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Colonial Williamsburg hires Fleet
Former Philip Morris USA President and CEO Cliff Fleet took over as the ninth president and CEO of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation on Jan. 1. Virginia Business reported in September 2019 that Fleet’s predecessor, Mitchell Reiss, was stepping down after five years at the helm of the historic tourism foundation. Colonia[...]
The Land of OZ
Anybody up for pickleball? Barrett Worthington and Megan Charity hope so. Business partners based in Charlottesville, Worthington and Charity are among Virginia’s opportunity zone pioneers. They hope to build an $8 million entertainment complex called Rally, containing a restaurant, beer garden and courts for pickleball �[...]
A larger rotunda
Alita Robinson, a second-year University of Virginia student from Delaware, delivers a personal message when she calls potential donors seeking support for financial aid programs. “I always tell people the only reason I’m at U.Va. and have these opportunities … is because I got a scholarship,” says Robinson, who plan[...]
Tax revenues trending up
Charlottesville’s consumer tax revenues continue to grow. The city’s meals tax alone brought in more than $12.2 million last year — up 3.66% from the year before. Sales tax dollars have also increased by 2.21%, approaching $11.9 million. Lodging tax revenue, at $5.7 million, shot up by almost 10% in a year in which[...]
Financial losses
When one of Caroline County’s two banks, Virginia National Bank, shut its doors six years ago, Gary Wilson, the county’s director of economic development, wanted to do something about it. He launched a widespread effort to find a second banking institution to open a branch in Caroline, which is sandwiched between Fre[...]
Planting the flag
• Amazon’s twin towers coming in 2023 • HQ2 “base camp” office opened in September • 400+ workers hired; 24,500+ to go In November 2018, Virginia won big — really big — when Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. chose Arlington County as one of two locations where it would build operations for its planned Ea[...]
Walking out the door
During her 13 years of practicing law, Christy L. Murphy has been called “honey” and “sweetie” by older men when they were adversaries in legal cases. “This is an old boys’ network,” says Murphy, 40, a partner at Bischoff Martingayle in Norfolk. “It‘s hard to get people out of the mindset.” Law firms [...]
The recession that wasn’t
What if they held a recession and no one showed up? Last summer, economic experts began ringing warning bells of an impending downturn, as evidenced by an inverted yield curve of short-term Treasury bills vs. long-term Treasury notes. And when one combined the inverted yield rate, said to be perhaps the most accurate predictor o[...]
Space race
Charlottesville is experiencing a building boom that will expand its premium commercial office space by 500,000 square feet in the next two years. “That’s a ‘wow,’” says Chris Engel, Charlottesville’s economic development director. “That’s a big number. We’ve never experienced that before.�[...]
2020 Virginia Business Best Places to Work Awards
Virginia Business unveiled its 2020 list of the Best Places to Work in Virginia at its 10th annual awards luncheon, held Jan. 31 at The Boars’ Head Resort in Charlottesville. Top category winners were: Small employers: Patriot Group International Inc. Midsize employers: Dynamis Inc. Large employers: Accounting Principals[...]
Mack Trucks plant in Roanoke County to create 250 jobs
Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday that Mack Trucks will create 250 jobs at a Roanoke County facility building a new line of medium-duty trucks. The company, part of the Volvo Group, plans to invest $13 million in the project, according to state and county officials. The plant, to be known as Mack’s Roanoke Valley Operations […]
Committee to consider bill establishing passenger rail authority
A House committee decided Wednesday to temporarily postpone action on a comprehensive transportation bill that, in part, establishes a governing body to purchase and manage railways, something supporters said the state has gone too long without. The House Finance Committee, citing time constraints and the bill’s complexity, will act Monday on House Bill 1414, introduced […]
