For the Record January 2021

Roanoke/New River Valley

“Dopesick,” an eight-episode limited Hulu series, will film in Central Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley and the Roanoke region through the spring, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in November 2020. Based on the bestselling nonfiction book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America,” by Roanoke journalist Beth Macy, the series will star Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Keaton and will be directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson. (VirginiaBusiness.com) 

Two senior executives at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport were put on paid administrative leave in late November during an investigation into an undisclosed “serious allegation” involving them. On leave are Timothy Bradshaw, the executive director of the airport, and Richard Osborne, director of planning and engineering. The commission that owns and operates the airport “was made aware of a serious allegation of a procedural nature involving the executive director and director of planning and engineering.” (The Roanoke Times)

Rosie’s Gaming Emporium is planning an expansion in the town of Vinton that will almost double the facility’s size and add a parking garage, Rosie’s General Manager Ernie Dellaverson told Vinton Town Council in mid-November. The gaming company plans an investment “into the millions,” with the hiring of many additional employees, Dellaverson said. The project will add 18,000 square feet to the building and increase the number of gaming machines from 150 to 500. The proposed three-and-a-half story parking garage will include 276 parking spots. (The Vinton Messenger)

As of mid-November 2020, Virginia Tech had lost upward of $60 million since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, mostly due to losses in dining and housing revenue. Tech’s board of visitors in November approved the university’s adjusted $1.6 billion operating budget for 2020-21. Board members also gave Tech the power to postpone debt bills and issue new debt to help boost cash flow. Hiring at Virginia Tech — the largest employer in the New River Valley — also slowed this summer to more than half the typical rate. (The Roanoke Times)

In early December 2020, Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences announced it has partnered with Richmond-based Hardywood Park Craft Brewery to produce a licensed Virginia Tech beer, Fightin’ Hokies Lager. Virginia Tech researched and developed the craft beer recipe that will be produced and marketed by Hardywood and be available in spring 2021. The golden beer with 5% alcohol by volume will be available at restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores in Hardywood’s network of wholesalers across Virginia and Washington, D.C. (VirginiaBusiness.com) 

Volvo Trucks North America’s plant in Pulaski County will manufacture its new battery powered VNR Electric truck model starting early next year, the company announced in early December 2020. The largest Volvo truck plant in the world, the Dublin facility currently employs close to 3,000 people and builds heavy-duty trucks of multiple models. The Volvo Class 8 VNR Electric heavy-duty truck runs on battery electric power and produces zero tailpipe emissions. The truck will run on 264-kWh lithium-ion batteries, which charge up to 80% within 70 minutes and have an operating range of up to 150 miles, according to Volvo. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

People

Donald “Don” Graul, the former president of construction and connected communities with Centreville-based Parsons Corp., became CEO of The Branch Group Inc., following the resignation of former CEO Will Karbach in July 2020. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The town of Vinton in early December announced that Richard W. Peters has been named as its next town manager, effective Jan. 1. He has more than 20 years of experience in local government, including working for the city of  Roanoke and Botetourt County. (The Smith Mountain Eagle)

Central Virginia

Jerry Falwell Jr. dropped his defamation lawsuit against Liberty University, saying in a December 2020 statement that he has decided “to take a timeout” from the suit while keeping his options open. Falwell sued his former employer in October 2020 in Lynchburg Circuit Court, claiming that the university made defamatory statements about him in the wake of his resignation as president and chancellor of the private Christian institution in August 2020. He sought punitive damages and attorney’s fees from Liberty, as well as a trial by jury. However, at a Dec. 9 hearing, a Lynchburg judge ruled on Falwell’s motion to drop the suit. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In early December 2020, Henrico County officials announced plans for a $2.3 billion development called GreenCity that will be a mixed-use “ecodistrict” with a 17,000-seat arena, 2.3 million square feet of office and retail space, 2,400 housing units and two hotels. The 204-acre project is being built on the site of the former Best Products Inc. headquarters campus. The arena would be in operation in 2025, with buildout complete in 2033. The project is being developed by Capital City Partners LLC, a joint venture that was to develop Richmond’s proposed $1.5 billion Navy Hill downtown redevelopment project, which was rejected by Richmond City Council in February 2020. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In December 2020, Richmond-based advertising firm The Martin Agency was named Adweek’s 2020 U.S. agency of the year. In early 2020, the firm added the Old Navy ad account to a roster of clients that includes GEICO, UPS, Ritz, Oreo and Buffalo Wild Wings. Martin posted $22 million or 30% net growth in new and organic revenue in 2020, the only U.S.-based finalist to report double-digit growth in the pandemic year, according to AdWeek. The agency last won the honor in 2009. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Richmond-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company Phlow Corp. raised $15 million from investors in an equity funding round, according to a November 2020 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company could seek
$5 million more for a total capital raise of $20 million. Last May, Phlow announced it had received a $354 million contract to build a strategic reserve of medications and to make the active ingredients for more than a dozen medicines used to treat COVID-19. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

