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Chilhowie revitalization invites new business
Chilhowie’s once-vibrant Main Street is being restored. Following the completion of street and drainage revamps, the facade improvement phase of its $1.4 million redevelopment project concluded in early September. The project to restore the commercial heart of the 2,100-person town that was once a textile manufacturing hub beg[...]
Tale of the tape
As Virginians decide whether to go with the known — Democratic former Gov. Terry McAuliffe — or the unknown — first-time candidate Glenn Youngkin, a Republican — Virginia Business checks in with the two major contenders to be the commonwealth’s 74th governor. In exclusive interviews, the candidates lay out their plans [...]
Enter the candidates
With early voting starting the next day, Virginia gubernatorial candidates Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin came out swinging in their Sept. 16 first debate, sniping over issues ranging from coronavirus vaccine mandates to abortion in what The Washington Post described as a “bare-knuckled” sparring match at the Appalachian School of Law. Democratic former Gov. McAuliffe […]
JMU-led pact seeks to increase labor participation
The Shenandoah Valley’s economy is rebounding, but the region is struggling with a poor labor force participation rate, even compared with the national rate of 61%. In Augusta, Bath, Highland, Page, Rockbridge, Rockingham and Shenandoah counties, only 50% of potential workers are actually employed, says Jay Langston, executive[...]
All about the Benjamins
After a tumultuous and unpredictable pandemic year, the executives leading Virginia’s largest publicly traded companies still brought home sizable pay increases in 2020. While median salaries for Virginia’s top CEOs were down 0.7% in 2020, and their median bonuses were down 10.6%, last year Virginia’s top executives saw a [...]
All in the family
In the popular HBO TV series “Succession,” members of the Roy clan scheme, lie and backbite in an attempt to take over the family’s media empire once the patriarch steps down. The show, which reportedly filmed scenes in Richmond in May for its third season, is a satiric festival of twisted relationships and family dysfunct[...]
FOR THE RECORD October 2021
EASTERN VIRGINIA Newport News-based defense contractor Aery Aviation LLC will add 211 jobs with the $15.3 million expansion of its headquarters, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Sept. 14. The aviation company will build a 60,000 square-foot hangar with access to the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport runway and an engineering technology center to provide maintenance and modification […][...]
Heads in the cloud
Compare economic development wish lists across Virginia, and you’ll find one item in common. It’s not a specific manufacturer, a large health care system, or even a lucrative brewery. It’s a data center — or two, or three. These massive warehouse-like structures, full of computers, servers, and other digital equipment, h[...]
Va. Beach, Oceana ink economic development deal
An agreement between the Navy and Virginia Beach could give the city much-needed breathing room for economic development expansion while lowering the cost of operating the East Coast’s master jet base. Under a concept called Future Base Design, Naval Air Station Oceana would lease about 400 acres of land to private business[...]
Richmond casino plan goes to polls
Early voting is underway across Virginia, and in Richmond, residents will also decide by Nov. 2 whether Silver Spring, Maryland-based Urban One Inc. can establish its proposed $565 million ONE Casino + Resort in the city. Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins has high hopes for what could be the nation’s only majority Black-owned casin[...]
Plastics company to revive textile mill site in Hurt
At the site of what was once a Burlington Industries textile mill in Hurt, Staunton River Plastics is building a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Staunton River Plastics is the first tenant for the newly named Southern Virginia Multimodal Park, says Linda Green, executive director at the Southern Virginia Regional All[...]
Larger shovel-ready sites key to success
Workers with Franklin County-based Bowman Excavating Inc. have hauled off 250,000 cubic yards of dirt since beginning work last November on Wood Haven Technology Park in Roanoke County, according to Devin Bowman, company vice president. With 30 acres of trees cleared and load after load of dirt scooped away from the berm next to[...]
