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$40M Diamond District lawsuit dismissed in Richmond

A Circuit Court judge dismissed a $40 million over the city’s $2.44 billion project last week, in which a Connecticut developer claimed its former partners, including Richmond’s , cut it out of the development deal.

Judge Bradley B. Cavedo ruled Jan. 22 in favor of defendants Thalhimer, a subsidiary of , and Chicago-based Loop Capital Holdings, which requested a demurrer on the complaint. Republic Projects sued the two companies and four employees of the two firms in July 2024, alleging that they cut Republic out of the project and formed their own development partnership, Diamond District Partners, behind Republic’s back.

In his ruling, Cavedo wrote that “the court finds a distinction between pursuing a contract and carrying on as co-owners of a business. The course of dealing between the parties was considered in the court’s determination of whether a partnership was adequately pled. However … the court finds that the plaintiff has not advanced facts that, if taken as true, would support plaintiff’s claims against the defendants.” The ruling gives the plaintiff 28 days to amend its lawsuit.

“We are pleased with the court’s ruling,” Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer CEO Lee Warfield said in a statement Monday on behalf of Thalhimer Realty Partners, Diamond District Partners and Jason Guillot, a Thalhimer principal who is the Diamond District’s lead developer. “Our team is now 100% focused on bringing the Diamond District project to fruition for the benefit of the , its residents and all of the visitors this project will attract.”

The Diamond District is set to be the city’s largest mixed-use development project, centered on the new stadium for the Double-A baseball team. Republic, Thalhimer, Loop Capital and other developers won the project as RVA Diamond Partners in 2022, but Republic Projects and Loop Capital are no longer part of the development.

The 67-acre, $2.44 billion Diamond District project’s first phase is expected to cost $627.6 million, and includes an 8,000-capacity, $117 million-plus baseball stadium dubbed CarMax Park, which is set to open in time for the 2026 baseball season. The development is also set to include a hotel with at least 180 rooms from a high-end brand, such as Hilton or Westin, and 2,800 residential units, 935,000 square feet of office space, 195,000 square feet of retail and community space, and another hotel.

The Squirrels team is overseeing the stadium’s construction, which will replace the 40-year-old Diamond.

In August 2024, the Richmond Authority’s board approved a 30-year lease and stadium development agreement between the EDA and the Flying Squirrels, in which the Squirrels will pay $3.2 million in annual rent for the next 10 years, with the rates decreasing after that point.

Pharma company to invest $54.2M in Richmond R&D facility

Pharmaceutical company will invest $54.2 million to its research and development facility in and launch an internship program in partnership with state government and , Gov. announced Monday.

The physical upgrades at the facility, located at 1211 Sherwood Ave., will allow United Kingdom-based Haleon to accommodate new technologies and expand its research capabilities, according to a news release. Youngkin discussed the project with Haleon leadership in London in July 2024.

“Haleon’s choice to expand its research capabilities and upgrade its Richmond facility strengthens the commonwealth’s sector and highlights why Virginia is America’s Top State for Business,” Youngkin said in a statement.

Haleon and the Commonwealth of Virginia are launching the Haleon-Commonwealth Consumer Healthcare Internship Program for Advanced Life Sciences in partnership with VCU. Haleon and the state are supporting the five-year program with equal investments.

The internship will have paid work opportunities for undergraduate VCU students in the pharmaceutical science degree program launched in May 2024 and summer for undergraduate and graduate students for all Virginia institutions.

Haleon’s Richmond roots date back to the 1960s, and its site has grown through mergers and acquisitions. Haleon launched as an independent company focused on consumer health in July 2022, when it completed its demerger from GlaxoSmithKline. previously announced it would expand its Consumer Healthcare center, now Haleon’s Richmond facility, in 2019.

The site specializes in research and development and holds Haleon’s R&D Center of Excellence. Multiple Haleon brands were either created at the site or have grown from it, including Advil, Emergen-C and Robitussin.

Haleon’s Richmond site has added 100 team members since 2020. The R&D Center of Excellence holds technical functions including consumer science, formulation development, process scale up, analytical test method development, microbiology, product stability, packaging design and clinical supplies.

“Today’s announcement is a significant milestone for Haleon,” Haleon North America President Lisa Paley said in a statement. “Our investment in the modernization of the lab space at our research and development facility is an investment in delivering on our mission of everyday health with humanity as well as the Richmond community.”