The city of Richmond intends to select a resort casino site and operator in summer 2021. In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law authorizing five economically challenged cities, including Richmond, to allow a single resort casino to operate in each locality. For the project to go forward, Richmond City Council must select a single preferred casino operator and location. Richmond has said it will use a request for proposals process to select an operator. Then city voters must grant approval for the proposal in a Nov. 2 referendum. The RFP process will remain open until February. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In its largest fundraising campaign to date, Virginia Commonwealth University announced in November 2020 that it had raised $841.6 million through its Make It Real Campaign. Publicly launched in September 2016 following a silent period that began in 2012, the campaign had a goal of $750 million. Donors established 394 endowed scholarships and student funds, 138 endowed chairs, professorships, faculty support and research funds. Funding also went to the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU, the Inger Rice Lodge at the Rice Rivers Center and the new College of Health Professions building. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Charles Samuel Luck III, former president of Goochland-based Luck Cos. — parent company of Luck Stone Corp. — died on Dec. 1, 2020, at the age of 87. Luck became president in 1965. By the time he retired in 1995, he had grown the business into a major producer of crushed stone for construction aggregates at quarries in the mid-Atlantic. Under his leadership, Luck Stone expanded its operations, innovated with its retail architectural stone stores and diversified into real estate and making clay tennis courts. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Southwest Virginia

A rate increase sought by Appalachian Power Co. was denied by the State Corporation Commission in November 2020. The company was seeking to increase rates by approximately $10 per month for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Appalachian Power earned profits that were within the range authorized by Virginia utility law for calendar years 2017, 2018 and 2019, as determined by the SCC’s triennial financial review of the utility, through which it was seeking the increase. Appalachian Power’s Virginia service area includes Southwest Virginia and the Roanoke and New River Valley regions. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Bristol Virginia City Council in early December 2020 voted unanimously to certify HR Bristol LLC as the city’s preferred gaming operator. In November 2020, city voters overwhelmingly approved a plan for Hard Rock International to establish a $400 million casino, hotel and resort at the Bristol Mall. It is now up to the Virginia Lottery Board to finalize its casino regulations, so that Hard Rock can formally submit its request for a gaming license. That is expected by April. HR Bristol LLC will handle management for the project and includes Hard Rock, project founders Jim McGlothlin and Clyde Stacy and their representatives. (Bristol Herald Courier)

eHealth Technologies Inc., a provider of medical record and image retrieval and clinical intelligence services, is investing $375,000 to establish a customer support center in Scott County that will create 160 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in early December 2020. Based in New York, eHealth is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax County-based private equity firm Aldrich Capital Partners and serves more than half of the nation’s top 100 hospitals. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Organic meat snack brand Grayson Natural Farms LLC will expand its Grayson County operation by 35,000 square feet through a $1.5 million investment, creating 40 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in December 2020. Grayson Natural Farms produces Landcrafted Food, which are grass-fed, organic meat snacks. The company first opened its facility in 2017. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Southwest Virginia officials in November 2020 announced plans for a large indoor fish-farming operation, Pure Salmon, to construct an aquaculture facility on the boundary of Tazewell and Russell counties. The facility is expected to employ more than 200 people and process up to 20,000 tons (18,000 metric tons) of salmon each year. The company will invest about $228 million in the equipment and facility, which would be the “world’s largest vertically integrated indoor aquaculture facility.” (Associated Press)

