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Eleven months into his first term in elected office, Gov. Glenn Youngkin can boast of several economic development successes and a few legislative wins, but one thing a lot of observers are discussing is his national profile and what it could mean in 2024.
Youngkin — and his careful campaign to win over not only Trump fans but moderates who didn’t support the 45th president — is of keen interest to politicos who see him as a possible model for other GOP candidates seeking office.
The governor‘s frequent appearances on Fox News and his hectic travel schedule, which has included trips to stump for Republican candidates in Connecticut, Maine, Arizona, Michigan, Oregon and other states, has raised questions about whether Youngkin views his governorship as a steppingstone to a presidential run in 2024.
During an October appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Youngkin said the Republican Party “has to be a party where we are not shunning people and excluding them, because we don’t agree on everything.”
Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, who has made a cottage industry out of poking at Youngkin on Twitter, joked in September that the governor “has spent so much time in Texas that now he thinks Virginia is a border state.” Along more serious lines, she and other Senate Democrats have vowed to block abortion restrictions proposed by the governor and have spoken out against Youngkin’s new educational policies regarding transgender students. Many Democrats view the moves as discriminatory, although Youngkin said it’s meant to involve parents more fully in their children’s schooling.
In Virginia Business’ check-in with the governor, he doesn’t completely rule out running for president in 2024 but argues that his appearances in political battleground states are mainly to repay the Republican Governors Association for its support of his campaign.
Meanwhile, Youngkin has yet to embark on — or announce — any international trade missions but says he does plan to travel overseas on behalf of the commonwealth once Virginia’s economy is “sorted out.”
The former Carlyle Group co-CEO is much more comfortable talking about Virginia’s recent economic wins, including The Lego Group’s $1 billion toy factory and Plenty Unlimited Inc.’s $300 million indoor vertical farm operation, both coming to Chesterfield County. There are also the recent corporate headquarters relocations of Raytheon Technologies Corp. and Boeing Co. to Arlington, making Virginia home to the second- and third-largest space and defense contractors in the world.
In recent months, Youngkin, who has been skeptical of the state’s move toward decarbonization, unveiled a new energy policy, calling for increased investment in nuclear power. He also has called for overhauling the state’s workforce development efforts, saying that realigning the efforts of numerous agencies and hundreds of programs statewide under one umbrella will be a key part of his 2023 legislative agenda. “At the end of the day,” the governor says, “companies need workers.” — VB editors
Virginia Business: As you near the completion of your first year in office, how do you think your administration’s economic development efforts compare so far with previous governors?
Gov. Glenn Youngkin: I am very encouraged by our first eight months, and I think what we have really demonstrated is, first, Virginia’s open for business. Unfortunately, over the previous eight years, we didn’t really grow much, less than 1% on a compounded rate. We really didn’t add many jobs over the eight-year period. One of the things that I’ve been really focused on is getting our job engine cranked back up.
I think for the first six months, we were just up under 100,000 jobs. That’s very exciting, because that’s a faster rate than we’ve ever grown. It’s really important that we start growing. We were 47th in job recovery coming out of the pandemic in 2021. Now we’re in the top 15. [Editor’s note: From August 2021 to August 2022, Virginia gained an estimated 118,100 jobs, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. As of early September 2021, Virginia ranked 49th in percentage of jobs recovered since February 2020. As of June 2022, Virginia was 27th in job recovery, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.]
The second big thing that we’ve been able to do is demonstrate that we have a package of initiatives that are taking Virginia, which is a wonderful state for business, and we’re going to make it the best. That’s our big tax cuts that we got done in the first budget cycle … [and] our hard work on making sure we’re addressing an … overburdensome regulatory environment. Our Office of Regulatory Management is off and running.
All the work we’re doing on workforce … is hugely important in order to give companies confidence that we’re going to educate and build the workforce of the future.
Then, finally, work we’re doing to be ready for companies — sites investment, site development, is hugely important. I think that’s translated into some great wins.
… We see companies come from other states, like Boeing and Raytheon, companies that are here, like Hilton and Google, growing, [and] we see international businesses coming here like Lego … picking Chesterfield County. … Then we see new industries starting, and in the whole indoor-growing world, which has found a new hub in Virginia, where we all of a sudden see Plenty [Unlimited] and AeroFarms.
We got a lot to do, though. I want to continue to work on our regulatory environment. I want to continue to get taxes down. We got to continue to build workforce. We’ve got to continue to invest in our transportation infrastructure. We got a long way to go, but so far, so good.
VB: We lost a $5.5 billion Hyundai plant to Georgia, partly because the Southern Virginia Megasite wasn’t as ready as Georgia’s site. What do we need to do to be more competitive in landing deals like this?
Youngkin: This has unfortunately been an issue that’s been unaddressed by previous administrations, and states around us were addressing it. We weren’t ready. We called for and submitted an amendment into the [2022] budget process to put $150 million into site development and site readiness. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not going to be enough, and we’re going to have to put more in. We have got to rapidly accelerate the development of sites and, particularly, megasites. [Editor’s note: Youngkin’s predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, also advocated for the $159 million allocation that the General Assembly approved this year for the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program. Before that, the Assembly invested roughly $1 million per year in site readiness.]
We’re behind. It takes time to catch back up. The funding is important. We are … prioritizing the best sites around the commonwealth and starting to invest in them. I think this is going to be our last step of really going to the forefront for these megaprojects.
We’ve got the automotive industry reshoring, we’ve got the chip industry … reshoring, pharmaceuticals reshoring. We want them all in Virginia, and we need to make sure we have sites ready for them.
VB: Georgia offered more than $1 billion in incentives to Hyundai. Should Virginia be offering larger incentives?
Youngkin: We don’t have a problem in losing the incentive battle. We’re losing the site battle, and that’s the bottom line. … The reality, of course, is that when a company is going to put $6 [billion], $8 [billion or] $10 billion in the ground, the difference of 12 to 18 to 24 months in being up and running matters a lot, and that’s where Virginia’s behind.
We have found a very comfortable construct to compete from an incentive standpoint. I think we’ve been successful. Lego demonstrated that, and the Plenty [Unlimited] arrangement demonstrated that. I’m very pleased with the effort that we’re putting forth in order to provide the right incentive package.
I think when we have all of our sites caught up … [and] bring to bear all the great things that the commonwealth has plus competitive incentive packages, we win. We have the best location: Virginia’s within a day’s drive of half the country’s population. With the Port of Virginia, we have the best logistics hub on the East Coast. … We have got a great offering for companies. The big thing for us is getting our sites ready.
VB: Every Virginia governor for at least the last 20 years has gone on foreign trade missions, but so far, you haven’t. What are your plans for marketing Virginia overseas?
Youngkin: I do plan on going. … I’ve traveled a lot during my business career and have extensive relationships in lots of places. I believe that the best opportunities for the commonwealth right now are for us to get our economic situation sorted out and to help the businesses that are here [to] grow and attract businesses that want to come to the United States or to Virginia. I do expect that I’ll go on trade missions.
VB: You’ve made high-profile trips to support GOP gubernatorial candidates across the nation. What do you say to people speculating that you’re planning a presidential run?
