Pembroke Mall to get makeover
Hanging out at the mall may soon take on new meaning in Virginia Beach. Within a few years, Pembroke Mall could be home to thousands of apartment dwellers as part of a $200 million makeover of the vintage 54-acre retail property announced in November 2021. “All we’re doing is changing with what the customer desires,” [&hel[...]
Richmond casino sites are up for grabs
With a future casino at least temporarily off the table in Richmond, two of the three land parcels that hopeful developers had been eyeing as future casino sites are back on the market, while the third will remain a movie theater. In spring 2021, city officials selected Urban One Inc.’s proposal to build a $565 […]
Power plays
Virginia’s largest electric utilities are deploying an array of technologies as they decarbonize, digitalize and decentralize their power grids to meet the state’s and their own clean energy goals. Richmond-based Dominion Energy Inc. and Charleston, West Virginia-headquartered Appalachian Power are expanding their solar, win[...]
Coalfields Expressway: Mostly unfinished and unfunded
Progress on a proposed 115-mile federal highway to improve transportation connectivity between Southwest Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky has been crawling in the commonwealth. Authorized by Congress in 1995, the Coalfields Expressway (CFX) — U.S. Route 121 — would run from U.S. Route 23 in Pound to Inter[...]
Remembering John T. ‘Til’ Hazel Jr.: 1930-2022
John T. “Til” Hazel Jr., a major force behind the development of Tysons Corner and several Fairfax County planned communities, died March 16 at age 91. An Arlington native, Hazel also was an attorney who graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School. In the 1950s, Hazel began promoting commercial and residential g[...]
Metro delays create hassles for businesses, workers
Metrorail delays played a factor in Danielle Romanetti’s decision at the beginning of the year to close fibre space, her Old Town Alexandria yarn and knitting supplies shop, an hour earlier each day. “We now close at [7 p.m.] instead of [8 p.m.], just so staff can get home in time to eat a proper […]
Trex starts HQ move to Winchester
Composite decking and railing manufacturer Trex Co. Inc. broke ground in January on its new $7 million global headquarters in Winchester. The 64,000-square-foot office facility will be located on 8 acres along Crossover Boulevard near Interstate 81. The company’s corporate offices are currently located on Exeter Drive in Frede[...]
Rising in the Southwest
Through decades of owning her own beauty salon and later a gift shop in downtown Abingdon, Cathy Lowe developed an interest in economic development. In 2006, she decided to run for town council and won — ultimately serving for 12 years, including six as vice mayor and two as mayor. Throughout her career, Lowe, who […]
Embedded finance
Several years ago, Blue Ridge Bank President and CEO Brian Plum began to notice a movement across the broader economy. “We live in a world where data has value,” Plum says. “It only made sense that over time, [as] you would see more sellers or other service providers that have built out platforms to try […]
AeroFarms plants roots in Cane Creek Centre
AeroFarms won’t harvest the first crops at its new Cane Creek Centre facility until summer, but the company is already expanding. In December 2019, the Newark, New Jersey-based indoor agriculture company announced it would invest $42 million and create 92 jobs in the 136,000-square-foot facility building in the industrial park[...]
Hitting a brick wall
Casey Renner has worked in four states over the course of her teaching career, and she’s never liked a school more than Arlington County’s Wakefield High School, where she teaches science and special education. But she has also never had as much difficulty finding housing near work as she has during her 17 years teaching [&h[...]
April 2022 top five
The top trending major business stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Feb. 15 to March 14 were led by news that Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder bought Virginia’s most costly home, once part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. 1 | Dan Snyder owns Virginia’s most expensive house The owner of the Ashburn-based Wash[...]