Richmond casino rejected by voters
Updated 4:20 p.m. Wednesday Richmond voters on Tuesday rejected the proposed $565 million ONE Casino + Resort by about a 1,200-vote margin. The project’s developer, Silver Spring, Maryland-based media company Urban One Inc., acknowledged the referendum’s defeat in a statement Wednesday, as did the city’s mayor.[...]
Norfolk cruise terminal begins work on $2.6M cruise ship gangway
Nauticus began construction on its $2.6 million cruise ship gangway in Norfolk this week, it announced Wednesday. The new boarding system will accommodate larger cruise ships, like the Carnival Magic, which is set to sail from Norfolk in 2022. Nauticus expects to have more than 180,000 cruise ship passengers in 2022. Swedish com[...]
Va. hotel revenues remain below 2019 levels
Virginia hotel revenues for September decreased by 21% compared with pre-pandemic levels in September 2019, according to newly released data from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. During the same period, hotel rooms sold decreased by 6%. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms […]
Henrico green-lights $2.3B GreenCity project
The Henrico County Board of Supervisors this week unanimously approved rezoning the 204-acre former Best Products headquarters campus into the $2.3 billion GreenCity project, a major mixed-used development that will feature a 17,000-seat arena. GreenCity, which was proposed in December 2020, is also expected to include two hotel[...]
Richmond marketing Diamond property for redevelopment
The city of Richmond announced Monday it is marketing the 66.7-acre Diamond baseball stadium property as an area for redevelopment, which likely would include a new stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team. A new website will be launched soon, preceding a “request for interest” released before the end [...]
Omni Homestead launches $120M renovation
The Omni Homestead Resort has started work on a property-wide revamp expected to cost $120 million, the resort hotel in Bath County announced Monday. Some renovation work will begin late this month, and an event pavilion will be added to the hotel, which opened in 1766. The Homestead project is likely to be the largest […[...]
Rolling with the punches
Flexibility is once again the name of the game for meeting planners in 2021. In 2020, most planners’ clients postponed or canceled conferences, while others decided to go virtual instead of meeting in person. This time around, it’s somewhat safer to meet due to COVID-19 vaccines, but outbreaks are still occurring in [...]
Back to the beach
After a strong summer comeback, the Hampton Roads tourism industry is facing uncertainty once again as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers. This summer, Virginia Beach hotels saw slightly higher occupancy rates than in 2019 — a welcome return to normalcy. But an autumn and winter of hospitality industry revenue declines related to e[...]
Virginia’s largest conference hotels
Related: Despite pandemic, hotels press forward Meeting planners roll with the punches
Be our guest
It’s no secret that the hospitality industry is hurting from the ongoing pandemic. Although widespread shutdowns are in the past, hotel executives are now challenged by the sector’s labor shortage and the slow recovery of business travel. In July, hotel revenues were down 3% compared with the same month in 2019, acco[...]
Alpine-X opens crowdfunding campaign to public investors
Alpine-X LLC, a McLean-based indoor snow sports company, announced a crowdfunding campaign to open the stock to public investors. The offering — started on crowdfunding site Republic — allows accredited and non-accredited investors to own a piece of the McLean-based company that is planning a national chain of indoor ski res[...]
Danville casino price tag now set at $500M
Danville’s forthcoming Caesars Virginia casino and resort is going to be bigger than expected, with the project expected to cost $500 million, $100 million more than previously estimated. Caesars Entertainment released new renderings and more details Thursday for the casino. Part of the additional cost will go toward a lar[...]