For the Record October 2025

Central Virginia

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is planning to locate a major manufacturing facility in Albemarle County, a state official confirmed to Virginia Business in August. A state commission has voted to recommend that the General Assembly approve a state incentives package exceeding $10 million for the project. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in July that AstraZeneca would bring to Virginia a multibillion-dollar facility to produce pharmaceutical substances for its weight management and metabolic portfolio. AstraZeneca’s largest single manufacturing investment, the Virginia plant is part of $50 billion in investments AztraZeneca plans to make in the U.S. by 2030 for manufacturing and research and development. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Eli Lilly & Co. plans to invest $5 billion in a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Goochland County that’s expected to create 650 permanent jobs and support 1,800 construction jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 16. Located in the West Creek Business Park, the 200,000-plus-square-foot plant will produce antibody drug conjugates, Lilly Chair and CEO David A. “Dave” Ricks said at a press conference. The Goochland facility is one of four plants Lilly is building nationwide as part of a $50 billion initiative to increase its domestic pharmaceutical production. Construction, which will take about three years, was expected to begin this fall. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Google plans to invest an additional $9 billion in Virginia through the end of 2026, with much of the funding going toward development ofa new data center in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in late August. The investments will be focused on cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Google will also expand existing facilities in Loudoun and Prince William counties. Construction has already begun on the Chesterfield data center. A Google spokesperson said the data center will be located at a 300-plus acre site near Meadowville Technology Park. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Goochland County-based Fortune Global 500 company Performance Food Group announced Sept. 16 that it has entered into an agreement with US Foods to begin sharing information — a move indicating the two companies are considering a merger. Should PFG merge with US Foods, it would create the largest United States food service distributor, with roughly $100 billion in combined revenue. JP Morgan and BofA Securities are serving as financial advisers, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is serving as legal adviser to PFG. Sachem Head Capital Management has advocated for PFG and US Foods to merge. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Anthony Romanello, the Henrico County Economic Development Authority’s executive director, plans to step down early next year. He submitted his resignation letter to the EDA’s board on Aug. 21, stating his last day will be Jan. 16, 2026, although he said he told the board he would be willing to stay longer if he has not accepted a new job and the EDA has not identified a successor. The EDA board has formed an executive search committee to find Romanello’s successor. He joined the county in 2016 as deputy county manager and was promoted to his current post in 2019. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

At its downtown medical center campus in Richmond, the VCU Health System hopes to soon construct a major hospital tower that would eventually be 16 stories tall and feature 576 beds. The health system recently issued requests for proposals for both project management services and architectural and engineering services related to the project, to be located at the corner of East Leigh and North 12th streets. The project would also include the construction of a 73,500-square-foot central utility plant, north of Leigh Street and adjacent to the VCU School of Nursing. Contracts are expected to be awarded in November.(VirginiaBusiness.com)

Eastern Virginia

The Trump administration withdrew $39.27 million that had been previously awarded under the Biden administration to an offshore wind logistics port in Norfolk. The port is part of the 111-acre Fairwinds Landing project at Lambert’s Point Docks. The administration also sought to terminate a $20 million grant for the Portsmouth Marine Terminal offshore wind development project; however the money had already been spent and the project completed. The withdrawal stems from an Aug. 29 announcement that Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy would withdraw or terminate a total of $679 million in funding for 12 offshore wind projects across the country. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

During a press conference, Jefferson Lab Director Jens Dilling confirmed that the U.S. Department of Energy lab wanted 7% of its workforce, approximately 65 employees, to voluntarily resign by the end of August. Dilling previously told employees that the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, commonly known as Jefferson Lab, would need to reduce its workforce as part of a restructuring plan. If the lab doesn’t reach its goals, its leadership will implement a plan for employee layoffs in January. (VirginiaBusiness.com; WHRO)

