South Hill grant aims to boost business district
South Hill merchants figured out ways to keep business going during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, introducing Facebook Live videos from downtown stores that helped people shop from home, then pick up their treasures curbside. Sometimes featuring a rescue dog named Duncan, the videos have continued even as restrictions are[...]
A diversified portfolio
In a city where tourism reigns, nothing could be more welcome than a post-pandemic world. And though we’re not quite there yet, Virginia Beach is licking its chops over the prospect of maskless visitors pouring into town. The city, with fingers crossed in hopes that new coronavirus variants don’t arrive before the tourists d[...]
Biotech industry seeks push forward
With more than $25 million, nearly all taxpayer money, a collaborative partnership of government, business and nonprofit organizations plans to build an accelerator for biotech startups in the Roanoke Valley. Supporters say the initiative will create 250 jobs through 25 new startups over five years, generating $20 million in ann[...]
Cyberwar zone
Earlier this year, Kwabena Konadu received a call from one of the small businesses he advises on IT and cybersecurity. The company’s chief financial officer had received an email from a purported ethical hacker — cyberspeak for “good guy” — who had found the official’s username and password for accessing company data[...]
Ways of the water
Back in 2016, Virginia Coastal Zone Management program planners began talking about ways to protect the Lower Chickahominy River watershed. “We’re like, ‘Well, let’s get ahead of this,’” says Jefferson Flood, an appropriately named coastal planner for the CZM, a network of individuals from Virginia agencies and local[...]
Summer dreams
Tournaments at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. Events at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. A busy Oceanfront boardwalk. That was the scene in Virginia Beach during just one weekend in mid-March. And it was the perfect “prelude” to the summer travel season, says John Zirkle, general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton V[...]
Executive insights
Leaders from Virginia’s maritime and logistics industries share their thoughts about where their sectors stand amid labor shortages, growing cargo volumes and the pandemic’s lingering impacts. Devon C. Anders President, InterChange Group Inc.; Chair, Virginia Maritime Association Valley Logistics Chapter Harrisonburg VB: How is your company hiring and retaining staff? Anders: We have intensified through […][...]
Digging in
As the largest highway construction project in state history, the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion is without question the most notable road project currently underway in Virginia. Construction began in October 2020, and workers made a lot of progress last year, remaining on track to reach the Virginia Departme[...]
Top Five: May 2022
The top trending major business stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from March 15 to April 14 were led by news of the death of Fairfax County developer John “Til” Hazel Jr. 1 | Fairfax County developer John ‘Til’ Hazel Jr. dies at age 91 Hazel was a key figure in the transformation of Tysons from a rural […]
Civica to produce lower-cost insulin
Civica Rx, a nonprofit generic drug-maker with a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant under construction in Petersburg, plans to produce three forms of insulin priced at $30 per vial beginning in early 2024, a project that dovetails with a bill in Congress that would cap consumers’ out-of-pocket insulin costs. Civica’s 140,000[...]
Harder, better, faster, stronger
On March 20, 1922, the U.S. Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier: the USS Langley. A century later, the Navy is hosting centennial events around the country, including in Norfolk, where the USS Langley was converted into the Navy’s first carrier from the USS Jupiter, the Navy’s first electrically propelled ship. The [...]
Counties collaborating on industrial park
In the coming months, the rubble of a demolished furniture factory on a roughly 70-acre property in Chilhowie will be hauled away to make room for an industrial park. Smyth County is teaming up with Bland and Washington counties, forming the Pathway Regional Industrial Facilities Authority to create Pathway Park, which will feat[...]