Since February 2020, InvestSWVA has been working with highway guardrail manufacturer SPIG Industry LLC on its expansion plans, and in December 2020 Gov. Ralph Northam announced the Washington County-based company’s plans to invest $7.9 million to expand its operations in the Bristol-Washington Industrial Park, creating 113 jobs. SPIG Industry plans to build three production plants and a welding shop, as well as a new rail spur line. The company, which currently has a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Washington County, manufactures highway guardrails and guardrail end terminals for federal and state highway contractors and installers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Wise County Public Schools announced in early December 2020 it is the first school district in Virginia to use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet constellation for high-speed internet. Founded by Elon Musk, aerospace company SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches spacecraft and is working to deploy its Starlink system, a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit that will delivers high-speed internet to “locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.” The project will provide free internet service to 45 Wise County families starting in early 2021, and will eventually expand to serve an additional 90 families in the county. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Shenandoah Valley

In December 2020, automotive components and systems supplier International Automotive Components Group announced plans to invest $4.6 million to expand its Strasburg operations and add auto component lines and products to its existing facility, creating 47 jobs. Headquartered in Luxembourg, IAC Group is a supplier of instrument panels, console systems, door panels, headliners and overhead systems for automakers. It has more than 60 locations in 18 countries, employing more than 18,000 people globally. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Winchester’s Shenandoah University entered into a partnership with the Washington Justice, a professional Overwatch League, for internships and learning opportunities for students. Announced in December 2020, the partnership is the first between a university and a professional Overwatch League. The Washington Justice represents Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The partnership will launch in early 2021 and end during the summer of 2022. In 2019, Shenandoah University became one of the first higher education institutions in the United States to offer multitrack bachelor’s degrees in esports management and communications. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Shenandoah Valley Organic, a family-owned organic chicken company, announced in late November 2020 that it would establish a second, 75,000-square-foot facility in Harrisonburg, creating 110 jobs. The expansion will increase the company’s production capacity and retail packaging abilities. Founded by sixth-generation farmer Corwin Heatwole, Shenandoah Valley Organic’s mission is to partner with independent family farmers to raise organic chickens. Headquartered in Harrisonburg, the family-owned company sources its products from nearly 70 family farms. Virginia competed with West Virginia for the expansion. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Silent Falcon UAS, an unmanned aircraft systems service provider and equipment manufacturer, announced in December 2020 that it will invest $6 million to locate its new East Coast headquarters for research development and manufacturing at the Front Royal-Warren County Airport, creating 249 jobs. Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Silent Falcon UAS manufactures patent-pending unmanned aircraft systems components and sensors for security, military and commercial customers. Its decision to move operations to Virginia coincides with an expansion of the company’s data collection business for runway inspections at airports. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

A December 2020 listing from Common-wealth Commercial stated that the Staunton Mall will be demolished and replaced with a mixed-use development that will include retail, multifamily, flex industrial and retail outparcels. According to the listing, there will be spaces for lease ranging from 6,000 square feet to more than 60,000 square feet. Manakin Cos. LLC, the mall’s management company, said in a release that the move was being taken due to declining revenues and is “part of a broader plan to revitalize and redevelop the shopping center.” Built in 1968, the mail was enclosed in 1986. With the partial demolition, the mall will revert to a strip mall with several new outparcel businesses. (The News Leader, news release)

In early December 2020, Virginia Military Institute removed a prominent statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, an effort initiated after allegations of systemic racism roiled the state-supported military college. VMI’s board voted to remove the statue in October 2020 after The Washington Post published a story that described an “atmosphere of hostility and cultural insensitivity” at VMI. The piece detailed incidents such as lynching threats and a white professor reminiscing in class about her father’s Ku Klux Klan membership. In November 2020, Virginia lawmakers approved budgeting $1 million for an independent investigation into allegations of systemic racism at VMI.
(Associated Press, VirginiaBusiness.com)

