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Followups: Amazon begins work on HQ2 site
In late January, Amazon.com Inc. began clearing the site for the first of its two, 22-story HQ2 East Coast headquarters towers in Arlington, demolishing an old warehouse at Metropolitan Park near Pentagon City. And in related news, the Crystal City Business Improvement District’s board of directors voted on Jan. 23 to ch[...]
The way forward
The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Amy Cortes always figured that she’d go to work as a day laborer like her parents after she graduated from Fort Defiance High School. But somewhere along the way, the Augusta County teen decided, “I wanted to push myself and go to college.” Last year, Cortes, 18, was one of 31 [&hel[...]
You can Google it
If it’s not one tech giant, it’s another. Ever since Amazon.com Inc. announced in late 2018 that it would open a second headquarters in Arlington County, discussions about workforce and real estate in Northern Virginia have fixed on the e-tailer. But Google LLC’s been busy, too. Last year the Mountain View, C[...]
Steady as she goes
A presidential election. International trade conflicts. Fear of recession. There are plenty of circumstances that could shift the stock market and shake up investments in 2020. Yet consumers should not allow developments nationally and globally to influence their investment choices, say some Virginia wealth advisers who are list[...]
Port of call
Hampton Roads’ deep-water port continued to be a dominant factor in attracting companies to the region in 2019, especially cold storage and warehousing and logistics firms. “As we try to bring industry into this area, the port is a significant driver of our economic development,” says Doug Smith, president and CEO of t[...]
The Hail Mary
Football isn’t the only occupation in which a wild, slim-chance pass can deliver a win. Last fall, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Danville and Pittsylvania County officials launched a Hail Mary economic pitch that landed a $57.89 million expansion project from Michigan-based van manufacturer Morgan Olson[...]
Subsea cable country
The scheduled 2020 arrival in Henrico County of a third connection to ultra-high-speed internet subsea cables should give the Richmond region bragging rights as a destination for data centers. In other words, it makes Central Virginia an alternative to Loudoun County, where 70% of all internet traffic flows but lacks a direct li[...]
Rethinking big
Once upon a time, I worked for a big company. Not for a short time, but a decades-long time. Somewhat unfortunately, I remember those years perhaps too well. Thousands of employees, rules, policies, a big human resources department, politics and power were all concentrated inside the headquarters building. And the customers were[...]
Feeling stronger
In the year since Bon Secours Health System merged with Mercy Health, the Cincinnati-based hospital group has expanded its holdings in Virginia, where it now owns and operates 12 hospitals. In January, Bon Secours Mercy Health acquired three hospitals: the 300-bed Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, the 105-bed So[...]
Where the action is
In the wake of Amazon.com Inc.’s late 2018 announcement that its $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters would locate in Arlington County, there’s been a game of musical chairs taking place among Northern Virginia’s economic development offices. Last July, Victor Hoskins, Arlington’s economic development[...]
Mergers and acquisitions
In 2019, banks continued to merge and consolidate, and some closed branches in Virginia’s rural counties and small towns, a trend expected to continue well into the 2020s. The big news of last year was the completion of the $66 billion merger of BB&T Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. in December, creating Charlotte, North [...]
The arena of politics
A historic vote on the biggest economic development proposal in the city of Richmond’s history — the potentially transformative $1.5 billion Navy Hill downtown redevelopment plan that would have included the state’s largest entertainment venue — collapsed in mid-February amid sound and fury as seven of Richmond C[...]
