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Henrico greenlights $450M live-work-play community

The Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12 greenlit , a massive project in the Willow Lawn area from insurance company and -based Marchetti Development. The $450 million mixed-use development is expected to bring nearly 700 residences, an eight-story “high end” hotel, 32,300 square feet of retail and 345,000 square feet of new office space to the 29-acre former Elevance Health (formerly Anthem) campus at the northeast intersection of West Broad Street and Staples Mill Road. 

According to county documents, the project would be developed over several phases, with the first phase including a hotel and mixed-use building, as well as 261 apartments. The second phase would include a residential building with 258 units on the northeast corner at the intersection of Maywill and Thalbro streets. Phase 3 would include two new six-story office buildings and a parking garage with nearly 1,400 spaces along Thalbro Street and at its intersection with Staples Mill Road. Phase 4 would include another new office building at the intersection of Staples Mill Road and West Broad Street and a mixed-use building with 173 units along Staples Mill Road, according to a County staff report and information presented to the Board of Supervisors.  

The residential buildings would be five to seven stories each, and the office buildings would be around the same scale. The development would have 5-foot-wide sidewalks and may add 10-foot sidewalks along new interior streets. The retail space, taken by upscale boutiques, would be incorporated into the office, multifamily and hotel buildings, 

There are two office buildings already on the site.

One of those buildings, the older of the two, on the north side, will be renovated inside and out “to look like a 2023 modern office building,” said Joe Marchetti Jr., cofounder of Marchetti Development. That building will become Kinsale’s new and is about 254,000 square feet. Kinsale will take 215,000 square feet and Elevance will use the basement, about 35,000 square feet, he said. It should be ready by fall 2025. The rest of the projects would be delivered starting in 2026.

Marchetti said the focus is to get the Kinsale in its building and then start marketing the other sites as they go forward.

In the county documents, the project is described as “a cutting-edge modern mixed-use neighborhood nested within the vibrant community of Henrico County.” Kinsale Capital Group owns the project, and alongside the developer, Marchetti, Baskervill is the design architect and Kimley-Horn is the civil engineer. 

In this area of the county, near the border with Richmond, there’s an emergence of several communities that are redeveloping as live-work-play centers, said Anthony Romanello, executive director of the Henrico Authority.

Marchetti said the property is the gateway to Henrico County, coming out of the City of Richmond, and one of the most centrally located.

One aspect he pointed out as particularly important is that a full-service hotel is included in the plans, which he said is a differentiator for that area. Marchetti said it could have about 150 rooms but the number is flexible.

Visit Alexandria CEO announces retirement

Visit President and CEO Patricia Washington will retire at the end of June 2024, the organization announced Friday.

Washington has led since 2012. She led two rebranding efforts and four brand campaigns and helped Alexandria become a national tourism destination, according to a news release announcing her . The City of Alexandria’s sales, meals and lodging tax receipts have grown from $55 million to $80 million per year during her tenure.

She serves on the boards of the Alexandria Arts Alliance and Heard, a nonprofit providing arts services to underserved children and adults. She also held leadership roles on the U.S. Travel Association’s Destinations Council advisory board and the Northern Virginia Tourism Partnership.

“It’s been such a privilege to lead Visit Alexandria‘s vision, culture and content-first marketing strategy for more than 11 years, and this feels like the right time for my retirement both organizationally and personally,” Washington said in a statement. “Visit Alexandria is in excellent shape, with a high-performing staff, strong partnerships, clear plans, stable finances and growing tourism revenues. On a personal level, I’m hoping to do some more extensive travel and have more time to pursue interests at a point in life where I have the passion and to fully explore them.”

Her announcement comes on the heels of an announcement of plans to move the NHL’s Washington and the NBA’s Washington from Washington, D.C., to Alexandria as part of a $2 billion deal to develop an near ‘s Innovation Campus.

“This is a game-changing opportunity for the City of Alexandria and for Visit Alexandria‘s next leader,” Washington said.“I will be working diligently over the next six months to lay the groundwork for the city to maximize the potential benefit and to ensure a smooth transition to my successor.”

