 32-acre hydroponic operation in Virginia Beach, creating 155 jobs and one of the East Coast’s largest greenhouses, the governor’s office announced in April. The facility, which will cover 1.2 million square feet when completed in three years, will be at Taylor Farms off Dam Neck Road. The company’s co-founders, Jim Arnhold and Wayne Zinn, worked with the School of Plant and Environmental Science at Virginia Tech and other industry experts to develop the greenhouse. The development will be the site of a new workforce training nonprofit, One Matters Inc. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Shenandoah Valley
The Frederick County Board of Supervisors has been sued for denying a conditional-use permit for a utility-scale solar power-generating facility in Gore. The lawsuit from Hollow Road Solar LLC, National Fruit Orchards Inc. and Diane Holmes, filed in April in the county’s Circuit Court, seeks a court order for supervisors to approve the permit. The suit also states the plaintiffs are entitled to a redress of $7.5 million. Supervisors voted 6-1 in March to reject the permit, which was part of the parties’ request to approve the county’s third solar facility within the past year. (The Winchester Star)
The Front Royal Warren County Economic Development Authority reached an agreement with its former executive director that requires her to pay the EDA $9 million to settle claims she used its money for her benefit. The EDA board voted in May to adopt a resolution that directs the Sands Anderson law firm to move forward with the judgment against Jennifer McDonald for no less than $9 million. The settlement cannot be discharged through her Chapter 7 bankruptcy case currently in federal court. (The Winchester Star)
Mary Baldwin University announced in late April it will require students 16 and older as well as faculty and staff to have a COVID-19 vaccination before returning to the Staunton and Fishersville campuses this fall. Earlier in the month, Attorney General Mark Herring said that Virginia colleges and universities have the right to require proof that anyone attending class in person has been vaccinated, although he left individual decisions up to schools. MBU, like most other schools with a vaccine requirement, is making an allowance for medical and religious exemptions. (News Leader)
Modine Manufacturing Co. will invest $7 million to convert its Rockbridge County warehouse into a manufacturing plant that will produce data center cooling solutions, creating 60 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late April. Modine has had a manufacturing facility since 1963 in Buena Vista, where it employs more than 260 people. The new operation will be at Modine’s former warehouse at 360 Collierstown Road.(VirginiaBusiness.com)
Virginia Military Institute, which was pressured last year to remove a prominent statue of Confederate
Gen. Stonewall Jackson, took more steps to reduce its lingering tributes to the Civil War leader, a former professor at the college who owned six enslaved people. In its most notable decision made in early May, the college’s board of visitors voted to erase Jackson’s name as the author of a quotation mounted in bronze in the student barracks — a mantra that cadets and alumni memorize and has been engraved in class rings: “You may be whatever you resolve to be.” The maxim will remain, but the words “Stonewall Jackson” will be scrubbed. (The Washington Post)
The Washington and Lee University board will announce its name change decision in June, almost a year after the formation of a special committee to reconsider the university’s relationship to Robert E. Lee. The deliberation over dropping Lee’s name from the university has been lengthy. It began in July 2020, when the board formed a committee to gather input from all campus constituencies, analyze data and consult relevant experts. Mike McAlevey, rector of the board, announced the June deadline in a May email to the university community. (The Roanoke Times)
Southwest Virginia
Without naming Bristol, the executive director of the Virginia Lottery in April all but ruled out the possibility that a temporary casino could open this year. Officials of the Hard Rock Bristol Hotel and Casino Resort have on multiple occasions voiced plans to host temporary gaming while the casino project is being developed at the former Bristol Mall. The enabling legislation allows for a temporary location for up to one year before the permanent site opens but only after the gaming license is approved and several other steps occur. Lottery officials are currently developing regulations to govern the operation of five casinos in the state. (Bristol Herald Courier)
The federal Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities identified Southwest Virginia as the fourth most coal-dependent area in the United States in a report in late April. The finding, which is based on the percentage of total direct coal jobs relative to all employees within a region, designates the region as a priority community for “initial federal investments.” Roughly $38 billion in federal funding could be available for communities likely to be hard-hit by coal mine and power plant closures. The working group, which was created in January, consists of 11 federal agencies and the Appalachian Regional Commission. (Virginia Mercury)
