For the Record – Central Virginia, November 2013

Amazon.com Inc. is filling more than 500 jobs at its Chesterfield County distribution center. The hourly positions will pick, pack and ship products ordered online by Amazon.com customers. The hiring is in addition to the workforce expansion announced in late July, when the company said it planned to add hundreds of jobs at its Chesterfield warehouse, company spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said. The company did not release a specific number of workers it plans to hire under that program.  (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Lynchburg-based Centra Health announced it was eliminating about 160 jobs. The reductions include the closing of a surgical unit and an outpatient unit at Virginia Baptist Hospital, E.W. Tibbs, Centra’s president and CEO, said in a letter to employees. The outpatient unit will remain open at reduced hours thru Dec. 31, the letter also said. After months of cutting spending, increasing efficiency and assessing productivity, the health-care system moved forward with layoffs, cuts to employees’ hours and department closures in order to close a growing financial gap.  (The News & Advance)

Before the first story even went up, Richmond’s newest downtown office project has a buyer. New York-based Lexington Realty Trust has entered a contract to buy the 18-story Gateway Plaza upon its completion in 2015. The contract to purchase the 315,000-square-foot building at Eighth and Cary streets was done at the same time Lexington Realty Trust, gave Clayco, the building’s Chicago-based developer, a construction loan. Gateway Plaza will be the new home for the McGuireWoods law firm.  (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Henrico County-based Genworth Financial Inc., a Fortune 500 company, has completed the $412.5 million sale of its wealth management businesses to a partnership formed by Aquiline Capital Partners and Genstar Capital. The sale includes Genworth Financial Wealth Management and its alternative solutions provider, the Altegris companies. Genworth will record an after-tax loss of up to $10 million related to the sale in the third quarter of 2013. Proceeds of approximately $360 million, together with cash on hand at Genworth Holdings Inc., will be used to address the company’s remaining 2014 debt. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The law firms Lenhart Obenshain and Feil, Pettit & Williams plan to merge in January. The firms said the merged firm, Lenhart Pettit, will maintain offices in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg. The practice will employ about 30 lawyers. The firms’ specialties include business and commercial law, intellectual property, estate planning, real estate tax and family law. (Daily Progress)

Richmond-based CRT/tanaka and Minneapolis-based Padilla Speer Beardsley combined. The public relations and communications firm now operates as PadillaCRT. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, except that the combined company would be employee-owned — as was the case for the Minneapolis firm — and that the 15 shareholders at CRT/tanaka received a payout. The two companies announced their agreement to combine on July 29. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Virginia Commonwealth University will offer massive online open courses next summer. The MOOCs, as the courses are known, will be offered for academic credit to VCU students paying tuition and also will be available for free to anyone with access to the Web. VCU will also begin building two residence halls in the spring. The residence halls will have 426 beds and will be built on a block that was formerly the site of a Ukrop’s supermarket. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)