Like Knowmadics, approximately 50% of GovCons report that resource management remains a top project management challenge.
Herndon’s Knowmadics has selected Unanet, a Dulles-based software leader, as the company continues its growth in 2025. Knowmadics, a security contractor for the Department of Defense (DOD), public safety and commercial clients, opened its fifth office across the country earlier this month. This recent growth spurred the company to recognize that its off-the-shelf financial software was not capable of scaling with the company and lacked modern reporting solutions.
With a goal to equip their people with more visibility and confidence, Knowmadics reviewed several enterprise resource planning (ERP) software options and chose Unanet after speaking to multiple customers who all shared their positive feedback.
Unanet’s easy-to-use interface, superior finance and labor resource management capabilities, and its ability to simplify compliance were all major factors in Knowmadics’ decision. The key driver, however, was Unanet’s accurate, real-time reporting. These reports will empower program managers to contribute to the company’s overall growth and success.
“As we head into another year of projected growth, we look forward to implementing Unanet in early 2025 as one of the key tools that will provide the insights we need to continue to streamline our expanding business operations,” said Claire Ostrum, President.
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Even as political winds shift in Washington, D.C., a long-delayed onshore wind farm in Botetourt County might finally be sailing to completion.
Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy announced Wednesday that it has reached a deal for Google to purchase the full capacity of Rocky Forge Wind, a wind farm the Charlottesville company has been working to develop in Botetourt since 2015.
Virginia’s first and only wind farm being developed on land, Rocky Forge calls for 13 turbines, each 64 stories tall, to be erected atop North Mountain outside the rural town of Eagle Rock. Collectively, the turbines will generate about 79 megawatts of power, which Google will use to support its data centers in Virginia, according to a news release.
The incoming Trump administration, which is not viewed as friendly toward wind energy, is not expected to affect the development of the Rocky Forge wind farm.
“On the administration side of things, no federal policy change would impact this project. I can’t speak for offshore,” said Brian O’Shea, director of public engagement for Apex Clean Energy, in late November.
The Rocky Forge project has faced stiff headwinds since it was first unveiled. Legal challenges, permitting problems, design changes and the impacts of the pandemic have all combined to delay construction of the turbines.
In 2019, Dominion Energy struck a deal to purchase Rocky Forge’s power and resell it to Virginia state government to help meet its goal of sourcing at least 30% of electricity for state agencies from renewable energy sources. More obstacles developed, and that contract expired and wasn’t renewed.
The project regained momentum in September when the Virginia Court of Appeals rejected a legal challenge by upholding a circuit court ruling that had approved the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s permit for Apex. Two other lawsuits against the project were dismissed by a circuit court judge in January.
Construction on the project is now set to start in 2025, with electricity generated by late 2026, according to O’Shea.
Botetourt County still must complete a final site-plan review that includes gaining approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation for improvements to a gravel road that would allow heavy equipment and tractor-trailers access to the remote mountaintop. Local fire and emergency services must also review the road plan, according to Botetourt County spokeswoman Tiffany Bradbury.
Rocky Forge would mark the second partnership for Apex and Google, which aims to achieve net-zero emissions and 24/7 carbon-free energy for its operations by 2030. In August 2023, the two companies announced a power purchase agreement for the energy generated by Apex’s Timbermill Wind project in Chowan County, North Carolina.
“As we continue to progress towards our goal to operate every Google campus on clean electricity every hour of every day by 2030, we are always looking for opportunities to accelerate the delivery of new clean power to the grid,” Amanda Peterson Corio, head of data center energy for Google, said in a statement.
Rocky Forge will create up to 250 jobs during construction and will bring about $30 million in state and local tax revenue over the lifetime of the wind farm, according to Apex.
“As far as I can tell, it’s full steam ahead,” said Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe in November.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based fusion energy company, plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.
“It’s a nearly $3 billion capital investment, paying taxes, and it’s a bunch of really high-tech jobs,” Garrett Hart, Chesterfield’s director of economic development, said Tuesday.
“We really do not know exactly what it’s going to cost. It will be in excess of $2.5 billion, I’m certain,” Hart explained Wednesday. The total cost isn’t known since Commonwealth Fusion Solutions hasn’t built a fusion facility this big before and the steam generation power plant that it will connect to hasn’t been designed yet.