Traeger Grills, manufacturer of the world’s top-selling wood pellet grill and signature hardwood pellets product, plans to build a $3 million manufacturing operation in Wythe County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late April. The company plans to purchase wood products exclusively sourced from
Virginia and create 15 jobs in Wythe. The Utah-based company will partner with Musser Lumber Co. Inc., which produces materials for wood pellet producers, decking manufacturers and plastic extrusion companies. Last August, Musser announced its own $2.4 million expansion in Wythe. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
In May, a Bristol, Tennessee, woman pleaded guilty in federal court in Abingdon for her part in a scheme to defraud the Virginia Employment Commission. The scheme involved dozens of co-conspirators, federal prosecutors said. Melissa Hayes conspired with others, including several people previously convicted in the case, to file claims for pandemic unemployment benefits through the VEC website, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The scheme involved submitting claims for several individuals who weren’t eligible to receive unemployment benefits, including inmates incarcerated in Southwest Virginia, prosecutors said. At least $499,000 in false claims were made. (Washington County News)
PEOPLE
Appalachian School of Law named its next president and dean, B. Keith Faulkner, in late April. He will begin his new role July 1, succeeding former Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, who will become president of the Virginia Tech Foundation in Blacksburg. Faulkner, previously dean of the Liberty University School of Law, was a litigator and served as the interim dean of North Carolina-based Campbell University’s law school. (Bristol Herald Courier)
Ballad Health named a new CEO of Smyth County Community Hospital in Marion. Dale Clark will succeed James Tyler, who is retiring, in early June, the health care system announced in May. Clark, a Bland County native who previously served as interim vice president and CEO of Ballad’s Wise County hospitals, will lead operations and services for the 44-bed acute care hospital and 109-bed nursing care facility. (SWVA Today)
Northern Virginia
Engineers working for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority determined in May thatAmazon.com Inc.‘s Helix structure at PenPlace is roughly 13 feet taller than the maximum allowable height for structures near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. MWAA, which manages both Reagan and Dulles International airports, is responsible for monitoring construction projects to ensure they comply with Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Amazon is seeking a variance from Arlington County to allow the Helix to reach a height of 354 feet. (Washington Business Journal)
Aerospace and defense contractor Boeing made a record $50 million, multiyear commitment to foster diversity at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus under development in Alexandria, Virginia Tech announced in early May. It’s the largest corporate donation ever made to the university, and the commitment from Chicago-based Boeing also ties
the largest private donation made to Virginia Tech, a $50 million gift made in 2019 from the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust and Heywood and Cynthia Fralin for the Fralin Biomedical Institute at VTC. Boeing’s donation will include student scholarships, recruitment of faculty and researchers, and funding pathway programs for underserved K-12 students seeking STEM degrees and technology careers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Guidehouse, a management consulting company with clients around the world, will establish its global headquarters in Fairfax County, producing more than 900 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in May. The company plans to invest $12.7 million in a campus in McLean, where 1,550 people will work at full capacity. Virginia competed with Maryland and Washington, D.C., for the project. Owned by Veritas Capital, Guidehouse employs more than 9,000 people in more than 50 locations around the world and works in public and commercial markets, providing services in management, technology and risk consulting. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along with Maryland’s senators, wrote President Joe Biden in May, requesting the federal government resume the selection process for a new FBI headquarters in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Springfield is one of three sites under consideration for a potential replacement for the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown D.C. Congress previously appropriated close to $1 billion in the selection process, which also includes two sites in Prince George’s County in Maryland. (Washington Business Journal)
Herndon-based national security contractor Peraton Inc. completed its $7.1 billion, all-cash acquisition of Chantilly-based federal IT contractor Perspecta Inc. in May, according to an announcement by Peraton’s parent company, private investment firm Veritas Capital. The combined companies will be known as Peraton and will be overseen by Peraton Chairman,