Youngkin: I think it’s representative of where we are politically. … I’m flattered by it all the time, but at the end of the day, I have been in this position for less than a year. I understand we’ve flipped a state that had been blue. … I also understand that people are excited about the fact we’ve delivered on our Day One game plan and gotten Virginia moving. Right now, I’m really focused on being the best governor that I can be.
I’m very honored to be able to help some gubernatorial candidates around the country. The Republican Governors Association was hugely helpful to me when I was running, and it’s a chance for me to return the favor for other governors. I’ve only been working on governors’ races … and then working in the commonwealth to help Republican congressional candidates get elected.
VB: What are your economic development priorities for 2023? What sectors are you looking to grow?
Youngkin: First of all, there’s building blocks that have to continue to be put in place. This is sector-agnostic at this point. One, we have to get sites moving, and that’s megasites and some of the smaller sites. Second of all, we have to continue with our massive push in workforce development. Companies don’t want to come here if they don’t think they can have a great workforce.
Finally, we’ve got an overall cost-of-business regulatory framework that I think we can go a long way on. … We are cutting anti-business regulatory hurdles.
On top of that, there are a number of sectors that we find ourselves really growing quickly in. I think the whole pharmaceutical and bioscience world is a great place for Virginia. We’ve had huge wins in the pharmaceutical cluster here in Petersburg and Richmond and Chesterfield County. I’m very excited about the bioresearch that’s going on across the commonwealth.
I think we’ve got a tremendous leg up in advanced manufacturing, and we’ve got a great workforce. We’ve just got to bring it together around our defense companies and our aerospace companies, not to mention all of the great headway that is being made on advanced manufacturing in the supply chains into the automotive sector, etc.
Third, I’m very excited about our aerospace sector … what’s happening in Wallops Island, along with the buildup of our unmanned aerial systems, has been great. I think we’ve got some real hubs of new and exciting things happening. Not to mention the [next-generation] agri-tech world.
Then we have our entire computer science and technology world where Virginia’s just out in front. We look at where it begins with our data center dominance all the way up through end development. Our cyber capabilities are extraordinary, and these are sectors that we should continue to grow rapidly.
VB: What role do you see the Virginia Ready initiative you and your wife co-founded playing in the state’s workforce development efforts?
Youngkin: I would hope that Virginia Ready can continue to play a big part in supporting folks getting short-term training for in-demand jobs. One of the things we’ve seen is that our community college system is poised to play a major role in this, but it’s episodic in how it is doing it.
I think there’s a great opportunity here for organizations like Virginia Ready, and there’s lots of other ones that support people who are looking for new skills and training. … Our community college system can play an extraordinarily interesting role in preparing people for careers of the future. We can do that even in high school. This is the exciting part, where our community colleges partnered with K-12 education … with dual enrollment and the idea that you can graduate from high school with a two-year associate’s degree or a credential.
We’ve got to prepare our students coming out of Virginia’s high schools to be college-ready or career-ready, and I do believe that our community college system can play an enormous role in that.
VB: Senate Democrats are still in charge of the General Assembly, and they blocked your proposed gas tax break. Inflation is high and some economists are predicting a recession is likely. What do you hope to do for families and businesses in the 2023 General Assembly session?
Youngkin: My learnings from this first year is that common sense can prevail mostly. We got everything in our Day One agenda moving, all of it, other than a suspension of the gas tax.
Virginia’s universities have decided that they agree with me, they’re going to keep tuition flat this year.
I’ll need the General Assembly to finally come along, but we got $4 billion of tax cuts done last year. I think the General Assembly recognizes that if we continue to overtax Virginians like they have been doing, we’re going to continue to drive people away, and that’s no winning formula. I’m optimistic that this idea of bringing down the cost of living in Virginia, providing tax breaks for Virginians [and] going to work on affordable and accessible housing is going to be really important. We can make Virginia the best place to live, work and raise [a] family.
At the end of the day, companies need workers. I was first very clear with the General Assembly … that tax cuts should extend to both individuals and to corporations. I think that’s a really important step for us to begin to bring down the tax burden across all taxpayers in Virginia.
Then second of all, at the heart of all of this is making sure that we have a robust workforce for companies to hire and for people to thrive. … Bringing down the cost of living, bringing down the tax burden, is really important in making housing affordable and accessible.
Virginia’s awesome. We just have to make it a little more awesome so that people will choose to stay here.
On the road again
Business and leisure travelers are putting the pandemic in the rearview mirror and once again are filling Virginia hotels and resorts. While that’s good news, widespread staffing shortages continue to hamper the hospitality industry.
Occupancy rates are almost back to 2019 numbers, with Northern Virginia finally seeing upticks as corporate and government travel has slowly returned, says Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association: “Hotels have recovered nicely from the pandemic, but labor is still a significant challenge.”
Most hotels are short-staffed, Terry adds, and many have cut back on daily housekeeping services and other amenities. “Some hotels won’t book all of their rooms because of staffing.”
Meanwhile, continuing a growing trend over the past decade, few full-service hotels offering large-scale meeting space are under construction. Instead, smaller select-service properties with limited amenities are sprouting up across Virginia. “It’s hard to make the economics of a full-service hotel make sense,” Terry says.
Kalahari Resorts and Conventions aims to buck that trend. The Wisconsin-based developer of America’s largest indoor waterparks plans to build its fifth location on 140 acres in Spotsylvania County just north of Kings Dominion. Projected to open in 2028, the hotel-convention center will include a 12-story, 900-room hotel, entertainment complex, convention center, indoor water park and 10-acre outdoor water park.
Other hospitality happenings from around the state include:
Central Virginia
Following an extensive, two-year renovation, the Keswick Hotel reopened last fall in eastern Albemarle County. The 1912 property was expanded to 80 guest rooms and suites, with a building added for the new restaurant, Marigold, under the direction of French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. A new spa opened this fall.
In the state’s capital, Marriott’s new lifestyle brand, targeted to Gen X and millennial travelers, made its debut this fall in the form of Moxy Richmond, one of Shamin Hotels’ properties. Moxy Hotels are known for offering guests a fun, lively atmosphere for working and socializing. The eight-story hotel at Fifth and Franklin Streets includes 87 rooms featuring folding chairs and tables that can be hung on a peg wall when not in use.
First National Bank. Photo courtesy The Liberty Trust
Hampton Roads
Embassy Suites by Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront, the last piece of the Cavalier Resort redevelopment project, is scheduled for completion in early 2023. The 157-suite hotel will be one of only 12 Embassy Suites by Hilton nationwide to receive the brand’s resort designation. Each suite will have panoramic views of the coastline. The hotel will have 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space, accommodating up to 300 people.
Developed by Gold Key | PHR, the Cavalier Resort includes the historic Cavalier Hotel and Beach Club and the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront, offering 547 guest rooms and more than 40 meeting and event spaces.
Yorktown’s 58-year-old Duke of York Hotel is now the Yorktown Beach Hotel. The property was sold for $3 million in summer 2021, closed for renovations in early 2022
and reopened this spring. Upgrades to the hotel’s 57 guestrooms are scheduled to begin this fall.
Northern Virginia
A $10 million renovation to the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center was finished in May, including upgrades to meeting spaces and its 428 guest rooms. The hotel offers more than 48,000 square feet of event space with 37 meeting rooms.
