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Arlington apartment tower sells for $48.5M

A 162-unit high-rise apartment property in has changed hands.

Fortis Cos., a Washington, D.C.-based development and investment company, acquired Marlowe from Equity for $48.5 million, according to Berkadia, a services and mortgage firm, and Arlington County property records.

The 162-unit property located at 400 15th St. S. is located across from Metropolitan Park, the first phase of ‘s East Coast , HQ2.

Marlowe Apartments, built in 1986, is connected to the Crystal City Metro station.

Patrick McGlohn, Brian Gould, Miles Drinkwalter and Pat Cunningham of Berkadia DC Metro secured $40.6 million in financing on behalf of the buyer. The financing closed on May 6 in conjunction with the sale of the property. Berkadia DC Metro Institutional , led by Brian Crivella, Yalda Ghamarian and Bill Gribbin, facilitated the sale on behalf of the seller.

Suffolk logistics facility purchased for $50.5M

An entity connected with Ashley Capital, a New York-based industrial company, sold a multi-tenant facility in for $50.5 million to a Florida real estate investment firm on May 1, according to the city’s property records.

The , a 707,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution facility on College Drive in Suffolk, was purchased by . The building sits on 50 acres about seven miles from the container terminal.

InLight acquired the property in a joint venture with a Connecticut-based institutional family office, which an InLight spokesperson declined to name. Financing for the acquisition was through Connecticut-based Knighthead Funding, according to InLight’s announcement.

Bridgeway Business Center is fully leased with five tenants, including Newport News-based , , Georgia-based , the and Louisiana-based Dupré Logistics, according to InLight.

HII has leased space at the property since 1997 to support its adjacent Newport News Shipbuilding subsidiary, which was a draw for InLight, according to Charles Margiota, a partner at the real estate investment company. “We are thrilled to acquire an asset that, for the last 27 years, has been home to HII, the largest Navy shipbuilder in the country,” Margiota said in a statement.

InLight, an investment and development firm that focuses on industrial and logistics real estate across the Sun Belt, Midwest, East Coast and Gulf Coast markets, plans property improvements to the business center. The company spokesperson declined to specify what the upgrades will entail.

Visit Williamsburg names new CEO

The Council, also known as , has named its new , the organization announced Wednesday.

Former CEO Victoria Cimino stepped down from the role in January after more than four years leading the destination organization for Williamsburg, and .

With more than two decades of marketing and tourism experience under his belt, Harris most recently served as president and CEO of Discover Lancaster in Pennsylvania. Previously, Harris worked as chief marketing officer for the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board in Pennsylvania and held positions in brand development for companies including Converse and Under Armour, according to his LinkedIn page.

Harris has a marketing degree from Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania and an MBA from Boston College.

“His extensive experience and impressive qualifications in the tourism and marketing industry make him the perfect fit for this role,” Ruth Larson, chair of Visit Williamsburg, said in a news release.

Harris will begin his duties June 25.

In 2022, nearly 2 million visitors spent $941.4 million throughout the region, driving $48.5 million in travel-related tax revenue.

Shenandoah University receives $20M gift from alumnus

A Shenandoah University alumnus and his wife have pledged $20 million to the university, the largest individual in the history of the school.
Wilbur and Clare Dove’s , announced last month, will go toward the building of a performing and visual on campus, according to the university.

earned his junior college degree in 1959 from what was then known as Shenandoah College and Conservatory. That institution, which was previously located in Dayton, moved to Winchester in 1960 and was renamed Shenandoah University in 1991. Dove was a member of the final class to attend Shenandoah at its former Dayton location.

“This performing and visual arts building will transform the university and will allow Shenandoah and its conservatory to continue to provide the very best educational experience and opportunities to its students,” Wilbur Dove said in a statement.

The Doves have been longtime supporters of , most recently giving toward the construction of Dove’s Nest and Dove’s Nest II, two of five apartment-style residence halls that make up The Village on the university’s campus. The couple also created an endowed scholarship in the name of Wilbur’s former roommate and lifelong friend, the Rev. Bruce Gearhart.

 

How AI is Changing Small Business for the Better

By Kathryn Falk, vice president and market leader, Cox Communications Northern Virginia

Virginia’s small business owners face challenges every day, from supply chain logjams to rising inflation. Now, with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, there are new questions for proprietors to answer.

Despite the headlines touting AI as a replacement for humans, a survey by Cox Business shows that small businesses view the technology as a tool to strengthen and grow their teams. Business owners and employees were surveyed to better understand their usage of and sentiment on AI in the workplace, and 52% of small business owners said AI enables them to increase or retain employees, and 65% of employees said the same, showing strong support for this ground-breaking technology.

