Top Five October 2024
The top five daily news stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Aug. 16 to Sept. 13 included news that LL Flooring is selling 219 stores and other assets to an entity connected to F9 Group, which is owned by Lumber Liquidators’ founder and former CEO, Tom Sullivan. 1 | Portsmouth business owner pleads guilty to $1.3 […]
A glass half full
Robin Rogers beckons visitors on a summer hard-hat tour of the expanded Chrysler Museum’s Perry Glass Studio into the primary theater space. Though the space with a catwalk and second floor raked seating will hold 220 people, twice as many as the old space, it will retain the intimacy visitors have enjoyed during demonstra[...]
Under construction
Amazon.com fulfillment and delivery centers Virginia Beach As part of Amazon.com’s growing presence in Virginia, the tech giant is coming to the Virginia Beach area in the form of a 650,000-square-foot fulfillment center and a 219,000-square-foot delivery station. It is an endeavor with $350 million in investments and is e[...]
Boones Mill store plays Trump card
The red, white and blue Trump Town sign hanging high upon a former Boones Mill church is as prominent as a sign can be without being lit by neon. But in case drivers passing through town somehow miss it, there’s also a 15-foot cutout of a smiling Donald J. Trump leaning up against the building, […]
A smart defense
In late 2020, the Air Force made headlines when it announced that an artificial intelligence co-pilot, named ARTUµ, helped command and control a U.S. military spy plane for the first time in history. If the name, pronounced R-2, sounds familiar, it is. Think R2-D2, or “Artoo,” Luke Skywalker’s lovable droid and X-Wing[...]
October 2024 Out and About
1. Attending this summer’s Olympics games in Paris, (L to R) U.S. Sen. Mark Warner met with NBA basketball star Steph Curry, who won gold with the U.S. men’s national team, and Casey Wasserman, chair of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy Office of U.S. Sen. Mark […]
Startup resources and local economic development offices
Entrepreneurship continues to grow across Hampton Roads, with many organizations dedicated to helping startups and small businesses expand and thrive. Here is a sample of the many resources available: Local startup resources 504 Capital 504capital.com 757 Accelerate 757accelerate.org 757 Angels 757angels.org 757 Startup Studios [...]
Home improvement
Liberty Military Housing is renovating hundreds of single-family homes and townhomes for Navy families in several Virginia Beach and Norfolk military housing communities, with $120 million in refurbishments that began in 2023 and are scheduled to be completed in 2026. The upgrades range from replacing siding and roofing to updat[...]
The supersize era
In June, Tesla shareholders reaffirmed their intention to award the largest CEO compensation package in history to the automotive company’s controversial leader, Elon Musk. Valued as high as $56 billion, the deal had previously been thrown out by a Delaware judge, citing a failure by members of Tesla’s board to discl[...]
An overview of Hampton Roads
Home to 1.79 million people across 17 localities, Hampton Roads is Virginia’s second most populous region, just behind Northern Virginia. It also boasts the commonwealth’s biggest city by population: Virginia Beach, with 457,900 residents. Nearby Norfolk is the densest locality in the region, with 4,467 people per sq[...]
EO opens workforce development hub in Abingdon
A former Kmart in Abingdon is now home to a workforce development and child care hub launched by EO, a nonprofit that spun off from the United Way of Southwest Virginia to oversee workforce development programs. EO received the certificate of occupancy for the 87,000-square-foot Regional Workforce and Child Development Hub and b[...]