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Leidos wins TSA contract worth up to $2.6B

Reston-based Fortune 500 has won contract worth up to $2.6 billion, according to a Tuesday notice on SAM.gov.

awarded the TSA Checkpoint Integrated Logistics Support Services contract for checkpoint maintenance services on Dec. 31, 2024.

According to the request for proposals issued in April 2024, the contractor will be responsible for all elements of transportation security equipment sustainment and logistics support, including radiation surveys; corrective maintenance; applicable preventative maintenance; communications; maintenance planning; supply support; tools, test equipment and calibration; parts and parts obsolescence; subcontract agreements; and TSA Logistics Center services.

The contract has a base transition-in period of six months, seven one-year options and one six-month option.

Leidos provides technology, engineering and science services to defense, intelligence, civil and market customers. It has about 48,000 employees and reported approximately $15.4 billion in 2023 revenue.

Something in the Water gets extension from Va. Beach

Pharrell Williams’ got a bit of a break Tuesday from members, who agreed to give the Virginia -born music and fashion maven more time to fulfill an overdue part of the festival’s contract with the city.

voted 8-2 Tuesday to indefinitely defer an earlier resolution that would have given Williams’ Something in the Water team a five-day deadline to announce the April 26-27 festival’s lineup or be in default of its contract — potentially leading to its cancellation. The issue arose when SITW did not meet a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to start ticket sales and provide a full list of announced musicians to the city.

Mayor Bobby Dyer requested the original resolution, but at Tuesday night’s meeting, he agreed with Council member Amelia Ross-Hammond, who moved to defer that agenda item indefinitely. However, Ross-Hammond noted that she was only granting organizers so much grace. She requested that as of Jan. 14, the city manager and his staff report begin reporting weekly to City Council on progress with the festival’s organizers, and that the mayor should be ready to call a special meeting if problems arise with the festival.

According to Ross-Hammond, SITW representatives have been in “multiple discussions” with city authorities over the past several days. “They are working towards bringing the festival to fruition,” she said. “We’re not sitting on our hands. We’ll be prepared, and so I’m asking our mayor to be ready just in case.”

Another councilor, Worth Remick, said that he understands that Dyer has spoken directly with Williams in recent days, “and he is going to take it upon himself to make this a success, and I trust in him to do that. I trust Mr. Williams to do the right thing.”

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson said she’s heard from local hotels, and they too advocated for giving SITW festival organizers more time. “It doesn’t just help them, but it also helps all the citizens with what they add to the [economic] of the city and helping to keep your taxes low and that sort of thing.”

Wilson and others said the organizers will have to communicate with the city and make progress in coming weeks.

Dyer recalled the 2019 festival, which was set up in a matter of months and brought in approximately 35,000 concert attendees. “It was magic.”

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.

Council member Barbara Henley, a no voter, said she thought the council was already giving organizers more latitude, and there’s “got to be a time when we say, ‘This is it, folks.'”

After a successful debut in 2019, Something in the Water hit rough waters. In 2020 and 2021, the festival was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 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.

According to the agreement signed Nov. 15, 2024, by city and concert organizers, the festival’s promoter would receive $100,000 upon the execution of the agreement, with $200,000 to come after the city received the artist lineup and $200,000 more after completion of a special event permit application.

City Manager Patrick Duhaney said that so far, SITW has not received any funding from the city.

ICF acquires tech, advisory services company

Reston-headquartered and services provider has acquired New York-based tech and advisory services company Applied Group from Ameresco, it announced Tuesday.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Massachusetts-based energy efficiency and renewable energy company Ameresco acquired Applied Energy Group in 2011.

“This transaction aligns with our strategy to extend our capabilities in ICF’s growth areas, with specific emphasis on our energy markets advisory and technology-enabled services,” ICF Chair and CEO John Wasson said in a statement.

AEG has more than 100 utility management and demand-side energy experts, according to a news release. The company has a cloud-based energy tech platform that centralizes various demand-side management programs like energy efficiency and demand response.

AEG also provides advisory services including market assessments, potential energy studies, program planning, design, and implementation and evaluation services. It serves electric and gas utilities, state and local governments and state energy offices.