Northern Virginia

DHL Supply Chain, a contract logistics company with its North American headquarters in Ohio, is investing $72 million to establish a mid-Atlantic distribution center in Stafford County’s Venture Business Park, creating 577 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in mid-November. The company will build a 500,000-square-foot high-bay facility for its Real Estate Solutions unit. A subsidiary of parent company Deutsche Post DHL Group, a German publicly traded company with more than $76 billion in revenue in 2019, DHL Supply Chain employs approximately 36,000 people in the United States. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

California-based digital infrastructure company Equinix Inc. opened a new $95 million data center on its existing Ashburn campus in late November 2020. The two-story facility is designed for large and small deployments. The first phase includes more than 41,000 square feet of colocation space, which will total more than 124,000 square feet when the expansion is complete. Equinix has more than 225 International Business Exchange data centers across 63 markets and 26 countries, providing service to more than 9,500 businesses. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Leidos Holdings Inc. announced in December 2020 that it will acquire information technology services company 1901 Group for $215 million. Also based in Reston, 1901 Group was founded in 2009 and offers cloud, cybersecurity and enterprise scale-managed services. It has clients in the federal, state and local governments, as well as law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. With annual revenues of $11.09 billion last year and 37,000 employees, Leidos specializes in technology and engineering services for defense agencies. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Metro prepared to lay off at least 1,100 employees, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications filed in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia in late 2020. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority filed a Nov. 23 WARN notice with the Virginia Employment Commission listing total layoffs at 1,141. Affected employees work at facilities in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax counties, Falls Church and Vienna. The effective date for layoffs was listed as Jan. 23, the first Saturday after the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. The job losses coincide with a number of service cuts in an attempt to deal with a $200 million shortfall. (Washington Business Journal)

Tysons-based business software company MicroStrategy Inc. closed a convertible debt offering in December 2020, raising net proceeds of $634.9 million, which it planned to invest in bitcoin. In August and September 2020, MicroStrategy invested more than $675 million worth of bitcoin. The company announced in August it would keep its bitcoin holdings in its corporate treasury reserve — which MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said in a statement would be the principal holding in its treasury reserve strategy. During December, bitcoin prices rose to more than $20,000 apiece, a new high. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Falls Church-based Fortune 500 aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. announced in early December that it will sell its federal IT and mission support services business for $3.4 billion in cash to Herndon-based national security contractor Peraton, a Veritas Capital affiliate. The Northrop Grumman business unit was projected to generate approximately $2.3 billion in revenue for 2020. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2021 and is subject to approvals and closing conditions. Sale proceeds are expected to be used for share repurchases and debt retirement. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Eastern Virginia

Amazon.com Inc. will open two additional delivery stations in Hampton and Norfolk in 2021, creating more than 200 full- and part-time jobs. The delivery station in Norfolk will be located on Sewells Point Road and the Hampton facility will be located in the long-vacant Kmart on Mercury Boulevard. The ecommerce giant announced in March 2020 that it would build two operations facilities in Suffolk and Chesapeake, creating an expected 1,500 jobs. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

A portion of Virginia Beach’s Atlantic Avenue has closed permanently as part of the effort to create a campus for the Cavalier Hotel. Gold Key | PHR CEO Bruce Thompson, the developer of the historic hotel, says he wants to re-create the property’s iconic “grand lawn” and create a motor court for the new Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel. In late November 2020, workers installed a construction wall to block Atlantic Avenue where it meets Pacific Avenue in what is informally referred to as 42nd Street. Gold Key | PHR is paying $3.5 million for the road realignment. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia received a $10 million grant in December 2020 from MacKenzie Scott, the world’s third-wealthiest woman and the former wife of Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos. The gift will help Goodwill provide job-readiness training to people in Central Virginia and Coastal Virginia. A novelist, Scott donated about $6 billion to nonprofits during 2020, including more than $4.2 billion during the last four months of 2020. As of mid-December 2020, she had an estimated net worth of $60.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
(VirginiaBusiness.com)

