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Questioning the daily grind
Before last year’s pandemic shutdowns, 24-year-old Julia Swanson had been commuting from Newport News to her job as a civil engineer for the Virginia Beach office of Kimley-Horn, a national engineering firm headquartered in North Carolina. It could take 35 minutes to an hour and a half traveling only one way, and Swanson says [...]
Change in the air
After almost a decade of planning, Dominion Energy Inc. will begin harnessing offshore wind power this fall as two massive test turbines go into operation off the coast of Virginia Beach. Standing about 600 feet tall, the 12-megawatt turbines are the cornerstone of Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project[...]
Good deeds
The pandemic hasn’t seemingly slowed down commercial real estate development and transactions in Hampton Roads. Despite significant financial hits to the hospitality industry, the $125 million, 305-room Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront opened in June, the second phase of Gold Key | PHR’s three-phase, $350 million renovatio[...]
A healthy outlook
Even as the COVID-19 pandemic stresses Virginia hospitals, Hampton Roads’ health care sector continues to grow. Richmond-based VCU Health System is making inroads in the region through partnerships with Riverside Health System and Sentara Healthcare. In March, VCU Health System announced a formal affiliation with Newport News-[...]
On the fast track
Six Hampton Roads-based companies, including two newcomers, landed on the Virginia Chamber’s 2020 Fantastic 50 list of the state’s fastest-growing privately owned businesses. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the winners were recognized during a virtual event held in May. To qualify for the Fantastic 50, nominees’ fiscal revenues had to exceed $200,000 and be less […]
Chips on the table
On Election Day, Norfolk and Portsmouth voters will decide whether to hold ’em or fold ’em. The two Hampton Roads cities will consider separate Nov. 3 ballot referendums on large casino projects that promise jobs, tax revenue, increased area tourism and funds for school construction. “It’s new for Virginia, for sure,” [...]
Making bank
Suffolk-based TowneBank maintains its dominance among Hampton Roads financial institutions, holding nearly a quarter of the market share. In late June, TowneBank and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters jointly purchased the 22-story Norfolk Southern tower in downtown Norfolk for $30 million. TowneBank’s market share increased slightly from last year, when it had 22.29% of […]
By land, sea and air
Faced with challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, many Hampton Roads businesses and universities are looking to drones for help. Unmanned flight systems also are likely to drive economic development in the future. In May, when the fear of dwindling personal protective equipment was still fresh, the Herndon-based Cente[...]
An overview of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is Virginia’s second most populated region, with nearly 1.8 million residents in 17 localities, including Virginia Beach — the state’s largest city by population with about 450,000 residents. More than 120,000 active-duty and reserve members of the military, as well as civilian personnel, work at nine installations representing five branches. The Port of […]
The big dig
With construction beginning this fall to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), relief is on the way for travelers weary of sitting in traffic jams along one of south-eastern Virginia’s most congested corridors. The $3.8 billion expansion is the largest project in the history of the Virginia Department of Transportatio[...]
Executive Insights
David C. White Executive vice president, Virginia Maritime Association What do you consider the most pressing issue facing the Hampton Roads region? The maritime industry is in the best position to drive the economic growth and job creation for the region. Capacity at the container terminals has been increased to move an additional 1 million […]
Home prices still increasing
Hampton Roads home values continued trending upward from July 2019 through July 2020. According to the latest available data from the Real Estate Information Network Inc., the Multiple Listing Service for the region, the median price of buying a home in Hampton Roads this July was $275,000 — a 7.84% increase from July 2019. Wh[...]