“We have successfully partnered with ICF on dozens of utility management projects and have a proven track record of delivering positive results for our clients,” Ingrid Rohmund, president and general manager of AEG, said in a statement. “As one team, I am confident we can significantly expand our revenue and reach.”

ICF projects AEG will generate approximately $30 million in annual revenue in 2024 at margins comparable to ICF’s overall commercial energy business, according to a news release. The company’s revenues are expected to increase by at least a mid-teens rate in 2025.

Founded in 1969, ICF has approximately 9,000 employees. During the past two decades, ICF has doubled in size every five years on average. It reported fiscal 2023 revenue of $1.96 billion, up 10% from the previous year.

Martinsville doctor found guilty of 460+ counts of opioids distribution

A federal court jury in found Dr. Joel Smithers, who previously practiced in , guilty of 466 federal counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances, the for Western Virginia announced Dec. 31, 2024. He was also found guilty of one count of maintaining a place for the purpose of illegally distributing controlled substances.

At his Dec. 21, 2024, trial, Smithers was, however, found not guilty on nearly 400 other related counts of drug distribution. The jury also determined that the oxycodone and oxymorphone Smithers prescribed to a West Virginia woman did not result in her death.

Smithers had previously been found guilty of 859 counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances and sentenced to 40 years in prison. However, those convictions were later vacated on appeal.

Beau B. Brindley, a Chicago attorney representing Smithers, framed the verdict out of the as good news. “Dr. Smithers was acquitted of nearly 400 counts,” Brindley said in a statement. “He was, most notably, found not guilty of prescribing medication that caused death — the most serious charge in the case.”

Shane Todd, an acting special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration, saw the outcome differently, stating in a news release that the December “demonstrates Smither’s criminal indifference to the lives of others, and to the families who loved them.”

Jason Miyares said in a statement, “The existence of these ‘pill mills’ flooding Southwest Virginia with controlled substances violates one of the first principles of the Hippocratic Oath: to do no harm. Joel Smithers did not seek to treat patients but rather sought to destroy lives for profit.”

Evidence presented at trial showed that Smithers, who opened an office in Martinsville in 2015, prescribed more than 500,000 Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone and fentanyl.

Many of the patients traveled hundreds of miles to see Smithers, who did not accept insurance. He took in over $700,000 in cash and credit card payments prior to a search warrant being executed at his office in March 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Virginia Department of Professions mandatorily suspended Smithers license to practice osteopathy and surgery on Oct. 7, 2019.

In February 2024, Smithers’ 2019 conviction was overturned by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in . A panel of justices looked to a 2022 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found the must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant knowingly or intentionally violated the when prescribing controlled substances. In his 2024 opinion, Judge Roger L. Gregory wrote that the court was vacating the convictions “because the jury was improperly instructed and the instructions were not harmless.”

Smithers, who has remained in custody since his original conviction in 2019, is scheduled to be sentenced March 3 in Abingdon. For each distribution count, Smithers faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. For maintaining a place for the illegal distribution of controlled substances, Smithers faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.

Brindley believes Smithers, “having been found not guilty of the most serious charges,” now faces “a very limited sentence.” And “we also look forward to appealing the remaining convictions and seeing them all reversed,” he said in the statement. “Dr Smithers stood up to the federal government and succeeded.”

Booz Allen to pay $15.8M fine to settle fraud allegations

Booz Allen Hamilton, the -based Fortune 500 global management , has agreed to pay a $15.875 million fine to the federal to settle allegations that one of its subsidiaries violated the False Claims Act, the Department of Justice announced Jan. 3.

According to the DOJ’s statement, two former program managers at Maryland-based Hamilton Engineering Services (BES), John G. Hancock and Karen K. Paulsen, “knowingly engaged in a fraudulent course of conduct” with a civilian Air Force employee, Keith A. Seguin, and a BES subcontractor, David J. Bolduc Jr. of -based software engineering company , to win a General Services Administration task order to test military training simulators.