Renovations were completed this summer at the Archer Falls Church, located in the Mosaic retail and entertainment district in Fairfax County. The property had been a Hyatt House before Archer took over in December 2021. The 148-room hotel has 3,225 square feet of meeting and event space.
The Hotel AKA Alexandria is scheduled to open this winter in Old Town Alexandria in space previously occupied by a Holiday Inn Express. Billed as luxury long-stay hotels, AKA properties were started by the fourth generation of the Korman family, commercial real estate entrepreneurs over the past century. The 178-room hotel will have six meeting rooms, including a 5,304-square-foot conference room for total event space of 10,500 square feet.
Roanoke
Downtown Roanoke’s first boutique hotel, The Liberty Trust, opened in March in a restored 1910 Greek revival building that previously housed First National Bank. Fairfax-based Savara Hospitality redeveloped the seven-story, 54-room property that features the bank’s original copper doors, as well as a walk-in vault that has been transformed into the Tasting Room bar. The hotel’s mezzanine boardroom has 400 square feet of meeting and event space.
Shenandoah Valley
Opened in 1766, the 2,300-acre Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs is in the midst of its most significant upgrade in more than a century. The $140 million-plus facelift kicked off last fall with façade improvements. Interior work, including revitalizing the 483 guest rooms, public spaces and restaurants, began this summer.
Plans call for expanding the lobby bar into the Georgian Room, reconfiguring Martha’s Market to maximize efficiency, revamping the 1923-era theater and refreshing each of the 28 meeting rooms, which collectively offer 72,000 square feet of capacity. The resort’s Great Hall also will be updated with custom carpeting and lighting reflecting the Homestead’s bucolic surroundings. Renovations are expected to be finished in 2023.
The revitalized décor will reflect the resort’s history and the natural beauty of the Allegheny Mountains, says Lynn Swann, the Homestead’s director of marketing and communications. “The plans pay tribute to the resort’s history and traditions and pull in the flora and fauna of the area.”
In addition, the $4 million restoration of the Homestead’s Warm Spring Pools is expected to be complete late this year. (The nation’s oldest spa structures, the warm spring pool’s bathhouses date to
the 1700s.)
Less than one mile from James Madison University, the Hyatt Place Harrisonburg opened in December 2021 with 119 rooms and 1,977 square feet of meeting space. The establishment is the only hotel in Harrisonburg with a rooftop bar.
Southwest Virginia
Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards in Bristol expanded into lodging when it opened the Nicewonder Inn in April. The 28-room luxury boutique inn takes advantage of the venue’s culinary and wine program.
This article has been corrected since publication.
FOR THE RECORD NOVEMBER 2022
CENTRAL VIRGINIA
Richmond Community Hospital — owned by Bon Secours Mercy Health — has the highest profit margins of any hospital in Virginia, generating as much as $100 million a year. The secret to its success lies with a federal program that allows clinics in impoverished neighborhoods to buy prescription drugs at steep discounts, charge insurers full price and pocket the difference. The program was created with the intention that hospitals would reinvest into their facilities, improving care for poor patients, but Bon Secours has slashed services at Community while investing in the city’s wealthier, white neighborhoods, more than 20 former executives, doctors and nurses say. In a statement, Bon Secours said it has invested $9.8 million in capital improvements at Community since 2018, and $21 million is going toward a new behavioral health program, an MRI suite and upgraded mammography services. (The New York Times; NBC 12)
New car sales were expected to rise in the third quarter of 2022, but a deteriorating market for used vehicles — which sent CarMax Inc. shares tumbling in late September — suggests trouble ahead for automakers. The resale market often indicates where new car demand is headed, and Goochland County-based CarMax said its vehicle sales dropped in the three months ending Aug. 31. Both consumers and wholesalers pulled back, the company said. According to CarMax, inflation is making cars less affordable, rising interest rates make them tougher to finance, and consumer confidence is ebbing. (Bloomberg)
A portion of a meadow facing Rivanna River in Charlottesville could become home to 245 apartments. A local firm, Seven Development LLC, gave its first public presentation of the project in October with city planners over Zoom. According to a Charlottesville-based water engineer, the land is part of a flood plain, but the developers say they would build a 15- to 18-foot wall, backfill and then construct an asphalt parking lot and three four-story buildings on the newly elevated land. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved the project on the grounds that it would not increase the height of Rivanna floodwaters by more than a foot, and the city’s comprehensive plan calls for general residential zoning in the area. (The Daily Progress)
McLean philanthropists Joanne and William E. Conway gave $13 million to Virginia Commonwealth University‘s School of Nursing, the university announced in late September. The gift is the largest in the school’s history and will provide more than 1,000 undergraduate and doctoral students with scholarships over the next five years. The couple also committed $14 million earlier in September to the University of Virginia‘s School of Nursing, also providing scholarship assistance. Bill Conway is co-founder, interim CEO and non-executive co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, the Washington, D.C., private equity firm. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Moe Mathews, a Goochland County real estate developer and investor, was sentenced in October to 41 months in prison for defrauding the Small Business Administration and associated financial institutions out of more than $1.1 million in COVID-19 relief funds during the first year of the pandemic. In May, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The punishment was at the low end of discretionary federal sentencing guidelines, which could have reached 51 months. Mathews will also have to make restitution in the amount of $1.6 million to the SBA and eight financial institutions.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Shoppers headed to Short Pump Town Center might be allowed to breeze through concourses with alcoholic drinks in hand by spring 2023. Brookfield Properties, the mall’s co-owner, applied to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority for a Commercial Lifestyle Center license allowing customers to take drinks out of mall restaurants. Tenants can decide whether they want to allow drinks inside of their businesses. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Asian buyout firm Baring Private Equity Asia Ltd. is in talks to acquire Ashburn-based DXC Technology Co. after Baring approached DXC, a Fortune 500 information technology services firm, about a potential takeover. DXC has been working with advisers after receiving interest from the private equity firm in late September and has said only that it was “approached by a financial sponsor regarding a potential acquisition of the company.” DXC added that no formal proposal has been received and there were no promises that one would be made or determined adequate by the company’s board of directors. “Consistent with its fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder value, the company is engaged in preliminary discussions and is sharing information,” DXC said. (Bloomberg; VirginiaBusiness.com)
RapidFlight LLC will invest $5.5 million to establish operations in Manassas, creating 119 jobs over the next three years, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 23. RapidFlight is an integrated, end-to-end provider of airborne drones. Founded in 2021, the company works for national security and private sector clients. It will establish a 25,000-square-foot facility, renovating the former Georator Corp. building. RapidFlight is hiring engineers, manufacturing technicians, program managers, administrative staff and others. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Raytheon Technologies Corp.‘s missile and defense division received the go-ahead from the Air Force to move beyond the prototype phase and continue development of a new hypersonic cruise missile weapon under a $985 million contract announced by the Pentagon Sept. 22. The Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is an air-launched, maneuverable weapon propelled by a scramjet engine that allows it to travel up to five times the speed of sound. Raytheon will design, develop and ready the missile for integration with fighter aircraft. Work is expected to be complete by March 2027. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The opening of the new Potomac Yard Metro station is being pushed back into next year, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said Sept. 30. Metro blamed its contractor, Potomac Yard Constructors, for “failure to meet the project delivery schedule,” the transit system said. The Potomac Yard station is located between the existing Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport stations on Metro’s Yellow and Blue lines. In July 2021, the new station’s opening was pushed back by five months, from April 2022 to September 2022. Metro said it will provide an update on the project and its new delivery timeline by the end of this year. (Washington Business Journal)
PEOPLE