Small businesses can see the potential benefits to AI – and many of them have already invested in an AI tool. In fact, one-third of small business owners invested in AI for their company last year and 53% plan to invest in AI even more in 2024.

“The data clearly shows that small and medium-sized businesses are embracing AI,” said Mark Greatrex, president of Cox Communications. “Leveraging AI to boost productivity and enhance the customer experience empowers entrepreneurs to take their business to the next level and prosper. With our generative AI practice at RapidScale, we are making it easier to realize the benefits faster.”

Can AI tools from RapidScale help your business perform at a higher level? Visit the RapidScale website today to find out more or reach out to me on LinkedIn.

 

 

 

Hampden-Sydney College receives $20M pledge

Richmond-based has pledged $20 million to , the second largest in the college’s history.

The college will use the gift, announced Tuesday, toward renovating its former science center, Gilmer Hall, into an academic facility housing the economics and business, and government and foreign affairs departments. The two departments are currently housed in Morton Hall.

According to a Hampden-Sydney spokesperson, the Endeavour Legacy Foundation gift will cover the construction costs associated with the renovation of Gilmer Hall, work that will start this fall with an anticipated completion of spring 2026. Morton Hall and Johns Auditorium are being considered for future renovation.

“On behalf of a very grateful Hampden-Sydney College community, I thank Endeavour Legacy Foundation for its generous support for our shared vision to make Hampden-Sydney one of the finest and most distinctive colleges in the nation,” Hampden-Sydney College President Larry Stimpert said in a statement.

The Endeavour Legacy Foundation is co-led by Katharine “Kathy” Pauley Hickok, the daughter of the late Stanley F. and Dorothy Pauley. In September 2019, Hampden-Sydney College received a $30 million gift from Stan Pauley. The gift supported the construction of a new science facility, the Pauley Science Center, which opened in August 2022.

Stan Pauley was the chairman and of polyurethane materials producer Carpenter Co. and served on the Hampden-Sydney board of trustees. He died in 2020 at the age of 93. His wife and fellow philanthropist, Dorothy Pauley, died in 2021 at the age of 91.

The family foundation also supported Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, including a $5 million in 2005 that named the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center. As of November 2020, the Pauley family had committed more than $28 million to VCU. Dorothy Pauley graduated from the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences in 1974.

Kathy Pauley Hickok serves as president/secretary of the Endeavour Legacy Foundation, and her husband, Eugene “Gene” Hickok, serves as the vice president/director of the foundation, according to its 2022 tax return filing. Gene Hickok served as U.S. deputy secretary of education from 2003 to 2005 under then-President George W. Bush. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1972 and was director of the college’s financial aid.

A private men’s college in , Hampden-Sydney College first held classes in 1775. As of fall 2023, the college had 876 students enrolled, according to State Council of for Virginia data.

Note: This story has been changed since publication to distinguish between the Endeavour Legacy Foundation and the . 

VDOT buys Owens & Minor’s Hanover HQ for $33.5M

The Virginia Department of Transportation has purchased the of for $33.5 million, with plans to move the state agency’s central there in summer 2025.

Much of ‘s staff will move from the Annex building at 1401 E. Broad St. into the new building at 9120 Lockwood Blvd. in , according to Jessica Cowardin, assistant director of communications for the state agency. The 160,000-square-foot campus in Atlee Station Business Park was built by Timmons Group in 2006. VDOT also purchased an additional 50 acres, according to Newmark Group, which brokered the deal.

Meanwhile, Owens & Minor expects to vacate the building by the end of this year. The Fortune 500 global health care logistics and supplies company plans to relocate its somewhere in the region. While declining to specify where the company would move, a company spokesperson said the move “better reflects the current needs of our organization and our teammates.” Owens & Minor has 1,400 employees in Virginia and more than 20,000 worldwide, including hundreds of workers in the Richmond area.

The move will not impact the company’s operations and is a reflection of workplace trends and worker preference, according to the company.

Owens & Minor headquarters
Photo courtesy Newmark

In November 2020, Owens & Minor announced it was pulling the plug on its 90,000-square-foot downtown Richmond call center and would be seeking tenants to sublet the space after so many workers started working remotely.

“We’re proud that Owens & Minor has called Richmond, Virginia, home for more than 100 years, and look forward to our continued presence in the local community,” a statement from the company said.

Brandon Turner, director of County Economic Development, said Monday that he doesn’t expect Owens & Minor’s next headquarters to be located in the county. “It would be very difficult because we don’t have a lot of Class A office space,”  he said. “What we have is very small, and I think what they’re looking for is larger than what we have available on the market in Hanover.”

Owens & Minor moving to a new headquarters is a double-edged sword, Turner said. The company will be off the county’s tax roll and VDOT, as a Virginia state agency, will not pay taxes.