Dubbed ARC, the project is expected to be in operation in the early 2030s, according to CFS co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard. The project is designed to run for 20 years or more, Youngkin said Tuesday. It will be located at the James River Industrial Center, a site owned by Dominion Energy, and is expected to create hundreds of temporary construction and permanent jobs. The permanent roles will include operators, electricians, pipe fitters, mechanics and technicians, Youngkin said.
Spun out of MIT in 2018, CFS is the biggest of more than 40 companies currently pursuing fusion technologies. It has raised more than $2 billion in capital from high-profile investors including Google, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tiger Global, Khosla Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital.
“This will add to our existing infrastructure in a way that I think will provide a new frontier — a new frontier for Virginia businesses and Virginia residents,” Youngkin said Tuesday. “My friends, the future can be seen, and what Commonwealth Fusion Systems will be building will be that pathway to the future.”
According to the governor’s announcement, CFS “conducted a global search” for the site of its first commercial fusion power plant, which will produce about 400 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, enough to power large industrial projects or about 150,000 homes. The siting process took more than two years, Mumgaard said Tuesday.
Historically, fusion has been restricted to labs; the Chesterfield facility will mark the start of an entirely new power industry, he said.
“In the early 2030s, all eyes will be on the Richmond region, and more specifically Chesterfield County, as the birthplace of commercial fusion energy,” Mumgaard said in a statement. “Virginia emerged as a strong partner as they look to implement innovative solutions for both reliable electricity and clean forms of power. We are pleased to collaborate with Dominion Energy.”
Chesterfield County also will benefit from the publicity of being “the first locality in the world to start the fusion revolution,” Hart said. “There’s only one; there’ll only be one place. It’ll always be us, and 50 years from now, they’ll be like, ‘Yep, Chesterfield County’s where it all started.’”
The county is also considering forming an innovation hub-like structure for the area, but nothing is formalized, according to Chesterfield economic development officials.
Previously, Dominion said it planned to build a gas-powered power plant at the James River Industrial Center, but in August, it changed plans to move the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center to the adjacent existing Chesterfield Power Station site on Coxendale Road.
According to a document from Chesterfield County, “Dominion owns the land and has agreed to lease it to CFS. And in a nonfinancial collaboration, Dominion will provide CFS with development and technical expertise, while CFS will provide Dominion insight about fusion power plant technology.” Dominion is not investing in the project and does not have an agreement to purchase power from the plant when operational, according to a corporate spokesperson.
“Commonwealth Fusion Systems is the clear industry leader in advancing the exciting energy potential of fusion,” said DominionEnergy Virginia President Edward H. Baine. “Our customers’ growing needs for reliable, carbon-free power benefits from as diverse a menu of power generation options as possible, and in that spirit, we are delighted to assist CFS in their efforts.”
The ARC plant will be independently financed, owned, built and operated by CFS. The company expects to sell ARC power to large industrial/commercial customers through purchase power agreements, according to a Chesterfield document, so Virginia residents and businesses won’t pay for the plant.
The company, which has secured $16.5 million in the U.S. Department of Energy grants, is completing its fusion demonstration machine, nicknamed SPARC, at its headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts, and it is expected to produce its first plasma in 2026 and net fusion energy shortly afterward, according to the governor’s news release. SPARC will require a series of 18 high-temperature superconductor magnets, which the company is developing.
The Virginia Department of Energy partnered with Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Chesterfield County and Dominion Energy to secure this project, and the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank allocated a $1 million grant matched with local funds from Chesterfield County.
“On top of that, Chesterfield County has offered to provide $10 million of longer term support,” Youngkin told reporters, “and then the state has confirmed through the Department of Taxation that the equipment that goes inside the plant will be exempt from sales and use tax, just like the equipment in a data center or an indoor farm or other power plants, and that has resulted in [Commonwealth Fusion Solutions] being very comfortable moving into Virginia.
The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act created a 2050 mandate for generating electricity statewide from renewable, carbon-free energy sources. In 2022, Youngkin announced a state energy plan that endorsed an “all-of-the-above” mix of energy sources, including hydrogen, natural gas and nuclear power, in addition to the wind, solar and battery storage supported by Virginia Democrats.
Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is expected to be completed in 2026, and the utility called for more offshore wind and solar energy development, as well as small modular nuclear reactors, in a 2024 filing with the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission. In July, Dominion Energy officials announced they were issuing a request for proposals for an SMR at its North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County.
Hundreds of people descended upon Danville‘s Main Street Tuesday to celebrate the opening of the $800 million Caesars Virginia, the third permanent casino to open in the state.
Caesars didn’t shortchange on spectacle for the first day. A faux Roman legionary struggled to climb out of a Rolls-Royce to join Vegas-style showgirls and others for the ribbon cutting, following an opening parade of race cars and supercars from Virginia International Raceway, Kaizen Autosport and Foreign Cars Italia.
Caesars Entertainment CEO Thomas R. Reeg spoke to a crowd of visitors prior to the ribbon cutting. “We know that you Danville, as a city …. had choices from among many strong operators,” he said. “I hope you’re proud of what we’ve delivered you.”
As local officials and corporate leaders were photographed cutting the ribbon to open the casino, Nathan and Dana Seagle of Ridgeway patiently waited to go inside. By arriving at the casino at around 9:30 a.m., the couple were the 20th and 21st customers to enter. Both were looking forward to checking out the slot machines. “I lose it, he wins it back,” Dana Seagle joked.
Caesars Virginia offers more than 90,000 square feet of gaming space, including 1,500 slot machines, 79 live-action table games, 48 electronic table games, a poker room as well as Caesars Sportsbook.
That’s where a passel of photographers waited Tuesday afternoon to catch a shot of Dennis Rodman, the former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls basketball legend, making the casino’s official first bet — a parlay bet on every team he played for in the NBA.
Once visitors were allowed inside, some bypassed the casino, however, to tour the ornate facility and grounds. A statue of Augustus, the Roman emperor, stands at the entrance to greet visitors staying in the 320-room hotel tower. There’s also a full-service spa, a pool and hot tub and 50,000 square feet of meeting and convention space that serves double duty as a 2,500-seat live entertainment venue.
Additionally, the resort offers multiple bars and dining offerings, including Dan Dan Noodle Bar and a Starbucks. The Center Bar on Tuesday offered dueling pianists.
A line of visitors waited to eat at Ramsay’s Kitchen on Tuesday. The chain restaurant developed by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is located adjacent to registration at Caesars Virginia and offers more than 250 seating options, including a private dining room and an outdoor patio with views of Danville’s historic Three Sisters Smokestacks. Ramsay’s famous Beef Wellington goes for $74.95. Fish and chips is $29.95.
In the casino, visitors quickly stationed themselves behind slot machines like children looking for the last available seat in musical chairs.
Among the players were Ken and Libba Matthews, who traveled to Caesars Virginia’s opening day from Goldsboro, North Carolina, about three hours away. The couple said they visit casinos to play slots and Black Jack about once a month. Before Danville opened, that meant traveling to Harrah’s Cherokee Hotel and Casino Resort in western North Carolina or traveling to casinos out west, like to Las Vegas. Now, Libba Matthews said, they have another option.
Another celebrity, albeit one with a lower profile than Rodman, could be found waiting in line to enter Caesars Virginia’s poker room. Tim Batow, a professional poker player from Naples, Florida, expected to play for more than 13 hours Tuesday. His goal, he said, was “just to find some fun poker games to play.”
Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner was the general contractor on Caesars Virginia, which was designed by Nevada architect Marnell Cos.
Caesars initially announced that Caesars Virginia would open on Dec. 12. But on Dec. 6, the company announced the Danville resort casino would open five days later due to “just delay overall,” according to a spokesperson.
Ken Larking, Danville’s city manager, said on Tuesday that when he first came to Danville in 2013, he could have never envisioned that the city, known as a former textile manufacturing giant, would one day draw visitors to a Caesars casino. “A big crowd,” he said. “People from everywhere [are] coming in to see Danville Virginia and learn about what we have going on here.”