President and CEO Stu Shea. The purchase follows Peraton’s $3.4 billion cash acquisition in February of Northrop Grumman Corp.’s federal IT and mission support services business. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
People
Former private-equity chief Glenn Youngkin of Fairfax County became the Republican nominee for Virginia governor in May after his closest rival, business executive Pete Snyder, conceded while votes were still being tabulated. The two candidates, both of whom embraced the politics of former President Donald Trump, had been the leaders throughout the complicated, ranked-choice balloting process that slowly whittled down the field from seven contenders. Youngkin was CEO of Washington, D.C.-based The Carlyle Group and has an estimated personal worth of more than $200 million. Democrats are set to choose their slate of candidates in a June 8 primary. (The Washington Post)
Southern Virginia
The Danville Industrial Development Authority and The Alexander Co. are teaming up to redevelop the city’s White Mill on the Dan River as a mixed-use commercial and residential project, with $62.5 million invested in the first phase, city officials announced in May. Interest in the building, which once housed part of the defunct Dan River Mill’s manufacturing business, grew following the city’s approval of the Caesars Virginia casino project last year. The redevelopment will feature 110,000 square feet of commercial space and 150 apartments in the first phase, set to be completed in the summer of 2023. Another 100 apartment units are planned for the future. The Riverwalk Trail along the river also will be extended, and there will be a whitewater feature on the canal on the mill’s south side. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The largest single private land conservation gift to the state — 7,300 acres in Halifax County — was donated in April by North Carolina billionaire and Epic Games Inc. CEO Tim Sweeney. Known as Falkland Farms, the tract will be owned and operated by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and renamed the Southside Virginia Conservation and Recreation Complex. The property will be the first joint project between DCR’s Natural Heritage Program and Virginia State Parks, and the heritage program will conduct habitat restoration to replenish forest ecosystems. The land is home to 17 species of rare plants and animals, state officials said. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Five sites in Pittsylvania County are targeted for environmental assessments and development of clean-up plans under a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Federal officials announced the Brownfields Assessment Grant award in May. Sites targeted under the grant funding include the former Southside Manufacturing mill site, a former diner in Chatham, a block of South Main Street in Gretna, the Staunton Plaza Shopping Center and the 600-acre Burlington Industries property. Work is expected to start in October, and the grant is part of $1.5 million awarded to underserved and economically distressed communities in Virginia to assess and clean up abandoned and contaminated industrial and commercial properties. (Danville Register & Bee)
South Hill‘s historic Colonial Theater was the chief point of contention at a Town Council meeting that ran almost five hours in May. The theater is seeking $175,000 in operating capital from the town for the coming fiscal year starting July 1. The debate swirled around what at least two council members said was a mistaken belief that there is a push to end town subsidies to the theater. Some council members and board directors of the South Hill Community Development Authority oppose taxpayer funding for the theater through the CDA until the Colonial is willing to provide evidence of how the money is being spent. The council’s budget committee has recommended a reduction in funding to $155,000. (Mecklenburg Sun)
PEOPLE
Jacqueline Gill Powell resigned as president of Danville Community College in April to become special assistant to Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges. She left after serving less than two years in the position. Muriel B. Mickles, who previously served as the vice president of academics, students and workforce development at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, began in May as interim president of DCC. (Chatham Star-Tribune)
Central Virginia
In May, California-based Aditx Therapeutics Inc. pledged to invest $31.5 million over the next three years in a new Richmond facility, producing 300 jobs. Aditxt is planning to build its first AditxtScore Center, a facility that will monitor patients’ immune systems, at Richmond’s Bio+Tech Park, set to open by the second half of 2021. The biotech company’s new platform measures patients’ immune biomarkers and predicts immunity to specific diseases, including COVID-19. Aditxt went public in June 2020 and is developing other programs, including one that is designed to retrain patients’ immune systems to tolerate transplanted organs and allergies. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. has bought full ownership of a company that makes alternative smokeless tobacco products aimed at people who want to give up smoking cigarettes. Altria said in late April it had acquired the remaining 20% interest in the Swiss maker of a nicotine product called On! Altria agreed to pay $372 million in June 2019 to acquire a majority ownership stake in On!, an oral patch product that consumers buy in small cans. It contains nicotine but no tobacco leaf. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Amazon.com Inc. plans to build a multistory, 650,000-square-foot robotics fulfillment center near Richmond Raceway in Henrico County, creating 1,000 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late April. The center, which will be built on 119 acres of ancillary land used for overflow parking by the raceway, is expected to open in 2022. This is Amazon’s second robotics facility in development for Virginia. The mammoth e-tailer also is building a $230 million, five-story robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk’s Northgate Commerce Park. Richmond Raceway, which is owned by NASCAR, sold the 119-acre portion to Dallas-based Hillwood Investment Properties in April. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Goochland-based food service distributor Performance Food Group Co. announced in May it will purchase Core-Mark Holding Co. Inc. for $2.5 billion in stock and cash, a deal that will help push PFG further into supplying convenience stores. Core-Mark is one of the largest wholesale distributors to convenience stores in North America, and the acquisition would propel PFG as the Richmond region’s largest publicly traded company based on revenue. The deal would add about $17 billion in net annual sales to Performance’s bottom line, generating pro-forma annual net sales of about
$44 billion. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
On May 20, the city of Richmond‘s
casino advisory panel recommended the ONE Casino + Resort to move forward for City Council and citizens’ consideration. If Council approves the measure and voters support it in a November referendum, the resort would be the first casino under Black ownership in the country. The $600 million resort was proposed by Silver Spring, Maryland-based Urban One Inc., which owns and operates 55 radio stations and the TV One cable network. The casino is proposed to be built on 100 acres owned by Altria Group Inc. on the city’s South Side, near Interstate 95. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
Jennifer L. West starts July 1 as the University of Virginia’s first female dean of its School of Engineering and Applied Science. A researcher, inventor and entrepreneur, West comes from Duke University, where she was associate dean of doctoral education at the Pratt School of Engineering. She succeeds Craig Benson, who will remain on the engineering faculty. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
May In & About
Maritime law firms
For The Record May 2021
Roanoke/New River Valley
A proposal under consideration by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget could redefine Blacksburg and the New River Valley area from a federal metropolitan statistical area to a micropolitan statistical area. Blacksburg is one of 144 localities nationwide that could be impacted by the potential change that would raise the population for metropolitan statistical areas to 100,000. Blacksburg has about 44,000 residents but the Blacksburg-Christiansburg metro area has a population of more than 167,500, according to census estimates. It’s unclear exactly what effect changing its metro status would have on Blacksburg, but local officials worry it could impact economic development or funding allocations for transit services and housing. (The Roanoke Times)
Munters Group AB, a Sweden-based manufacturer of air treatment and cooling systems for data centers and other industrial applications, announced in March that it will invest $36 million to relocate its Buena Vista operations to Botetourt County. Munters plans to open a 365,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in summer 2022 in the county’s Botetourt Center at Greenfield business park in Daleville. The new facility will house manufacturing, research and development, and sales for data center cooling systems and high temperature industrial process systems. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Oransi, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based manufacturer of air purifiers, announced in April that it will invest
$5.6 million to establish a manufacturing facility in Radford, creating 101 jobs. Founded in 2009, Oransi makes air purifiers for consumers, businesses and health care professionals. Oransi’s Radford manufacturing plant will be located at 113 Corporate Drive in the Plymouth Building. Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Radford University President Brian Hemphill told faculty in late March that the school had reduced its budget cuts from an anticipated $20 million to less than $2 million after receiving more COVID relief and financial aid funds from the state than initially expected. The university planned to make the cuts in part by offering early retirement to some staff and faculty. Hemphill also announced that a groundbreaking for the school’s $30 million, 125-room Highlander Hotel project on Tyler Avenue across from the campus is planned for May. The hotel is scheduled for completion by 2022, a year ahead of the university’s original plan. Hemphill is leaving Radford this summer to become president of Old Dominion University.