Florida-based Land ‘N’ Sea Distributing, a wholesale distributor of marine and recreational vehicle parts and accessories, is investing $1.1 million to expand in Norfolk, with plans to create 29 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in August. The company relocated from its previous 61,800-square-foot facility in Norfolk to a new 120,000-square-foot facility. The expansion coincides with its planned introduction of approximately 5,000 new products, the company says. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Norfolk Airport Authority’s plans to build a 165-room hotel at Norfolk International Airport have been delayed by approximately two years until 2028, as the authority has canceled the contract with developers due to an alleged contract violation. Airport authority CEO Mark Perryman said that Arizona-based developer Caliber Cos. left the project, and Virginia Beach-based LTD Hospitality, the remaining development partner, failed to notify the authority immediately. Now, the airport is considering building the hotel itself and bringing in a third-party operator to manage it. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Suffolk-based TowneBank closed its $203 million acquisition of Hampton-based Old Point National Bank of Phoebus and
its parent company, Old Point Financial. The merger went into effect Sept. 1. The combined company now has total assets
of $19.5 billion, loans of $13.1 billion and deposits of $16.3 billion based on financial information reported as of Dec. 31, 2024. Old Point’s 13 bank branches will now operate as “Old Point National Bank, a Division of TowneBank” until February 2026, when the core systems and operations of Old Point National Bank are scheduled to be converted into those of TowneBank. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Next year, Virginia Wesleyan University will officially change its name to Batten University. The new name, which will take effect on July 1, 2026, honors Virginia Beach philanthropist Jane Batten, a former chair of the Virginia Wesleyan Board of Trustees, and her family, who have supported the Virginia Beach private university for decades. Nancy DeFord, chair of the university’s board, made the announcement in August. Virginia Wesleyan is situated on a 300-acre campus in Virginia Beach and has about 2,100 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Northern Virginia

For the first time since approving Amazon.com’s incentive package for its HQ2 East Coast headquarters in 2019, Arlington County announced it will finally cut the etailer a check for $81,745 in September — triggered by the county’s hotel tax revenue meeting a required threshold. Amazon opened the first phase of HQ2, the $2.5 billion Metropolitan Park, in Arlington in 2023. About 8,500 employees currently work there five days a week. A spokesperson from Amazon said it has reached 30% of its HQ2 hiring goal, and in June, Arlington granted Amazon a three-year extension to develop the second part of HQ2. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

George Mason University has been found in violation of federal civil rights law, the U.S. Department of Education announced Aug. 22, laying blame on President Gregory Washington’s shoulders. The Fairfax County public university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by “illegally using race” in hiring and promotions, the DOE said. The Trump administration says Washington’s policies benefited people of color and discriminated against white employees. To settle the issue, the DOE demanded a public apology by Washington, among other requirements. Washington’s attorney and a lawyer hired by the university’s board are negotiating a resolution with the federal government, the board said later in August. See Page 76 for more on this story. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Mary Washington Healthcare plans to partner with the University of Mary Washington to launch a new medical school, a move designed to address the shortage of physicians in the Fredericksburg region. Dr. Christopher Newman, the health system’s president and CEO and a member of UMW’s board of visitors, said the two institutions are in “serious planning stages” of launching a medical school, which would be the first in Northern Virginia. The health system and the university’s boards plan to take up the matter this fall and likely will vote in 2026 to officially move forward. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Nexstar Media Group plans to buy Tysons-based broadcast rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, it announced Aug. 19. The transaction, if approved, will bring together two major players in U.S. television and the country’s local news landscape. Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna, which was formed in 2015 when Gannett Co. spun off its broadcasting and digital business, owns 64 television news stations across 51 markets. Nexstar will pay $22 in cash for each share of Tegna’s outstanding stock. The deal is expected to close by the second half of 2026. (Associated Press)

Alexandria-based government contractor Systems Planning & Analysis announced in early September it plans to invest
$46.9 million to expand its headquarters, increase its presence in Fairfax County and create nearly 1,200 jobs in Alexandria and Fairfax, where it has a facility in Chantilly. In June, a limited liability company associated with SPA purchased its 239,000-square-foot headquarters building for $29.3 million, and the company expects to invest $15.4 million in renovations to the 35-year-old building on North Beauregard Street. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw, a Democrat, defeated Republican Stewart Whitson in September’s special election in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District. The election was held to fill the seat left by U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died of esophageal cancer in May. Walkinshaw is Connolly’s former chief of staff; Whitson is a legal director at a conservative think tank. (The Washington Post)