The Virginia Partnership worked with the City of Richmond and the Greater Richmond Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $950,000 Virginia Investment Performance Grant, a performance-based incentive for existing Virginia companies making continued capital investment.

Haleon reported 11.3 billion pounds — about $14.09 billion — in 2023 revenue.

Spanberger leads Earle-Sears in early state polling

It’s still early days, but in Virginia’s 2025 , Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger leads Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in a pair of new statewide polls.

In the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs released Friday, former U.S. Rep. Spanberger has the support of 44% of people polled, and Earle-Sears has 34%, while 17% say they are undecided. ‘s Wason Center for Civic Leadership reported last week that Spanberger has a five-point lead over the lieutenant , 44% to 39%, with 16% undecided.

The two polls show a wider gap between the candidates than previous surveys.

Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, in a poll conducted in December 2024 and released Jan. 10, reported that Spanberger was ahead by 3 points, while she had only a one-point advantage in a poll released Jan. 8 by Emerson College and The Hill.

Spanberger and Earle-Sears are their parties’ presumed gubernatorial nominees, although U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott has not yet ruled out a run for the Democratic nomination, as of last week. The Mason-Dixon poll asked respondents who they would vote for between Scott and Earle-Sears, and she had a two-point lead over Scott in that result, although Scott showed stronger results than Spanberger among Black voters, receiving 85% of their votes compared to 81% for Spanberger.

“The 10% lead of Spanberger to Earle-Sears (44% to 34%) should cause Earle-Sears to be concerned, especially given 25% of Republicans do not show support for her candidacy,” former Gov. Doug Wilder said in a statement released with the VCU poll Friday. “Spanberger’s lead, however, could be significantly impacted should Republicans close ranks around Earle-Sears’ candidacy. This is likewise true with independents since they prefer Earle-Sears to Spanberger (21% to 15%).” 

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Spanberger has raised more than $9.59 million in campaign dollars and had $6.55 million cash on hand as of Dec. 31, 2024, while Earle-Sears raised $2.56 million and had $2.11 million cash on hand. Spanberger declared her candidacy in November 2023, 10 months before Earle-Sears threw her hat in the ring.

If either woman wins the gubernatorial race, as seems likely, the victor will make history as Virginia’s first woman governor. Earle-Sears is the first woman to serve as Virginia’s lieutenant governor and the first Black woman and immigrant to hold statewide office.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer and postal inspector, served three terms in Congress, first beating Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Brat in 2018 in a traditionally -leaning district, and maintaining her seat in 2022 after congressional redistricting. She represented Fredericksburg, Caroline County and part of Prince William County until Jan. 1, when U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman succeeded Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

Republican , who has endorsed Earle-Sears in the governor’s race, is rumored to be interested in running for U.S. Sen. Mark Warner’s seat, which is up for election in 2026. Warner, a former Democratic governor, would be seeking his fourth term in the Senate and has 45% support of voters polled by VCU, compared to Youngkin’s 38%.

As for other areas of focus, CNU poll respondents said that improving K-12 education, reducing health care costs and strengthening the state’s are their highest priorities for the governor and the General Assembly. In the VCU poll, nearly 60% of voters said the economy and cost of living were their top issue, and K-12 education was the second most-cited issue.

2024 Va. housing market outpaced 2023 — barely

There were 102,509 home in Virginia in 2024. That’s 4,000 more than the previous year, according to .

A chart looking at home sales in December in Virginia over several years.
Photo courtesy Virginia Realtors

“While Virginia’s 2024 ended stronger than 2023, it was still relatively slow compared to average levels,” Ryan Price, chief economist for the trade organization, said in a statement. “Looking ahead to 2025, we predict pent-up demand will continue facilitating , though that same demand may keep upward pressure on prices.”

For December 2024, Virginia had 7,907 home sales, up 14.1% from December 2023, according to Virginia Realtors released January 22. In November 2024, 7,853 homes sold across the state.

Rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.72% in December 2024, according to Freddie Mac data.

“Last year’s market was unusually slow due to interest rates staying in the upper- to mid-7% range for much of the fall market,” Lorraine Arora, president of Virginia Realtors, said in a statement. “The surge we observed at the end of 2024 indicates buyers are coming to terms with mortgage rate levels which, while still elevated, are lower than a year ago.”

The Virginia market had 16,588 at the end of December 2024, a 13% increase from December 2023. “Supply in the market has been expanding for more than a year, though overall supply levels remain tight,” a Virginia Realtors news release explained.

