DroneUp appoints second Walmart exec to board
Virginia Beach-based DroneUp LLC has appointed David Guggina, Walmart Inc.’s senior vice president of innovation and automation, to its board of directors, the commercial drone delivery and flight services company announced Monday. “DroneUp has been a key player in making customer delivery via drone a reality for million[...]
Charlotte County approves Va.’s largest solar farm
The largest solar project in Charlotte County — and Virginia, according to Dominion Energy Inc. — was approved by the county’s Board of Supervisors in July. Reston-based utility-scale solar developer SolUnesco LLC received a conditional-use permit to build the $800 million to $1.6 billion Randolph Solar project in the sout[...]
Cabbies cry foul over Va. Beach’s free ride service
Lynne Johnston’s business, All City Cab Co., took a hit from the pandemic. But when the city of Virginia Beach started offering free door-to-door rides in one of her busiest zones — the Oceanfront — during tourist season, it was like another punch to the gut. This year, Virginia Beach contracted with Miami-based microtrans[...]
Fairfax campaign hopes for tourism boost
Visitors to Fairfax County often are drawn to its dense, urban environment and entertainment offerings, from the upscale Tysons Corner Center mall to Wolf Trap. Now, the county’s southern portion is staking a claim to the tourism economy. In May, Fairfax officials announced a new name for that area, Potomac Banks, which enca[...]
Regional biz mentorship program jump-starts startups
Ruth Rau started her business as a hobby. Now, seven years later, her Winchester-based toy company — Mouse Loves Pig — is on track to generate revenue in six figures. The entrepreneur’s toys for babies and young children are sold in more than 250 stores in nine countries, and she’s partnered with a manufacturing company [...]
Diamonds in developers’ eyes
Standing near the grand entrance of upcoming entertainment venue and food hall The Park at RVA, Orcun Turkay says he’s excited for the future of Richmond’s newly branded Diamond District. He calls it “Scott’s Addition 2.0,” referencing the trendy adjoining neighborhood. Exact plans for the Diamond District, which will [...]
Manchin hits gas on Mountain Valley Pipeline
First proposed in 2014, the 303-mile, $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline has seen its construction progress delayed time and time again by federal courts, regulators and environmentalists. Indeed, MVP has faced so many setbacks that NextEra Energy Inc. said in February it was reevaluating its investment in the natural gas pip[...]
Accelerating the solar workforce
When local school systems decided to add solar arrays to their buildings, regional environmental nonprofit Appalachian Voices and other members of the Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia counted it as a victory in their six-year efforts to develop a renewable energy cluster in Virginia’s coalfield counties. In January, South[...]
Generation next
There’s a new wave of “super collaborators” driving economic development in the Roanoke and New River valleys. Many of the top positions in the region’s public and private sector economic development engines have turned over in the past couple of years. In multiple cases, individuals who had held positions for decades de[...]
Where there’s smoke
Updated Sept. 1, 2022 Henrico County’s Altria Group Inc. advertises on its website that it is “moving beyond smoking,” although the owner of Philip Morris USA still is one of the world’s largest producers of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Now the 6,000-employee, $26 billion corporation may have to move beyond smo[...]
September 2022 For The Record
CENTRAL Goochland County supervisors gave their unanimous stamp of approval to a proposed 650,000-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment center in August, clearing the way for what promises to be one of the most significant economic development projects in the county’s history. While board members were aligned in support of the $500 million project — noting, among other […]
SAIC receives $163M Navy contract
Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. on Thursday announced it has been awarded a $163 million Navy contract to maintain enterprise networks for shore-based commands and support command and control of the services’ deployed units. The work includes design, development, integration, modernization and life cycle support as well as network components and service solutions. Work will […][...]