For the Record – October 2016

EASTERN VIRGINIA
German grocer Aldi has purchased property and filed plans to open a store in Gloucester County. The discount chain bought a 1.8-acre site for $1.9 million from Evergreen Development LLC, according to land records. The property is adjacent to the Fox Mill Centre — the county’s largest commercial development — owned by developer Robert Kubicki of Evergreen Development. (Daily Press)

Green Flash Brewing Co., based in San Diego, will open its East Coast craft brewing facility in Virginia Beach on Nov. 13. The $20 million facility will include a 58,000-square-foot tasting room with 30 beers on tap, a beer garden, food trucks, a retail store, private-event room and garden. Upon completion, the company said the production facility will provide freight efficiencies for Green Flash’s beer distribution throughout the East Coast. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Lipton employees in Suffolk voted in August to form a union in response to what they called unjust working conditions and treatment. The employees demanded an end to the involuntary overtime practices, along with better health care, sick leave and other workplace policies. The workers will negotiate their first union contract with Unilever, Lipton’s parent company. The contract proposal will then be presented to the entire workforce for a vote. The agreement will be effective once ratified by the majority of the employees. (The Suffolk News-Herald)

Virginia Beach-based Sanyal Biotechnology was selected as a top university startup by the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer, a Washington, D.C.-based organization consisting of startup officers from research universities. Sanyal, begun at Virginia Commonwealth University, is one of 18 startups from across the country selected to give a presentation before Congress at the council’s DemoDay on Sept. 20, which allowed Sanyal the opportunity to present to investors, says Sanyal CEO Rebecca Caffrey.(Richmond Times-Dispatch)

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) announced that the Virginia Beach Department of Economic Development has once again been recognized as an Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) — one of 50 in the world. Originally accredited in January 2005, the organization has been reaccredited three times since. The AEDO program is a peer review process that measures economic development organizations against commonly held standards in the profession. (News release)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Virginia’s first community solar project will provide energy for more than 200 homes and businesses in the western part of the state. The solar project at the BARC Electric facility in Rockbridge County allows homes and businesses in different communities to get solar power-generated electricity from one place instead of putting panels on their own rooftops. Officials say the project will provide 25 percent of the energy needs for homes and businesses across BARC’s electric system in Rockbridge, Bath, Highland, Augusta and Alleghany counties. (News Leader)

The bicycle tourism industry in the central Shenandoah Valley had a total economic impact of $13.6 million and supported 184 jobs in 2015, according to a study conducted by the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission and other regional partners. Visitor spending by cyclists had a direct economic impact of approximately $8.6 million that supported 144 jobs. The top sectors impacted by bicycle tourism are restaurants, hotels, motels and retail establishments. Seventy-one percent of visitors stayed overnight during their bicycling trip. (News Leader)

Mary Baldwin College officially changed its name Aug. 31 to Mary Baldwin University. The name change isn’t the only new development at the university. A new master’s degree in business program will be offered in fall 2017, and in spring 2017 the next batch of programs will be added to the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences, created in 2014 on the school’s new campus in Fishersville. President Pamela Fox also unveiled some “fast track” programs for fall 2017 that will allow high-achieving students to complete degrees in a shorter time frame. (News Leader)

MillerCoors, a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Co., announced in August it will invest $60 million to expand its Shenandoah brewery in Rockingham County. The project is expected to create 27 jobs. The company makes Coors Light, Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Coors Banquet, Redd’s and Henry’s Hard Soda. MillerCoors also brews Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy and Blue Moon Belgian White Ale. Gov. Terry McAuliffe approved a $500,000 performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership program for the project. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Virginia Military Institute Foundation has raised more than $300 million, exceeding its goal by 33 percent. The goal of the fundraising effort, “An Uncommon Purpose: A Glorious Past, A Brilliant Future: The Campaign for VMI,” was $225 million. More than 14,000 donors have participated in the campaign, which included 53 gifts of $1 million or more and two gifts of more than $20 million each. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
The first phase in the creation of the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre in Henry County is expected to be completed in late October, according to officials. Allyson Rothrock, president of the Harvest Foundation, said the project represents hope and opportunity. “We’ve never had anything close to this,” she said of the 720-acre business center that is designed to attract large-scale industrial projects. (Work It, SoVa)