The statewide median sales price in December 2024 was $413,490, up $31,000 from December 2023.

A graph illustrating the increase in median home prices.
Image courtesy Virginia Realtors

New listings last month totaled 5,649, up 13% from December 2023. While the situation is improving, the number of new listings remains below average, according to Virginia Realtors.

December 2024’s supply of (MSI) — a measure of how many months there would be homes on the market if no new inventory were added — stood at 1.9, up from 1.8 in December 2023.

Homes took slightly longer to sell last month. Statewide, homes spent a median of 19 days on the market, up from the 16-day median reported in November 2024 and two days longer than the median reported in December 2023.

Based in , Virginia Realtors represents about 35,000 Realtors and is the state’s largest trade association.

Accenture Federal Services wins $3.5B DOE contract

The Department of awarded , an federal contractor, a $3.5 billion, single-award, blanket purchase agreement to provide services to the agency on Friday, just prior to the ‘s return to the White House.

The CIO Business Operations Support Services (CBOSS) contract runs through 2032, according to a notice in the Federal Procurement Data System. The DOE received five bids, according to the award.

A spokesperson for Federal Services directed a request for comment to the DOE Thursday.

In 2019, the Accenture subsidiary won a five-year CBOSS contract with a potential value of $2 billion. It covered general IT support, telecommunications, cybersecurity, systems architecture and engineering, and shared services, according to the federal contractor.

In November 2024, Accenture Federal Services announced the award of a task order of up to $1.6 billion to scale and enhance Cloud One, the cloud computing platforms available to the U.S. Department of Defense that are managed by the Air Force.

An Accenture subsidiary, Accenture Federal Services employs 15,500 workers. Its parent company reported $64.9 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024.

Va. to receive $107.4M in updated opioids settlement

Virginia stands to receive up to $107.4 million in a multistate proposed by OxyContin producer and its owners, the family, Jason Miyares announced Thursday.

The defendants in the federal case have offered to pay $7.4 billion to 14 states to settle claims that under the leadership of the Sacklers, Purdue “invented, manufactured and aggressively marketed products for decades, fueling waves of addiction and overdose deaths across the country,” according to Miyares’ statement. In the agreement, members of the Sackler family would pay $6.5 billion, and Purdue would pay $900 million, and the Sacklers would no longer own the , which filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after Purdue was sued thousands of times.

Much of the settlement money would go toward funding opioid addiction treatment and prevention programs over the next 15 years.

However, now the decision will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned an earlier settlement agreement in June 2024. The high court rejected that $4.3 billion settlement, in which Virginia expected to receive $80 million, in part because the agreement would have protected the Sackler family from future civil liability claims. The new settlement does not have that protection.

Although opioid addiction is a problem nationwide, Virginia has played a significant role in the lawsuits against Purdue and McKinsey & Co., which agreed in December 2024 to pay the federal government $650 million in a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Global management firm McKinsey was under investigation for its role in advising Purdue on how to increase of OxyContin, a brand name of oxycodone.

In that case, the Virginia attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) collaborated with U.S. attorney’s offices in the Western District of Virginia and the District of Massachusetts, and a former McKinsey senior partner pleaded guilty after being charged with obstruction of justice in Abingdon’s federal court.

In 2018, under former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, the state sued Purdue and related entities in Tazewell County Circuit Court, claiming that the company violated the Virginia Consumer Protection Act in marketing with “misrepresentations and deception regarding the risks of addiction and benefits of prescription opioids,” Miyares said in the announcement. The following year, 2019, the state included members of the Sackler family in the . This settlement, if approved, will resolve those claims.

In addition to Virginia, the other states involved in the settlement are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia.

Va. Beach gives Something in the Water 5-day deadline over contract breach

After receiving a brief reprieve, the clock is ticking for organizers for ‘ . Organizers were given five days to make significant progress in meeting ‘s requirements for a lineup of performers and a start to ticket , city officials decided Tuesday.

If organizers do not meet the city’s expectations by end of business Monday, they’ll be in breach of contract, and the two-day concert in late April will likely be canceled.

“I’m calling it,” said City Councilor Amelia Ross-Hammond, who recommended giving the festival a grace period earlier in January, after organizers failed to meet a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to provide the city with a full lineup of announced performers and begin ticket sales for the April 26-27 Oceanfront event.