In 2023, Bolduc, who was a co-owner and director of operations at , was sentenced to 120 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the Justice Department, from 2007 to 2018, Bolduc and others paid $2.3 million in bribes to Seguin in return for his assistance in obtaining government contracts and subcontracts for QuantaDyn. Hancock was sentenced to 40 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Paulsen was sentenced to five years of probation. Seguin, a Texas resident, was sentenced to 188 months in prison for wire fraud and tax fraud in 2023.

“The government alleges that Seguin improperly and illegally divulged confidential and budget information, a competitor’s confidential bid or proposal information and source selection information to Hancock and Paulsen, who used the illicit information despite knowing they were not authorized to possess it,” the DOJ announcement read.

After the GSA awarded the task order to BES, the government alleges that the four people used confidential federal budget information to submit price quotes to GSA for 37 individual modules, which BES awarded to QuantaDyn and were paid by GSA.

“Over the past several years, my office has used every tool at its disposal — from civil settlements to criminal prosecution to asset forfeiture — to hold accountable the companies and individuals that helped a corrupt federal employee at Randolph Air Force Base defraud the United States by steering training simulator contracts,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas said in a statement. “I am grateful for the assistance of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and our enforcement partners in finally closing the book on this fraud scheme with the civil settlement announced today.”

Booz Allen said in a statement Monday that the company denies violating the False Claims Act.

“This settlement resolves a civil matter involving the conduct of three former employees shortly after Booz Allen acquired their company from and formed the Booz Allen Engineering Services (BES) subsidiary in 2012,” the company said in a statement. “There are no findings or admissions of wrongdoing on the part of Booz Allen. The conduct described in the settlement largely occurred before the company was acquired by Booz Allen.”

In November 2012, Booz Allen purchased ARINC’s defense systems engineering and support division for $154 million, which it integrated as BES.

“Booz Allen raised concerns to the government prior to learning about the investigation and subsequently fully cooperated in resolving the matter. As acknowledged by the government in its investigation, the individuals involved in this matter admitted to taking deliberate steps to hide their conduct from the company because they would have been promptly terminated. We categorically deny that the company violated the False Claims Act and are pleased to move beyond this decade-old matter.”

In 2020, the DOJ entered into a civil settlement agreement with QuantaDyn and its majority owner, president and CEO, William T. Dunn Jr. In that agreement, QuantaDyn agreed to pay $37.75 million in restitution, and Dunn paid $500,000 to resolve his False Claims Act liability.

Smithfield Foods files for IPO

Virginia’s Foods announced Monday it has filed a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its .

This is the first step toward the and packaged meats giant’s plan of selling common on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SFD.

In November 2024, Smithfield’s parent company, China-based , announced it would take the Virginia subsidiary public in early 2025. WH Group said then it plans to offer up to 20% of Smithfield’s stock shares, reducing the parent company’s ownership to 80%. Smithfield recorded a net asset value of $5.38 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, and its share offering is expected to be valued at $5.4 billion, according to that announcement.

Monday’s statement said that the shareholder plans to sell shares, but “the offering is subject to market conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering.”

The largest pork producer in the United States, has about 34,000 employees nationwide. In December 2024, the company signed a deal with VisionAg, an affiliate of North Carolina’s HD3 Farms, to start a new hog production business in early 2025 in Cary, North Carolina. Smithfield will purchase a 9% minority interest in the business for $450,000 in cash, the SEC document submitted Monday says.

In September 2024, Smithfield’s European operations were carved into an independent subsidiary now known as Morliny Foods, part of a streamlining effort before going public.

Smithfield Foods also said it would transfer some of its hog farming operations to a venture controlled by Murphy Family Ventures in North Carolina, Bloomberg reported earlier in December. According to the SEC filing, Smithfield paid Murphy $3 million in cash in exchange for a 25% minority interest in the enterprise, which will supply approximately 3.2 million hogs to Smithfield annually.

In December 2024, Smithfield sold its hog production assets in Utah for $58 million, resulting in a gain of $32 million, and in November 2024, the company sold some of its Missouri hog farms for $32 million at a loss of $4 million, it said in the filing.