“That in and of itself is a bit of a hit,” Turner said. “On the flip side, the building is heavily underutilized right now by Owens & Minor due to their [work-from-home] policies. When VDOT comes up, they will bring significantly more individuals up here, and those will be going out into the neighboring businesses [and] eating, buying groceries, whatever. So if you own a business in this corridor, it’s going to be a boon.”

Andrew Sandquist and Adam Faulk, JC Asensio and Adam Petrillo,  Briggs Goldberg, Will Bradley and Mark Williford, all of Newmark, represented the seller on the transaction.

Owens & Minor reported $10.3 billion in 2023 revenues, up from $9.9 billion in 2022.

Peraton exec takes top spot at V2X

Jeremy Wensinger will replace Chuck Prow as president and of -based aerospace and defense contractor on June 17, the company announced Monday.

The transition is part of a “board-led succession planning process” the company said in a news release.

Wensinger, who will also be a member of V2X”s board of directors, has more than three decades of experience as a defense and executive. He comes to V2X from -based technology contractor Peraton, where he served as chief operating officer since 2017.

Previously, Wensinger was principal at , a consulting firm for the defense sector, as well as president at Falls Church-based government contractor , which was acquired by Germantown, Maryland-based aerospace defense contractor in 2022.

“He has a proven track record of delivering best-in-class financial and operational performance within the broad defense services and aerospace industry, as well as a strategic approach to managing businesses, building strong stakeholder relationships and creating value,” Mary Howell, V2X’s board chairman, said in the statement.

V2X formed in 2022 from the $2.1 billion of Colorado-based government contractor Vectrus and Mississippi-based The In June 2023, the company, which has about 16,000 employees, landed at No. 907 on the Fortune 1000 list.

V2X reported a 2023 revenue of $3.96 billion, up 8% over 2022. The company serves national security, defense, civilian and international clients with solutions related to operations and logistics, aerospace, training and technology.

Prow, who was named president and CEO of Vectrus in 2016, has more than 30 years of experience in information technology and federal services. He previously worked as a general manager of global government industry and in other roles at IBM. He also worked at Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“As the company nears the two-year anniversary of completing the transformational merger of Vectrus with Vertex to create the V2X platform, we thank Chuck for his dedication and valuable contributions,” Howell said in a statement. “During his tenure as CEO, the company delivered significant organic growth as well as further diversified its contract and customer base, established entirely new technological and service capabilities and delivered an enhanced customer and employee experience.”

Woods Rogers returns to original name

Call it a strategy of going back to the future — the merged Vandeventer Black firm is shortening its name back to its original appellation of Woods Rogers, executives announced Monday.

In 2022, -based Woods Rogers merged with Vandeventer Black in Norfolk, creating the state’s fifth largest , with more than 130 attorneys and a total workforce of 250 .

Summerlin

In addition to the shortened name, the firm has debuted a new website and , created in partnership with Maryland-based design agency Contrast & Co. and Washington, D.C.-based Firmseek, a website design company specializing in law and professional services firms. The rebranding initiative took place over nine months and was led by Woods Rogers’ in-house creative staff, according to the announcement.

As of January, Woods Rogers has 148 attorneys and offices in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Roanoke.

“We are excited to redefine the experience for our clients and position the firm for the future,” Woods Rogers President Dan Summerlin said in a statement. “Following the , members of the new firm came together to chart a course for our combined future. This allowed us to reflect on the two firms’ legacies and bring out the best of their collective traditions while looking toward the future. As we approach our second anniversary, we celebrate our shared identity and vision.”

Hampton Roads home sales, prices up in April

Home across were up in April, as the region also racked up near-record median sales prices, the (REIN) reported Friday.

There were 2,189 settled sales for the month, up from 2,057 in March and 2,053 in April 2023, according to REIN. There were 2,569 pending sales, compared with 2,317 in March and 2,363 in April 2023.

The of homes sold regionally in April was $344,000, the second-highest MSP on record in the region and up from $332,000 in March and $320,000 in April 2023.

“Even though mortgage rates remain around 7%, consumers are willing to spend what they need to spend in order to get the home they want,” Gary Lundholm of and president of REIN’s board said in a news release announcing the data.

There were 3,837 active listings in April, compared with 3,574 in March and 3,156 in April 2023. The number of median days homes stayed on the market in April was 14, down from 18 in March, but up from 12 in April 2023, according to REIN.

The number of active listings was 3,837, up compared with 3,574 in March and up from 3,156 in April 2023.

“The combination of increased sales and increased inventory is a positive development for the local market,” Lundholm said.

REIN is the multiple listing service in Hampton Roads and has about 9,000 members. It serves an area that stretches from and Gloucester down to Edenton, North Carolina.