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Virginia Business// June 30, 2021//
Appalachian Power in late May issued two requests for proposals to help the company comply with provisions of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Under the VCEA, Appalachian Power must meet annual interim requirements as it works to achieve 100% carbon-free energy generation in its Virginia service territory by 2050. The utility is seeking bids for up to 100 megawatts of solar and/or wind resources via one or more long-term power purchase agreements. Projects must be operational by Dec. 31, 2024. The second RFP centers on renewable energy certificates, market-based instruments issued when one megawatt-hour of electricity is generated and delivered to the grid from a renewable resource. All RECs purchased must be produced by solar or wind facilities in Virginia and operational by the end of 2024.
(Smith Mountain Eagle)
A proposal by Energix US to build a solar farm in Franklin County has been put on hold. The company postponed its application for several months in June, giving the county time to update its regulations for renewable energy companies. Franklin is one of several area localities that is facing a significant increase in applications from companies to construct solar farms, due to the Virginia Clean Economy Act that requires utilities to provide carbon-free electricity to state customers by 2050.
(The Franklin News-Post)
After more than five years of planning, Rocky Forge Wind may have run out of time. A citizens group opposed to putting giant turbines on top of North Mountain is asking Botetourt County to declare the wind farm project dead, citing its failure to meet a May 26 deadline for approval of site plans. Apex Clean Energy, the Charlottesville company building what would be the state’s first onshore wind farm, counters that the General Assembly extended the deadline into next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. County zoning administrator Drew Pearson will decide who is right in the latest of a series of complications for the project. (The Roanoke Times)
Blaring horns from vehicles streaming out of the Volvo Trucks North America plant at noon June 7 announced the start of a promised United Auto Workers strike. The roughly 2,900 union local members and the company were still at odds over a new contract, after unionized workers overwhelmingly rejected a second version. Although negotiators did not provide details about specific problems, the UAW says issues remain over wage increases, job security, work and holiday schedules, health and safety, pensions and 401(k), health insurance and overtime. (The Roanoke Times)
Andy Bruns, a former regional newspaper publisher for Lee Enterprises, has been tapped as executive editor of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, the chamber announced June 4. Bruns replaces Christopher Finley, who resigned in March to become director of marketing and public relations for LewisGale Regional Health System. Bruns oversaw The Roanoke Times and The News & Advance in Lynchburg, among other publications. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Erin Burcham, the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s director of talent solutions, is leaving the economic development group to become executive director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council, the organization announced in late May. Burcham previously was marketing and program coordinator at Virginia Tech Roanoke Center and event planner for Roanoke’s EventZone. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Eastern Virginia Medical School will pay a PR firm that has ties to a blog publicizing negative stories about its hospital partner Sentara Healthcare close to half a million dollars. Since the medical school’s initial contract with Tigercomm was signed in November 2020, it has extended its agreement with the company through June, increasing its expected payments to $497,000, an EVMS spokeswoman confirmed in early June. Although the firm is providing a legislative strategy, crisis communication advice and assistance with branding and marketing, a Washington Post article brought to light that Tigercomm shares a founder with Checks & Balances Project. The blog has tried to attract media attention to its negative stories about Sentara since November. An EVMS spokesperson said the school doesn’t have a contract with Checks & Balances or the blog’s financer. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Norfolk’s Lyon Shipyard plans to expand its operation, investing $24.4 million and creating 119 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in June. The 93-year-old ship repair and industrial service provider plans to build a new marine travel lift and a larger waterfront dry dock on the Elizabeth River. Lyon’s customers include the U.S. Navy, the Army, the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, as well as commercial maritime companies. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Before Blake Bailey released an acclaimed biography of Philip Roth and before his world came crashing down over allegations of rape and sexual misconduct, he taught at Old Dominion University from 2010 to 2016. More than a dozen people say he sexually harassed and abused four women during his time there. And they say when they voiced concerns to administrators, it went nowhere. As an educator and Pulitzer Prize finalist biographer, Bailey was considered a star in the ODU English department, but Bridget Anderson, an ODU linguistics professor, says he tormented her. Attorneys for ODU and Bailey deny the accusations by Anderson and other women at ODU who said they were accosted by Bailey or saw or heard of him abusing others. Bailey has been accused of sexual assault by former colleagues and students in articles published earlier this year by several publications. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Smithfield-based Pack Brothers Hospitality LLC announced plans in May for a conference center, hotel, 500-seat restaurant and an overhauled
300-slip marina on part of Fort Monroe in Hampton. The company plans to invest $40 million in the project and has been granted a 40-year ground lease by the Fort Monroe Authority. The anticipated opening date is spring 2025, Pack Brothers said. Fort Monroe was decommissioned in 2011 and was proclaimed in part as a national monument, but the fort sought redevelopment plans for other parts of the land. It received 18 proposals, and Pack Brothers’ plan landed on top. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Sentara Healthcare and Greensboro, North Carolina-based Cone Health said in June they had abandoned plans for a merger first announced in August 2020. The two health care systems’ boards came to the mutual agreement to end affiliation plans in late May, which would have had a combined $11.5 billion in annual revenue and
17 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina. Sentara, which previously announced the hiring of Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne as a senior vice president and chief of staff, said the two systems are better able to serve their communities by remaining independent. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Frederick County Economic Development Authority plans to launch a six-month digital and social media campaign in July to attract job seekers to the community. In 2019, the EDA, in partnership with Winchester and the counties of Clarke, Page, Shenandoah and Warren, awarded an $88,400 contract to a New York firm to develop a strategy to attract young adults to the northern Shenandoah Valley and encourage those who live there to stay in the region. The EDA received a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corp. to launch the campaign, which will link to LiveLoveShenandoah.com.
