Roanoke developer pivots from office space to downtown park
Sometimes the best decision a builder can make is not to build. That’s the conclusion Lucas Thornton, managing partner at Hist:Re Partners in Roanoke, recently reached, although his plans for an office building may happen in the future. Thornton’s downtown mixed-use development, The Bower, was set to open by late June with 9[...]
2024 Virginia Women in Leadership Awards: Leading Ladies
For the fourth annual Women in Leadership Awards, Virginia Business hosted a photo shoot at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where eight of this year’s winners struck poses for Richmond photographer James Lee. Given the surroundings, Lee took inspiration from the museum’s collection and other artwork in staging the photos. [...]
Bristol casino ups the ante for opening
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol’s development team has pushed back the opening of the permanent casino, previously expected in July, and will instead open the approximately $515 million permanent casino resort in late fall. The team — a joint venture between Hard Rock, Par Ventures President Clyde Stacy and The Uni[...]
Competition’s fierce for Shenandoah medical marijuana permit
UPDATE: State delays choosing Shenandoah medical marijuana provider The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority (CCA) received 40 complete applications for conditional permits to operate as the state’s sole licensed pharmaceutical processor of medical cannabis for a region including the Shenandoah Valley, as well as Charlottesvill[...]
CoStar-WeWork dispute opens door for coworking competitors
One of the most disrupted sectors in Northern Virginia since the pandemic has been office space, as many white-collar workers work remote or hybrid schedules, leading to less demand. On top of that, in Arlington County’s Rosslyn corridor, WeWork clients have had to deal with the coworking company’s uncertain future. Although[...]
Richmond switches up stadium funding plan
UPDATED JULY 16 Richmond City Council this spring pitched a bit of a curveball on financing of the city’s new baseball stadium. On May 8, councilors approved a plan that they say would save the city money and get the replacement stadium — part of the proposed Diamond District — completed in time to meet […]
NNS aims to grow workforce
Virginia’s largest industrial employer, Newport News Shipbuilding, hopes to grow its 26,000-person workforce by 3,000 this year to tackle its backlog of projects. NNS, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is building modular components for 12 Columbia-class subs and then handing them off to partner General Dynamics’ [...]
Beauty and the C-suite
Virginia Business’ July issue cover art represents a significant amount of time and thoughtful planning — especially in considering what image we want to convey to you, the reader. From our viewpoint, the Women in Leadership cover should express strength and confidence — attributes that this year’s 38 award winners demon[...]
The wedding day
When Alondra Rodriguez considered which school to attend for pre-med, she found herself puzzled by Old Dominion University — and why it didn’t have an affiliated medical school. “U.Va. has their own med school,” she thought. “Why don’t they just do that?” Rodriguez, who already had a bachelor’s degree in psycholo[...]
Virginia 500 Spotlight July 2024: Michael Keegan
FIRST JOB: Installing gas lines into houses in New Jersey TRAIT I ADMIRE: Empathy WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Not to complain. I was complaining recently to a friend about having to go to a speech by some “expert” on AI, only to learn later that my friend was the speaker. True story! SOMETHING I’D NEVER DO […]
Not with a bang, but a whimper
This story has been updated since publication. Despite lofty promises from Democrats and Republicans, divided government in Richmond meant few wins or losses for either party during the 2024 General Assembly session — and few sweeping changes for Virginia in the year ahead. “The only thing that the legislature really did is [...]
Catch a wave
Updated July 26: Chuck Rigney resigned as economic development director after six months on the job. After three decades recruiting businesses to Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton, Charles E. “Chuck” Rigney is tackling a new challenge: leading Virginia Beach’s economic development. Rigney was named the Resort City’s perma[...]