Karen Dahut is the new CEO of Google Public Sector, a Google LLC subsidiary focused on government and educational contracting work. Dahut started Oct. 31 and takes the place of Will Grannis, Google Public Sector’s founding CEO, who is returning to his role as chief technology officer of Google Cloud. Dahut previously served as a sector president at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she led the company’s $4 billion global defense business. Google Public Sector was formed in June and is focused on bringing Google Cloud technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, to federal, state and local government customers and educational institutions. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A month after ManTech‘s stockholders approved the Herndon-based tech contractor’s $4.2 billion sale to Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group, ManTech announced Oct. 3 that Kevin Phillips will retire as CEO and president and transition to chairman of the board of directors. Chief Operating Officer Matt Tait has been promoted to CEO. ManTech also announced a new board, which includes four Carlyle executives, and Tait, who joined ManTech in 2018. Before joining ManTech, Tait spent 20 years with Accenture and a decade in the Navy. Phillips became chair of ManTech’s board in 2020 and served as president and CEO since 2018. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
Monthly bills for an average residential customer of Appalachian Power Co. will likely be about $30 higher by year’s end. Appalachian informed the State Corporation Commission in late September it will increase its base rate by 6.7% — or $8.55 per month for a home account that consumes 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity — effective Oct. 1. That will be followed by a second hike starting Nov. 1, which will add about $20 more to the monthly bill to cover the rising costs of fuel the utility burns to provide power to 500,000-plus customers in Western Virginia. A series of other rate adjustments has cost consumers an additional $18 per month. (The Roanoke Times)
Reston-based Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. founder and CEO Gary Bowman committed
$5 million to Virginia Tech‘s College of Engineering for the expansion of sustainable land development learning initiatives, the university announced Oct. 3. The donation will establish the Bowman Sustainable Land Development Program, serving both undergraduate and graduate students. The sustainable land development master’s program, currently in its second year, will fall under the program, as will the Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI), which will be renamed. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Osseo, Wisconsin-based North American Specialty Laminations LLC, a company that provides lamination solutions to the building products industry, will invest $2 million to open a mid-Atlantic production facility in Roanoke County, creating 44 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 20. NASL’s 57,000-square-foot plant will serve NASL customers along the East Coast and Southeast. A portfolio company of Boston-based private equity investment firm Building Industry Partners, it has facilities around the country and in Canada. The Roanoke facility will be a hub for profile lamination and fabrication capabilities for door, window, cabinet, wall panel, fencing and moulding customers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Enrollment at Radford University dropped again this fall, similar to other colleges in Virginia and nationwide amid declining student population trends, according to preliminary data. A total of 7,199 degree-seeking students were enrolled at Radford University this fall as of Sept. 5, down from 7,714 students last year, according to a college news release. That’s a 6.7% year-over-year decline in enrollment, and a more than 21% decrease from fall 2019, when Radford University had 9,190 degree-seeking students. (The Roanoke Times)
PEOPLE
Megan Baker will take over as Roanoke County‘s new economic development director on Oct. 24.
She succeeds Jill Loope, who will assist with Baker’s transition, then head up tourism for Roanoke County’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department until she retires in July 2023. Baker comes to Roanoke from Peachtree City, Georgia, where she has been president of the Fayette County Development Authority. There, she led business attraction and retention programs for Fayette County and spearheaded development of a 600-acre business park. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Research!America, a national organization that builds awareness and support for health research, will award its Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award to Michael Friedlander, the founding executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and Heywood Fralin, a health care executive who has helped build the biotechnology industry in Virginia. The award recognizes individuals who have increased the level of advocacy for medical and health research. President Joe Biden and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg are among the past honorees. The awards will be given in March 2023. The recognition is meaningful for a region that has not been known for biomedical research and technology, according to Friedlander and Fralin. (Virginia Tech news release)
EASTERN VIRGINIA
California Burrito, a Latin nightclub in downtown Norfolk, has become the fourth nightlife establishment shuttered by the city since early September. The Norfolk City Council voted to revoke California Burrito’s conditional use permit Oct. 10 for repeated overcrowding violations. California Burrito’s downfall was the nightclub called “The Back” it operated in the rear of the building. The city began ramping up its enforcement of nightclubs for code violations in August following several late-night shootings, including a quadruple shooting outside Legacy Restaurant and Lounge on Aug. 5 and a triple homicide outside Chicho’s Backstage in March. Since then, city officials closed Culture Restaurant & Lounge for violations of its restaurant zoning certificate. The council closed Legacy on Sept. 13 for violating security protocols and Scotty Quixx’s on Sept. 27 for a meals tax violation.(The Virginian-Pilot)
Hampton Roads’ economy is expected to grow, Robert McNab, economics professor and director of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, told attendees of ODU’s annual State of the Region address. The Oct. 4. presentation showed that growth in the region’s inflation-adjusted gross domestic product is expected to be 2% this year, down from 3% last year but better than the contraction of 3.9% in 2020. McNab highlighted how Hampton Roads’ civilian labor force is still more than 45,000 workers smaller than it was before the pandemic relative to other large metro regions in Virginia. (Inside Business)
Virginia plans to increase the use of freight rail to transport goods by partnering with the Port of Virginia, according to the draft 2022 Statewide Rail Plan published Sept. 28. Using freight services to transport goods is expected to help relieve traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions and yield an annual $2.1 billion in benefits. Port spokesman Joseph Harris said the plan is critical due to its growth and expansion of the central rail yard at Norfolk International Terminals that is expected to process 1.1 million rail lifts per year. He said the port’s rail volume is up by 4% or about 446,000 containers, versus 428,000 containers moved by rail during the pandemic. (Virginia Mercury)
The USS Gerald R. Ford departed Naval Station Norfolk Oct. 4, embarking on its first deployment a day later than expected due to stormy weather. The Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, touted as its most technologically advanced, was years late and 27% over budget. The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group deployment is made up of about 9,000 personnel. The USS John F. Kennedy, built by Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division, is expected to join the Ford’s class in 2024. (The Virginian-Pilot; VirginiaBusiness.com)
More than 18 months after being awarded a grant for nearly $1.7 million, Virginia Peninsula Community College is nearly ready to unveil its second trade center in January. The new location is in Toano in upper James City County. The site is owned by David Johnson Builders, which is handling the renovations, and offers 7,800 square feet of training space. Four programs will be offered: welding, CNC machining, carpentry and masonry. (Williamsburg Yorktown Daily)
PEOPLE
After a C-suite shakeup, Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. named Michael Creedon Jr. as its new chief operating officer in late September. Creedon had been with Advance Auto Parts since December 2013, serving as president of its U.S. stores in recent years. On Sept. 28, Dollar Tree also named Pedro Voyer its new chief development officer. Voyer previously served as the international general manager for Panera and chief operating officer of Caribou Coffee and Einstein’s Bagels, brands owned by JAB Holding Co. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Asian buyout firm Baring Private Equity Asia Ltd. is in talks to acquire Ashburn-based DXC Technology Co. after Baring approached DXC, a Fortune 500 information technology services firm, about a potential takeover. DXC has been working with advisers after receiving interest from the private equity firm in late September and has said only that it was “approached by a financial sponsor regarding a potential acquisition of the company.” DXC added that no formal proposal has been received and there were no promises that one would be made or determined adequate by the company’s board of directors. “Consistent with its fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder value, the company is engaged in preliminary discussions and is sharing information,” DXC said. (Bloomberg; VirginiaBusiness.com)
