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Sweet valley high
For Paul Mahoney, chair of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, the past year has stood out for bringing an “explosion of development” to the county. Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos. Inc. opened a new distribution center. North American Specialty Laminations LLC established a mid-Atlantic production facility. And [...]
Moving in
Southern Virginia is laying out the welcome mat for a growing number of companies seeking to locate in areas with lower taxes, better proximity to supply chains, a skilled workforce and improved quality of life. During 2022, a variety of businesses, ranging from an automotive education and entertainment firm to a moving and tr[...]
The 2023 Heavy Hitters list
Virginia Business’ annual list of the commonwealth’s 50 most powerful and influential leaders provides our editors’ take on the heaviest-hitting of heavyweights in business, government, nonprofits and higher education. Think of it as an executive committee for the leaders populating our annual Virginia 500 issue — the top 10% of the state’s power elite. And […]
Defense and defensibility
When it comes to tech and government contractors, Northern Virginia’s national profile continued to rise in 2022. Arlington County, where Amazon.com Inc.’s multibillion-dollar HQ2 is continuing to take shape in National Landing, made headlines around the globe in spring 2022. Fortune 500 companies Boeing Co. and Raytheon Tec[...]
It’s complicated
Going by media coverage alone, you’d be forgiven for thinking that 2021’s Great Resignation turned into “quiet quitting” in 2022, but as always, the national mood is more complicated than any two-word phrase could convey. There are still significant labor shortages in certain sectors — notably health care, education a[...]
What’s next?
This time last year, Virginia’s fortunes seemed as high as Clemente Development Co. Inc.’s proposed 600-foot Iconic Tower. Part of Clemente’s long-planned, 3-million-square-foot The View at Tysons mixed development, the Iconic Tower was to be the tallest commercial structure between Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Caroli[...]
Double play
Hampton Roads will be home to two Las Vegas-style casino complexes after Norfolk and Portsmouth voters overwhelmingly approved November 2020 referendums greenlighting the projects in their cities. The referendums passed with 64.4% of the vote in Norfolk and 66.7% in Portsmouth. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is working with Tennessee[...]
A bright spot
The coronavirus pandemic divided Loudoun County into two worlds in 2020 — tech and touch, says Buddy Rizer, the county’s executive director for economic development. While the pandemic devastated in-person “touch” businesses such as restaurants, shops and service providers, Northern Virginia’s tech-related companies co[...]
Legal challenges
In any other year, the merger that formed Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP would have gotten top billing in the year’s legal news. But 2020 wasn’t like any other year for the legal profession. The pandemic’s economic fallout caused some law firms to enact cutbacks and temporary salary reductions; some senior staffers t[...]
A turnaround in fortunes
After taking a hit from the coronavirus, economic activity in the Shenandoah Valley recovered in the second half of 2020, powered by the transportation, manufacturing and food-processing sectors. “The valley really showed its resilience,” says Jay Langston, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, a regional [...]