The city will search for a new president and CEO with a search task force chaired by Visit Alexandria’s Vice Chair Denise Jackson. The task force has engaged SearchWide Global to assist.

Riddle Associates names new president

Riddle Associates, a -based commercial industrial real estate , promoted Lindsey Riddle Elliott to president and principal broker in November, the brokerage announced Wednesday.

Elliott formerly served as executive vice president and has been with Riddle for 15 years. She replaces her father, Robert L. Riddle, who founded the firm in 1988 and is now semi-retired. The independently owned commercial industrial real estate brokerage company provides services in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. It has five employees and six agents.

Elliott is a 2008 graduate of George Mason University. She earned her Virginia real estate license in 2008 and her broker’s license in 2011. She also earned her North Carolina real estate license in 2021.

Framatome plans $49.4M expansion, creating 515 jobs

Framatome, a French company with its United States in , will invest $49.4 million to expand, modernize and enhance its facilities, creating an estimated 515 , Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday.

The will meet increased demand for servicing existing nuclear power plants and developing solutions for advanced and small nuclear reactors. At the end of October, had 1,350 employees in Lynchburg, where it has had a presence since 1989. Framatome designs, services and installs components, fuel and instrumentation and control systems for nuclear power plants worldwide.

“We are building the world’s leading nuclear hub right here in Virginia, thanks to the continued growth of industry leaders like Framatome,” Youngkin said in a statement. “The commonwealth is implementing an all-of-the-above energy plan to ensure abundant, reliable, affordable and clean energy, and Framatome is key to increasing our workforce in this critical technology for our future. Virginia can set the standard when it comes to energy innovation and has a pipeline of world-class talent prepared to meet demand.”

Virginia competed with North Carolina and Pennsylvania for the project.

In 2018, Framatome moved its North American headquarters from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Lynchburg and now has three operational and corporate sites in Lynchburg for its fuel, installed base and instrumentation and control (I&C) business units.

The company also operates its Framatome Nuclear Technology Academy at Lynchburg’s Central Virginia Community College, with the academy announcing a major revamp in May.

“The greater Lynchburg region and the commonwealth of Virginia have been Framatome’s North American base of operations for over a half-century. Now, we’re strengthening our commitment to our home and our shared goal of safe, reliable, low-carbon power generation,” Kathy Williams, CEO of Framatome North America, said in a statement. “Our extensive investments in facility expansion and modernization, broadening our labor pool and escalating recruitment will help energize our community and align us with the Commonwealth of Virginia as catalysts in the transition to a clean energy future.”

The Virginia Partnership worked with the City of Lynchburg to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $5 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund to assist Lynchburg with the project. Framatome is eligible to receive state benefits from the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for full-time jobs created, as well as benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. VEDP will also provide support to Framatome through its Virginia Talent Accelerator Program.

Wizards, Capitals plan move to Alexandria in $2B deal

The Washington Capitals and Washington are planning a move across the Potomac River to a new home in Alexandria in a $2 billion deal that would see the professional franchises exit Washington, D.C., by 2028, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced early Wednesday.

The nonbinding agreement to build a new for the Capitals and Wizards, which would become the first professional sports teams to play in Virginia, is part of a 9 million-square-foot entertainment complex and promises to add to the transformation of the Potomac riverfront in Alexandria’s developing National Landing neighborhood, where a new Metro station opened in May after decades of planning. The location, once a rail yard, had previously been eyed for development in the 1990s by the late Jack Kent Cooke, former owner of the NFL team now known as the Washington Commanders. ‘s $1 billion Innovation Campus, which is under construction, would be a neighbor, and Amazon.com’s HQ2 campus is just two stops away in Arlington County.

, founder, CEO and chairman of Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Capitals, a National Hockey League franchise, and the National Basketball Association’s Wizards, as well as the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, noted that the new home for the teams is only four miles from their current one at D.C.’s Capital One arena, where each team has played for more than two decades.

“Our commitment would be to build really iconic, fan-centric businesses,” Leonsis said during a press conference announcing the deal Wednesday.