The company also settled child labor claims in November 2024 with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, paying $2 million. Minnesota alleged that 11 underage workers were employed at Smithfield Packaged Meats in St. James, Minnesota, performing hazardous work and, in the case of nine children, working at night after hours allowed under state . Smithfield said in a statement that it denied knowingly hiring anyone under age 18 at the facility.

This story has been corrected.

Virginia’s Top Doctors 2025

From stitching up childhood scrapes to guiding us through life’s most challenging diagnoses, are the backbone of our and well-being. Few decisions carry as much weight as choosing the right physician, whose expertise and compassion can shape the trajectory of our lives. And with four major schools statewide, Virginia is home to a host of talented medical doctors deserving of recognition for their achievements in research and treatment.

That’s where Virginia’s Top Doctors comes in. Published by Virginia Business in cooperation with the Medical Society of Virginia, Virginia’s is a peer-selected, statewide list of the top physicians across 87 categories of medical specialties.

Virginia Business contracted with Colorado-based media research and analytics firm DataJoe to conduct online balloting of Virginia physicians, who were asked to identify which of their peers are the top doctors in specific specialties.

This year’s statewide Top Doctors list recognizes 1,423 doctors — 15.6% of the 9,096 doctors who were nominated by their peers this year. Based on input from physicians and health systems, Virginia Business added 27 medical specialty categories for 2025, largely reflecting a wider range of pediatric specialties.

All doctors actively practicing medicine and licensed in Virginia in good standing are eligible to and be included in the list. Doctors on the list must hold M.D., DO or DPM degrees (or DDS/DDM degrees if practicing oral and maxillofacial surgery).

 

 

Related article:

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Providers, nonprofits, colleges battle health care labor crisis

 

 

 

 

2025

Click on category to see complete list of physicians

Addiction Medicine

Adolescent Medicine

Allergy and Immunology

Anesthesiology

Breast Surgery

Cardiology

Cardiothoracic Surgery

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Colon and Rectal Surgery

Cosmetic Surgery

Dermatology

Diagnostic Radiology

Emergency Medicine

Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism

Family Medicine

Gastroenterology

General Surgery

Geriatric Medicine

Gynecologic Oncology

Hand Surgery

Hematology

Hematology Oncology

Hospice and Palliative

Infectious Disease

Internal Medicine

Interventional Cardiology

Interventional Radiology

Maternal and Fetal Medicine

Nephrology

Neurology

Neurosurgery

Obstetrics and Gynecology

Oncology

Ophthalmology

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Orthopedic Surgery

Orthopedics

Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose and Throat)

Pain Management

Pathology

Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

Pediatric Anesthesiology

Pediatric Cardiology

Pediatric Critical Care Medicine

Pediatric Dermatology

Pediatric Developmental Behavioral

Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Pediatric Endocrinology

Pediatric Gastroenterology

Pediatric Genetics

Pediatric Hematology Oncology

Pediatric Hospital Medicine

Pediatric Infectious Disease

Pediatric Nephrology

Pediatric Neurology

Pediatric Neurosurgery

Pediatric Ophthalmology

Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery

Pediatric Otolaryngology (ENT)

Pediatric Pain and Palliative Medicine

Pediatric Pathology

Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Pediatric Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Pediatric Pulmonology

Pediatric Radiology

Pediatric Rheumatology

Pediatric Surgery

Pediatric Urology

Pediatrics (General)

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Podiatry

Psychiatry

Pulmonology

Radiation Oncology

Radiology

Reproductive Endocrinology

Rheumatology

Sleep Medicine

Spine Surgery

Sports Medicine

Surgical Oncology

Thoracic Surgery

Urology

Vascular Surgery

Weight Loss Surgery

Outlook unclear for Something in the Water festival with Va. Beach vote set

The is set to consider an agenda item next week that could lead to the cancellation of the April 26-27 music , if organizers don’t provide the city with a full list of announced artists within days of the Jan. 7 .

