Critical minerals co. reactivates Petersburg operation
Petersburg-based Atlantic Strategic Minerals will invest more than $50 million to restore and reopen a mining operation in Dinwiddie County and a concentrator plant and mineral separation plant in Sussex County, producing critical minerals that are used in various supply chains, the governor’s office announced Monday. The project is expected to create 71 jobs at […]
Alliance for Building Better Medicine receives $1M award
The Alliance for Building Better Medicine — a group of public and private pharmaceutical manufacturers and research organizations in Richmond and Petersburg — will receive a $1 million award from the U.S. National Science Foundation. Richmond-based innovation incubator Activation Capital, which convened the alliance four yea[...]
Dominion closes sale of East Ohio Gas for $6.6B
Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility Dominion Energy closed on its sale of East Ohio Gas to Canadian pipeline and energy company Enbridge in a $6.6 billion deal, the utility announced Thursday. The sale was first announced in September 2023 as part of a deal for Dominion to sell its three natural gas distribution companies. The Pu[...]
Central Virginia Year-in-Review: Pumping the brakes
During the pandemic, companies began pumping the brakes on expansions out of fear of the unknown. But, using that same car-related analogy, by late 2021, they were flooring it, explains Greater Richmond Partnership President and CEO Jennifer Wakefield. And by 2022, they had kicked it into sport mode. “Now it’s shifted ba[...]
Central Va. Big Deal: Renaissance times
Henrico County’s near West End is seeing a renaissance. For decades, the area bordering Richmond around the Willow Lawn neighborhood has been home to mostly defunct commercial projects and old homes. But a $450 million project announced in December 2023 to renovate an old Elevance Health (formerly Anthem) campus promises t[...]
Charlottesville’s Astraea acquired by Fla. satellite company
Astraea, a Charlottesville-based geospatial analytics firm, has been acquired by Nuview, a Florida-based company developing a satellite imaging constellation, the companies announced Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not available. Founded as a for-profit benefit corporation in 2016, Astraea applies data science and artificial intelligence to analyze imaging and sensor data gathered from Earth-observing […][...]
Former Va. ABC chief joins Hunton Andrews Kurth
Travis Hill, former CEO of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority and former Virginia deputy secretary of agriculture and forestry, has joined Richmond-based law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, Virginia’s second-largest law firm announced Tuesday. Hill is a counsel for the firm’s Global Economic Development, Co[...]
Atlantic Union acquisition of American National approved
Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bank’s parent company announced Monday that the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors has approved its acquisition of Danville-based American National Bankshares, holding company of American National Bank and Trust. The Fed’s signoff was the last regulatory approval needed for the m[...]
Dominion to sell 50% interest in Va. Beach offshore wind farm for $3B
Dominion Energy announced Thursday it has reached an agreement with investment firm Stonepeak to sell a 50% noncontrolling stake in the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project off the Virginia Beach coast for nearly $3 billion. If the sale is approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina [...]
Lighthouse Labs names new managing director
Debbie Irwin, the former director of the Shenandoah Community Capital Fund, will be the next managing director of Lighthouse Labs, the Richmond accelerator announced Friday. She begins her new role Feb. 26. Irwin is leaving her role at SCCF, another entrepreneurial support organization based in Staunton, where she served for six[...]
Lego delays Chesterfield production start to 2027
Lego Group will begin production at its $1 billion Chesterfield manufacturing facility in 2027, at least a year later than originally planned, the Danish toymaker announced Thursday. The company also named Preben Elnef as project lead and Gray | Hourigan, a joint venture between Lexington, Kentucky-based Gray and Richmond-base[...]
Bills advance to protect state employees who access medical cannabis
RICHMOND, Va. — State lawmakers have advanced bills that would allow public sector employees to use medical cannabis without losing their job. House Bill 149, introduced by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, extends to state public employees rights that already exist in the private sector. The bill passed with bipartisan support on a[...]