(The Winchester Star)
SIBO Group, a Slovenian manufacturer of closure solutions for tubes, containers and other packaging systems, will invest $2.6 million to establish its U.S. corporate headquarters and a new manufacturing operation in Harrisonburg. The subsidiary will operate as SIBO USA LLC, and the project is expected to create 24 jobs. SIBO Group got its start producing plastic closures for the cosmetics industry, and it now manufactures more than 5 billion pieces each year for more than 300 customers, exporting to more than 65 countries. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Staunton’s west end will be seeing revitalization efforts thanks to a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The city received a $300,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant in May to help assess, clean up and revitalize former industrial and commercial sites. Priority sites for assessment include the former Unifi Manufacturing site, the vacant Chestnut Hills shopping center, the National Biscuit Co. (Nabisco) warehouse and the Rose Time Scrap and Metal Recycling facility. (News Leader)
In June, Valley Health celebrated the completion of its nearly $100 million Warren Memorial Hospital, which replaces the smaller hospital of the same name that opened in 1951. The new hospital has an inpatient rehab center, a second CT scanner and a helipad. There also is a new physical therapy and sports medicine department, a Valley Pharmacy retail location on the second floor, and 36 private inpatient rooms. (The Northern Virginia Daily)
A long-awaited state report on an alleged culture of racism at Virginia Military Institute was released June 1, concluding that “VMI has … traditionally been run by white men, for white men,” although the state-funded military institution in Lexington has made “incremental steps towards a more diverse, inclusive VMI.” The Washington, D.C.-based law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP conducted the investigation beginning in January. The report also discusses “prevalent” sexual assault against current female cadets, as well as racial epithets used against cadets of color over decades. However, the institute has “inadequately addressed” these issues, the report concludes. Gov. Ralph Northam, a 1981 VMI alumnus, said in a statement that he and other state officials “will hold [VMI] accountable.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Washington and Lee University will maintain its name, its board of trustees announced in June, after a nearly yearlong review of whether to reconsider its linkage to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who served as the president of what was then known as Washington College. The board, acknowledging that having the university named after Lee can be painful for people who experience racism, voted 22-6 to keep the name. At the same time, the board said it would expand diversity and inclusion initiatives and a series of changes to campus buildings and symbols, practices and governance. Faculty members were mostly in favor of a name change, voting to do so 188-51 last summer. (The Roanoke Times)
Bristol, Virginia, city government accepted bids in June for a proposed $5.85 million construction project expected to impact Interstate 81’s Exit 5 for more than a year. The project is fully funded through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale program, and it is expected to start this summer and continue throughout 2022, according to the city’s director of public works. Plans call for widening about 1,000 feet of U.S. Highway 11, including two westbound lanes and three eastbound lanes, plus a 16-foot median and adding lanes to both I-81 off-ramps. (Bristol Herald Courier)
The Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority received a loan of up to $1.175 million from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority in June to purchase the former Mountain Forest Products mill site, a 433-acre property in Dickenson and Wise counties, for future economic development. The site, which is adjacent to the IDA’s Red Onion industrial site, also includes three steel-frame buildings that total 30,063 square feet. The chairman of Dickenson’s Board of Supervisors, Josh Evans said that the county plans to use the property to “aggressively recruit high-paying employers to locate here.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)
As COVID-19 began spreading across the country last spring, inmates at the Regional Jail at Duffield devised a plan to make some extra money in an illegal conspiracy to collect unemployment benefits, according to court records. The scheme is just one of several conspiracies involving unemployment fraud, and this one resulted in a half-million dollars going to ineligible conspirators, prosecutors said. Since the start of the pandemic, the Virginia Employment Commission has paid approximately $12 billion in unemployment claims. The Associated Press reports the VEC has admitted to paying more than $50 million in fraudulent claims. Twenty-four people have been indicted in connection with the jail scheme. (Bristol Herald Courier)
SunCoke Energy Inc., the largest independent producer of high-quality coke for blast furnace steel production in the Americas, plans to invest $50 million in its Buchanan County manufacturing operation, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in late May. The project will retain approximately 100 jobs at the Jewell Coke plant, where the Illinois-based company has been for 60 years. Virginia competed with Ohio for the project, which will include production upgrades and renovations to the facility. The company plans to produce foundry coke, a diversification of its product line. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Two-Way Radio Inc., a Wytheville-based provider of communications systems and devices for public safety and industrial clients, was acquired by Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Mobile Communications America Inc., the companies announced in June. Financial terms of the deal between the two Motorola dealers were not disclosed. Founded in 1948, Two-Way serves clients in Southwest Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky. The acquisition marks MCA’s entrance into the Virginia and West Virginia markets. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The town of Wytheville said goodbye in late May to Town Manager Steve Moore, who retired after more than three decades of service to the town. Raised in Bridgewater, Moore graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in architecture. He was hired as the assistant town manager and planning director in 1990, and last summer, upon the retirement of longtime Town Manager Wayne Sutherland, Moore took over the town’s top spot and led the town through much of the COVID-19 pandemic.(SWVA Today)