RapidFlight LLC will invest $5.5 million to establish operations in Manassas, creating 119 jobs over the next three years, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 23. RapidFlight is an integrated, end-to-end provider of airborne drones. Founded in 2021, the company works for national security and private sector clients. It will establish a 25,000-square-foot facility, renovating the former Georator Corp. building. RapidFlight is hiring engineers, manufacturing technicians, program managers, administrative staff and others. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Raytheon Technologies Corp.‘s missile and defense division received the go-ahead from the Air Force to move beyond the prototype phase and continue development of a new hypersonic cruise missile weapon under a $985 million contract announced by the Pentagon Sept. 22. The Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is an air-launched, maneuverable weapon propelled by a scramjet engine that allows it to travel up to five times the speed of sound. Raytheon will design, develop and ready the missile for integration with fighter aircraft. Work is expected to be complete by March 2027. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The opening of the new Potomac Yard Metro station is being pushed back into next year, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said Sept. 30. Metro blamed its contractor, Potomac Yard Constructors, for “failure to meet the project delivery schedule,” the transit system said. The Potomac Yard station is located between the existing Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport stations on Metro’s Yellow and Blue lines. In July 2021, the new station’s opening was pushed back by five months, from April 2022 to September 2022. Metro said it will provide an update on the project and its new delivery timeline by the end of this year. (Washington Business Journal)
PEOPLE
Karen Dahut is the new CEO of Google Public Sector, a Google LLC subsidiary focused on government and educational contracting work. Dahut started Oct. 31 and takes the place of Will Grannis, Google Public Sector’s founding CEO, who is returning to his role as chief technology officer of Google Cloud. Dahut previously served as a sector president at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she led the company’s $4 billion global defense business. Google Public Sector was formed in June and is focused on bringing Google Cloud technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, to federal, state and local government customers and educational institutions. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A month after ManTech‘s stockholders approved the Herndon-based tech contractor’s $4.2 billion sale to Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group, ManTech announced Oct. 3 that Kevin Phillips will retire as CEO and president and transition to chairman of the board of directors. Chief Operating Officer Matt Tait has been promoted to CEO. ManTech also announced a new board, which includes four Carlyle executives, and Tait, who joined ManTech in 2018. Before joining ManTech, Tait spent 20 years with Accenture and a decade in the Navy. Phillips became chair of ManTech’s board in 2020 and served as president and CEO since 2018. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Averett University will enter the metaverse later this academic year. A digital twin (a virtual version of a real-world, physical space) of the university’s campus will allow parents to feel more connected to their students and offer new opportunities in the classroom by giving users the ability to explore Averett’s campus without actually being there. Averett has partnered with California-based Dalrada Financial Corp. to create a metaverse for the campus. The partnership, announced Sept. 16,
will also focus on physical changes to Averett’s campus such as new HVAC systems, prioritizing sustainability and energy efficiency. (Cardinal News)
Hitachi Energy Ltd. will invest $37 million to expand its operation in Halifax County, creating 165 jobs,
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Oct. 12. The technology company will add 26,000 square feet to its existing facility in the county to make space for a new production line of large transformers to support the utility and renewable energy markets. The facility currently produces both distribution transformers and power transformers. Following the expansion, Hitachi will be able to produce larger power transformers that operate at higher voltages. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Charlotte, North Carolina-based IperionX Ltd., a minerals company that produces titanium metal powder for use in manufacturing, announced plans to establish Virginia’s first titanium demonstration facility in Halifax County, an investment of
$82.1 million expected to create 108 jobs,
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 27. The
three-year project will be in two phases: The first is a $12.5 million investment in construction and production-related machinery and tools, and the second is a $69.6 million expansion. The facility will also mark the nation’s first titanium powder producer using 100% recycled scrap metal.
(VirginiaBusiness.com)
Population trends over the past half-century show a significant decline in population in Martinsville and Henry County. Data from the Census Bureau as compiled by USAfacts.org show a lesser decline in the city of Danville and Pittsylvania County, while Franklin and Patrick counties have seen growth. In 1972, there were 53,094 people residing in Henry County and while the population in the United States grew by 58.6% from then until 2021, Henry County’s population shrank by 5.4%. Despite the overall decline, the data shows that Henry County’s population increased 20 out of the 49 years, with the largest annual population increase occurring between 1986 and 1987. (Martinsville Bulletin)
The Navy on Oct. 5 launched an additive manufacturing “center of excellence” to train students in defense manufacturing at Danville’s Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, as well as announcing a larger training facility to be built nearby. The center of excellence is part of the 16-week Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program that started as a multiyear pilot in 2021 in Danville, a partnership among the Department of Defense, IALR, Danville Community College, The Spectrum Group and Phillips Corp. that has trained three cohorts of students so far. Also announced Oct. 5 was the Navy’s plan to build a 100,000-square-foot regional ATDM training facility on the campus. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
The Institute for Advancing Learning and Research in Danville has named Todd M. Yeatts as executive vice president of manufacturing advancement. Yeatts joins IALR from The Boeing Co., where he was senior manager for government operations. At IALR, he will oversee the manufacturing advancement training program, and operations and strategic direction of the new Center for Manufacturing Advancement, expected to open this year. He will report directly to IALR President Telly Tucker. At Boeing, Yeatts conducted program advocacy and awareness campaigns, managed congressional site visits, provided legislative testimony and served as the primary contact for government officials. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Emory & Henry College announced the start of its Collective Connections Campaign during the college’s homecoming activities in the first weekend of October. The fundraising campaign’s goal is to raise $25 million that will go toward establishing additional scholarships, creating new housing and supporting the development of a planned multi-sports complex, which would house athletic programs including men’s and women’s rugby, lacrosse and the E&H equestrian team. As of Oct. 3, the college had raised $5 million. The campaign comes after the college welcomed a record 1,400 undergraduate students this semester. (Bristol Herald Courier)
The Virginia Department of Energy, the Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority and InvestSWVA will launch the Energy DELTA Lab project, an initiative to turn some of the 100,000 acres of former coal mining sites in Southwest Virginia into laboratories to promote energy innovation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Oct. 4. The first site will be near the town of Pound and will be a lab for advanced solar and energy storage. It will likely take at least two years to be up and running. A $975,000 grant from the federal Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program provided development funding. (Cardinal News)
The restoration of five trestles on the Mendota Trail that added 2.5 miles to the 12.5-mile foot and bicycle path is complete. The new portion of the trail stretches between Bristol and Mendota. A grand opening and ribbon cutting were held Oct. 14 at the trailhead. State Sen. Todd Pillion and Dels. Terry Kilgore, Israel O’Quinn and Will Wampler spearheaded a $466,500 state appropriation for the project. Johnson City, Tennessee-based engineering firm Tysinger, Hampton & Partners Inc. designed the project. The Mendota Trail Conservancy Inc. contracted with Abingdon-based Inland Construction Inc. for construction services. (Bristol Now)
The University of Virginia’s College at Wise dropped its $25 application fee as part of a larger streamlining of the school’s admissions process to make it easier to apply, the college announced in early October. UVA Wise also eliminated enrollment deposits. Students who have or will complete the required high school coursework no longer need a combination of test scores, class rankings and grade point average to be admitted, as the college now requires only a single qualifier. UVA Wise also now promises to make an acceptance decision within 48 hours of receiving an application and high school transcript. (Cardinal News)
The Wise County Industrial Development Authority received a $232,500 grant from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority Education and Telehealth Access Fund to fund broadband internet service through satellite internet provider Starlink to unserved or underserved households with school children in Wise County, VCEDA announced in late September. The Wise County IDA will use the funds for the cost and expense of hardware and wiring and for two-year subscriptions for 94 residences in Wise County, providing 438 students with Starlink internet service. (Bristol Herald Courier)
PEOPLE
Formerly a television news anchor for WCYB NBC 5 Bristol, Olivia Bailey became marketing director for Friends of Southwest Virginia on Sept. 7. The Abingdon nonprofit works on promoting cultural heritage, natural resources, downtown economic development and the arts across 19 counties, four cities and 53 towns, partnering with groups like Heart of the Appalachia Tourism Authority, Blue Ridge Travel Association and the LENOWISCO Planning District Commission. A Smyth County native and graduate of Emory & Henry College, Bailey wants to work with other localities to amplify their tourism and destination marketing efforts. (Bristol Now)
Prince William targets data center growth
Move over Loudoun County. Neighboring Prince William County could eventually wear the data center crown.