The project is a partnership between the state, Monumental, which would invest $403 million in the deal, the City of Alexandria and JBG Smith, the developer of Amazon.com’s HQ2. It would include the sports arena, as well as corporate for Monumental, a media studio, a Wizards practice facility, a performing arts venue and an expanded e-sports facility, along with retail, restaurants, hotels and conference and community spaces. The first phase, which includes the arena, could generate $12 billion in economic impact and create 30,000 over the next several decades, Youngkin said. The district is planned for a 2025 groundbreaking with the project being completed by 2028.

The framework of the deal rests on approvals from the Virginia General Assembly and Alexandria City Council. The state legislature, which convenes Jan. 10, 2024, for its upcoming session, will be asked to approve the creation of a new Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority that would own the land and buildings within the . The $2 billion investment would be supported through bonds issued by the proposed authority, which would be repaid through annual rent paid by Monumental and arena parking revenues, naming rights and incremental taxes generated by the arena and development of the first phase, according to Youngkin. The City of Alexandria would contribute $56 million toward construction of the performing arts venue and $50 million toward underground parking development. The land and buildings would be owned by the authority, which would enter into a 40-year lease with the company. 

The project includes $110 million in on-site infrastructure, including site development and roadway, signal and intersection improvements funded through bonds.

Youngkin called the deal an “affirmation of what’s happening in Virginia,” citing deals that have brought national attention to Northern Virginia, including Amazon’s HQ2, as well as the headquarters relocations of global Fortune 500 defense and aerospace contractors Boeing and RTX in back-to-back announcements in 2022.

“This visionary sports and entertainment development district will bring together entertainment sports and technology like nowhere in the world,” Youngkin said. “This once-in-a-generation historic development will be the best place to live, work, raise a family and watch hockey and basketball.”

Rendering of a potential $2 billion, 9 million-square-foot entertainment complex that would include a new arena for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards teams, overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria

He also called the deal a good one for Virginia’s taxpayers, a refrain similar to statements he’s made while attempting to bring the Washington Commanders’ stadium to the state during the past two years. On Wednesday, Youngkin said while his focus has been on what he deemed a “monumental deal” to bring the Wizards and Capitals to Alexandria, he would continue to engage in discussions with the Ashburn-based Washington Commanders, now owned by a group that includes Maryland-born billionaire Josh Harris and NBA legend Magic Johnson.

But while officials tossed around sports terminology Wednesday to demonstrate their commitment to getting the deal with Monumental over the finish line for Virginia, city leaders in D.C. late Tuesday made a Hail Mary pass of their own to retain the teams. As details about the joint news conference by Youngkin and Leonsis in Alexandria made headlines, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Council Chair Phil Mendelson announced a bill that would offer Monumental $500 million in financing to renovate the aging Capital One arena, where the Washington Mystics now plan to move, and extend the ground lease for nearly three decades, The Washington Post reported.

Youngkin didn’t appear fazed by D.C.’s offer. Monumental had sought $600 million from D.C., and Bowser said during a news conference responding to Virginia’s deal that the city had put its “best financial foot forward.”

If Monumental’s deal with Virginia moves forward, it will raise additional questions for the region, says Terry L. Clower, a public policy professor with George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and director of the university’s Center for Regional Analysis. For starters, in a regional economy that still hasn’t seen convention and hospitality traffic recover from the pandemic, will the new development’s hotels and conference space attract new visitors or just compete with already existing venues? Also, instead of seeing a “reduced level of activity” at the Capital One Arena, would D.C. benefit more from allocating that $500 million to “reimagine” and redevelop the Capital One Arena site for another use?

For Youngkin’s part, he said there’s no harm, no foul in D.C. making a last-ditch effort to hang on to the Capitals and Wizards.

“I don’t blame them because I think that this is a very important win for Virginia,” the governor said. “The reality is what can happen here in Northern Virginia is truly unique. It’s truly unique. What I’ve just described is something that can’t be replicated someplace else. And we’re going to work together in I think the most innovative public-private construct that has ever been done in these kinds of developments.”

Virginia Business Editor Richard Foster contributed to this story.