Roanoke/ Lynchburg/ New River Valley

Amazon.com Services selected Amherst County for the site of a $16 million-plus, 78,000-square-foot distribution center, which county officials say will bring dozens of local jobs to the region. The county’s economic development authority announced in September that Amazon has purchased the largest lot in the Amelon Commerce Center — a 120-acre industrial park mostly owned by the EDA. The EDA sold the 26-acre site to Amazon in late August. Amazon declined to provide project specifics or an estimated timeline, with a spokesperson saying more details will be shared later. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies plans to launch a subsidiary dedicated to the commercialization of fuel for the next generation of nuclear reactors, it announced in late August. Called BWXT Advanced Fuels, the new company will pursue partnerships to deliver TRISO nuclear fuel for an anticipated “coming wave” of advanced nuclear reactors under development or in planning stages. BWXT first began manufacturing TRISO, or tristructural isotropic particle fuel, in partnership with Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development Program in 2003. Currently, BWXT produces TRISO on a low-rate production scale. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Carilion Clinic is borrowing up to $400 million worth of bonds from the Roanoke Economic Development Authority, according to city documents. Roanoke City Council approved the $400 million bond issuance for Carilion on Sept. 2. Carilion Clinic opened its new Crystal Spring Tower in June. Hospital officials said the project cost $500 million. Of the newly issued bonds, at least $200 million will finance a portion of that tower, plus the adjacent parking garage. At least $110 million will refund bonds issued as far back as 2005. (The Roanoke Times)

At a Sept. 2 meeting, the Campbell County Board of Supervisors delayed action on a rezoning application, a request that would make it easier to build a data center in a heavily wooded area of the county’s Concord District. At the meeting, several residents spoke out against the proposed rezoning of about 57 acres. To attract a data center to the site, MESH Capital, the landowner, is requesting permission from the county to remove certain conditions that were placed on the property 25 years ago. (The News & Advance)

Virginia Tech has received a $16 million commitment from alumnus David Kellogg to back the Blacksburg university’s philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) program. Kellogg helped launch a research center in 2020 to support
PPE, and his new gift permanently names it the David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1982, Kellogg worked for the CIA. In 1998, he founded IT firm Solers, which specialized in software and systems engineering. Reston-based federal contractor Peraton acquired Solers in 2019, and today, Kellogg leads proprietary trading firms he founded or cofounded. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In 2024, $923.1 million was directly spent by visitors in Virginia’s Blue Ridge, which includes the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke. That’s a 4.6% increase over 2023, according to Visit VBR, the region’s destination marketing organization. Demand for lodging between January and June of this year in Virginia’s Blue Ridge is up 3% and revenue is up 6.9%. The USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships were held in Roanoke in July and brought more than 1,200 riders for six days of racing. (News release)

Shenandoah Valley

Ohio-based cabinet giant MasterBrand announced in August that it plans to acquire Winchester-based cabinet manufacturer American Woodmark in an all-stock merger, creating a company valued at $3.6 billion. The transaction is expected to close in early 2026, pending shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Afterward, the combined company will be known as MasterBrand and will be headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio. However, the merged company plans to maintain a significant presence in Winchester. An American Woodmark spokesperson did not answer whether there would be relocations or layoffs in store for any of American Woodmark’s roughly 7,800 employees. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Augusta Medical Group, a network of primary care and urgent care clinics affiliated with the Augusta Health system, announced in September it is closing three Shenandoah Valley clinics — Buena Vista Primary Care, Churchville Primary Care, and Weyers Cave Urgent Care — in response to the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed this summer. The health system said the legislation’s changes to Medicaid would impact hospital funding and lead to enrollment drop-offs. While some patients will be reassigned to nearby practices about 10 minutes away, others will have to travel further. (Virginia Mercury)