Loudoun currently houses the world’s largest concentration of data centers, which cover more than 25 million square feet of county land. About 27 miles away, however, Prince William is projecting about 33 million square feet of data centers will be built over the next 20 years, according to a report by Camoin Associates, an economic development firm. In late September, Prince William had 35 data centers covering 6 million square feet, and an estimated 5.4 million square feet is under development.
Prince William is benefiting from factors driving new data center projects away from Loudoun, where land is scarcer and electrical infrastructure constraints are limiting data center growth, says Josh Levi, president of the Data Center Coalition, a trade association.
Data centers are key to Prince William’s economic development strategy. The county designated about 9,500 acres in 2016 as an overlay district to target areas with the necessary infrastructure to support data centers, and supervisors are considering an expansion.
Data centers generate significant tax revenue and provide a variety of jobs, says Christina Winn, the county’s executive director of economic development. Tax revenue from data centers in the county increased to $79.8 million in 2022 from
$5.9 million in 2013.
“It really comes down to that commercial tax base,” Winn says. “That benefits our schools, libraries and parks.”
But data center development also has stirred controversy in Prince William.
After a 10-hour public hearing in September, the county Planning Commission recommended developing a 2,100-acre data center corridor on Pageland Lane, adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park. Known as the Prince William Digital Gateway, it could add as much as 27 million square feet of data centers. While some landowners want data centers, other residents oppose development near their homes and Manassas National Battlefield Park, the historic site of two Civil War battles.
In Bristow, the proposed 270-acre Devlin Technology Park, which would have added up to 4.25 million square feet of data centers, was put on hold by developers in September after residents expressed concerns about potential noise from industrial cooling systems.
“If it’s in an industrial area, go for it, but don’t put them 100 feet from houses,” says Steve Pleickhardt, president of the adjacent Amberleigh Station neighborhood association, which opposes the construction.
Virginia Society of CPAs’ 2023 Economic Expectations Survey Results
Read VSCPA member interviews and more about the survey.
Exceeding expectations
In the greater Richmond region, local economic development authorities have been hard at work landing new business and securing expansions, and this year those efforts bore fruit, they say.
In fact, 2022 has outpaced the past two decades, declares Jennifer Wakefield, the Greater Richmond Partnership’s president and CEO, as the region landed two “megaprojects” — The Lego Group’s $1 billion toy factory in Chesterfield County (See related November 2022 cover story) and CoStar Group Inc.’s $460 million expansion in Richmond — as well as other major deals.
Representing the city of Richmond and the counties of Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield, GRP was instrumental in bringing in 13 projects in the past fiscal year that are expected to produce nearly 5,000 jobs, totaling $1.62 billion in capital investment and 4.45 million square feet of development.
Lego’s announcement in June that it will build a $1 billion plant in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park, creating more than 1,760 jobs over the next decade, is the Richmond region’s marquee deal this year, although CoStar’s expansion is making a big impact in the city. In May, the real estate data company purchased the former SunTrust building south of the James River for $20 million, and on the other side of the river, adjacent to its current footprint, will be a $460 million campus expected to employ 2,000 people.
“It doesn’t look like there’s an end in sight, which is good,” says Wakefield, who joined GRP in 2017 and was promoted to CEO in February 2021. “It has been absolutely insane lately.”
The Richmond region continues to be a popular destination for the manufacturing and distribution sectors, as well as tech and pharmaceutical businesses. Much of that is due to its location near major highways, airports, railways and the Port of Virginia’s terminals in Richmond and Hampton Roads, Wakefield says.
“I think that we have all the right mix of ingredients for companies who are interested in being in what I like to call a Goldilocks location,” she says. “We’re not too big. We’re not too small. We’re just right.”
Henrico County
If you’ve ever dunked an Oreo in milk, chances are it came from the Mondelez bakery in eastern Henrico. Chicago-based Mondelez International Inc., a $26 billion-plus food and confectionary company, owns all Nabisco products.
The Mondelez bakery in Henrico has been around for about 50 years, and in late 2021, the company announced a $102.5 million expansion, expected to create 80 jobs. The expansion also includes new manufacturing equipment, which has the power to produce 10,000 Oreos per minute, says Anthony Romanello, executive director of the Henrico County Economic Development Authority.
Coca-Cola also announced it would spend $23 million on upgrades and expansions to its Henrico plant, which includes new bottling technology. Bottles about the size of a test tube will be shipped to the Henrico facility, and a blow-mold machine expands the plastic to a larger 20 oz. size. This means that 60 to 70 fewer trucks are coming to the Coke plant per week because they can carry more of the consolidated bottles. This investment saves the company on transportation costs and reduces truck traffic on county roads, explains Romanello.
Because of Henrico’s long history in food distribution, he adds, “In the eastern part of the county, we’ve got substantial infrastructure that they need for the investments and a really good road network, so they can get the product out quickly.”
Henrico also landed a $144 million investment from QTS, a data center company that set up a network access point for three subsea telecommunications cables from Virginia Beach, which connect to data networks in Europe, South America and the United States. QTS announced in July it would expand its White Oak Technology Park data center by 1.5 million square feet, near Meta Platforms Inc.’s 970,000-square-foot data center.