A council liaison to the , Ross-Hammond moved to defer an agenda item Jan. 7 giving Something in the Water a five-day deadline, and the council voted 8-2 in agreement. Mayor Bobby Dyer, who had requested the resolution setting a deadline, noted that hoteliers and other city businesses had asked to give the festival organizers more time. However, Ross-Hammond asked City Manager Patrick Duhaney and his staff begin reporting weekly to the council on the festival’s progress.

At Tuesday’s informal council meeting, Deputy City Manager Amanda Jarratt had little news to report.

“They’ve maintained positive momentum towards bringing the festival to fruition,” Jarratt said. “They’ve also indicated that they are in active communication with event sponsors but remain impacted by the destruction associated with the L.A. fires. We have not received any information regarding ticket sales or the release of a lineup from festival organizers. In addition, there’s been no official communication related to a definitive timeline to receive this information. We have not received official confirmation related to their contractors and support teams necessary to support an event of this magnitude.”

Dyer and Ross-Hammond noted that the 90-day window for the festival was approaching, and that the city would need that time to work on public safety measures for the two-day concert.

“We don’t have any definitive answers, we don’t have any contracts right now to look at,” Ross-Hammond said Tuesday. “We’ve put out the welcome mats, we’ve done the grace, we’ve done the deference for a certain amount of weeks, and it’s coming back the same-old same-old. I’m looking at calling this now.”

Ross-Hammond thanked fellow councilors for supporting the earlier deference, and she handed the matter to the mayor’s judgment without a full council vote. Directing Duhaney and his staff to set a five-day deadline for organizers to cure the breach, Dyer said that he and other city officials “wanted to give their full effort” to the festival, which has been a moneymaker in 2019 and 2023 for the city coffers and nearby businesses.

The 2019 festival brought in $24 million in revenue for Hampton Roads, and a report prepared for the city found that the 2023 festival generated an economic impact of $26 million to $29 million for the City of Virginia Beach.

“Unfortunately, our backs are to the wall,” Dyer said Tuesday.

Council member Michael Berlucchi asked Duhaney what precisely the cure would need to be for SITW to avoid default. “The cure would have to be acceptable to the city,” Duhaney said. “I’m not sure what the cure would be.”

Berlucchi said he wanted to avoid confusion among the public, the city and concert organizers, but Duhaney noted that the acceptable cure would involve a “nuanced discussion.”

SITW’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

After a successful debut in 2019, Something in the Water was canceled in 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, Williams decided to host SITW in Washington, D.C., instead of Virginia Beach, after his cousin was shot and killed by a Virginia Beach police officer.

The festival returned to Virginia Beach in April 2023, with some canceled performances due to tornado threats and lightning. Williams then scheduled the 2024 festival for October 2024, but just after tickets went on sale last September, he unexpectedly called off the festival, writing, “Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves the best. So, Something in the Water has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet.”

After that, the city required SITW organizers to sign a contract with specific deadlines in order to receive $500,000 in funding from the city.

Dominion says offshore wind farm moving forward, despite executive order

President Donald Trump started his second term Monday with a flurry of executive orders, including one that temporarily ceases all federal wind leases under consideration and calls for an “immediate review” of the policies before resuming.

So, what does that mean for Virginia and , which is midway through constructing its $9.8 billion farm off the coast of and has purchased two other farm leases in the Atlantic Ocean?

The -based said in a statement Tuesday that it is “confident CVOW will be completed on time, and that Virginia’s clean energy transition will continue with bipartisan support for many years to come.”

Dominion noted that the state’s transition — part of 2020’s Virginia Clean Act, which requires Dominion to deliver 100% of electricity by renewable power sources by 2045 — has been underway “for several years under multiple state and federal administrations and with bipartisan support from policymakers at every level.”

Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton added that any plans for the utility’s other two ocean leases — the 40,000-acre CVOW-South plot off eastern North Carolina and the 176,505-acre lease adjacent to CVOW purchased last year — are well in the future. “At this time, we do not have an estimated timeline or cost for development of either CVOW South or the new leasehold,” he said. “Based on our most recent long-term planning document, if we pursued these projects, they are planned for the 2030s.”

Dominion completed CVOW’s federal approval process during the Biden administration, which was much friendlier to renewable energy and particularly than Trump’s White House is expected to be. The 2.6-gigawatt project, which is expected to provide enough energy to power 660,000 homes, is scheduled to be completed in 2026. As of November 2024, half of the monopile foundations for the 174 turbines had been installed.