Virginians should brace for endless political ads on TV and mailboxes crammed with fliers now that two multimillionaires are squaring off in a run for governor. In his victory speech after the June 8 Democratic primary, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin “has already pledged $75 million of his own private equity money to buy the governor’s mansion.” Youngkin’s campaign said the former Carlyle Group co-CEO plans to raise $75 million for his campaign but has not specified how much will come from his own bank account. No matter the source, $75 million would be a record-smashing sum for a single gubernatorial candidate in Virginia. That would exceed the combined $66 million spent on the governor’s race four years ago. (The Washington Post)
MicroStrategy Inc. is projecting it will take a substantial financial hit in the second quarter after investing heavily in Bitcoin. The Tysons company, which sells business intelligence software to customers, expects a loss of at least $284.5 million for the three months ending June 30, it disclosed in early June in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The notice comes after the company spent much of the past year buying up the cryptocurrency, spending a total $2.25 billion as of May 18. The value of bitcoin slid from $58,000 apiece on May 10 to $35,000 as of June 7. (Washington Business Journal)
One Loudoun could soon become one of the largest residential communities in Greater Washington as the property’s owner looks to swap out old plans for office construction for a massive increase in apartments and town homes. The developer that controls the bulk of the 360-acre project, Retail Properties of America Inc., recently filed documents in Loudoun detailing its plans to rezone a large chunk of the property to add 1,954 residential units there over time. The new plans target the 76 acres comprising the northern section of One Loudoun, closest to the intersection of state Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway. (Washington Business Journal)
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) announced in early June that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arlington-based Halfaker and Associates LLC, a technology solutions provider to the federal government’s health, intelligence, defense and security sectors. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Halfaker’s clients include the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Real estate developer Milton V. Peterson, founder and chairman of the Fairfax-based Peterson Cos., died in late May at his Fairfax County home at the age of 85. Peterson was known fordeveloping major real estate projects across the Washington, D.C., metro area, including National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. In the 1970s, he partnered with Tysons real estate developer Til Hazel to form the Hazel/Peterson Cos. They developed several planned communities, including Burke Centre, Franklin Farm and Centre Ridge. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Former U.S. Sen. John W. Warner III, who died in late May at the age of 94 in Alexandria, was remembered as a principled, patriotic and bipartisan politician who was one of Virginia’s longest-serving senators and the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The last Republican to hold one of Virginia’s Senate seats, Warner was a World War II and Korean War veteran born in Washington, D.C., in 1927. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Averett University inked an agreement in late May eliminating some hurdles for students wanting to obtain a law degree. The Danville-based university is partnering for the first time with Appalachian School of Law in Grundy to provide two new educational pathways. Representatives from both schools signed the agreement. On one path, Averett pre-law students who meet certain qualifications will spend three years as undergraduates at Averett and graduate two years later from Appalachian, saving tuition costs. (Danville Register & Bee)
The Danville Planning Commission voted in June to recommend rezoning the former Dan River Inc. site at Schoolfield to allow the Caesars Virginia casino there. If approved by City Council, the property would be rezoned from industrial manufacturing to casino entertainment district, a new category in the city. Rules within the district, which must be at least 75 acres in size, include a 70-decibel limit on outside noise between 9 a.m. and midnight, and a 50-decibel limit between midnight and 9 a.m. when measured at the property line of a residential zone. Also, a 25-foot landscaped buffer must be built along any property line abutting a residential area. (Danville Register & Bee)
Mecklenburg County and Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative/Empower Broadband were among the applicants whose funding requests were approved by the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission in late May. The commission approved an $880,643 loan for MEC’s Empower subsidiary to bring high-speed broadband internet to customers across five counties — Brunswick, Charlotte, Greensville, Halifax and Mecklenburg. The county was awarded a $28,000 grant to conduct a study on upgrades to the Kinderton Technology Park in Clarksville, and Mecklenburg County will provide matching funds. The study is the final step before marketing the property to technology companies through the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. (SoVaNow)