Todd Gilbert, former Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, resigned Aug. 20 from his role as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia after a little more than a month on the job. Robert N. Tracci, the federal district’s first assistant U.S. attorney, has assumed the role of acting U.S. attorney. An anonymous source says Gilbert resigned after refusing Trump officials’ demand to oust his second-in-command, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Lee, instead creating a new role for him. Lee previously served U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh, a Biden appointee. (VirginiaBusiness.com; The Roanoke Times)

Mary Baldwin University announced in late August that president Jeff Stein had resigned after only two years in the role. With Stein’s departure, the Staunton-based private university’s board of trustees quickly confirmed Todd Telemeco as the university’s 11th president, effective immediately. In a letter sent to the Mary Baldwin community, Telemeco alluded to financial difficulties the university has been facing. He said the campus is costly to maintain and that the university’s discount rate is high, both of which exert pressure on the school’s resources. In September, faculty passed a vote of no confidence against the board for its handling of Stein’s resignation. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Harrisonburg-based indoor herb and produce company Soli Organic announced in August it is relocating its headquarters to Ohio following a merger with Ohio-based indoor grower company 80 Acres Farms. Soli, which holds over a quarter of the U.S. market for organic culinary herbs, operates greenhouses in Elkwood and Harrisonburg, while 80 Acres runs five farms. Soli has not confirmed whether it will close any of its Virginia greenhouses, but a spokesperson said the company plans to maintain operations in the state. The combined company is expected to generate $200 million in first year revenue. (Daily News-Record)

Members of Virginia Military Institute’s board in August appointed retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. David Furness, a member of the Class of 1987, as the Institute’s 16th superintendent, succeeding retired Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, the Lexington-based school’s first Black leader, left in June after the board elected not to renew his contract. Furness served in the Marine Corps for 36 years before retiring in 2023. Furness has one master’s degree in military studies from the Marine Corps University at Quantico and another in national security and strategic studies from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Southern Virginia

Butler Human Services Furniture, a furniture maker with production facilities in Chase City, announced plans in late August to close its Mecklenburg plant and consolidate operations in Ohio. The layoffs of 51 Mecklenburg workers are expected to start in October, with the facilities closing in April 2026. Butler also has a sales office near Richmond staffed by eight employees, according to a spokesperson. Three of those employees will be laid off. Previously known as Butler Woodcrafters,
the company was founded in 1980 in Chesterfield County. In 2014, Sauder Manufacturing acquired the business. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Danville Regional Airport will receive about $900,000 in state funding to help pay for three projects. Grant money from the Commonwealth Aviation Fund will cover 90% of the costs. Of $900,443.72 from the state, $535,911.08 will go toward stormwater basin erosion control mitigation, $256,500 will be allocated to removing obstructions from Runway 31 and the remaining $108,032.64 will go to remarking Runway 2-20. The remaining 10% of the price tag will be covered by local money. The work is expected to be completed by the end of November. (Danville Register & Bee)

Hitachi Energy announced in September it will invest $1 billion to expand its U.S. grid infrastructure manufacturing, with roughly half of that investment going into Virginia, where it plans to add 825 jobs in South Boston. The electrical equipment manufacturer will invest $457 million to build the nation’s largest manufacturing site for large power transformers in the Halifax County town. The large power transformers to be produced at the plant will support large-scale industrial applications such as fast-growing AI data centers. The new manufacturing facility is expected to be operational by 2028. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Nathan Trotter, a Pennsylvania-based supplier and recycler of tin and tin alloy products, plans to invest $65 million in a Henry County tin processing operation that’s expected to create 118 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 9
in Martinsville. The 115,000-square-foot Tin Ridge processing facility is slated for development on 44 acres at the Patriot
Centre Industrial Park. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2026. Tin is included on a 2022 list
from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior of mineral commodities critical to the U.S. economy and national security. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