Under an agreement signed by city and festival officials in November 2024, SITW organizers were supposed to provide the city with a list of performers for the two-day Oceanfront festival and start ticket sales by Dec. 31, 2024, but they did not meet the deadline. Now, according to the city council’s public agenda, the body is expected to take up a resolution that would give organizers five days to give the city the lineup of artists. If that doesn’t happen, the concerts will be canceled, according to the agenda item.

This is just the latest bit of turmoil surrounding the festival, which music and fashion superstar Williams launched in 2019 on Virginia ‘s Oceanfront, with dozens of top music acts and thousands of attendees, as well as millions in local revenue. In 2020 and 2021, the festival was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 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.

In April 2023, however, the festival returned to the beach, featuring performances by Williams, Lil Wayne, the Jonas Brothers, Sean “Diddy” Combs and other popular music stars, although a tornado threat led to the cancellation of some performances. Williams then said he’d stage the festival at a different time of year in hopes of better weather, leading to its scheduling in October 2024.

However, just after tickets went on sale in September 2024, Williams suddenly called off the concerts in a social media post, in which he wrote, “Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves the best. So, Something in the Water has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet.”

According to media reports, city officials were blindsided by the announcement, and hotels and other Oceanfront businesses lost money. At that point, the city said it would need greater transparency and oversight of the festival, if it were to be held the following April. In exchange for up to $500,000 in city funding, SITW organizers agreed to several provisions, including a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to announce the lineup of artists and begin ticket sales.

A city spokesperson on Friday confirmed that SITW organizers requested an extension on the Dec. 31 deadline before the end of the year.

“The Something in the Water team has asked for an extension for releasing the festival’s lineup and ticket sales,” Ali Weatherton-Shook said in an emailed statement. “Staff will present this request to City Council and discuss what direction Council wants to take at that point.” 

Robby Wells, the festival’s director, declined to comment on the matter Friday.

According to the City Council agenda item that will be under consideration at its Jan. 7 meeting, “SITW is in material breach of the sponsorship agreement for failure to provide the lineup to the city and commence ticket sales by Dec. 31, 2024.”

If the resolution passes, the city will set a five-day deadline for the concert’s organizers to “cure” the breach and fulfill the agreement’s terms, which could be as soon as Jan. 12.

If SITW fails to meet the city’s requirements within five days, “the city manager shall immediately terminate the sponsorship agreement and seek the return of any funds advanced to SITW.” The resolution, which was taken up by request of Mayor Bobby Dyer, concludes by saying that the city manager will “explore alternative programming for April 26 and 27” if the agreement is terminated.

According to the agreement signed Nov. 15, 2024, by city and concert organizers, the festival’s promoter would receive $100,000 upon the execution of the agreement, with $200,000 to come after the city received the artist lineup and $200,000 more after completion of a special event permit application.

The inaugural 2019 SITW sold 35,000 tickets and garnered $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.

Herndon office building portfolio sells for $51M

A portfolio of four in sold for $51 million, Management announced Thursday.

Dubbed Dulles Corner, the four buildings comprise nearly 620,000 square feet of space. Located at the intersection of Dulles Toll Road and Virginia Route 28, the properties are:

  • 2411 Dulles Corner Park, an eight-story, nearly 180,000-square-foot office building built in 1990 and renovated in 2022,
  • 13880 Dulles Corner Lane, a four-story, more than 150,000-square-foot office building completed in 1997, with improvements made in 2022,
  • 2355 Dulles Corner Blvd., an eight-story, more than 180,000-square-foot office building constructed in 1988 and renovated in 2022,
  • 13825 Sunrise Valley Drive, a two-story, roughly 105,000-square-foot office building completed in 1989, with improvements made in 2005.

The portfolio has more than 2,100 parking spaces, as well as conference facilities, a private fitness center, on-site restaurants, a day care and a park feature with walking paths, water features and outdoor eating areas.

Current tenants include Reston Peraton, cloud technology company SAP National Security Services (SAP NS2), company DLT Solutions, defense contractor Mission Essential, federal contractor Valiant Integrated Services, tech company Synopsys and BlackSky Technology. Finmarc has space available to lease in the portfolio, and Cushman & Wakefield is overseeing leasing.