MEP Ltd., a manufacturer of complex plastic and metal components for the aerospace and defense sectors, will invest $6.4 million to establish its first U.S. operation in Danville, creating 45 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in June. The company, which will operate in the U.S. as Making Everything Possible LLC, will locate in the Cyber Park industrial technology park jointly owned by the city and Pittsylvania County. While the new facility is under construction, MEP will occupy approximately 5,500 square feet at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, MEP Ltd. has $3.2 million in global sales (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Walraven Inc. will invest $7.15 million to relocate its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing operation from Cadillac, Michigan, to the Danville-Pittsylvania County area, creating 46 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in June. A manufacturer of installation systems such as pipe hangers and in-wall solutions for plumbing and mechanical applications, Walraven will move into the Cane Creek Shell Building at Cane Creek Centre, the joint industrial park for Danville and Pittsylvania County. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Walraven manufactures products in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, China, India, Dubai, Canada and the United States. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Spencer Thomas was named CEO of the Sovah Health-Martinsville hospital in June. He will start his new job in August. He served as CEO of Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford, North Carolina, since 2017 and before that was the chief operating officer of Sovah Health-Danville. Tory Shepherd, Sovah-Martinsville’s COO, has served as its interim CEO since January, after Dale Alward left. (Martinsville Bulletin)
Henrico County-based Community Bankers Trust Corp., the parent company of Essex Bank, entered into a $303.3 million deal to be acquired by Charleston, West Virginia-based United Bankshares Inc., United Bank’s parent, in early June. If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the deal would create the nation’s 38th largest banking company based on market capitalization, worth about $29 billion in assets. Essex Bank and Community will be branded as United after the merger, which will bring United Bank into the Lynchburg, Richmond and Northern Neck markets. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The city of Petersburg filed a lawsuit in June against Bethesda, Maryland-based C.A. Harrison Cos., a development company owned by former NFL player Chris Harrison, who promised in 2015 to replace the city’s shuttered and dilapidated Ramada Inn with a brand-new hotel, 100 apartment units and retail space. Six years later, redevelopment has not taken place. The city seeks to force Harrison’s company to either “abate the unsafe conditions” at the property or allow the city to demolish the building. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Richmond City Council voted 8-1 in mid-June to approve a casino referendum to appear on the city’s Nov. 2 ballot. If greenlit by city voters, the proposed
$600 million ONE Casino + Resort would be the nation’s only Black-owned casino. Owned by Maryland-based Urban One Inc., which owns and operates 55 radio stations and the TV One cable network, the casino would be built on 100 acres owned by Altria Group Inc. on the city’s South Side near Interstate 95. Next, the city will submit the preferred operator and site to the Virginia Lottery Board for precertification and petition Richmond Circuit Court to hold the referendum. Richmond is the last of five Virginia cities voting on whether to allow a commercial casino under a law passed in 2020 by the General Assembly. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The University of Virginia plans to invest $100 million in a new democracy institute, President Jim Ryan announced in June.
The investment is made possible with a $50 million gift from alumni Martha and Bruce Karsh. The Karsh Institute of Democracy at U.Va. will be a nonpartisan institute dedicated to the study, teaching and promotion of democracy. The Karshes’ gift will support the institute and provide funds for construction of a prominent building in the Emmet Street-Ivy Road area of Charlottesville, which will serve as a hub for public forums, research and classes. The building is expected to open by 2026, but the institute will operate before then.
(The Daily Progress)
Joining hundreds of colleges across the country, Virginia Commonwealth University will require its on-campus students to be vaccinated against
COVID-19 this fall, the university announced in June. Students who take classes, work or live on campus are required to report their vaccination by July 15. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, nearly 500 colleges nationally will require immunizations, as of early June. In Virginia, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University and James Madison University have announced that students must get their shots to attend school in person. VCU is encouraging staff members to get vaccinated, but they are not required to do so. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
A federal court settlement in May gives the Virginia Employment Commission until Labor Day to resolve the questions and claims of nearly all 92,000 unemployed Virginians who have been waiting for jobless benefits during the pandemic and the economic crisis it caused. In June, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission announced it
has accelerated a staff study of the VEC and its handling of the crisis, with an interim report due in late September after the Labor Day deadline. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
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