On the western side of Henrico County, pharmaceutical giant Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced in March a
$97 million investment to build two bioanalytical labs in the former Toys “R” Us location near Regency Square, as well as a third lab in downtown Richmond near VCU Medical Center. The company is targeting Virginia college-educated scientists to fill about 400 jobs in the county.
Another high-profile project, GreenCity, is coming to the former Best Products Co. campus, just off interstates 64 and 95.
Groundbreaking on the $2.3 billion mixed-use development — which will include a sustainably built and operated 17,000-seat arena expected to open by 2025 — is set to take place in early 2023. The 204-acre property will also include residential, retail, office and hotel space, with full completion by 2034.
This project is in step with Henrico’s master plan, which focuses on redevelopment on the west side of the county and new buildings on the east, Romanello says.
“We’re seeing more residential [space]. We’re seeing buildings being upgraded,” he says. “You’re going to see further densities there that we haven’t had before.”
Chesterfield County
This year has been very busy for Meadowville Technology Park in eastern Chesterfield.
In September, Plenty Unlimited Co. announced its plans to build the nation’s largest indoor vertical farming facility at the tech park, a $300 million investment expected to produce 300 jobs in the next six years. The first building, expected to be complete in late 2023, will feature 30-foot towers to grow Driscoll’s strawberries at scale, a major change for the agribusiness, which has typically sourced fruit from traditional farms in California and Mexico.
The goal is to grow strawberries in Virginia and be able to ship them to an estimated 100 million customers in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast within hours.
“[Plenty] had some pretty specific needs around power,” says Matt McLaren, senior project manager with Chesterfield Economic Development. “Meadowville Technology Park has a great relationship and infrastructure with Dominion, and we’re able to plan for the future with power needs.”
One of Petersburg’s major pharmaceutical players, nonprofit drugmaker Civica Rx, also is setting up shop at the tech park, investing $27.8 million on a 55,000-square-foot lab to support its North American headquarters being built in Petersburg and expected to open in 2024.
Of course, the arrival of Danish toymaker Lego, which plans to start hiring workers late this year or in early 2023 for its moulding, processing and packing plant on 340 acres at Meadowville, is the biggest development for the region.
“The Lego project initially was driven here because of our location, because they can get to a lot of customers,” Wakefield says. “One of the biggest things that we bill is that you can get to half of the U.S. customers within a day’s drive.”
While economic development projects usually take years to come to fruition, there will already be a groundbreaking on the 1.7 million-square-foot facility later this year at the technology park. Lego said in its announcement in June it will begin operations in a temporary building in early 2024, and the permanent plant will start production in the second half of 2025.
“This is a legacy company that continues to innovate. We’re excited to partner them with our workforce,” McLaren says. “We share a lot of their values. It just felt like a perfect fit.”
Richmond
In October 2021, the city of Richmond announced the marketing of the Diamond baseball stadium property as an area for redevelopment. Now, plans for the rebranded Diamond District are steaming ahead with City Council approval.
The center of the $2.44 billion multiuse development will be a new baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels AA team — a necessity under new Minor League Baseball regulations to keep baseball in Richmond — and accompanying residential, office, retail and hotel space, as well as walkable green space.
One of the aims of the project is to connect the new neighborhood to Richmond’s popular Scott’s Addition community, just across the high-traffic Arthur Ashe Jr. Boulevard.
In September, a 10-person city panel chose a development group for the project that includes Richmond-based Thalhimer Realty Partners, Washington, D.C.-based Republic Properties Corp., Chicago-based Loop Capital Holdings LLC and San Diego venue developer JMI Sports. The joint venture’s proposal beat out 14 other applicants.
Unlike earlier big proposals (including the unsuccessful Navy Hill plan), the Diamond District follows the Richmond 300 masterplan, and the stadium will be funded with Community Development Authority (CDA) bond financing. Tax revenue from the 67-acre property, as well as leasing fees from the Squirrels and Virginia Commonwealth University athletics, will pay off the bonds.
“I also cannot stress enough the importance of land-use planning that has paved the way for large-scale redevelopment projects in the city,” says Leonard Sledge, the city’s economic development director and a member of the panel. Phase one will include the baseball park, which is expected to open for the 2025 MiLB season.
Downtown, CoStar has started work on its $460 million campus, which will include a 26-story, 1 million-square-foot building, the tallest among Richmond’s skyline. The former SunTrust bank office across the James River will be home for about 400 more employees. Essentially, Richmond will serve as a second headquarters for the Washington, D.C.-based company, which currently has about 1,200 employees in Virginia’s capital.
Richmond’s next large-scale economic development focus will be centered around the Greater Richmond Convention Center, Sledge says, part of a new “innovation district” that would add office and lab space for the growing biotech sector and more residential and park land.
“Richmond continues to be a great place for people and companies — large and small,” Sledge says. “More importantly, the economic development work of the city continues to emphasize the importance of equitable economic growth.”
Hanover County
Perhaps the unofficial nickname for the town of Ashland — “The Center of the Universe” — is starting to also apply to Hanover County.
Hanover has seen more commercial development in the past five years than in the previous 15, says E. Linwood Thomas IV,
director of Hanover County Economic Development. In 2022, the county announced more than $240 million in new projects.
“The overall consensus is that Hanover has been consistently strong,” Thomas says. “We’ve been punching above our weight class for the last five years.”
Nonetheless, the county has lured Performance Food Group, a Goochland-based Fortune 500 company that plans to build an $80 million sales and distribution facility in Ashland, producing an expected 125 jobs.
Pennsylvania-based Lutron Electronics Co. Inc., which produces residential and commercial lighting products, also plans to build in Ashland, investing $28.3 million in a manufacturing plant that is set to employ 200. The governor’s office announced that deal in September. Also, pharmaceutical giant Walgreens announced in February that it will build a $34.2 million automated packaging and distribution facility in eastern Hanover, creating 249 jobs. Meanwhile, the Wegmans $175 million, 1.7 million-square-foot distribution center is under construction.
Part of Hanover’s success in securing new economic development opportunities has been its engagement with the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, which helps localities get land shovel-ready for businesses to move in quickly.
“They start to build the shell, and the next thing you know, you’ve got these big corporations who see the Richmond region and Hanover County as a strategic location on the Eastern Seaboard,” Thomas says. “We do a lot of this work up front, so we don’t have to compete as hard on the back end.”
Currently, Hanover County has 5.4 million square feet of new commercially zoned space, either approved or being developed. The county’s vacancy rates in the industrial market are less than 1.6%.
Most of this space is being leased before completion because of the county’s “strategic location and low cost to do business,” Thomas adds. “Hanover is just really starting to see the fruits of those labors in this past year because of all the new development taking place.”
Richmond at a glance
Founded in 1737 by Col. William Byrd II, Richmond is known as the River City for its location on the James River. The state’s capital, Richmond is home to the Virginia General Assembly and much of state government, and the metro region is headquarters for eight Fortune 500 companies. The region also is home to the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University and Virginia Union University.
Population
226,604 (city); 1.3 million (metro region)
Top employers
VCU Health System/VCU: 21,332 employees
Capital One Financial Corp.: 13,000
HCA Virginia Health System: 11,000
Bon Secours Richmond: 8,416
Dominion Energy Inc.: 5,433
Major attractions
Richmond is home to historical and cultural attractions such as the Poe Museum, American Civil War Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. Visitors can also enjoy time outside at Maymont park or the Kings Dominion amusement park about 20 miles north of the city. Carytown, the Fan District and Scott’s Addition offer many options for shopping, dining and entertainment.