Bethesda, Maryland-based company Finmarc Management bought the properties from Brandywine Realty Trust. Eastdil Secured represented the seller. Aaron Rosenfeld with Kelley Drye & Warren provided legal services to Finmarc, and Cliff Mendelson with Metropolis Capital Advisors assisted in debt placement.

The Dulles Corner brings Finmarc’s 2024 transactional volume to about $210 million across almost 1.7 million square feet of , industrial , data center land and retail space.

“We intend to remain aggressive in our pursuit of emerging institutional-quality, under-performing and value-add assets in the coming year,” Finmarc Principal Neil Markus said in a statement, adding that the mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Southeast regions are the company’s primary investment focus.

Finmarc previously acquired a four-building portfolio in Centreville in August 2024 for $39.36 million. Called Trinity Centre, the portfolio has almost 500,000 square feet of Class A commercial office space and is home to Carfax’s headquarters.

“Our recent acquisition of Trinity Centre, together with significant commercial real estate holdings in the Northern Virginia and greater Washington, D.C., market, validates our optimism about the long-term prospects of the region,” Markus said in a statement.

Buc-ee’s estimates first Va. location to open in June

Leave it to beaver — the behatted mascot of mega- chain Buc-ee’s, that is.

Texas-based Buc-ee’s projects it will open its first travel center in Virginia — its 74,000-square-foot location — on June 30, although the opening date is not set in stone, Buc-ee’s Media Coordinator Crissy Gonzales noted in an email this week.

Located at the intersection of I-81 and Friedens Church Road, the center will have 120 fueling positions. The chain expects to create 200 jobs with the and .

Buc-ee’s broke ground on the Rockingham County location on Jan. 30, 2024, after buying 21.3 acres for $6.6 million in September 2023. The county revealed plans for the location in July 2023 by posting on its Facebook page that the company had applied for a special-use permit for review and approval of a sign plan.

“Construction is well underway, and we are excited to bring award-winning clean restrooms, freshly prepared Texas barbeque and cheap gas in 2025,” Buc-ee’s General Counsel Jeff Nadalo said in a statement Thursday. He added that is involved in the permitting process in Stafford County. Meanwhile, the opening of Buc-ee’s New Kent County location, announced in 2023, has been postponed to 2027.

In June 2023, Buc-ee’s paid $6.5 million for 27.68 acres in New Kent County east of , at Exit 211 off Interstate 64. The county’s department posted to its Facebook page in March 2023 that the chain filed for a conditional use permit for signage.

Although Buc-ee’s initially planned to open the New Kent location by 2025, according to a 2023 S.L. Nusbaum Realty news release, its expected opening has been pushed to 2027 to coordinate with road construction projects. Those projects include the I-64 widening project underway in the county and a diverging diamond interchange at the Exit 211 interchange, which likely won’t be completed until 2030, according to the Tidewater Review.

The county has requested $44 million in state funding through the Smart Scale program to help build the diverging diamond interchange at Exit 211.

In February 2024, Buc-ee’s submitted a conditional use permit application to Stafford County for a 74,000-square-foot travel center on about 36 acres by Exit 140 off Interstate 95. The proposed center would include 120 fueling stations and create an estimated 200 jobs.

According to county property records, the land included in the Stafford County CUP application is owned by Rocky Ridge Joint Venture, which shares an address with Van Metre Cos.

The application is currently in the first round of county staff review, according to a Stafford County application graphic dated July 8, 2024. The process from submission to going before the board of supervisors could take up to nine months.

Some Stafford residents have voiced opposition to the proposed Buc-ee’s center, with more than 20 people speaking against it at a county Board of Supervisors meeting in May 2024, although the travel center was not on the agenda, according to Fredericksburg Free Press‘ reporting. Opponents of the Stafford location have also created a petition on Change.org, which had 1,598 signatures as of Thursday. A Buc-ee’s representative did not provide a statement directly responding to a question about the petition.

Buc-ee’s plans to have four total Virginia locations, according a June 2023 news release from S.L. Nusbaum Realty.

Founded in 1982, Buc-ee’s has 34 stores in Texas and 14 centers in other states.