3 Va. universities make top 100 in national R&D rankings

The , and landed in the top 100 in the ‘s fiscal 2022 rankings by expenditures on .

NSF determines the rankings with data from its annual Higher Education Research and Development Survey, which surveys U.S. colleges and universities that expended at least $150,000 in separately accounted for and development in the fiscal year. Survey results were released in late November.

For FY22, placed No. 48 overall, with $662.6 million in expenditures. U.Va. was No. 30 among public institutions, the same place it held last year.

With $591.86 million in research expenditures, Virginia Tech ranked 53rd among all institutions and 35th for public institutions, up from 38th in the previous fiscal year.

“Virginia Tech’s increase in ranking is a reflection of our faculty’s success attracting sponsored support for the impactful research, innovation and discovery they lead. We are especially proud that our growth in externally and federally sponsored research significantly outperformed peers,” Dan Sui, senior vice president and chief research and innovation officer at Virginia Tech, said in a statement.

was No. 73 overall and No. 47 in the public institutions’ rankings, rising from No. 50 in the previous year. VCU’s R&D expenditures totaled almost $405.9 million. The FY22 total is the first time VCU has passed the $400 million mark, according to a news release.

“A public research university’s role is to advance discovery, creativity and innovation in ways that few other institutions achieve as we endeavor to improve the quality of life everywhere,” VCU President Michael Rao said in a statement. “This NSF ranking is a testament to VCU’s commitment to research for the public good. Thanks to my faculty colleagues, our research enterprise has grown exponentially.”

The remaining public Virginia universities were ranked as follows:

  • George Mason University, No. 117 overall, No. 78 in public institutions;
  • William & Mary, No. 180 overall, No. 130 in public institutions;
  • Old Dominion University, No. 191 overall, No. 137 in public institutions;
  • Eastern Virginia Medical School, No. 278 overall, No. 202 in public institutions;
  • James Madison University, No. 308 overall, No. 225 in public institutions;
  • Virginia State University, No. 333 overall, No. 243 in public institutions;
  • Norfolk State University, No. 471 overall, No. 328 in public institutions;
  • Christopher Newport University, No. 514 overall, No. 358 in public institutions;
  • University of Virginia’s College at Wise, No. 522 overall, No. 360 in public institutions;
  • Virginia Military Institute, No. 578 overall, No. 386 in public institutions;
  • University of Mary Washington, No. 614 overall, No. 403 in public institutions.

Four Virginia private schools were included in the NSF rankings:

  • Hampton University, No. 338 overall, No. 91 in private institutions;
  • Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, No. 384 overall, No. 104 in private institutions;
  • University of , No. 518 overall, No. 159 in private institutions;
  • Marymount University, No. 608 overall, No. 207 in private institutions.

In total, academic institutions spent $97.8 billion on research and development in FY22, roughly $8 billion more than in FY21. The next NSF HERD Survey results will be released in November 2024.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story listed Marymount University’s rank among private institutions incorrectly. This story has been updated with the correct ranking.

Charlottesville chamber CEO to leave after 7 months

Natalie Masri, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber of Commerce, will leave the organization next month, the chamber announced Monday.

Masri started in the role in June. She will depart on Jan. 16, 2024. Rebecca Ivins, chairwoman of the board, will become interim president and CEO. Sasha Tripp, vice chairwoman of the board will serve as chairwoman of the board.

“The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce will be operating business as usual as we look to select the next president and CEO,” Ivins said in a statement “Sasha and I look forward to working alongside our membership, professional chamber staff and our board of directors to maintain the positive position of the chamber.”

The chamber’s executive committee is working to form a search committee to find its next leader.

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce has about 680 members, primarily located in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

JLARC: GO Virginia’s economic impact positive but undefined

The state’s initiative is likely improving regional collaboration and having positive economic impacts, but those can’t be reliably determined, according to a report presented Monday.

In 2022, directed staff to review GO Virginia, which the state government created in 2016. GO Virginia provides economic and to encourage regional collaboration and grow and diversify local economies.

The state is divided into nine GO Virginia regions, each with its own governing council and growth and diversification plan. The councils and GO Virginia’s powerful statewide board make grant funding decisions, while the Department of Housing and Community Development administers the program.