(The Roanoke Times)
In March, Virginia Tech announced it was replacing its Office of Economic Development with the new Center for Economic and Community Engagement. The university-level center will engage with internal and external partners to drive economic growth, address workforce needs and interact with people statewide. Part of the center’s mission will be to promote greater opportunities for education,
health and job creation for communities across Virginia. It will be led by John Provo, who has run
the university’s Office of Economic Development since 2010. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
After 19 years as the founding leader of the Blacksburg Partnership, Diane Akers will retire on June 30 from her position as president of the private economic development group. Akers was hired as the Blacksburg Partnership’s founding director in 2002, helping launch the organization that was established as a partnership between the town of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech and the local business community. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Tokyo-based parent company of Roanoke’s TMEIC Corp. merged its two U.S. operations on
April 1, naming Manmeet S. Bhatia president and CEO of the new Roanoke-headquartered entity, TMEIC Corp. Americas. The U.S. subsidiary
of Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corp., TMEIC designs and develops advanced automation systems, large AC and DC motors and photovoltaic inverters. It merged with TMEIC Power Electronics Products Corp. of Katy, Texas. Bhatia succeeds
Dale Guidry, TMEIC’s CEO since 2007. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Eastern Virginia
Henrico County-based real estate investment firm Capital Square announced in March that it had acquired Streets of Greenbrier apartments in Chesapeake for $67.25 million. Located at 929 Wintercress Way, the 280-unit apartment complex sits on 13.78 acres. Constructed in 2013, the community consists of nine residential buildings and includes studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging in size from 516 square feet to 1,286 square feet. The seller was Richmond- based GrayCo Inc. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Construction began in April on Mosaic, a $68 million, six-floor mixed-use building coming to Chesapeake’s $330 million Summit Pointe development. The Mosaic tower will include 507,495 square feet of apartments, restaurants, shops and a public parking garage, encompassing a full city block at the corner of Belaire Avenue and Summit Pointe Drive. The building will offer 270 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Delivery of the first residential and commercial spaces is anticipated in mid-2022. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A new 55-foot-tall cinder-block tower at Naval Station Norfolk should cut the time Virginia class submarines are out of action because of repairs on the structure that houses their periscope, antennas and sensors. The tower means Norfolk-based sailors and skilled shipyard workers can get access to the universal modular masts on top of the sails of Virginia class attack subs. Unlike masts on older submarines, the modular masts on Virginia class boats have to be worked on when they are vertical, and the tower makes that possible. (Daily Press)
Trash from most residents of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach is currently burned at a waste-to-energy facility in Portsmouth that creates steam purchased by the Norfolk Naval Shipyard as a power source. But a contractor recently broke ground on a natural gas-powered steam and energy plant at the shipyard. Once it’s finished — planned for 2024 — the plant will enable the shipyard to produce nearly all the steam and energy it needs, meaning hundreds of millions of pounds of additional trash could end up in a regional landfill in Suffolk within a few years. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Cleaning and hospitality crews dressed in yellow shirts have been patrolling the Virginia Beach resort area since April 1 and will continue through summer. The new “ambassador” program is part of the city’s strategy to spruce up the Oceanfront and make it a friendlier, safer place for tourists and residents. A new Resort Management Office recently opened on the corner of Arctic Avenue and 17th Street and is serving as the base for resort area zoning and code enforcement officers as well as homeless outreach efforts. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Tribune Publishing is moving forward with plans to be acquired by Alden Global Capital and has ended discussions with a Maryland hotel executive interested in purchasing the Chicago-based newspaper chain, which owns The Virginian-Pilot, the Daily Press and Richmond’s Style Weekly. On April 20, Tribune Publishing said it was notified that Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss had pulled out of a fully financed nonbinding offer of $680 million for the company made with Choice Hotels Chairman Stewart Bainum. (Chicago Tribune)
People
Former Norfolk Commissioner of Revenue C. Evans Poston Jr. has been hired by Richmond-based Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP to expand its public affairs and strategies consultancy to the Hampton Roads region, the firm announced in April. Poston will serve as the firm’s government relations director for Hampton Roads. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Shenandoah Valley
Bridgewater College received a $5 million gift in March to establish its first named and endowed school. Donated by a 1962 alumna, the funding will establish the Bonnie Forrer and John Harvey Rhodes School of Arts and Humanities, named for the donor and her late husband. The school will combine its existing communications, fine arts and literature divisions with its division of humanities and social sciences. Bonnie Rhodes is on the college’s board of trustees and previously made a donation to support the John Kenny Forrer Learning Commons, named for her father. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority continues to chip away at its debts to reach financial independence. In late March, the EDA’s board agreed to pay off $158,592 toward a loan from United Bank, and $104,645 to pay on a loan for the Leach Run Parkway project. So far, the EDA has paid off more than $2 million in debt, and the town of Front Royal has started its own EDA while suing the cooperative authority for $15 million. In 2019, the joint authority was caught up in an embezzlement scandal allegedly involving its former director, who was indicted on misappropriating $21.3 million in EDA and town funds, but the charges were dropped last April. (The Northern Virginia Daily, VirginiaBusiness.com)
Edinburg-based telecommunications company Shentel will be laying off
340 employees, primarily in its wireless division, as part of a restructuring in conjunction with the pending sale of its wireless assets to T-Mobile. Approximately 90% of the layoffs will involve employees in the Shentel wireless division who are not transferring to T-Mobile as part of the transaction. The layoffs will follow the closing of the pending sale, which is expected in the early third quarter of 2021. Shentel will retain approximately 860 employees to support its broadband and tower segments. (Augusta Free Press)
For the first time in the Virginia Military Institute‘s 181-year history, a woman will hold the highest-ranking cadet position. Kasey Meredith, a third-year cadet from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, will be regimental commander and responsible for the training, discipline, appearance and morale of the Corps of Cadets in the upcoming academic year, VMI announced in March. Meredith, who is majoring in international studies, plans to commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps upon graduating next year. (The Roanoke Times)
People
Former state Del. A.R. “Pete” Giesen Jr., who represented parts of the Shenandoah Valley for more than 30 years in the Virginia House of Delegates, died at the age of 88 on April 2. He also was a part-time political science professor at James Madison University. His focuses included advocating for mental health reform, and Giesen raised money for the Augusta County chapter of Mental Health America, which has long hosted an annual golf tournament bearing Giesen’s name.
