Hampton Roads Chamber exec retires
In her 33 years with the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center, Debra Hamilton Farley helped launch 252 businesses that created more than 9,000 jobs. Now, she’s taking a break — Farley retired on April 28. “Debra’s contributions to the small businesses community she has served over her sterling career i[...]
757 Collab announces promotions
After announcing a new managing director in April, 757 Collab announced more leadership changes and promotions to its umbrella organization May 3. Hunter Walsh, previously a program manager for 757 Startup Studios, a coworking space in Norfolk where selected entrepreneurs can set up offices at no cost and receive mentoring, beca[...]
Divaris restructures C-suite, names new execs
Virginia Beach-based Divaris Real Estate announced Thursday that it is restructuring its top leadership amid growth following recent acquisitions and partnerships. David Sutliff, who has worked as an adviser to the company for 12 years, is the new chief financial officer. Tony Divaris, who was previously the company’s inte[...]
Sentara Healthcare rebrands as Sentara Health
Sentara Healthcare is rebranding as Sentara Health, the Norfolk-based health system announced Thursday. Additionally, in its health insurance division, Sentara will retire Sentara Health Plans’ subsidiary brands, Optima Health and Virginia Premier, unifying them under the Sentara Health Plans brand by the end of the year. [...]
Va. Beach strip mall sells for $1.7M
The CheckSmart Plaza strip mall in Virginia Beach has a new owner. 5650 Virginia Beach Blvd purchased the strip mall at 5650 Virginia Beach Blvd. from the Lenhart-Frauenberg Partnership for $1.7 million as an investment, according to Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer. Built in 2006, the shopping center is 8,537 square feet, [...]
Rain and wind delay Something in the Water’s start
Rain and high winds delayed the start of Pharrell Williams’ Virginia Beach music festival Something in the Water by about four hours Friday, leaving fans and businesses waiting for the weather to clear. Scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. Friday, the festival was delayed until 5 p.m. Instead of being filled with throngs of mu[...]
Va. Beach uses SITW festival to woo business
It’s not every week that international fashion brand Louis Vuitton creates a pyramid on the sand at Virginia Beach‘s Oceanfront. And that kind of buzz that music superstar Pharrell Williams is bringing to his hometown with his Something in the Water this weekend is something the city’s economic development [...]
New rules
In theory, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) would, among other things, help reduce inflation by adding transparency to container handling fees. In practice, though, it’s not that simple. When President Joe Biden signed OSRA into law in June 2022, he touted it as a weapon against shipping costs that had soared during th[...]
Building a hub
Fairwinds Landing LLC is demolishing dilapidated infrastructure, preparing to construct new facilities and signing tenants as it transforms Norfolk Southern Corp.’s Lambert’s Point Docks in Norfolk into Fairwinds Landing, a maritime operations and logistics center supporting Hampton Roads’ offshore wind, defens[...]
May 2023 For the Record
Central Virginia More than 340 union workers went on strike at the AdvanSix Inc. chemical plant in Hopewell on April 6 over contract wage negotiations. The International Chemical Workers Union Council and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union accused the New Jersey-based chemical company of trying to divide union membership by offering pay raises […]
Chesapeake preps 1,400-acre industrial park
Whenever a big economic development announcement from another state pops up in the news, Hampton Roads Alliance President and CEO Doug Smith can count on his phone ringing. “I get a call from somebody saying, ‘Why didn’t we get that?’” says Smith. “And the answer is real simple: We didn’t have 500 acres[...]
Building a ‘floatel’
Construction is set to begin late this year on a service operations vessel (SOV) that will transport technicians and equipment to support the massive wind turbines that Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. is installing for Dominion Energy Inc.’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project off the Virginia Beach coast. Crowley Corp., a Jacksonville, […]