The utility also sold some assets, including the $2.6 billion sale of a 50% noncontrolling stake of CVOW to investor Stonepeak, in 2024, reducing Dominion’s debt by approximately $21 billion and lowering risks during the wind farm’s construction.

Va. Tech Innovation Campus opens first academic building

The first academic of ‘s in opened to students Tuesday as classes commenced.

Virginia Tech started construction on the first academic building of the $1 billion campus in September 2021 and had planned to open the $302 million building in August 2024, but supply chain issues delayed the opening of the 300,000-square-foot, 11-story building.

Academic Building One has instruction, research, office and support spaces for graduate and programs. The building includes research and testing labs and maker spaces.

“This is an incredible moment for this campus,” said Lance Collins, vice president and executive director of the Innovation Campus, “because for the first time, we’re inviting all of our students onto the campus, so now the faculty, the staff and the students are all here, classes are underway, and we are, for the first time, bringing the entire full force of the Innovation Campus together.”

Virginia Tech opened the Innovation Campus headquarters on the ground floor of 3000 Potomac Ave. in 2021, adjacent to the site of the 3.5-acre campus. It houses executive offices and a café-style area.

Plans for the Innovation Campus include two more buildings, each about 150,000 square feet.

From fall 2020 until December 2024, graduate students attended classes at Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church, which closed in December 2024 and is set to become part of a mixed-use district including the ‘s Coalition for Smart Construction. The coalition will occupy 40,000 square feet on the ground floor of Hitt Contracting’s new headquarters under construction.

The Innovation Campus is part of Virginia’s Tech Talent Investment Program, which aims to produce 31,000 in-demand computer science and related graduates in the next two decades. At its full buildout, the Innovation Campus will produce about 500 master’s program graduates and 50 doctoral candidates annually.

The campus is “expanding the footprint of Virginia Tech in this region, and this is just such an important region,” Collins said, citing the proximity of the federal government and the presence of major tech companies and defense contractors.

“For so many reasons, it’s really important that the tech ecosystem here really be at the top, and so we believe we’re part of that, just in terms of growing the tech talent that will be feeding that tech ecosystem,” he added.

The Tech Talent Investment Program helped the region attract e-tailer Amazon.com’s multibillion-dollar HQ2, its East Coast headquarters. Located in , the first phase of HQ2, Metropolitan Park, opened in June 2023, although Amazon announced in March 2023 it was delaying construction on the second phase, PenPlace. Clark Construction plans to begin installing utilities for PenPlace, though, in March, according to Washington Business Journal.

Also nearby, the Potomac Yard-VT metro station opened in May 2023.

QinetiQ names new president and CEO

Tom Vecchiolla, a longtime defense executive, has succeeded Shawn N. Purvis as president and CEO of security and , the UK-based parent company QinetiQ Group announced Tuesday.

Purvis joined QinetiQ in February 2022, having previously worked at Northrop Grumman, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and Lockheed Martin. In November 2022, QinetiQ US acquired McLean-based Avantus Federal for $590 million.

“We are pleased to announce that Tom Vecchiolla has taken over the leadership of our U.S. business, succeeding Shawn Purvis, who helped build the business and brand in the U.S.,” QinetiQ said in a statement. “Tom is a highly experienced and seasoned leader, having been president of Raytheon International Inc. and most recently CEO of North America.”

Purvis said in an interview Tuesday that her intent was “to build a presence and establish a platform” for QinetiQ in the United States, and that she felt she had succeeded. “Now I’m going to do something different.”

Vecchiolla comes to QinetiQ with more than three decades of experience, including military, public sector and defense industry executive roles.

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in physics, Vecchiolla spent 22 years as a Navy pilot and later as an acquisition professional at the U.S. Department of Defense. He then worked as a military legislative assistant for former U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, according to his LinkedIn page.

In 2002, Vecchiolla joined what was then , now known as RTX. Over 15 years, he worked as the company’s director of business development and vice president of business development and strategy. For three years he was president of Raytheon International and led business development teams worldwide.

In 2018, Vecchiolla became president and CEO of ST Engineering North America, an defense contractor.

QinetiQ US is a subsidiary of QinetiQ Group PLC, a British defense, aerospace, and technology company, that has more than 6,000 employees. QinetiQ US reported $1.3 billion in total contract awards during fiscal year 2024.