(News Leader)
Longtime luxury resort executive Mark Spadoni was hired as managing director for The Omni Homestead Resort in April. He previously served for 20 years as the general manager for the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa and Club at Savannah Harbor in Georgia. Prior to that, he was a general manager for Westin properties in South Carolina, Connecticut, Louisiana, New York and Florida. He founded two Savannah, Georgia, nonprofits and served on several boards, including the local tourism council and chamber of commerce. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Southwest Virginia
BEAST Trailers, which manufactures custom aluminum sport and utility trailers, will begin operations in Grundy at Paul’s Fan Co.’s location in the Southern Gap industrial development park. The creation of BEAST, an acronym for best equipment and sport trailers, was announced in April by founder and CEO Todd Elswick. BEAST is expected to create about 15 jobs. The new company will support the region’s increased interest in utility terrain vehicles and outdoor sports activities.
(Bristol Herald Courier)
Much of West Virginia-based Blackjewel‘s former coal empire in Virginia remains in disarray, even as a federal judge signed off on a bankruptcy settlement in March. More than two dozen Virginia mining permits controlled by the company are in limbo. On July 1, 2020, Blackjewel’s mining operations came to a halt as the company filed for bankruptcy and claw backed workers’ paychecks. Blackjewel eventually agreed to pay about 1,100 miners in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky $5.1 million in unpaid wages. (Virginia Mercury)
The GO Virginia state board has approved nearly $486,400 for a project that aims to create high-tech energy storage manufacturing jobs in the Southwest region. The project will provide technical assistance to existing manufacturers who have worked to diversify their businesses into energy storage and electrification markets, according to an April 6 news release. The companies are located in the Cumberland Plateau Planning District area. The funding will be matched by $245,000 in private and philanthropic dollars. (The Coalfield Progress)
On April 8, German auto parts manufacturer STS Group AG announced it will invest $39 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing operation in Wythe County’s Progress Park industrial park, creating 120 jobs. Located near Wytheville, the facility, operating as a subsidiary of STS Group North America, will supply Volvo Trucks in Pulaski County and other truck and automotive facilities throughout the Midwest and southeastern U.S. markets. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project. Headquartered in Hallbergmoos, Germany, STS Group AG develops, manufactures and supplies products and solutions for components made of plastic or composite material for the automobile and trucking industries. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
On April 7, the General Assembly rejected Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposal to tie the loss of state coal tax credits to new funding for the University of Virginia’s College at Wise during a one-day session called to respond to Northam’s proposed changes to legislation. Northam had offered amendments to bills which would have eliminated the tax credits after tax year 2021, proposing that the state provide $300,000 each year in fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2025, and $6.5 million in each subsequent year, to U.Va. Wise “for the expansion of course offerings in data science, computer science, cybersecurity and renewable energy.”