Entertainers posed outside the Caesars Virginia casino during its Dec. 17, 2024, grand opening. Photo by Hannah King
Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones said that the citizens of Danville, who overwhelmingly voted to approve the casino in a 2020 referendum, also deserved a lot of credit for Tuesday’s opening. “This is all about them,” he said.
Danville held a competitive process to select a casino operators for Southern Virginia‘s sole casino. That, Larking said, “led to a great development agreement” with Caesars.
Caesars donated $15 million to the City of Danville in 2020 as part of the agreement and paid another $5 million to purchase 78 acres of land, known as the Schoolfield site, from the Danville Industrial Development Authority to build the casino resort. The city also negotiated an annual supplemental payment from Caesars that is estimated to bring in $12 million a year “above and beyond the state gaming tax revenue,” Larking noted.
“I think because of the process that we used, we were able to attract what I believe to be the best operator in the state, probably the best property, and also the great additional revenue that our city is going to receive because of it,” he said.
Barron Fuller, regional president for Caesars Entertainment, told onlookers Tuesday that Caesars Virginia employs 1,200 workers.
In May, Danville’s City Council voted to amend its development agreement with Caesars Virginia. Under its original agreement, the resort casino had promised to hire 1,300 employees. Under the new agreement, Caesars agreed to hire 900 full-time employees who will be paid at least $31,200 a year or no less than 125% of the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater.
Reeg, while speaking Tuesday, pointed to Caesars’ temporary casino, located under a white tent across the street from the new casino resort. That facility, which opened in May 2023, has paid more than $66 million to Danville in gaming taxes, Caesars announced Dec. 6.
“The way that it was accepted in the community, and the way that you came to visit, and our players came, allowed us to make this even grander than it otherwise would have been,” Reeg said of Caesars Virginia. “That tent was a workhorse.”
Reeg also paid tribute to Chris Albrecht, the general manager of Caesars Virginia, who came to Danville in 2022 from Harrah’s Philadelphia.
“He was willing to raise his hand, uproot his life and move to a new community,” he said. “And he started with building the tent, staffing the tent, operating it, and then, at the same time, building this property behind you and staffing that.”
Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, which partnered with Caesars and ECBI Holdings to build Caesars Virginia, noted that the Eastern Band has partnered with Caesars on projects for 27 years. He taught the onlookers the Cherokee word “gadugi,” meaning to work together for the common good.
“This resort represents our commitment to this region,” he said.
In 2023, Virginia casinos generated $554.87 million in adjusted gaming revenues, based on Virginia Lottery data, including about $145 million in revenue generated by Caesars’ temporary Danville casino during its first six months of operation in 2023. Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of October, taxes from casino AGRs totaled about $11.54 million.
The temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville reported earning $18.21 million in AGR in October.
Under Virginia law, 6% of a casino operator’s AGR goes to its host locality until the operator passes $200 million in AGR for the year, at which point the host locality’s tax rate rises to 7%. If an operator passes $400 million in AGR in the calendar year, that rises to 8%.
The team behind the delayed Norfolk casino — which has had a change in ownership and in name — held a groundbreaking ceremony for the casino Oct. 30. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe remains a partner, but Boyd Gaming replaced Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough. The entities have scrapped the name HeadWaters Resort & Casino and now refer to it as the Norfolk Casino Resort.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday a budget proposal to exempt service tips from Virginia’s state income tax, an idea that’s gained bipartisan support federally.
In a statement, Youngkin said that Virginians who receive tips — hair stylists, restaurant workers, bellhops and other service industry professionals — would benefit from being able to claim deductions on their state tax returns to the tune of about $70 million annually.
President-elect Donald Trump proposed the idea of eliminating taxes on tips during the presidential campaign, and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, endorsed the idea as well.
“We have delivered over $5 billion in tax relief to date, and we remain committed to lowering the cost of living for hardworking Virginians. It’s their money, not the government’s,” Youngkin said in a statement. “By removing tips from taxable income, it will directly increase the take-home pay of hundreds of thousands of Virginians and give them more buying power, which in turn will improve financial stability, stimulate local economies, and honor the value of their hard work.”
According to the governor’s statement, the state tax department and the Virginia Employment Commission estimate that more than 250,000 Virginians work in service and hospitality industries.
