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Roanoke County names economic development director
Megan Baker will be the next director of economic development in Roanoke County, the county announced Monday. Baker will start Oct. 24. She will replace Jill Loope, who announced her retirement in July. Loope will assist with Baker’s transition, then head up the tourism department in Roanoke County’s parks, recreatio[...]
Roanoke apartments sell for $14.6M
Gramercy Row Apartment Residences has a new owner. Tazewell Development LLC sold the 82-unit apartment community with ground floor commercial space in downtown Roanoke to a private investor group for $14.6 million on Sept. 22, according to Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer. The apartments, built in 2017, are located at 206 W[...]
Roanoke Days Inn sells for $3M
A Roanoke Days Inn has a new owner. Saul Urban LLC purchased the 165-room hotel, located at 601 Orange Ave., from Shri Sainath Enterprises LLC for $3 million, according to Colliers. The new owner is planning a comprehensive renovation of the property and is exploring alternative uses. Prashant Merchant and Nic Wade, both of Coll[...]
Radford Army plant contract extended through 2026
While the contract extension for operation of the sprawling Radford Army Ammunition Plant is reassuring from an economic development perspective, it also has sentimental value to the community. “The Radford Army Ammunition Plant means a lot to our BAE Systems workforce, but also to the generations of families in our community [...]
Apex Systems co-founder gives $500,000 to Va. Tech
Virginia Tech’s Apex Center for Entrepreneurs has received a $500,000 donation from Apex Systems co-founder Win Sheridan. A 1994 Tech graduate with bachelor’s degrees in political science and English with a minor in business administration, Sheridan made the donation to help the Apex Center engage with student entrepreneurs through programing, networking and funding, according to […][...]
Hotel revenues continue to outpace 2019, but only slightly
The commonwealth’s hotel industry is continuing its recovery, though the Northern Virginia market continues to be a drag on its performance, according to data from STR Inc., a division of CoStar Group Inc. that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. The latest data show rooms sold decreased by 4.6% in Virginia through August […]
Wisconsin company to open $2M plant in Roanoke County
Osseo, Wisconsin-based North American Specialty Laminations LLC, a company that provides lamination solutions to the building products industry, will invest $2 million to open a mid-Atlantic production facility in Roanoke County, creating 44 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday. NASL’s 57,000-square-foot plant will be located at 5185 Benois Road. It will serve NASL customers along […][...]
Va. Tech receives record $80M grant for climate-smart farming
Virginia Tech has received a record $80 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a pilot program that will pay farmers to add practices that could help curb greenhouse gases, the university announced Monday. The grant is the largest in the university’s history. Virginia Tech is partnering on the pilot program with Rural […]
Virginia Tech appoints COO from W&M
Virginia Tech announced Wednesday it has named Amy Stoakley Sebring, currently chief operating officer at William & Mary, as its executive vice president and COO, effective Nov. 1. “I am very pleased to welcome Amy to the university community and our leadership team,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement[...]
Virginia Tech promotes VP of comms, marketing
Virginia Tech announced Tuesday it has promoted Tracy Vosburgh to be its inaugural vice president of communications and marketing. The university is also renaming its University Relations department to Communications and Marketing. Vosburgh has served as Virginia Tech’s top communications administrator since 2015, when she joi[...]
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[...]
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[...]