In a boon to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division, congressional negotiators agreed to fund a second Virginia-class submarine and increased funding for the new Columbia-class submarines. The federal government will spend $4.6 billion in fiscal 2021 on Virginia-class submarines, $2.2 billion for purchases of material for Virginia-class submarines and $1.2 billion for advance procurement of material for the new Columbia-class submarines. The 2021 federal defense budget also includes $1.9 billion for refueling and overhaul of nuclear carriers, work done at Newport News, and $1.6 billion for work on the nuclear carrier USS Doris Miller, which Newport News is slated to deliver in 2030. Congressional negotiators also agreed to a multiyear procurement of three smaller amphibious ships and one large deck amphibious ship. (Daily Press)

Tidewater Community College confirmed in early December 2020 that the namesake donors behind a proposed destination culinary and visual arts center in downtown Norfolk’s NEON district withdrew their pledge. According to an email sent to TCC President Marcia Conston, Patricia and Douglas Perry’s family foundation pulled back their $2.5 million donation because they said they heard the city of Norfolk intended to pull out of the project. But Mayor Kenny Alexander said that wasn’t the case and that Norfolk’s City Council had not discussed pulling out of the TCC project or using the land for any other project. (The Virginian-Pilot)

PEOPLE

After 42 years at the helm, Hampton University President William R. Harvey announced in mid-December 2020 that he will retire at the end of June 2022. Harvey is one of the nation’s longest-serving university presidents and will retire with 44 years at the 152-year-old historically Black private university. He is the eighth longest-serving university president currently serving a term. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Southern Virginia

Caesars Entertainment has begun the process of selecting an architect for an in-depth design of its Caesars Virginia project slated to open in Danville in 2023. The company’s promised up-front payment of $15 million to the city was paid in December 2020 and Caesars’ $5 million purchase of the Schoolfield site was set to take place by Dec. 31 as pledged, said Steven Gould, a Danville attorney representing the casino giant. The City Council is not likely to appropriate the $15 million all at once but will hold votes on each expenditure. Councilors already voted to spend $5.9 million toward a new police station in the former Dan River Inc. executive building off Memorial Drive. (Danville Register & Bee)

Danville Community College saw a 15% decline in enrollment for fall 2020, compared with the same period in 2019 — the steepest decrease in the state. The school has 1,463 full-time students enrolled, a drop from 1,713 in fall 2019. DCC was on an upward trend before the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson said, with a 5% increase in enrollment between the 2018-19 academic year and fall 2019. Tidewater Community College and Thomas Nelson Community College also were in double-digit decline during fall 2020, according to the Virginia Community College System.
(Danville Register & Bee)

Dominion Energy Inc., which hoped to invest about $200 million in a power plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, has canceled its plans at the site, the utility announced in early December 2020. The 500-megawatt, combustion turbine power plant was projected to be the first business at the mega site in Pittsylvania County. The industrial park is co-owned by the city of Danville and Pittsylvania. A Dominion spokesperson said the company intends to conduct a reliability study to determine how the utility can best provide power to the 125,000 customers the plant would have served during peak times.
(Danville Register & Bee)

Within a few months, Microsoft TechSpark Southern Virginia will move into its South Boston home, the SOVA Innovation Hub, a two-story, 15,000-square-foot facility that is being built by Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities. Microsoft set up shop in South Boston in November 2017. Over the past three years, it has started technology programs for area schools and 4-H groups, as well as deploying free public WiFi networks in Boydton and Clarksville. With the opening of the new Innovation Hub, Microsoft will be able to provide programming opportunities for Southern Virginia residents, said local TechSpark manager Jeremy Satterfield.
(Mecklenburg Sun)

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is moving forward with plans to purchase Falkland Farms in Scottsburg and incorporate the sprawling property into neighboring Staunton River State Park. The acquisition, which will be done in phases, will make Staunton River the largest state park in Virginia, with almost 10,000 acres. In early December, the DCR submitted the first of two grant requests to raise between $2 million and $3 million for the purchase of the first 2,000 acres of the farm and hunting preserve, which spans 7,362 acres. North Carolina tech billionaire Tim Sweeney, who created the Fortnite video game, bought the property for $11.5 million in 2019 to protect it from future development. The DCR’s purchase will take about six years as funding becomes available. (News & Record)