Shortly after the governor’s announcement, the Virginia Restaurant Lodging & Travel Association released a statement of support.
“Virginia’s tipped employees in the hospitality and restaurant industries do an amazing job every day to help our commonwealth welcome visitors and locals alike to our nation-leading restaurants, hotels, campgrounds and attractions,” VRLTA President Eric Terry said. “Helping these team members keep more of the tips that they earn in their pockets will be a welcome relief as consumer costs continue to put pressure on everyday families. We are committed to working with the Youngkin administration and the Virginia General Assembly to make sure that this proposal is as responsible and impactful for Virginia’s tipped employees as it can be.”
Business Facilities has named Virginia its 2024 State of the Year, recognizing the state’s business environment and economic development success, the publication announced Monday.
“From advanced manufacturing to data centers to professional services, Virginia is attracting companies across industries with its business-friendly environment and programs to support the distinct needs of those businesses,” Business Facilities Editorial Director Anne Cosgrove said in a statement. “From the recent news of a $1 billion-plus investment by Microporous LLC to manufacture battery separators to Beanstalk Farms investing $4.1 million for indoor farming and distribution, businesses of all sizes see the promise and profit in choosing Virginia.”
The publication listed 12 top contenders for the 2024 State of the Year award: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
“Virginia is a prime location for businesses of all varieties, and this honor from Business Facilities underscores the work we’ve been doing since day one to make Virginia the best place for business investment and job creation,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “The commonwealth has experienced record job growth from companies that are drawn by our best-in-class talent, infrastructure and business-friendly environment. I am thrilled that Virginia has earned this recognition from a leading source for site selection experts.”
It’s looking like the Old Poage Farm property, which today sits next to U.S. 221 in Roanoke County, will remain farmland a while longer.
The land was settled in the mid-1700s when King George III deeded hundreds of acres to Col. Robert Poage, but most recently, the property was proposed as a site for a new multi-use neighborhood.
On Thursday, though, the developer withdrew a rezoning request — although as the land is zoned R-1, allowing single-family homes to be built there, it may not remain the rural expanse it is today.
“You can still do higher density there,” even without rezoning, Roanoke County Supervisor David Radford said Friday.
Developer Alexander Boone had hoped to rezone about 16 acres of the 54-acre property to build 138 townhomes and 11 single family homes as well as a restaurant and “small retail options,” according to a Roanoke County application dated Nov. 8.
Townhomes in the proposal would have been priced in the low $300,000s and the single-family homes would be priced in the low $600,000s, according to the application.
But then, a horde of Roanokers turned out Tuesday for a community meeting on the project at the South County Library. Most were opposed.
Radford, who represents the Windsor Hills area, which includes the Poage Farm, called it the largest crowd he’d seen at that type of meeting.
“I was trying to get a feel of everybody’s opinions and thoughts about it, and it was all all negative in terms of the density [and] potential traffic,” he said Friday. “There were some people there who were tied to it sentimentally, because they’ve seen the Poages’ farm for all those years. So, I was just surprised by the numbers. And to me, it seemed like it was almost 100% against.”
On Thursday, ABoone Real Estate, a Roanoke-based home builder and real estate development firm led by Alexander Boone, withdrew the rezoning request.
Boone said on Friday that the company is busy with a development in Franklin County and some other projects, and that he wanted to revise the Poage farm plan based on what he heard earlier in the week, instead of moving toward a January 2025 meeting.
Roanoke developer Alexander Boone.
“We received some constructive feedback on Tuesday night and realized that if we wanted to try to incorporate some of the things that we heard… that we only had three weeks before the planning commission meeting to do so,” he said. “We decided the responsible thing to do was to to withdraw the application [and] revise it based on some of the feedback with our engineers.”
Community concerns
Diane Shelton, a retired speech language pathologist, was happy to hear the application had been withdrawn. She lives about two miles south of the Poage farm with her husband, Mark Shelton, a retired architect.
“We pass it multiple times a day, and traffic is a big concern,” she said.
For his part, Mark Shelton dislikes the design of the proposed townhomes and felt the proposed positioning of those properties did not create a community feel.
Boone said Friday he’s heard from folks especially concerned that the home on the property, which he believes was built in the 1830s, will be destroyed. Initially, Boone had hoped to use that building for a restaurant, but when engineers looked at the house, it was too dilapidated.