“While GO Virginia’s ultimate goal is to strengthen the economy, it is not an incentive program or a program,” said JLARC Chief Legislative Analyst Mark Gribbin, who led the review and presented the findings.

For fiscal years 2018 to 2023, Go Virginia awarded 226 grants totaling $110 million, with about 67% of those grants going to public organizations like local governments, colleges, universities and regional organizations. About 33% have gone to nonprofits. Grants cannot directly go to, benefit or attract specific businesses.

Grants fall into four categories:

  • Workforce development, which accounted for 44% of grants and $49 million awarded;
  • Site development, which accounted for 14% of grants and $23 million awarded;
  • Startup ecosystem, which accounted for 22% of grants and $17 million awarded;
  • And cluster scale-up, which accounted for 20% of grants and $22 million awarded.

GO Virginia appears to be improving regional collaboration through funded projects, regional councils with public and private stakeholders and regional growth plan development, JLARC found. Funded projects must include at least two local government partners, and all 133 Virginia localities have participated in a GO Virginia-backed project. In a JLARC survey of local economic development staff, 77% of respondents thought GO Virginia had improved regional collaboration.

GO Virginia projects have had positive impacts that might not have occurred without grants from the program, according to JLARC, and the majority of GO Virginia projects would probably have not moved forward without the program, or would have moved forward more slowly or on a smaller scale.

However, GO Virginia’s overall economic impact can’t be determined because project outcomes aren’t reliably reported, according to the report. Projects self-report outcomes, and some project teams claimed outcomes that were not directly caused by their projects.

Reasons for that are that some project leads were inexperienced in economic development or grant reporting, and regional council staff were not consistently verifying reported outcomes. Also, some metrics set by DHCD remain too broad to be helpful, like a “ created/filled” measure that merges the numbers of new jobs and existing jobs that were filled.

JLARC staff examined a sample of 54 projects and found that only about 10% of the jobs that GO Virginia-funded project teams claimed were created or filled by the projects could be directly attributed to those projects — 1,237 jobs out of the 12,771 jobs reported as project outcomes.

JLARC recommended that:

  • DHCD revise its list of outcome metrics,
  • the GO Virginia statewide board assign responsibility for verifying outcomes to DHCD,
  • and the board should assess long-term impacts past the two-year grant period and determine which information to collect for those assessments.

The review also found that some GO Virginia eligibility and application requirements are unnecessarily restrictive, including the funding match requirements for eligibility. Under state law, GO Virginia initially required matches equal to the grant amount, and by board policy, the total match had to include a local match of $50,000, or 50% of the grant total – whichever was higher.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the GO Virginia board temporarily reduced match requirements to half of the total grant amount and dropped the local match requirement. As a result, more grants were awarded. From FY18 to FY20, only 92 grants were awarded, but under the reduced match requirements from FY21 to FY23, GO Virginia awarded 112 grants. The amounts granted also increased, from $20.6 million to $51 million, and the percent of available grant funds used rose from 47% to 97%.

Although the state has to put up a larger share of funding under the lower match requirements, $4.4 million more outside funding came in.

Additionally, JLARC found that GO Virginia’s administration structure is working, and the program is similar to other state programs but doesn’t duplicate them.

But, GO Virginia funds are going unused, and if changes to restrictive eligibility requirements aren’t made, then the program’s appropriations could be reduced. The program has only used $97 million of the $157 million appropriated to its grant programs from FY18 to FY23, according to JLARC. The has recaptured $40 million in unobligated funds, and at the end of FY23, $27 million remained unobligated.

SAIC reorganizes C-suite, with changes effective in Feb.

Reston-based Fortune 500 Science Applications International Corp. () announced Monday that it is reorganizing its business, leading to four executives’ promotions and the departure of two others, effective Feb. 2, 2024.

SAIC’s defense and civilian sector and national security and space sector will be replaced by five new business groups: Army, Navy, Air Force and combatant commands; space and intelligence; and civilian, which will encompass civilian, health, state and local businesses.

Four current SAIC senior vice presidents will be promoted to executive vice president and answer to SAIC CEO Toni Townes-Whitley starting Feb. 3, 2024: Josh Jackson will lead Army; Barbara Supplee, Navy; Vinnie DiFronzo, Air Force; and David Ray, space and intelligence. SAIC will conduct an external search for the civilian sector leader. Bob Genter, president of SAIC’s defense and civilian sector, and Michael LaRouche, president of the contractor’s national security and space sector, will leave by Feb. 2, 2024, the news release said.

The announcement came after Townes-Whitley, former president of Microsoft’s U.S. Regulated Industries, succeeded former SAIC CEO Nazzic Keene in October.

“SAIC has an unmatched history of partnering with our nation’s most critical mission-driven government customers and offering a best-in-class portfolio of capabilities. As we look ahead, we are becoming a more focused and growth-oriented SAIC that realizes the full potential of our differentiators, fueled by our innovation factory. This builds upon our recent decision to centralize our business development function to prioritize the quality and pace at which we execute our market opportunities,” Townes-Whitley said in a statement. “We are confident the company will continue to bring innovative solutions to market, further prioritize growth and deliver significant long-term value for our shareholders, customers and employees.”

She thanked Genter and LaRouche for their contributions; Genter joined the company in 2013 as senior vice president and general manager of SAIC’s strategic growth markets customer group, and LaRouche started in 2019 as president of the national security and space business.

In September, SAIC hired a new chief innovation officer and chief of staff. SAIC employs about 24,000 and reported $7.7 billion in fiscal 2023 revenue.

 

New Transurban North Am. prez comes from public sector

Beau Memory, ‘s new North America president, joined the Australian company that operates express toll lanes in Northern Virginia in November with more than 20 years of public-sector transportation experience.

In an interview last week with Virginia Business, the Tysons-based Memory says he’s still getting acclimated to Northern Virginia. “I’m still learning the region, but it’s a really exciting place to be moving to. You know, the influx of and the diversity of cultures and economic opportunity here is really amazing.”

Memory was previously CEO and executive director of Denver’s E-470 Public Highway Authority, and before that, he served as chief operating officer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Memory also was national transportation director at North Carolina-based software analytics company SAS and executive director for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority.

At Transurban, he will oversee the company’s 53 miles of toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and Interstates 95 and 395, as well as the A25 bridge in Montreal in Canada. The I-95 is creating the largest reversible road in the country, with about 170,000 trips per day.

“One of the things that I’m really excited about is the bi-directional project with . That has the promise of being one of the most innovative projects when it comes to transportation solutions for mobility that have been done in some time,” Memory said. In August, a 10-mile extension of the I-95 Express Lanes opened, running from Route 610 in Quantico to Route 17 in Fredericksburg, and in 2025, Transurban plans to open an additional 2.5 miles of Express Lanes on the 495 Beltway. With both projects, Transurban collaborates with the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“In the public sector, we obviously have more needs than we do resources,” Memory said. “I think by tapping into the private sector, we can do more, we can provide more mobility and bring innovations. We can hopefully meet the needs of this growing region and others around the country.”

Memory said that sensors placed along Northern Virginia’s Express Lanes collect about 2,000 data points per mile, which allow researchers to learn a great deal about traffic patterns and other trends. “Mobility in the future won’t be driven by any one mode,” he said. “There are some really exciting opportunities on the horizon with connected autonomous vehicles. I think the Express Lanes concept offers a jumping-off point for whatever technology comes.”

In March, Transurban pulled out of a $5 billion toll road project, the planned of the 10-lane American Legion Bridge that connects Maryland with Virginia over the Potomac River.

Pierce Coffee, Transurban’s previous North American president, also left in March after serving as its top U.S. executive since 2021. Former Chief Finance Officer Michael Discenza served as acting president before Memory came on board in November. Discenza left Transurban in November.

“Beau brings a deep understanding of toll roads, the broader transport industry, strategy development and public policy,” Transurban CEO Michelle Jablko said in a statement. “He has experience working with a variety of stakeholders including federal and state legislators and various communities to deliver complex major projects and innovations that benefit customers.”