Local nonprofits that have to handle an unexpected financial crisis may have help through new Agency Emergency Fund grants from the Community Foundation of the Dan River Region. These grants could provide assistance outside the foundation’s normal grant cycle in the case of emergency situations that would have an impact on the nonprofit’s ability to provide services for its clients, Debra Dodson, executive director of the foundation, said. (Danville Register & Bee)

Danville Regional Airport’s Taxiway A will be resurfaced for the first time in 20 years, thanks to a federal grant through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. The $2.4 million grant will pay for milling and resurfacing of the taxiway and replace the lighting system along the taxiway. The FAA recommended the improvements after the taxiway was rated as being in “fair to poor” condition, according to a description of the project in the city’s capital improvements budget. (Danville Register & Bee)

Davenport Energy Inc. announced in August that it had acquired the customers of Lester-Penn Coal & Oil Corp. in Martinsville. Lester-Penn provided fuel oil and other products to homes, businesses and industry in the Martinsville-Henry County community. (Work It, SoVa)

Food Lion planned to close its Martinsville store in late September. The grocery store chain said it decided not to renew the lease for the building it occupies near the intersection of Commonwealth Boulevard and Virginia Avenue. Most — if not all — of the store’s approximately 35 employees would be offered jobs at other area Food Lions, company spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said. She declined to say why the lease was not renewed, citing company policy. (Martinsville Bulletin)

Southern Co., based in Atlanta, said that its subsidiary Southern Power is in the preliminary phase of developing land for a natural-gas generating facility in Pittsylvania County. The company signed a purchase and sale agreement option in June with the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA) for 300 acres of land in Berry Hill Industrial Park. Southern Power owns and operates nine combined-cycle and combustion-turbine natural gas-fueled power plants that generate more than 8,000 megawatts across four states. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Appalachian Mountain Spirits is expanding its whiskey distillery in Smyth County, a $1.95 million project that is expected to create 13 jobs during the next three years. The company also has committed to buying 3 million pounds of Virginia-grown corn, barley and rye as part of an agreement with the commonwealth. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has approved a $50,000 grant from the Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund to assist with the project, which Smyth County is matching with local funds. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Nearly four months after announcing Roanoke as the location for its East Coast brewery, Deschutes executives are still holding to their opening date of 2021. But residents might gain a downtown tasting room well before that, founder Gary Fish said during a news conference in August. Opening a tasting room will depend on finding the right location, however. And any Deschutes location opened downtown would serve beer brewed at the company’s brewery in Bend, Ore., Fish said. (The Roanoke Times)

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is expected to become a college within Virginia Tech. The university’s board of visitors voted in August to begin a likely two-year process to make the Roanoke medical school its ninth college. The medical school was founded in 2008 as a partnership between Tech and Carilion Clinic, with an independent governing board. (The Roanoke Times)

Virginia Tech will spend $75 million to develop part of its innovation-focused curriculum, complete with new buildings, additional faculty and initiatives such as a caged drone facility near the school’s Duck Pond. The money will go toward providing researchers, faculty and students with tools to develop autonomous vehicles, smart construction techniques, urban planning, drone research and other infrastructure technologies. (The Roanoke Times)

A 333-mile route with 60 attractions that celebrate Southwest Virginia’s cultural and musical heritage brings in about $9.2 million annually and supports 131 jobs in the region, according to a Virginia Tech study. The Crooked Road, founded in 2004, attracts visitors from outside the commonwealth to music events at venues in the region through its marketing and programming. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Reston-based Access National Bank is expanding into Arlington. The bank’s first branch in the county is expected to open by the end of the year in the Courthouse neighborhood at 2300 Wilson Blvd. The building is a former Bank of Georgetown branch. The Arlington branch will become the bank’s seventh regional office. Bank officials said it already caters to a sizeable Arlington clientele. Access National Bank was founded in 1999. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