According to Del. Eric Phillips, R-Henry, the City of Martinsville and the Martinsville Economic Development Authority have
made a deal: The city will pay the EDA an additional $140,000 per year and the EDA will hire Eric Payne as its director. In 2024, Martinsville’s city council brought Payne aboard as city attorney designee for an annual salary of $185,000. However, Payne did not obtain his license to practice law in Virginia as expected. During an Aug. 26 meeting, council members went into closed session to discuss the EDA executive director position, but they did not take public action. (Martinsville Bulletin)

Under a new proposal, the New College Institute (NCI) will become the Patrick & Henry Community College Center for Workforce and Economic Development at the Baldwin Building. The cloud surrounding NCI has most recently taken the form of a threat from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office to defund the institute. Upon approval of the resolution by NCI’s board, a request will be made to the secretary of education to assist with the development of a transfer plan, which will include approximately $3.1 million annually in state funding for NCI, to be appropriated to the community college. (Martinsville Bulletin)

Southwest Virginia

The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded Mountain Empire Community College a $491,548 grant to support opioid abuse recovery, according to an early September news release from U.S. Rep Morgan Griffith’s office. The funding will support Project Southwest Virginia Opioid Abuse Recovery, a workforce development initiative meant to help people recovering from substance use disorder. Project SOAR will provide hands-on training in skilled trades like carpentry, welding, electric and plumbing to 180 participants across Dickenson, Lee, Scott and Wise counties, with the goal of preparing them for in-demand occupations and supporting their recovery. (The Coalfield Progress)

Ballad Health and Gov. Glenn Youngkin in late August unveiled plans for a $3 million behavioral health crisis center at the health system’s Ridgeview Pavilion in Bristol, Virginia. The 6,000-square-foot facility will be a 24-hour walk-in center designed to reduce reliance on hospital emergency rooms or law enforcement intervention. The 2024 Virginia Special Session I budget bill funded the project. It’s expected to open in fall 2026 and will be Ballad Health’s second such facility; its first is in Johnson City, Tennessee. (Bristol Herald Courier)

Wellmore Energy Co., a metallurgical coal mining company and subsidiary of United Coal Co., planned to lay off 72 workers in Buchanan County, according to notices sent to the state in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. According to two notices, six employees who work at a surface minerals operation in Grundy and 27 employees at Wellmore’s Elk Creek operation in Hurley were expected to lose their jobs beginning Sept. 6, with all separations completed by Sept. 19. According to a third notice, Wellmore expects to lay off 39 employees from its surface minerals operation in Grundy and a preparation plant in Big Rock, beginning Oct. 4, with separations completed by Oct. 16. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Washington County Promise Program, a partnership between the Wellspring Foundation of Southwest Virginia and Virginia Highlands Community College, has expanded to include students from three additional class years. The Promise Program covers VHCC tuition and fees not already paid by other financial aid or scholarships, and it provides up to $500 per semester per student for books and educational supplies through the VHCC bookstore. The program initially covered students graduating high school between 2025 and 2037. With the expansion, kindergarteners enrolling in Washington County schools in 2025, 2026 and 2027 will also be eligible. (Bristol Herald Courier)

If voters approve its creation in November, Wise County will create and operate an electric authority within the county. The authority would not replace electricity from Appalachian Power or Old Dominion Power for residents. It would work directly with large industrial users that want to come to the county and build their own power plants to help meet their electricity needs. Members of the authority would be appointed by the county’s board of supervisors, but details like how many members it would entail and how long their terms would be aren’t yet determined. (Cardinal News)

Five Southwest Virginia projects will receive $6.12 million total in Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization program grants, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith announced Aug. 29. The largest grant, $2 million, will go to the Wolf Creek Resort & Lodge project, an ecotourism and outdoor recreation site that will be developed on 1,200 acres in Tazewell County over seven years and will include a lodge, a 650-home development and an equestrian facility. The funding will go toward the purchase of the privately owned land, and the project’s total estimated cost is $75 million. (Cardinal News)