Where was the public outcry over the last decade, Boone asked, as the home was visibly falling into disrepair?
“It definitely was not maintained,” he said. “But no one in the community ever said anything about it.”
In 2008, the Roanoke County Public Schools bought the property for about $2.5 million with the intent to build a school, but following the recession, the county’s population declined, according to Chuck Lionberger, a spokesperson for the school system. “The need for any new school … evaporated.”
The Poages leased the land for cattle in the years after the school system purchased it.
The school system sold the property in September to an entity that shares an address with ABoone Homes for $1.1 million.
Boone’s application for rezoning was careful to note that the developer wanted to be mindful of the land’s history. “Poage Farm Village will respect and embrace the history of the Poage Farm, the Poage family and the Poage’s Mill area of Roanoke County by preserving close to two-thirds of the property and welcoming David Poage and his son Josh Poage to continue raising cattle and a garden as part of the Poage Farm Village community,” it said.
Roanoke County issued a statement about the rezoning application withdrawal Friday morning: “Roanoke County staff and the board of supervisors appreciate the public interest in this matter and the citizens who attended this week’s community meeting to share their perspectives,” the statement reads. “As we consider the feedback shared by our residents, we recognize the importance of addressing housing needs as a priority for Roanoke County. With demand outpacing supply, we are committed to encouraging well-planned housing developments that serve residents at all income levels and life stages, expanding housing options for everyone who calls Roanoke County home.”
Radford agrees that Roanoke County needs more housing, but maybe not as much as this project created.
“So I think we’re still focused on single-family, but in a different density that … fits the character of the rural setting that’s along 221 in the Pogue Valley area,” he said.
Paul Mahoney, another county supervisor, said Friday that it’s unfortunate that Boone pulled the application, because he thought the project looked good and that Boone has a reputation for doing first-rate housing developments in the Roanoke Valley.
“We clearly show a need for housing, not just Roanoke County, but indeed our entire region,” he said. “So I think that’s disappointing.”
The Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads housing markets in November showed signs of improvement from the same month last year, including increased home sales and selling prices.
Northern Virginia
Home prices and sales activity in Northern Virginia rose year-over-year last month, indicating a healthier market than the November 2023 one.
Last month, 1,168 homes sold in Northern Virginia. There were 1,228 total pending sales last month, up 23.3% from November 2023.
In November, the region had 1,407 active listings, the same number as in November 2023. New listings totaled 817 units, below the five-year average of 1,239 new listings in November and down 2.25% from November 2023.
The month’s supply of inventory (MSI) — a measure of how many months there would be homes on the market if no new inventory were added — stood at 1.1, up from November 2023’s MSI of 1.05 but down from October, which had an MSI of 1.4.
November 2024 housing market statistics for Northern Virginia. Image courtesy Northern Virginia Association of Realtors
Homes spent an average of 22 days on the market in November, up 10% compared with the same month last year, and slightly higher than the 19-day average of October.
“By all accounts, November was a healthier real estate market compared to a year ago,” NVAR board member Arshia Kia with KW Metro Center said in a statement. “We have slightly more inventory, which helps buyers. The appetite for homeownership is strong, so even with more homes on the market, homes are selling well, which in turn is driving prices up from a year ago.”
The median sold price last month was $699,900, up 6.6% compared with November 2023 but down from the MSP of $715,000 recorded in October. For the third month in a row, total sales volume jumped significantly from the prior year, according to NVAR. Last month, November’s sales volume totaled more than $985.45 million, up 19.1% from November 2023.
NVAR reports home sales activity for Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
Hampton Roads
In Hampton Roads, closed and pending sales, inventory, the median sales price and the median number of days that homes were on the market rose in November.
Home sales in the region totaled 1,899 in November, up 12.37% from the 1,690 sales recorded in November 2023 but down from October’s 2,115 sales, according to Real Estate Information Network (REIN) data released Tuesday.
“The year-over-year improvements are encouraging, and while November’s numbers were down from October, in a typical real estate environment, that dip is a seasonal expectation,” Gary Lundholm with The Real Estate Group, president of REIN’s board of directors, said in a statement.