AES Energy Storage, a subsidiary of Arlington-based AES Corp., has entered into two contracts with San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) for two energy storage arrays totaling 37.5 megawatts. Financial details on the contracts were not disclosed. The contracts involves AES’ Advancion  energy storage solution, a battery-based energy storage platform, installed at sites in San Diego County, Calif. AES has been deploying advanced battery-based energy storage onto electric grids since 2008. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Denver-based data center company CoreSite Realty Corp. plans to greatly expand its presence in Reston, building more than 660,000 square feet of new data center capacity. The company said it may invest $400 million to $500 million in a multi-phase build-out of the Sunrise Technology Park. The company is paying more than $60 million for STP, which is located less than a mile from CoreSite’s existing Reston buildings. CoreSite expects to substantially complete work on the project in the second quarter of 2018. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Reston-based Leidos Holdings Inc. said in August it has taken on $2.5 billion in debt to finance its purchase of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Information Systems and Global Solutions business. The two companies merged in August in a deal that created a $10 billion government services company — the largest in the industry. (Washington Business Journal)

McLean-based Tegna Inc. plans to spin off Cars.com, its online automotive marketplace, as a separate publicly traded company. Gracia C. Martore, Tegna’s president and CEO, plans to retire when the spinoff is completed next year.  She will be succeeded by Dave Lougee, the president of Tegna Media, which oversees the 46 television stations the company owns or services. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Herndon-based NRTC plans to acquire Pulse Broadband LLC. Financial details of the transaction were not released. NRTC, the National Rural Telecommunications Council, serves 1,500 electric and telephone members in 48 states. Pulse is based in Chesterfield, Mo. It offers a wide range of fiber services, including financial feasibility modeling, design and engineering, and construction management. The transaction was expected to close in a few weeks when announced in August. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

CENTRAL VIRGINIA
Apple Hospitality REIT, a Richmond-based real estate investment trust that owns hotels across the U.S., has completed its merger with sister company Apple REIT Ten. The merger creates a portfolio of 236 hotels mostly under the Marriott and Hilton brands. Apple Hospitality’s stock will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies Inc. has announced that its subsidiary BWXT Canada Ltd. (BWXT Canada) has entered an agreement to acquire GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Canada Inc. (GEH-C). The terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. GEH-C is a major supplier of fuel, fuel-handling systems, delivery systems and replacement components for CANDU reactors, Canadian-developed, pressurized heavy water reactors used for generating electric power. The deal is expected to be completed, subject to required Canadian regulatory reviews and other closing conditions, during the fourth quarter of 2016. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

A new Richmond-area project aims to boost sales through exports. The goal of the Metro Richmond Exports Initiative is to increase international trade activity by small and medium businesses in the area by 40 percent by 2020. The program will track its progress by monitoring the number of companies exporting for the first time and the number of existing exporters entering new foreign markets. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Tranlin Inc.’s $2 billion paper manufacturing plant in Chesterfield County is set to be fully operational by 2020, but internal delays have kept the company from drawing the millions in grants the state has awarded. “There are some inner milestones that we still believe we are going to achieve, but it may be at a later date,” said John Stacey, Tranlin Inc.’s senior vice president of marketing and product development. But the facility still is on track to open within the scheduled time frame, Stacey said. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

UPS said in August it plans to lay off 160 workers from its Richmond-based UPS Freight unit within the next 12 months. In the statement, the company said it is “streamlining support positions” in order “to address needed cost reductions and operating improvements.” Glenn Zaccara, the company’s director of corporate media relations, said in an email that the location also currently has 45 job openings and that employees affected by the layoffs “are being offered an opportunity to apply for those roles.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch)