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CoStar-WeWork dispute opens door for coworking competitors

One of the most disrupted sectors in since the pandemic has been office space, as many white-collar workers work remote or hybrid schedules, leading to less demand.

On top of that, in County’s corridor, clients have had to deal with the company’s uncertain future. Although WeWork was set to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-June, it’s been unclear whether it will remain a tenant at the 1201 Wilson Blvd. building, which Group purchased for $339 million in February as its new corporate headquarters.

In recent months, CoStar has been in court, trying to get WeWork to vacate and claiming WeWork didn’t pay rent promptly. That could leave room for WeWork competitors offering more stability.

At nearby Office Evolution Arlington-Rosslyn, owner Trey Hardin’s phone has been busy. “We have been contacted by several WeWork members recently — all who want out and a new, reliable home for their business,” he says. “The common sentiment we are hearing is that, ‘WeWork has given up and is checked out.’”

Hardin also notes that coworking demands have evolved. “Customers are no longer seeking an office for a week or a hot desk for a day. They either want true commercial space with unprecedented flexible terms and pricing, or they want dedicated offices in coworking centers on longer term agreements with specialized member services.”

Office Evolution client Ron Prater, chief operating officer of Alexandria-based technology business Bent Ear Solutions, says he and his colleagues “looked at many coworking spaces. Many had tons of frills — tons of open space, networking events at night, etc. — but were not conducive for our work.”

Arlington Director Ryan Touhill says the CoStar-WeWork dispute, which the two sides’ attorneys declined to comment on, is a “private matter between a landlord and tenant and does not reflect broader commercial market trends.”

However, Touhill also sees change in the market. “We are observing a trend toward ‘flight to quality,’ which bolsters the appeal of premium office buildings,” Touhill says. “This trend is driving strategic investments in various forms: renovating and repositioning existing office spaces, planning full redevelopments into alternative uses, and constructing new high-end office buildings. Arlington is actively developing guidelines for adaptive reuse, where building owners convert office spaces into alternative uses such as residential units or hotels.” 

Richmond switches up stadium funding plan

UPDATED JULY 16

City Council this spring pitched a bit of a curveball on financing of the city’s new .

On May 8, councilors approved a plan that they say would save the city money and get the replacement stadium — part of the proposed District — completed in time to meet the Richmond ‘ 2026 season deadline.

Davenport & Co., the city’s financial adviser, recommended issuing $170 million worth of general obligation bonds to finance the ‘s stadium and first-phase infrastructure work, rather than community development authority bonds, as planned.

That would put the city on the hook for paying off the bonds if projected revenue falls short, although the new structure would also have economic benefits, including a lower interest rate that is expected to reduce costs by $215 million over the next 30 years. Also, if the bonds were issued by July 1, the state would have chipped in $24 million through its sales tax incentive program, but Richmond missed that deadline.

“When cities take on the role of developer, they are assuming risk for taxpayers,” Terry Clower, director of George Mason ‘s Center for Regional Analysis, says. “In this case, there are compelling reasons for the change in financing that recognizes market conditions and a particular state tax incentive.”

However, attorney and activist Paul Goldman filed a lawsuit in May, challenging the city’s plan to issue the bonds without a November ballot referendum.

“It’s the public’s money; it’s not the politicians’ money,” and residents should get a vote, Goldman argues, but his lawsuit was tossed out in June by Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant. The only way to force a referendum without a court order was to have roughly 11,000 Richmond voters’ signatures within 30 days of the city’s notice of the ordinance’s adoption, published May 12.

That’s a “task worthy of Hercules,” Goldman says. “It can’t be done unless you’re going to spend a fortune.” On June 28, Goldman said he wouldn’t appeal the court’s decision.

However, for Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, the Squirrels’ new stadium is on deck.

“We are full speed ahead on delivering a world-class baseball stadium and an exciting new neighborhood for ALL to enjoy,” Stoney said June 10 in a statement. “The Flying Squirrels are here to stay in Richmond!”  

NNS aims to grow workforce

Virginia’s largest employer, Shipbuilding, hopes to grow its 26,000-person by 3,000 this year to tackle its backlog of projects.

, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is building modular components for 12 Columbia-class subs and then handing them off to partner General Dynamics’ Connecticut-based Electric Boat, and the two companies have a similar construction-sharing agreement to build Virginia-class subs. Meanwhile, NNS continues overhauling Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and building a Ford-class aircraft carrier expected to be delivered in September 2029.

According to an April report from the Navy, the completion of subs and carriers are now delayed between one to three years. With these setbacks, the Navy has postponed some purchases, which weighs on NNS and other shipbuilders.

In the meantime, though, NNS is focusing on recruiting skilled workers to complete existing Navy contract work worth billions. Xavier Beale, the shipyard’s vice president of , says NNS is focusing its efforts within a 100-mile radius of Hampton Roads, as far west as Danville, and within the next two years, the company plans to extend its outreach into other states.

It’s more than just a “Help Wanted” sign, Beale says.

To make it easy to apply, the shipyard holds “Walk-in Wednesdays.” Each week, those interested in skilled-trade positions can apply at the employment office at 5200 W. Mercury Blvd. in Hampton without an appointment, Beale says. For professional positions ranging from human resources to engineering, the shipyard has 200 internships and recruits recent graduates from William & Mary and Christopher Newport, Hampton, Norfolk State and Old Dominion universities.

To attract experienced professionals, shipyard recruiters attend industry conferences year-round.

The Hampton Roads Regional Workforce Council plays a significant role with the Regional Maritime Training System, a collaborative initiative focused on filling approximately 11,000 skilled maritime job openings across Hampton Roads, council President and Shawn Avery says.

NNS salaries are competitive, Beale says, although amounts are not made public, and full-time employees receive benefits and access to job training, an on-site health center and financial literacy programs. He also points to proximity to the beach and other amenities, as well as an affordable cost of living compared with other Virginia regions, although home prices statewide have risen in recent years.

“We want our employees to have a healthy mind, body and wallet,” he says.  

Beauty and the C-suite

Virginia Business’ July issue cover art represents a significant amount of time and thoughtful planning — especially in considering what image we want to convey to you, the reader.

From our viewpoint, the Women in Leadership cover should express strength and confidence — attributes that this year’s 38 award winners demonstrate daily as executives. A still photograph, of course, must achieve this without words, so we have to consider facial expressions, body language and wardrobe.

Work should be different, though, because in our jobs we should be judged solely on our merits. Unfortunately, life doesn’t usually work this way, and many are judged on their looks, even when we’re unconscious of such bias.

Most women can probably point to a time when “pretty privilege” either penalized or benefited them, but let’s focus on women in high positions at work. They’re expected to look powerful and serious, as well as approachable and attractive in a traditional sense. But not too attractive, because that’s distracting. This cliche even applies to women in the C-suite and those who aspire to it, and it costs time and money.

If you picture an average , chances are you’re thinking of a white man of a certain age. He may have gray or thinning hair and a few wrinkles. He’s not young, and no one expects him to look particularly young.

But women — including CEOs and presidents — often feel pressure to pay for expensive hair treatments, skin care regimens and other beauty treatments to diminish signs of aging. What’s more, they aren’t aiming to look like J.Lo at age 54; that’s just to achieve normal “maintenance.” 

Although conventionally attractive men and women outearn their peers by about 20%, according to a 2016 study by sociologists Jaclyn S. Wong and Andrew M. Penner, women considered attractive spend more money on grooming products than attractive men do, the study found.

On average, U.S. women spend $877 per year on their looks — including hair products, skin care, makeup and manicures — compared with men’s average spending of $592 a year, according to an Advanced Dermatology study in 2023.

Anecdotally, we all know women who spend a lot more than $877 on beauty, adding Botox injections and anti-aging facial creams to their regimens. Black women, according to multiple studies, spend much more on hair treatments than most white women do.

I am not going to denigrate any woman who has treatments that make her feel good. But it is a problem when a woman is spending money on beauty because she’s worried about her job.

Plus, older age isn’t the only difficulty women encounter in the workplace. A 2023 survey of 913 women leaders conducted by Harvard Business Review found that many experienced ageism throughout their careers. Dubbed the “never-right” age bias, women under 40 are often deemed underqualified for roles, and older women sometimes get tagged with perceptions of being out of date or overly strident. Middle-aged women get skipped over for promotions because authorities assume they have too many family responsibilities to contribute fully at work.

Looks play into these stereotypes, too. If a woman looks younger than she is, she may be treated like an inexperienced girl, and what about a woman who wants to grow out her gray hair and forgo expensive coloring treatments every eight weeks? There’s a reason many women ages 50 and older talk about feeling invisible as they age, and that certainly extends to the workplace.

Nearly everyone says they want to be judged on their abilities versus what they look like. So, let’s get a move on.   

The wedding day

When Alondra Rodriguez considered which school to attend for pre-med, she found herself puzzled by — and why it didn’t have an affiliated medical school.

“U.Va. has their own med school,” she thought. “Why don’t they just do that?”

Rodriguez, who already had a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Liberty University, ultimately decided to become a Monarch anyway. Norfolk is within driving distance to her parents in Northern Virginia — but not so close she has to visit every weekend.

Happily, when the 26-year-old started classes at in fall 2022 to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology with a major in biomedical sciences/pre-health, she learned plans were in the works to integrate Norfolk-based into ODU.

Now, following her 2025 graduation, Rodriguez plans to apply to EVMS at ODU, along with several other medical schools, after taking a gap year. “I’m definitely excited,” she says. Even if she ends up learning how to be a doctor somewhere else, Rodriguez adds, she’s already benefited from the two schools joining forces.

EVMS and ODU were slated to formally merge July 1 — the deadline Gov. Glenn set in 2022 for the merger to be completed.

As one of only a few stand-alone medical schools in the country, EVMS already had close ties with Old Dominion prior to the merger; its students and residents frequently showed up for meetings at ODU’s Pre-Health Club for undergraduates interested in health care careers. At one of those gatherings, Rodriguez mentioned she planned to apply to six medical schools.

“They’re like, ‘Oh no, honey, you have to apply to more than just that,’” Rodriguez says. “I was shocked. They told me it’s very hard to get into med school as it is. When you narrow down your options, it’s harder to get into one.”

Now, Rodriguez thinks she’ll apply to at least 15 medical schools.

While undergraduates will surely benefit from new opportunities to collaborate with EVMS medical students and residents, they’re not the only ones who will reap rewards from the integration of EVMS into ODU, proponents say.

A 2022 report commissioned by ODU from Missouri-based consulting firm Tripp Umbach predicted that combining EVMS and ODU would create “a full-scale urban powerhouse university with a closely aligned health care system that will drive the Virginia economy through the mid-century and transform the delivery system in the Hampton Roads region.”

By 2030, the report estimates, the total economic impact of integrating EVMS and ODU, along with a stronger partnership with long-time EVMS supporter Sentara Health, will reach $730 million for the state and approximately $600 million for the Hampton Roads region. That would come from “commercialization of research through startup companies and existing companies attracted to the region” by growth in merged academic programs and research, the report’s authors wrote.

In 2021, ODU earned R1 research classification, a designation held by only 146 universities nationwide and the top research ranking awarded by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of . Even so, Tripp Umbach analysts found, the Norfolk university earns five times less research revenue when compared with similar universities that have integrated medical schools.

Tripp Umbach also predicted the integration would boost the health care workforce in Hampton Roads “by expanding numbers of highly qualified graduates in the health professions who have regional connections and interests.”

A 2017 study on mergers in higher education points out that by joining forces and leveraging economies of scale, schools are sometimes able to reduce administrative and infrastructure costs.

Brian Weinblatt, founder and principal of Florida-based Higher Ed Consolidation Solutions, a consulting firm focused on higher education mergers, says any stand-alone school, whether a school of medicine or law, faces mounting financial pressures and can miss out on opportunities for synergy by failing to join forces with a larger university. “It’s harder than ever for these institutions to stand on their own,” Weinblatt says.

When independent medical schools merge with universities, undergrads have more opportunities to participate in graduate-level research, and faculty members enjoy greater research options and other professional development possibilities, Weinblatt notes. Of EVMS, he says, “If it was already a shining star, it [now has] the potential to be shining much more brightly, not just in their region, but nationally.”

A new structure

ODU President Brian O. Hemphill unveiled the name of the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences program at a June 7 event celebrating the EVMS-ODU merger. Photo by Mark Rhodes

The merger is more complicated than simply absorbing the medical school under the ODU banner, says Brian Hemphill, the university’s president.

ODU has created a health sciences center, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, that will serve as the overarching structure for all health sciences programming, including the medical school.

The name recognizes a $20 million gift from philanthropist Joan Brock, who earned a master’s degree in humanities from ODU and is the widow of Macon Brock, a co-founder of Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 discount retailer Dollar Tree.

The health sciences center will serve as an umbrella organization overseeing the Ellmer College of Health Sciences, the Ellmer School of Nursing, the EVMS Medical Group, the EVMS School of Health Professions, the EVMS School of Medicine, and the Joint School of Public Health.

Through this reorganization, ODU will grow its roster of 2,541 employees and 22,541 students.

“We’re bringing on 2,000 new employees [and] 1,400-plus new students,” Hemphill says. “And so, when you look at the size and the scale and the scope, on day one, we become a $1.7 billion operation.”

The change means that EVMS, which was founded in 1973, will cease to exist as a legal entity July 1, according to Dr. Alfred Abuhamad, the former president, provost and dean of EVMS, who is now ODU’s vice president for health sciences. But most students, faculty and staff members won’t see major differences, he says.

“We will continue to operate as we do today, [but] within ODU,” Abuhamad says. “So, for the majority of staff, students and faculty, nothing will change, really. They will come to [the Norfolk] campus of EVMS, and for the majority — if not all — of the students, staff and faculty of ODU, they will continue to go to their campus.

“We’ve worked hard enough over the last three years to ensure that the culture of both institutions is represented and respected in the process, and ensured that as we come together, we’re building something special for the community,” he says.

There will be no immediate change in the number of medical students enrolled at EVMS due to the merger, according to ODU spokesperson Jonah Grinkewitz. EVMS had 1,278 students enrolled in fall 2023, according to data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Tuition also won’t change for medical school students under the merger, according to Grinkewitz. However, the merger will bring some new opportunities for assistance. In June, ODU announced the Brock Opportunity Scholarship, which will support medical school students. Also in June, ODU announced a $20 million gift from Priority Auto Group CEO Dennis Ellmer, a member of ODU’s board of visitors, and his wife, Jan. Those funds will support the creation of scholarships for students pursuing health sciences degrees at ODU or at the EVMS School of Health Professions.

To prepare for the merger, ODU and EVMS set up 10 staff and faculty committees to iron out details on everything from branding to financial aid to human resources, according to Abuhamad.

A new board of directors has been created to oversee Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ODU. Both Hemphill and Abuhamad will be nonvoting members. Additionally, there will be seven members appointed by members of the EVMS Foundation, four members appointed by the rector of ODU’s board of visitors and four members appointed by Virginia lawmakers, according to Grinkewitz.

Speaking in May, Hemphill felt confident that ODU would receive approval for the integration from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The association was expected to grant that approval in mid-June, after this issue’s press deadline.

Dr. Alfred Abuhamad (left), ODU’s executive vice president for health sciences, and ODU President Brian O. Hemphill field media questions at a June 7 event providing new details on the EVMS-ODU merger. Photo by Mark Rhodes

Many players in merger

The Virginia and Gov. Glenn Youngkin also had to give their blessing to the ODU/EVMS union.

State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, carried bills during the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session ratifying the merger, and in last year’s budget negotiations, lawmakers allocated $14 million to cover merger-related startup costs.

In May, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed off on the 2024-26 state budget, which included about $136.7 million for EVMS for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, with $65 million earmarked for operations at the health sciences center.

“The merger is poised to strengthen positive health outcomes in the region and help address the critical nurse and doctor shortages,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.

ODU could “not be more pleased,” with the support of Virginia’s lawmakers, Hemphill says.

Another organization that’s been supportive of EVMS over the years is Sentara, the Norfolk-based health care system with 11 hospitals in Virginia and one in North Carolina.

In 2022, Aubrey Layne, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Sentara, said that the health system gave EVMS about $60 million each year for education and training, and Sentara wanted to see the medical school receive “state funding parity with other Virginia schools.”

Sentara administrators are happy that goal has come to fruition. “We feel like we have a partner in this, in terms of [ensuring] the long-term sustainability of EVMS,” Layne says.

But even with state support for the health sciences center and EVMS at ODU, Sentara has not closed its pocketbook to health sciences students in Norfolk. Sentara has agreed to contribute $350 million in dedicated funding to support the ODU-EVMS integration over the next decade, ODU announced in June.

“Sentara is committed to health care education and training and looks forward to what this merger will bring,” Sentara President and CEO Dennis Matheis said in a statement.

A long road

Things haven’t always been this rosy between ODU, EVMS and Sentara.

In November 2020, EVMS’ board held a vote of “no confidence” in a study commissioned by Reinvent Hampton Roads, an organization, to identify opportunities “to strengthen the Hampton Roads health care ecosystem in partnership with EVMS, Sentara, ODU, the Commonwealth of Virginia and other key stakeholders.”

In 2020 and 2021, the medical school reportedly paid Vienna-based public relations firm Tigercomm $497,000 for crisis communications and community support work in what Tigercomm President Mike Casey has said was a bid to avoid a potential EVMS-ODU-Sentara merger “being pushed by Sentara.”

After that rocky start, however, new at ODU and EVMS paved a path toward a merger.

Three different individuals served as EVMS board rector during summer 2021 with little explanation. Dr. Richard Homan, who had served as president, provost and dean of EVMS for nearly a decade, announced he was retiring in August 2021. (Homan declined an interview request.)

Hemphill took over as ODU’s president in summer 2021, coming from Radford University, where, as that university’s president, he guided the creation of Radford University Carilion through a merger with the Jefferson College of Health Sciences.

In August 2021, the leaders of Norfolk State University, ODU and EVMS signed a memorandum of understanding creating the ONE School of Public Health. Now, the school, which is awaiting accreditation, is known as the Joint School of Public Health and will offer a master and doctoral program in public health as well as continuing education opportunities.

And in December 2021, Sentara joined ODU and EVMS in signing an agreement to explore how “closer alignment or affiliation” could improve health care in Hampton Roads and educational research.

By June 2022, Hemphill put his cards on the table, stating in a letter to ODU’s faculty and staff that the university had a goal “to develop a comprehensive plan to integrate ODU and EVMS in 2023.”

And now, after many meetings involving state lawmakers, community stakeholders and employees of the two schools, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University is ready to go live.

Hemphill says he doesn’t expect the integration will suddenly make ODU known primarily for its health care curriculum, because the university has a reputation for many things — including its maritime and cybersecurity programs and its distance-learning offerings.

But he does believe the merger will produce significant health sciences research, with EVMS having conducted hundreds of clinical trials and other research, in addition to ODU’s research capabilities that led to its R1 classification.

By merging the expertise of the best minds at the two schools, Hemphill says, Virginia Health Sciences at ODU will be able to compete successfully for larger grants from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations.

“This does add another significant piece to who we are.” 

At a glance

Founded
Old Dominion University was founded in 1930 as a two-year college to train teachers and engineers as an extension of William & Mary and Virginia Tech. It gained independence in 1962 as Old Dominion College and began offering master’s degrees in 1964 and doctoral degrees in 1971. It was renamed Old Dominion University in 1969.

Campus
ODU has seven academic colleges and three schools. Its 337-acre Norfolk campus is bordered on two sides by the Elizabeth and Lafayette rivers. The school also operates regional higher education centers in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Hampton. ODU is designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as an R1 Research Institution.

Enrollment1

Undergraduate: 17,736
Graduate: 4,805
In-state: 19,559
International: 758
Students of color: 11,448

Employees

  • 890 full-time instructional faculty
  • 3,557 total employees

Tuition and fees2

  • In-state undergraduate tuition and fees: $12,750
  • Out-of-state undergraduate tuition and fees: $33,780
  • Room and board: $13,7383
  • Average financial aid awarded to full-time freshmen seeking assistance: $15,6904

1 Fall 2023 enrollment statistics 

2 2024-25 rates

3 Varies: number based on silver meal plan and a shared dorm room

4 2022-23 data

Virginia 500 Spotlight July 2024: Michael Keegan

FIRST JOB: Installing gas lines into houses in New Jersey

TRAIT I ADMIRE: Empathy

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Not to complain. I was complaining recently to a friend about having to go to a speech by some “expert” on AI, only to learn later that my friend was the speaker. True story!

SOMETHING I’D NEVER DO AGAIN: Skydive

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Getting closer to my dad since my mom passed away. It is amazing the things he has seen. I am a better listener today and really enjoy his stories.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Arsenal

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Virginia’s one-term governor policy. Regardless of what party you support, I think it can result in an inefficient government.

DID YOU KNOW? In 2021, was acquired by a Koch Industries subsidiary, and in August 2022, TNS acquired Agnity Global. Then, in April 2023, TNS bought BornTec’s managed hosting and colocation business.

Not with a bang, but a whimper

This story has been updated since publication.

Despite lofty promises from Democrats and Republicans, divided government in Richmond meant few wins or losses for either party during the 2024 session — and few sweeping changes for Virginia in the year ahead.

“The only thing that the legislature really did is the one thing they have to do: Pass a budget,” says Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington who has tracked the state legislature for decades. “This is a session that would qualify as one of the more forgettable ones.” 

After the Democratic-controlled General Assembly released a two-year budget proposal in March packed with party priorities but lacking most of Republican Gov. ‘s tax reform proposals, the prospects for a compromise ahead of the June 30 close of the state’s fiscal year seemed dim. In 2023, Republicans and Democrats took more than six months to agree to amendments to the last biennial budget. Since then, the partisan split has only deepened, with Democrats narrowly retaking control of the House of Delegates in the November 2023 elections. 

Despite that, the General Assembly on May 13 approved a budget deal with nearly unanimous support. Only seven Republicans voted against the spending plan. 

Karen Hult, a professor of political science at Virginia Tech, says a major contributor to the compromise was greater than expected revenues: While earlier budget proposals had been based on a forecast that revenues would contract in fiscal year 2024, collections through April grew 5%, giving the state an estimated $1.1 billion extra. The May deal relied on $525 million of that excess, as well as savings tied to Youngkin’s vetoes of Democratic legislation. 

“The increase in revenues by the time of the special session clearly did grease the wheels a lot,” Hult says. 

That deal kept intact Democrats’ spending plans, particularly on K-12 and higher education. 

“The increased investment in K-12 spending, that was a big priority for us in the beginning, and one I think we mostly achieved,” says Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, a member of the Senate Finance Committee. However, he continues, “We really need to make bigger progress in the future, because now I think we’re mainly just treading water.” 

State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, gestures during the General Assembly’s May 13 budget special session. Photo by Steve Helber/Associated Press

In return, Democrats agreed to strip out two provisions that were particularly objectionable to Youngkin. One would have expanded the state’s sales tax to digital goods and services — a loophole the governor had pledged to correct in his own budget proposal, a broader package that also included sales tax increases and income tax cuts. The other would have required Virginia to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon market that Youngkin has accused of imposing a “hidden tax” on utility customers. As of press time for this story, a pending lawsuit over the governor’s withdrawal of Virginia from the market had a hearing scheduled for late June in Floyd County Circuit Court. 

“I know these actions are not popular with my colleagues in some of our caucus, and many feel that we are essentially kicking the can down the road,” Democratic
Sen. Louise Lucas said May 13. But, she added, the compromises “were necessary to get a budget before you today.” 

On the chamber floor, Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, described the conversations leading up to the deal as “tense.” 

And “some of them might have been a little more than tense,” he added during the special session. “But at the end of the day, we came up with a product that continues to move Virginia forward, focuses on our kids’ education, focuses on our public safety professionals and also focuses on those individuals who cannot support themselves.” 

Despite the budget agreement, Farnsworth says, gridlock was evident on many of the key issues the General Assembly faced, from the legalization of recreational sales and restrictions on abortion to minimum wage increases and tax reforms. And the final deal, he says, “could have been worked out in February. 

“The Democrats, it seems, would rather wait for a Democratic governor than try to make compromises with a Republican right now. And the Republican governor isn’t willing to make the big compromises that would have been necessary for a more successful legislative session,” he says. 

The polarization was also reflected in the 201 bills Youngkin vetoed — shattering in one year the four-year veto record held during previous Virginia governors’ terms.

failure

No issue colored the 2024 legislative session more than the question of whether the General Assembly would back an ambitious proposal by Youngkin to build a $2 billion arena in Alexandria for the Washington Wizards and Capitals teams. 

The massive project, which would also have included a performing arts venue, practice facilities and commercial and residential properties, was a signature priority for Youngkin, a former top executive of the Carlyle Group who has emphasized the need to make Virginia more attractive for economic development. 

In December 2023, the plan got the backing of the state’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission, a group of lawmakers from the legislature’s money committees. But it quickly ran into hurdles in the larger General Assembly, which had to sign off on the creation of a state authority to oversee the arena’s development. 

Lucas, a high-profile and powerful Youngkin opponent who chairs the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, repeatedly blocked efforts to create the authority.

Democrats’ March budget plan also omitted the proposal, leading Youngkin to accuse the Senate of refusing “to give the single largest economic development deal in Virginia’s history any serious, meaningful consideration, breaking their own long-standing tradition in the process and avoiding the broad bipartisan support in both houses.” 

In March, the Wizards’ and Capitals’ owner, Sports & CEO Ted Leonsis, reached a deal with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser for the NHL and NBA teams to stay put in the District, killing the Alexandria proposal. 

Lucas touted her win on X, tweeting, “We avoided the Monumental Disaster!”

Hult says the proposed Alexandria arena’s defeat “set the context for not a great deal of trust and some clear, loud disagreement and seeming disagreement on both sides to work together.” 

No to minimum wage, weed

Youngkin in turn dealt two major blows to Democrats, vetoing bills that would have increased the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 and established a legal retail market for marijuana sales in Virginia. 

The minimum wage increases would have completed a program Democrats began in 2020 to raise the state wage floor from the federal $7.25 per hour. Laws passed that year raised the minimum wage incrementally to $12 by 2023 but left it up to future legislatures to complete two further hikes to $15. 

Although Democrats argued inflation had made the additional increases critical to ensure low-wage workers could afford Virginia’s rising cost of living, Youngkin rejected that argument, saying in his veto statement that the “wage mandate imperils market freedom and economic competitiveness.

“Successful states recognize that the government does not need to set labor prices; instead, they prioritize creating an economic environment conducive to wage growth,” he wrote. 

Democrats were “expecting” the veto, Surovell says, “but hoping [Youngkin] might come around.” 

Youngkin also struck down legislation to establish a retail market for marijuana in Virginia. While Democrats legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2021 and cannabis sales were legalized in 2019, disagreements over equity considerations stymied them from establishing a frame-work for legalizing commercial sales before Republicans retook control of the governor’s office and the House the following year. 

This year’s bill would have set up a statewide system to license, regulate and tax recreational sales beginning in May 2025. Marijuana is currently sold illegally throughout Virginia through a black market that experts say is worth billions. 

Youngkin nixed the marijuana retail market proposal in a lengthy veto statement that said legalizing sales “endangers Virginians’ health and safety” and “does not eliminate the illegal black-market sale of cannabis, nor guarantee product safety.

“Attempting to rectify the error of decriminalizing marijuana by establishing a safe and regulated marketplace is an unachievable goal,” he wrote. 

But Greg Habeeb, a former Republican state delegate who now lobbies for the Virginia Cannabis Association, says, “The status quo, which is just illegal sales, is unacceptable. It is undisputed that we have a multibillion-dollar industry in Virginia. It is undisputed that those products are untested. Everyone agrees to the underlying facts.” 

While nearly all Republicans voted against the bill, Habeeb says that in private, many expressed support for the view that the state should be regulating and taxing sales.

“I think a lot of Republicans think the right political position is to oppose regulating these sales,” he says. “I think they are wrong now. I think society and the party have moved in the other direction.”

Asked about the administration’s plans for handling problems related to the marijuana black market, Youngkin spokesperson Christian Martinez says that state and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies “continue to work together to address the distribution of illegal drugs in Virginia.”

To date, he notes, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has issued 13,911 violations, resulting in $8.8 million in preliminary civil penalty assessments to 266 businesses.

Skill games and casinos

Also not in the cards for Virginians this year: legalization of skill games, the slots-like machines that proliferated in convenience stores across the state until the Supreme Court of Virginia reinstated a ban passed by the General Assembly in 2021. 

Next to the arena deal, few issues racked up as much debate during the session as skill games, with lobbyists aggressively pushing for legislation to legalize and regulate the industry. While proponents argue the machines offer critical revenue to small business owners and the state, critics say proposals offered insufficient safeguards for young people and gambling addicts, omitted key oversight provisions and sidestepped requirements imposed on other gambling sectors. 

The issue reached a stalemate after the Senate rejected extensive amendments Youngkin made to an earlier bill, leading the governor to veto the original proposal. However, lawmakers and Youngkin have both indicated they are willing to return to Richmond to continue debating the proposal.

Meanwhile, the General Assembly agreed to legislation that would block further referendums on casinos in Richmond and allow a referendum in Petersburg. The selection of a preferred operator for a casino in Petersburg has since sparked a political fight over whether Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, inappropriately meddled in the process, according to media reports. In an April 30 report by the Virginia Mercury, Petersburg city councilors said Aird pressured the city manager into signing a letter saying that the city would award the project to Bally’s, although later in April, Petersburg City Council unanimously chose The Cordish Cos. as its partner. Aird disputed the accusation.

Legacy admissions on the outs 

One of the few major policy shifts to receive unanimous backing during the 2024 session was a prohibition on legacy admissions at Virginia’s public universities. 

Seen as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 overturning of affirmative action in college admissions, the legislation sailed through the General Assembly and garnered an early signature from Youngkin, who has said that “admission to Virginia’s universities and colleges should be based on merit.” 

“It just seemed as though legacy admissions had run its course,” says Del. Sam Rasoul, D-, who chairs the House Education Committee. “I think it makes a lot of sense for where we’re at.”

House and Senate leaders said they would call special sessions later in June to address an outcry over the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents college tuition program, which was set to be cut back as part of the bipartisan budget enacted in May. On the table were at least two plans. Both would protect funding for students enrolled this year, and Lucas’ proposal would include two funding studies by the end of the year. 

In late June, the House unanimously passed a bill repealing all changes to the tuition waiver, earning praise from Youngkin, but Lucas stonewalled a vote on a similar bill in the Senate a week earlier. On July 1, the Senate Finance committee is set to meet to discuss the repeal, after a couple dozen military veterans, spouses and children addressed state senators at a work group session Friday, often pleading to maintain the waiver.

Other legislation with major implications for Virginia students will require every school division in the state to offer high school students free access to a core set of dual enrollment courses for which the student earns both high school and college credit. Colleges statewide will accept credit for those courses, and a work group will begin examining how the program can be extended to career and technical education. 

Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, a former county school board member who carried the proposal in the House, says the bill aims to correct “a highly inequitable system across the state where, depending on where you live, you have different access” to dual enrollment. 

State procurement 

Starting in July, the state will give preferred status in procurement decisions to goods produced in Virginia, following successful legislation carried by Republican Sen. Bill DeSteph and Democratic Del. Michael Feggans, who both represent . Language allows Virginia manufacturers the chance to match lower prices offered by suppliers in other states under certain circumstances. 

The bill “prioritizes Virginia manufacturing goods first and the U.S. second for state procurement,” DeSteph said in February. “This puts us in line similar to our surrounding states.” 

Less successful was legislation from Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, that would have set a statewide goal to set aside 42% of all discretionary spending by executive branch agencies and higher education institutions for small, woman- and minority-owned businesses. The state would have been required to increase its use of such businesses by 3% annually until the 42% target was met.

Youngkin amended the proposal to add a reenactment clause, which will require the General Assembly to pass the legislation again in 2025, and create a work group to further study the idea. Youngkin spokesperson Martinez said the governor believes “significant procurement reforms should be studied.”

“It was hard for me to agree to it, but if I allowed it to go back to [Youngkin], he would probably veto it,” says Ward. “So, I decided it was better for us to give him a little more time and trust him at his word.”

Ward notes that the issue has been repeatedly studied, pointing to reports from 2004, 2010 and 2020 on disparities in Virginia procurement and noting the 42% goal was set by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a 2014 executive order and reinforced by a similar order from former Gov. Ralph Northam. 

“The majority of our workforce, our businesses are small, women-owned or minority businesses,” Ward says. “So, if we could make sure they were included in the state procurement process, it would benefit everyone.”

Data centers and more

Further studies will also be conducted on blockchain technology, digital asset mining, and cryptocurrency in Virginia, following the passage of bills from Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim, D-Fairfax. 

“This is a space that we are currently not in,” Salim said in February. “The study would essentially help guide us through the process in which we deal with this in the future, including any tax revenue that might come from this.” 

Lawmakers stripped out several provisions from one of the study bills that would have limited some local oversight of digital asset mining and dealt with taxation and liability concerns. That proposal also received pushback from groups that said it would open the door to further data center expansion in the region. 

Despite more than a dozen bills on the issue, the session saw little movement on data centers, the proliferation of which in Loudoun and Prince William counties has drawn increasing criticism from citizens over noise and water and electricity use. Lawmakers largely deferred those proposals to 2025 to wait for the conclusion of a study on the issue this fall by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. 

The 2024 session saw the end of one long-running stalemate: who should serve on the Virginia State Corporation Commission. The two-year fight between Democrats and Republicans over commissioner appointments had left two of the body’s three seats vacant, forcing the independent agency that oversees banking, utilities and business to temporarily recall former judges to issue major decisions. 

In January, both chambers approved the appointments of Sam Towell, an attorney for Smithfield Foods, and Kelsey Bagot, an attorney for NextEra Energy. They joined Judge Jehmal Hudson, the panel’s chair, on the bench in the spring.   

Catch a wave

Updated July 26: Chuck Rigney resigned as economic development director after six months on the job.

After three decades recruiting businesses to Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton, Charles E. “Chuck” Rigney is tackling a new challenge: leading ‘s economic development.

Rigney was named the Resort City’s permanent economic development director in February. It was one year after he joined the department as a business development administrator and eight months after he became interim director following the departure of the department’s former head, Taylor Adams, for a job in Nevada.

“The opportunity to work with the largest city in Virginia was greatly appealing,” Rigney says. “The future is extremely bright because of all the assets we have here.”

Virginia Beach is awash in major developments. .com is investing $350 million in the city on a robotics fulfillment center set to open in 2025 and a delivery station slated to start operations for this year’s holiday season. Last year, Zim Integrated Shipping Services said it would $30 million to relocate and expand its U.S. headquarters from Norfolk to Virginia Beach, while in November 2023 cloud-based document management company Doma Technologies announced a $4 million expansion that will add more than 300 employees. Also on the horizon: Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, additional digital transatlantic subsea cable landings, new Oceanfront hotels and the long-awaited development from the city’s most famous native son, the music star and fashion icon . 

It’s a full agenda, but one that Rigney, a 1979 graduate who worked in banking and before entering economic development, relishes, especially as the city’s name and reputation grow. “The beach is pretty well known,” he says. “When I [travel] and get in a cab and say I’m from Virginia Beach, they know where I’m talking about. My job is to get it even better known.”

Rigney’s experience and demeanor make him the ideal choice to direct Virginia Beach’s economic development operations, says Doug Smith, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Alliance, the region’s economic development partnership. “He is a good listener, good team builder and understands the importance of getting input from the largest of stakeholders. Nowhere is that more important than Virginia Beach — the largest city in the region.”

Surf park’s up

While other cities where Rigney has worked are more urban and have had more experience with revitalization, Virginia Beach is just now beginning to look at redevelopment strategies. Open parcels of land are becoming fewer and fewer, Rigney notes: “We have to look at strategic growth areas where things can be done differently and transition older properties into new developments.”

That includes aging Oceanfront hotels. Developers are lining up to invest millions of dollars into redevelopment initiatives and asking the city to chip in for necessities like water and sewer and infrastructure improvements. Rigney wants to capitalize on that interest. He notes that 14 million visitors spent a record $2 billion-plus in Virginia Beach last year. “That’s a reflection of successful initiatives of the past,” he says, “but as properties age, more hotels are coming in, and more hotel rooms are needed.”

One prominent proposal comes from former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and Divaris Chairman and CEO Gerald Divaris, who are proposing to build a 450-room hotel and parking garage on property the city owns on 17th Street. The city bought the parcel, which includes a public park and a Dairy Queen, for $12.8 million in 2022. McDonnell and Divaris’ plan would keep the park intact.

“That’s one of many proposals,” Rigney says, adding that talks to revamp the site are still in the early stages. “Any deal would have to go through numerous community meetings and refinement. It’s great to have serious guys like Gerald Divaris and Bob McDonnell interested, as well as other folks in our backyard. We’ll work with everybody to see how to take the city to the next level.”

Meanwhile, construction continues on the first phase of Atlantic Park, a $325 million mixed-use project being developed by Williams and Venture Realty Group. First announced more than six years ago, the surf park and music venue is set to open in spring 2025. Anchored by a nearly 3-acre surf lagoon, the project includes a 3,500-seat entertainment venue, retail space, offices and 309 residences on the former Dome music venue site between 18th and 20th streets. The second phase, still in development, will include additional apartments, parking, office and retail space and a boardwalk connecting the site to the Virginia Beach Boardwalk and 17th Street Park. “Atlantic Park is huge for us,” Rigney says. “It has spurred interest in the surrounding area and led to new growth.”

Williams, who last year became men’s creative director for luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton, has been an avid promoter of his hometown, and is in the process of filming a big-budget musical film this summer in Virginia, based on his childhood growing up in Virginia Beach’s Atlantis Apartments. His Something in the Water music festival debuted at the Oceanfront in 2019 and returned in 2023, generating $50 million to $60 million in economic impact for the city over both years.

“He’s done an amazing thing for his hometown,” Rigney says, adding that Something in the Water and Atlantic Park have attracted many developers to Virginia Beach, giving his department the chance to show off the city. “If developers come to see us one time, we always make a short list of anything they need.”

Rigney is also excited about another park, this one at Rudee Loop on the resort area’s southernmost end. The roughly 8-acre site has been used for parking and as a staging area for large Oceanfront events, but last fall the City Council voted to transfer $4 million from the city’s tourism fund to create a public recreation area. “That will be a real showcase and ultimately will be a real selling point for the beach,” Rigney says. “It was exciting once the concept got in front of council to think about reserving an area for tourists and residents alike to enjoy an open space. You don’t need to always put buildings on things to make a thriving economic attractor.”

Conventional development

Redevelopment is also on the drawing board for the area around the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Earlier this year, the city approved a $75,000 study examining the impacts of a mixed-use sports and convention district around the convention center. It will also examine potential uses for the Parks Avenue home of the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, which plans to move to a new site on Virginia Wesleyan University’s Virginia Beach campus in 2025.

Over the years, Virginia Beach City Council has prioritized the development of a convention center hotel, asserting that such a facility would position Virginia Beach to better compete for regional and national events. Maryland-based Capstone Development has proposed building a 300-room convention hotel adjacent to the convention center. Capstone’s project also would include more than 900 apartments and approximately 160,000 square feet of retail, creating an estimated 800 jobs.

Rigney is confident that a hotel eventually will be built on the site. “All of us understand that having a convention center hotel is long overdue and gives our convention center that much more of a draw,” he says. “One way or another we’re going to get a hotel.”

However, he adds, large-scale projects must complement current developments. “It all has to fit. We don’t want anything that will pull away from Atlantic Park and the ViBe [Creative] District.”

Looking to the city’s Central Business District, Rigney is eyeing the expansion of Virginia Beach Town Center. The 20-year-old mixed-use development, which includes corporate office towers, restaurants, shops and hotels, has thrived through economic downturns and the COVID pandemic. Offices there are completely leased, and, Rigney says, Town Center is ripe for growth. “If we don’t double the size of Town Center in the next 20 years, we probably will not have done as much as I would like to.”

Offshore wind, subsea cables

While tourism, defense and maritime/logistics form the pillars of Virginia Beach’s economy, Rigney is eager to add more legs in the form of offshore wind and subsea internet cables.

The city is working to attract manufacturers to Virginia Beach to support installation and maintenance of the 176 massive wind turbines Dominion Energy is installing for its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast. “Almost everybody in wind energy knows Virginia Beach,” Rigney says. “We want to be able to hear them out and determine if our location is a fit for them.”

Next April, about 2,300 leading industry experts will descend upon Virginia Beach for the International Partnering Forum, the largest offshore wind energy conference in the Americas. Hosting the conference is a coup for Virginia Beach, Rigney says. “That puts us in league with cities like New Orleans, where IPF has been held.”

Meanwhile, the city’s status as one of the few East Coast landing spots for subsea internet transmission cables is starting to reap dividends. Globalinx opened a data center and cable landing station in 2019 and 2020 in the city’s Corporate Landing Business Park. The data center provides colocation space for high-speed subsea telecommunication cables MAREA, BRUSA and DUNANT, which connect Virginia with points in Europe and South America. In May, FiberLight, a fiber infrastructure provider, announced plans to establish high-speed ethernet service from the Globalinx data center.

A joint project from Venture Realty Group and Pharrell Williams, the $325 million Atlantic Park surf park and music venue
is slated to open in spring 2025. Rendering courtesy Hanbury

“Quite a few businesses are seriously considering Virginia Beach largely because of our location along the Middle Atlantic coast,” Rigney says. “We work closely with prospects in the data center business to see what their needs are and where we can put them. If we can get high-speed volume data companies to get a few milliseconds faster to market by being closer to the cables coming into Virginia Beach, it’s a big opportunity for us.”

Economic development efforts, however, are careful to align with the U.S. Navy’s footprint in Virginia Beach, especially Naval Air Station Oceana, the East Coast base for the Navy’s strike fighter jet squadrons.

“Because we want to ensure Oceana is here forever, we partner with the Navy to ensure there is no encroachment to make flight operations difficult,” Rigney says, noting that over the years, the city has purchased properties around the base, zoning them for compatible uses such as data centers and subsea cables. “That helps to monetize restrictive areas.”

Rigney also supports regional development efforts throughout Hampton Roads. As Virginia Beach’s interim economic development director, he convinced City Council to join the Eastern Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority (EVRIFA), a mechanism for pooling resources across multiple localities into site development opportunities that benefit the entire region. It wasn’t
a hard sell, he says.

“The city recognizes we can partner with other cities in ways we have never done before,” Rigney says. “If there’s an opportunity to invest in a project that attracts a car manufacturer to Chesapeake, for instance, and we get a return from it, that’s a direct economic benefit on our investment.”

A longtime advocate for regional cooperation, Rigney is pleased to see increased collaboration among Hampton Roads municipalities. “We have a bunch of folks at the beach and in other communities who truly like each other. That cooperation will help raise the profile of the region.”

And he intends to be part of those cooperative efforts for quite a while. Discussing his plans to beef up the city’s economic development team with new business development managers, Rigney says he has no plans to retire any time soon.

“When I leave one of these years, I want to have a multitude of talent on board to take my place,” he says, “but I have no desire to quit. I love what I do and am passionate about doing it well.” 

Virginia Beach at a glance

Virginia Beach Town Center

Virginia’s most populous city and the 43rd largest in the United States, Virginia Beach encompasses 310 square miles, with 38 miles of beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. A major East Coast tourism destination, Virginia Beach features a vibrant resort area on its Oceanfront. Along with tourism, major industries include defense, bio and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, maritime and logistics, IT and offshore wind energy. It’s also home to Naval Air Station Oceana, the East Coast base for the Navy’s strike fighter jet squadrons. Regent University and Virginia Wesleyan University are based in Virginia Beach, along with campuses for Tidewater Community College, Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University.

Population

460,000

Top employers

  • Naval Air Station Oceana-Dam Neck Annex (10,227)
  • Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (5,020)
  • Sentara Health (4,900)
  • GEICO (3,600)
  • Stihl Inc. (3,300)

Major attractions

Virginia Beach’s 3-mile Boardwalk in the city’s Oceanfront area attracts tourists from around the world. Virginia Beach Town Center is a centrally located, major mixed-use development with hotels, restaurants, shopping and offices. Visitors also enjoy the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, which features live animal habitats and the six-story 3D National Geographic Theater. Other attractions include First Landing State Park, Cape Henry Lighthouse and the Military Aviation Museum.

Major convention hotels

The Founders Inn and Spa
40,000 square feet of meeting space,
240 rooms

The Cavalier Resort*
70,875 square feet of meeting space,
547 rooms

Holiday Inn Virginia Beach – Norfolk
 22,000 square feet of meeting space,
317 rooms

Wyndham Virginia Beach/Oceanfront
 16,247 square feet of meeting space,
244 rooms

The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center
11,266 square feet of event space,
236 rooms

Notable restaurants

Becca Restaurant & Garden
American, contemporary, beccavb.com

Heirloom
Farm-to-table, heirloomvb.com

Orion’s Roof
Asian-fusion, orionsroofvb.com

Steinhilber’s
American, steinys.com

Tides Coastal Kitchen
Seafood, tidescoastalkitchen.com

Waterman’s Surfside Grille
American, watermans.com

Yiannis Wine & Food
Seafood, steaks, yianniswineandfood.com

*The Cavalier Resort includes three hotels: The Historic Cavalier Hotel, Marriott Resort Virginia Beach Oceanfront and Embassy Suites by Hilton.

A practical plan for U.S. 220

Picture an hourglass: Flip the timer over, and the sand at the top funnels through a small opening to pool in the wider receptacle at its bottom.

Now imagine if that hole in the middle were wider; sand would flow more freely.

That’s how business leaders in see the corridor between and the North Carolina border. The wider the gap — the more capacity 220 has — the more can flow to destinations north and south.

The Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor, a group consisting of business leaders from Southern Virginia and the Roanoke and New River valleys, wants to grow commerce in the region and, specifically, would like to see made to about seven miles of U.S Route 220 between in Henry County and the North Carolina line. 

Virginia lawmakers seem to be on board. In 2023, the instructed the Virginia Department of to develop a plan to improve the section of road by relocating and regrading southbound lanes, designing safer intersections and extending turn lanes. Expected to be completed this fall, the study will cost about $200,000, money that will come from VDOT’s state planning and research fund, according to an agency spokesperson.

Del. Eric Phillips, R-Henry, and Jim Frith, chair and co-owner of Martinsville-based Frith Construction, both stress that the area has seen significant economic activity in recent years. This includes Poland-based glass fabricator Press Glass, which invested $155 million to expand at Henry County’s Commonwealth Crossing Park in 2023.

“When you make stuff, you’ve got to transport it,” Phillips says.

In 1991, members of Congress made plans to establish Interstate 73 as a high-priority corridor that would run from South Carolina to Michigan, but it wound up as a 93.5-mile route limited to North Carolina. Later plans explored extending I-73 to Interstate 81 in Roanoke, but those proposals “just died,” Frith says. “There was just no way it would ever be funded.”

In 2020, VDOT released a study looking at a possible bypass from U.S. Route 58 to the North Carolina line. Building a new interstate and that project would both require more than improving the existing corridor.

And proponents say an improved road is better than the status quo.

“We’re just happy that there’s some forward momentum beginning to happen,” Phillips says.

Associate Editor Beth JoJack contributed to this article.

VIPC partners with VC funds to invest $100 million in 100 startups

The is partnering with seven fund managers to $100 million in 100 Virginia-based .

Through the partnership, announced May 20 by Gov. and named Virginia Invests, will commit $40 million to the seven funds using previously awarded from the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative. In December 2022, ‘s office announced that Virginia had been approved for up to $230 million from the SSBCI program, with about $173 million of that going to VIPC.

“The lifeline of a high-growth entrepreneurial ecosystem is the ability to tap into capital,” Youngkin said, “and that’s exactly what Virginia Invests is all about. How do we accelerate growth? How do we amplify good ideas? How do we unleash opportunity by bringing together people who want to invest in all of this and people who need the money to make it go?”

The funding firms have committed an additional $60 million, and they will select the 100 high-growth startups to invest in during the next three to five years. By contract, firms not headquartered in Virginia will have to provide 1.5 times the funding they receive, while firms headquartered in the state will make a 1:1 match, Youngkin told reporters.

“One of, I think, the really important steps was to recognize that picking companies is not something that we should do,” he said. “We should invest in funds that are picking companies, and that also allows us to have the ability, if companies are doing well and more capital is being put to work well, then potentially, we could invest some more. But the resources and the expertise that are represented by these seven funds in particular deep sectors is unique.”

The seven fund managers focus on founders who are typically underserved. They are Washington, D.C.-based 100KM Ventures; New York-based AIN Ventures; Houston-based The Artemis Fund; Portland, Oregon-based The BFM Fund; Chapel Hill, -based Idea Fund Partners; Atlanta-based Valor Ventures; and Tysons-based Veteran Ventures Capital, which recently moved its headquarters from Tennessee to Virginia.

“This is the first round of [funding] commitments. There’ll be more,” Youngkin said.

The nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority, VIPC provides strategic commercialization and funding support to Virginia-based tech startups.