(The Coalfield Progress)
Three Southwest Virginia airports are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair runways and hangars, according to the Virginia Aviation Board. On March 26, the board awarded more than $6.54 million to 27 airports across Virginia. The money will be used to improve the airports and the services they provide. In Southwest Virginia, Lonesome Pine Airport in Wise County is set to receive $480,000 for runway rehabilitation. Virginia Highlands Airport in Abingdon — which is planning the fifth phase of its runway expansion — will receive $334,000. Tazewell County Airport will receive $400,000. The airport is expected to prepare the site for a hangar. (SWVA Today)
Southern Virginia
Danville Utilities plans to spend the $8.2 million from its February sale of the Patrick County hydroelectric complex to Northbrook Energy to build a new electrical substation for the incoming Caesars casino at the former Dan River Inc. site in Schoolfield, as well as upgrading its substations at Westover and Southside. The city anticipates spending $3 million each on the updates, as well as $1 million for the new Schoolfield substation, says Danville Utilities Director Jason Grey. The remaining $1 million will go toward a fourth Appalachian Power delivery point in Brosville, set to be completed in 2023. (Danville Register & Bee)
The Halifax County Industrial Development Authority has retained a Greensboro, North Carolina-based consulting firm to help it find a new executive director, the IDA board announced in April. Jorgenson Consulting has been hired to perform a search to bring qualified candidates to the IDA, after applying to the authority’s request for proposals. The search process kicked off in mid-April and is expected to take from three to four months to complete. Brian Brown was fired by the board in October, and interim director Mike Davidson has held the position on a part-time basis since then. (SoVaNow)
Chatham-based J&J Truck Sales Inc., which rents and sells heavy-duty trucks and construction equipment, will build a 45,000-square-foot facility off U.S. Highway 29 in Pittsylvania County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late March. The $5.2 million project, adjacent to the company’s existing operation, is expected to create 27 jobs and increase its ability to repair, refurbish and fabricate automotive equipment. Virginia beat South Carolina for the project, the governor’s office said. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced in March that it has awarded $800,000 to the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corp. (MBC) in South Boston to increase broadband capacity in 14 counties in Southern and Central Virginia. Local investment will match the CARES Act grant with $200,000, MBC said. The funding will go toward expanding an existing fiber optic network and providing access to more than 4,500 acres in industrial and technology parks, health care facilities, medical research centers and existing businesses. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The SOVA Innovation Hub in South Boston, in partnership with Longwood University, will launch a series of programs on capital access and entrepreneurship training for adults and youth via a $449,000 GO Virginia grant, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in April. The funding is part of a $6.3 million allocation supporting 15 economic development projects across the state to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project’s total budget is $819,000, and it will benefit 15 localities in Southern and Central Virginia, training 200 entrepreneurs over two years. (News releases)
Sovah Health announced in April a $12 million renovation and expansion of its Danville emergency department, which will grow by 50%. The construction, which is expected to take more than two years to complete, will expand the department from 14,000 square feet to 21,000 square feet. Ambulance bays also will be relocated to reduce congestion and improve access. LifePoint Health, which owns the hospital, is paying for the construction, and Sovah Health-Danville Chief Operating Officer John Kent said that the upcoming Caesars Virginia casino played a role in the company’s willingness to invest in the project. (Danville Register & Bee)
Northern Virginia
In April, Reston-based Gainwell Technologies, a 6-month-old spinoff company of DXC Technology, completed its approximately $3.4 billion acquisition of HMS Holdings, a Texas-based health care technology company. The all-cash deal, announced in December and closed in April, was made for $37 per share. Gainwell, with more than 7,500 employees, was created in October and focuses on Medicaid management, immunization registry, care management and other services. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Bethesda, Maryland-based developer JBG Smith Properties announced in late March that it has begun construction on two residential towers at 1900 Crystal Drive in National Landing near Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2, which JBG Smith is also developing. The two towers will include 808 apartments and approximately 40,000 square feet of street-level retail. The 27-story southern tower will include 471 apartments; the 26-story northern tower will include 337 apartments. The buildings, which will be approximately 300 feet tall, were designed by architecture firm COOKFOX, in collaboration with Torti Gallas + Partners. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Loudoun Economic Development unveiled plans in late March for Rivana at Innovation Station, a 4.4-million-square-foot mixed-use development adjacent to Metro’s Silver Line extension on a site Loudoun once proposed for Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters. Rivana is the first phase of the 103-acre development that is connected to the planned Innovation Center Metro station expected to open later this summer in Herndon. Rivana includes more than 1,950 apartments, 1.8 million square feet of office space, a 265-room hotel and an 11-acre park. Novais Partners, a Loudoun-based joint venture co-owned by four real estate development and investment firms, is developing the project. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Virginia’s $3.7 billion rail expansion package, including agreements with Amtrak, CSX and Virginia Railway Express, was finalized in late March with a signing ceremony at an Amtrak/VRE station in Alexandria. According to Gov. Ralph Northam’s office, the number of Amtrak trains serving Virginia will double in the next 10 years, providing nearly hourly service, and VRE service will increase by 60%. The agreement allocates $1.9 billion for the adjacent two-track Long Bridge over the Potomac River, which will be owned by Virginia. The project also creates the possibility of statewide rail routes. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Daniel Snyder’s purchase of his Washington Football Team co-owners’ shares was approved by his fellow NFL team owners in late March, putting control of the team entirely under Snyder and his family members. Owners ratified a resolution granting Snyder a $450 million debt waiver and approving his $875 million buyout of the ownership stakes of Dwight Schar, Fred Smith and Robert Rothman, which total about 40% of the franchise. According to a person familiar with the proceedings, the vote was unanimous, ending a dispute that produced a grievance, an NFL arbitration process and litigation. The purchase does not end the NFL’s investigation into allegations of sexual harassment in the team’s workplace, led by attorney Beth Wilkinson. (The Washington Post)
People
Teresa Carlson, the Herndon-based executive who founded Amazon Web Services‘ public sector business, left Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing subsidiary to become president and chief growth officer of Splunk Inc., the San Francisco tech company announced in April. Carlson, a former Microsoft executive, was an influential and visible presence in the Washington, D.C., region for more than a decade as AWS’ vice president of worldwide sector and industries. Max Peterson replaced her as of April 19. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Central Virginia
In April, Henrico County-based The Brink’s Co. purchased PAI Inc., the largest privately held ATM services provider in the nation, for $213 million. The acquisition was financed using available cash and Brink’s Co.’s existing credit facility, according to a news release. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Goochland County-based used car giant CarMax Inc. announced in April that it had signed an agreement for full ownership of vehicle research website Edmunds.com Inc. in a cash and stock deal. In January 2020, CarMax invested $50 million to acquire a minority stake in Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds. A Fortune 500 company, CarMax will acquire the remaining shares of Edmunds for a purchase price valuing Edmunds at $404 million. The cash-and-stock deal is expected to close in June. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
After putting its plans in neutral last year amid the pandemic, online used car retailer Carvana announced in April that it plans to break ground this quarter on a $25 million, 191,000-square-foot vehicle inspection and reconditioning facility in Chesterfield County. The project could bring more than 400 jobs to the county, economic development officials said. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Henrico County-based Fortune 500 insurer Genworth Financial Inc. announced in April that it has formally terminated its long-delayed $2.7 billion acquisition by China-based Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd. The news followed a Jan. 5 announcement by Genworth that it was putting a hold on the deal, first announced in 2016. At the same time, the company said it would be exploring a contingency plan that included a potential partial initial public offering of the company’s mortgage insurance business. That would help the business meet $1 billion in debt obligations due this year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Riverside on the James office tower in downtown Richmond sold for $77 million in April. Opal Holdings, a New York-based real estate investment firm, purchased the 15-story building from McLean-based American Real Estate Partners, which had owned the building at 1001 Haxall Point overlooking the James River since 2011. The 10-story condominium building next door to the office tower that makes up the Riverside on the James mixed-use project was not part of the sale. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
The University of Richmond‘s board of trustees made a conciliatory move in April amid an ongoing conflict over two campus building names associated with racism. On April 5, the board said it would reevaluate its earlier decision not to change the names of Ryland Hall and Mitchell-Freeman Hall. The buildings were named after the Rev. Robert Ryland, the school’s founding president and an enslaver, and Douglas Southall Freeman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who supported racial segregation and eugenics. On April 2, the faculty senate censured the university’s rector, Paul B. Queally, who came under fire after faculty reported that Queally dismissed the dispute as “cancel culture” during a meeting and referred to helping “Black, brown and ‘regular students.’” Queally did not dispute specific quotes the faculty attributed to him. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post)
People
Thomas F. Farrell II, the longtime chairman, president and CEO of Dominion Energy Inc., died April 2, one day after retiring as the Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility’s executive chair and top leader. Farrell, 66, was battling cancer, which had taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks, according to a statement from Dominion. Farrell had also recently retired from Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc.’s board of directors, which he had chaired since April 2020. Robert M. Blue, who succeeded Farrell in October 2020 as president and CEO, also became Dominion’s chairman on April 1, when Farrell retired. (VirginiaBusiness.com)