“The year-over-year improvements in sales can be attributed to lower mortgage rates,” he added, “but also perhaps to additional inventory, which gives consumers more choices.”
November 2024 housing market data for Hampton Roads. Image courtesy Real Estate Information Network
Hampton Roads pending sales totaled 1,779 in November, down from 2,159 pending sales in October but up 10.22% from the 1,614 recorded in November 2023.
Hampton Roads had 4,565 active listings last month, down from 4,765 active listings in October but up 14.7% from November 2023’s 3,980 active listings.
The region’s MSI in November was 2.23, down from 2.35 in October and up from 1.91 in November 2023.
The median sales price in November stood at $350,000, down from October’s MSP of $354,000 but up 6% from the MSP of $330,000 recorded in November 2023.
Homes spent a median of 27 days on the market last month, unchanged from October. In November 2023, homes spent a median of 19 days on the market.
Founded in 1969, REIN is a regional multiple listing service that covers an area stretching from Williamsburg east to Virginia Beach and south across the North Carolina border.
Global management firm McKinsey & Co. filed an agreement in Virginia on Friday to pay the federal government $650 million in a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice focused on opioid abuse.
The Virginia attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) collaborated with U.S. attorney’s offices in the Western District of Virginia and the District of Massachusetts in investigating McKinsey’s role in advising Purdue Pharma on increasing sales of OxyContin, an opioid drug, according to Attorney General Jason Miyares‘ announcement.
Also, a former McKinsey senior partner, Martin Elling, has been charged with obstruction of justice in federal court in Abingdon for destroying company documents related to its work with Purdue Pharma. He has agreed to plead guilty, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement Friday.
According to Miyares’ statement, “As part of the resolution, McKinsey acknowledges its role in aiding and abetting the misbranding of prescription drugs and obstructing justice by knowingly destroying and concealing records and documents related to the investigation.”
Virginia’s Medicaid fraud unit has been in operation since 2007, and it is funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.
According to court filings in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Virginia, McKinsey will pay $323 million plus interest at a rate of 4.125% per year from July 10, 2024, on any unpaid balance of McKinsey’s civil settlement agreements. Previously, the consulting firm reached multiple settlements totaling $989.9 million, including a $642.4 million settlement with all 50 states and five U.S. territories, and civil settlements totaling $347.5 million, according to court records.
McKinsey also agreed to pay $231 million plus interest on any unpaid balance designated as “criminal”; $93.5 million plus interest on forfeiture of proceeds; and $2 million to go toward the state’s matching fund for the Virginia Medicaid fraud fund. Payments are due annually through Dec. 16, 2028, according to the court filing.
In addition to the $2 million for the MFCU, the Virginia Office of the Attorney General “will recover a portion of the $93 million forfeiture. Those funds are distributed through the DOJ forfeiture process under federal guidelines and as they are forfeited,” a spokesperson for the attorney general said Friday. “We do not have an exact figure on that at this time.”
McKinsey also agreed to post a prominent link on its website for three years titled, “Deferred Prosecution Agreement Relating to Our Work for Purdue Pharma,” providing a public statement “detailing McKinsey’s contrition for its conduct,” as well as its DOJ agreement and an agreed-upon statement of facts. The company also will not do any work related to “the marketing, sale, promotion or distribution of controlled substances” during the five-year deferred prosecution agreement.
According to The New York Times, McKinsey released a statement of apology Friday: “We are deeply sorry for our past client service to Purdue Pharma and the actions of a former partner who deleted documents related to his work for that client. We should have appreciated the harm opioids were causing in our society and we should not have undertaken sales and marketing work for Purdue Pharma. This terrible public health crisis and our past work for opioid manufacturers will always be a source of profound regret for our firm.”
“For the first time in history, the Justice Department is holding a management consulting firm and one of its senior executives criminally responsible for the sales and marketing advice it gave resulting in the commission of crime by a client,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia said in a statement. “This groundbreaking resolution demonstrates the Justice Department’s ongoing commitment to hold accountable those companies and individuals who profited from our nation’s opioid crisis.”
Long-running issue
In 2021, then-Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced the resolution of a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, in which the two parties were required to pay more than $4.3 billion for prevention, treatment and recovery efforts in communities affected by the opioid abuse crisis. Virginia was expected to receive at least $80 million in its share of the agreement.
However, in June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the settlement, which would have protected the Sackler family members from future civil liability claims. Calling the 5-4 decision “heart-crushing,” Purdue Pharma said it would work toward a new deal that would allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy.
Although opioid addiction has scarred communities across the nation, Roanoke author Beth Macy’s 2018 nonfiction book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America” focused on the 1996 release of OxyContin, falsely billed as a safer, less-addictive pain medication, and the drug’s impact on small towns in Appalachia.
In 2004, McKinsey began consulting with Purdue Pharma, and according to Friday’s court filing, between 2004 and 2019, McKinsey worked with the pharmaceutical company on various topics, including how to improve OxyContin revenue. The consultant received $93.5 million in payment over that 15-year period. In 2004, the document notes, Purdue Pharma was under criminal and civil investigation by federal and state authorities.
“McKinsey knew the risks and dangers associated with OxyContin, a powerful and addictive opioid,” according to the agreed-upon facts in the court document. “McKinsey also knew that Purdue Pharma’s affiliate and its top executives had previously pled guilty to federal crimes relating to the marketing and promotion of OxyContin.”
Despite that, “between 2013 and 2014, McKinsey designed strategies to help Purdue Pharma identify which prescribers the Purdue Pharma sales force should call on to increase OxyContin prescriptions,” the filing says. In 2007, a Purdue Pharma affiliate company pled guilty to falsely marketing the drug from 1996 to 2001 as “less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion, and less likely to cause dependence and withdrawal,” and the affiliate and parent company agreed to pay more than $600 million to settle federal False Claims Act charges.
QinetiQ US, a McLean security and defense contractor, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate its expansion into Huntsville, Alabama.
Known as “The Rocket City” for its role in the country’s development of space exploration, Huntsville is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which is located at the Redstone Arsenal. Originally established to make ammunition and chemicals during World War II, the arsenal later became the U.S. Army‘s center for its missile and rocket program. More than 300 companies have offices at the nearby Cummings Research Park in Huntsville including Lockheed Martin, Akima and General Dynamics Mission Systems.
The new QinetiQ US office is located on 4100 Market St. in Huntsville.
Shawn Purvis, president and CEO of QinetiQ US (holding scissors), and others celebrated the opening of the company’s Alabama office in December 2024. Photo courtesy QinetiQ US.
“Our Huntsville office provides an initial footprint next to the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal that will support our growing team and customer needs,” Anton Pototski, a spokesperson for the company, wrote in an email. “We are positioned to scale our presence as we continue to expand in the region.”
QinetiQ has a core team established in Huntsville and is actively hiring positions in systems engineering, software development, cybersecurity, robotics engineering and program management, Potoski stated when asked the number of workers the company plans to employ in Alabama.
QinetiQ declined to provide the cost of the expansion. “…This expansion represents a significant strategic commitment to the Huntsville market and our growing customer base in the region,” Potoski wrote.
In addition to the QinetiQ US headquarters in McLean, the company has “various locations across Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Colorado and North Carolina,” according to Potoski.
The expansion follows an October announcement that the U.S. Army Contracting Command had awarded QinetiQ US a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract that has an estimated ceiling of $95 million to support the U.S. Army’s Threat Systems Management Office at the Redstone Arsenal.
“For over 30 years, QinetiQ has been a leader in providing realistic threat representation through our advanced target systems and comprehensive support services,” Shawn N. Purvis, president and CEO of QinetiQ US, said in a statement. “By establishing a presence in Rocket City, we’re bringing this legacy of service and innovation to support the warfighter with cutting-edge solutions across multi-domain autonomous systems, ISR, mission operations and data and digital solutions. This expansion underscores our commitment to delivering mission-led innovation in this growing hub of aerospace and defense activity, further enhancing our ability to address complex challenges faced by defense and national security organizations.”
The QinetiQ US sector, which has more than 1,400 employees, reported $1.3 billion in total contract awards during fiscal year 2024. Its United Kingdom-based parent company, QinetiQ Group PLC, has about 8,500 employees.
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