Top convention hotels
Richmond Marriott
413 rooms, 26,760 square feet
of event space
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
Richmond – Midlothian
237 rooms, 26,039 square feet
of event space
The Jefferson
181 rooms, 26,000 square feet
of event space
Hilton Richmond Short Pump
Hotel and Spa
254 rooms, 21,937 square feet
of event space
Notable restaurants
Lemaire — New American, lemairerestaurant.com
Longoven — New American, longovenrva.com
L’Opossum — Modern French, lopossum.com
Shagbark — New American/Southern, shagbarkrva.com
Stella’s — Greek, stellasrichmond.com
Fortune 500 companies
Performance Food Group Co.
Altria Group Inc.
CarMax
Dominion Energy Inc.
Markel Corp.
Owens & Minor Inc.
Genworth Financial
Arko Corp.
Richmond wellness space gets shot from Jack Daniel’s
On his 33rd birthday, Brelan Hillman learned that BareSOUL Yoga and Wellness was selected as one of six finalists to compete for $10,000 in a pitch contest for Black-owned businesses in Richmond.
With just a weekend to prepare, Hillman, a business partner and board member for BareSOUL, crafted his three-minute appeal to connect Richmond’s history in the slave trade to how Black business owners now are transforming the city, and the roles that BareSOUL and its brick-and-mortar space, The Well Collective, play in that.
“We thought it was important to kind of ground everyone in that reality,” says Hillman.
BareSOUL walked away with the top prize in Jack Daniel’s “New Beginnings: Make it Count” contest, held Sept. 26 at The Len event space in Shockoe Bottom. Local judges included Melody Short, co-founder of The Jackson Ward Collective; Shane Roberts-Thomas, owner and chef of Southern Kitchen in Jackson Ward; and Metropolitan Business League CEO Floyd E. Miller II.
Jack Daniel’s launched the “New Beginnings” contest in 2020 to support Black businesses and this year expanded it to Richmond, which LendingTree ranked No. 3 on its list of the 50 U.S. metropolitan areas with the most Black-owned businesses. Jack Daniel Distillery notes that its namesake founder learned to make whiskey from Nathan “Nearest” Green, who was born into slavery and emancipated before becoming the company’s master distiller.
Another of this year’s finalists, Taryn Wynn, opened her ice cream-making workshop business, Sweet Wynns, in a shared kitchen in Midlothian in May. She had hoped the contest would provide money for equipment and furnishings as she prepares to move to a new location in Shockoe Slip in November. Even though she didn’t win, she says, “we’re just still gonna chug along and figure it all out.”
BareSOUL owner Ashley Williams started her business in 2015 and opened The Well Collective in Shockoe Bottom in November 2021 to expand her wellness offerings and provide space for other businesses. With three part-time employees, Williams plans to spend BareSOUL’s pitch contest winnings on training a general manager, website redesign, business strategy and building out space.
“Wellness is foundational to how we do everything — our mental, physical, social and even our financial state is vital to our being,” says Williams. “Wellness isn’t a luxury but a birthright for everyone. I look forward to growing a culturally relevant and inclusive wellness space in Richmond.”
White Mill project closer to getting off the ground
Danville‘s highly anticipated $100 million White Mill redevelopment is starting to see positive movement.
In August, Danville City Council unanimously approved a resolution to apply for a $5 million state grant from the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Industrial Revitalization Fund, a move to help with gap financing of the renovation.
Danville has already received a $500,000 state grant, and the city is applying for a $1.7 million Land Water Conservation Fund grant to acquire seven acres and an abandoned bridge. It’s all part of the plan to create a whitewater channel in the canal, plus connect the former textile mill to the planned Riverfront Park.
It’s a joint venture between the Industrial Development Authority of Danville and The Alexander Co. The IDA will oversee parking spaces, development of 110,000 square feet of commercial space and exterior improvements to the eastern third of the property.
“Our goal is to have market-rate commercial space available to lease on the first floor,” says Danville City Manager Ken Larking.
The Alexander Co.’s portion of the project will include 32 workforce-priced residential units and 118 market-rate units.
The IDA and Alexander were expected to close on financing by mid-October, and construction will take about two years, says Corrie Bobe, Danville’s director of economic development and tourism.
The prominent white building once represented one of the Southeast United States’ largest textile operations, Dan River Mills, which shut down in 2006 after being sold the previous year.
But since the White Mill has sat empty, “the building became an ode to the past instead of helping us promote the incredible growth and transformation that is being experienced, not only in the city of Danville, but throughout the entire Southern Virginia region,” Bobe says.
However, with the forthcoming Caesars Virginia casino in the Schoolfield area, where the resort replaces another empty mill building, there’s been more interest in developing downtown Danville. Its importance to the region goes beyond economics, Larking says.
“Renovation of the White Mill into a mixed-use development with unique public recreation elements will be a huge psychological boost for our community,” he says. “It will take a longtime vacant building that was once very important to the community and bring it back to life.”
Associate Editor Robyn Sidersky contributed to this story.
New NASA tunnel could boost Va. space industry
As NASA pushes the reaches of space exploration, a new wind tunnel at the agency’s Hampton-based Langley Research Center will serve an important role in journeys beyond Mars and could also boost Virginia’s space industry.
In August, NASA broke ground on its new 25,000-square-foot Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF), which will house the 130-foot-tall vertical wind tunnel that will aid researchers and scientists designing unmanned spacecraft expected to journey to Venus between 2028 and 2030 and to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in 2034. The General Services Administration awarded Birmingham, Alabama-based BL Harbert International LLC a $43 million design-build construction contract for the FDRF in September 2021.
Scheduled to be operational in late 2024, the FDRF will be NASA Langley‘s first major new wind tunnel in more than 40 years. The tunnel combines the functions of the 12-foot Low Speed Tunnel built in 1939 — which re-creates takeoff and landing conditions — and the 1941-era Vertical Spin Tunnel, which helps researchers understand how aircraft perform during stalls. However, NASA says the FDRF will operate more efficiently and with less turbulence.
As those 20th-century tunnels aged, maintenance costs increased as parts became difficult to replace. Moreover, flooding concerns grew as both tunnels sit near water.
“Both have seen countless aircraft and spacecraft, all types of aerospace vehicles for military and civilian testing,” ranging from space capsules and shuttles to supersonic and commercial aircraft, says NASA spokesperson David Meade. “It’s a testament to the original construction and design and how well they’ve been used.”
NASA’s space technology and aerospace teams will use the new tunnel, and most of the world’s major aerospace companies also frequently conduct testing at Langley. Meade says it’s too early to tell which contractors will use the tunnel, but he expects a lot of interest.
“It’s going to be a new, state-of-the-art facility that everybody’s going to want to use for research,” he adds, “and that will bring a lot of attention and customers to our center to use the facility.”
Ted Mercer, CEO of Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, a state organization started to attract space industry businesses to the commonwealth, agrees. “Bringing in a new wind tunnel will bring in more quality jobs to the region and expand the workload for NASA.”