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Tysons’ Alarm.com buys stake in remote video monitoring company

Alarm.com has acquired a majority stake in , a Louisiana-based cloud platform for services, according to a Tuesday announcement by the home security tech company.

Financial terms of the were not disclosed.

According to , the strengthens its “market opportunity in the emerging professional video monitoring space.”

Moving forward, CHeKT will operate independently, a news release stated. Video solutions offered by Alarm.com and its subsidiary OpenEye will be integrated into CHeKT’s control room software.

“CHeKT is a pioneer and a leader in the RVM space,” Jeff Bedell, president of ventures business and corporate at Alarm.com, said in a statement. “CHeKT’s deep industry experience has allowed them to design a comprehensive product that fits in seamlessly with monitoring station workflows. Their technology has attracted an impressive roster of partners, and we look forward to building on that momentum with the CHeKT team.”

Strategy, the Tysons tech company formerly known as , sold its security business to investors in 2009. Alarm.com, which had 1,989 employees at the end of 2023, went public in 2015.

PSI lands $156M contract to support VA’s electronic health records push

The U.S. Department of has awarded , which has its principal office in , a $156 million contract to provide test and evaluation support for the VA Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office (EHRM-IO) program.

The VA announced the award of the Independent Enterprise Testing and Support Services contract Monday on the System for Award Management (SAM) website.  The EHRM-IO is the VA office charged with preparing, deploying and transitioning to a new electronic health record system.

According to a Request For Proposal issued in November, will provide testing and evaluation support for the software, infrastructure, environments and operations of the Independent Verification and Validation test center.

In April 2020, PSI announced had received a five-year contract, with a value of $149 million, to provide services to the Enterprise Testing Service branch of the Veterans Affairs Office of Information and Technology  and the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization.

Planned Systems International did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company was founded in 1988 and provides IT and management consulting services to government clients.

Va. economic outlook is positive, says Weldon Cooper Center forecast

Virginia’s long-term is positive, according to the ‘s for Public Service’s inaugural released Monday.

Weldon Cooper economists predict Virginia’s gross domestic product in 2025 will increase 2.4%, outpacing national growth. The U.S. GDP’s growth is expected to be 1.9% this year, slower than the 2.5% growth seen in 2024, according to a December 2024 Moody’s Analytics Forecast.

Statewide inflation will moderate, according to the Weldon Cooper forecast, and the consumer price index will rise 2.6%, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the CPI growth measured in 2023 and 2024. The national CPI rise is also expected to be 2.6%, according to Moody’s forecast.

Virginia’s growth will slow, dipping below the national average, but the state’s rate will stay below the national average, according to the forecast. Weldon Cooper economists expect the state’s employment growth to be 0.71% in 2025, down from the 1.7% growth seen in 2024.

The predicted employment growth represents a net gain of more than 30,000 . The forecast predicts the average Virginia unemployment rate will be 3.4% this year.

The U.S. nonfarm employment rate is expected to increase 0.73% in 2025, and the average unemployment rate is projected to be 4.1% in 2025, according to Moody’s forecast.

The sectors that will contribute the most to job growth will be (about 5,070 new jobs), retail (almost 4,700 new jobs) and professional services (4,400 new jobs), according to the Weldon Cooper forecast. The report predicts that professional and technical services jobs will represent 11% of the state’s workforce by the end of the year.

The industries that face a challenging 2025, though, are information services, manufacturing, and mining and logging. The information services sector will lose about 141 jobs over the next year, according to the forecast. While manufacturing is expected to lose fewer than 100 jobs by the next quarter, the industry will lose a predicted 847 jobs by the end of 2025.

The mining and logging industry might see short-term job increases in early 2025 because of its seasonal cycle, but the forecast predicts will lose 67 jobs this year, a 0.9% annual decrease.

The forecast released Monday is the first of a quarterly series that will track the state’s economic trends from 2024 to 2050. A team of Weldon Cooper economists, including Executive Director Eric Scorsone, João Ferreira, Terry Rephann and Matt Scheffel, developed the forecast in collaboration with Michael L. Lahr, a professor at Rutgers University.

Kaine, Warner want answers from FAA about possible Musk intervention

In the wake of the fatal Washington, D.C., collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and an airplane, U.S. Sens. and , along with other Democratic lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia, want assurance that leaders at the will notify Congress if billionaire directs the agency to take any steps that could impact aviation safety.

In a letter sent Monday to Chris Rocheleau, acting administrator of the FAA, the lawmakers point to Musk’s Feb. 5 post on X that states the Department of Government Efficiency, or , which was created by by executive order, “will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system.” The Congress members also flag a Feb. 5 post on X by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, announcing that the DOGE team is “going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”

The letter follows the Jan. 29 midair collision of a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, and 67 people died in the crash.

“We are extremely concerned that an ad hoc team of individuals lacking any expertise, exposure, certifications, or knowledge of aviation operations being invited, or inserting themselves, to make ‘rapid’ changes to our nation’s air traffic systems,” the lawmakers write. “This is the wrong course of action to take.”

The lawmakers go on to ask Rocheleau whether he will commit to quickly report to Congress  “any actions that the FAA is directed to undertake at the direction of the President, DOGE, or by the Office of the Secretary of Transportation regarding any aspect of aviation safety.”

The letter was signed by and , along with U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, Gerald Connolly, Suhas Subramanyam, who all represent districts in Northern Virginia, and U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, who represent Maryland, as well as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents Washington, D.C.

Additionally, the members of Congress state that the FAA “should identify and implement immediate steps to improve safety.” They applaud the FAA for restricting helicopter traffic near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport until a preliminary investigation is released by the about the collision and for its pause of the use of two of the smaller airport runways.

The FAA announced Tuesday that those runways had been reopened. With the runway reopenings, the FAA says increased the hourly arrival rate at DCA to 28 aircraft. The regular maximum hourly arrival rate for DCA is 32 aircraft, according to the agency.

Warner and Kaine had previously warned that the DCA was overburdened.  The two senators spoke out in May 2024 against the Senate passing a provision in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that allowed the addition of five incoming and five outgoing flights at DCA.

“The Senate abdicated its responsibility to protect the safety of the 25 million people who fly through DCA every year,” the pair said in a statement then.

Booz Allen fires subcontractor who wrote document about DOGE access to Treasury

McLean-based Fortune 500 management consulting contractor has fired a subcontractor who warned the U.S. Treasury Department about the having access to the Treasury’s payment system.

said that sources quoted in recent media reports “mischaracterize a document provided to Treasury officials” and that the company did not conduct a threat assessment or make recommendations regarding .

“Commentary provided in a draft document by a subcontractor contained unsubstantiated personal opinions,” the company said in a statement. “These unauthorized comments do not represent the company’s views and are inconsistent with our standards. Booz Allen has terminated the subcontractor.”

Bloomberg reported on Friday that the subcontractor expressed concern that DOGE, which is led by billionaire , having access to the payments system posed a significant risk to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which manages the federal government’s accounting. An anonymous source told Bloomberg that the draft report featuring the warning was delivered to the Treasury Department in a weekly intelligence bulletin by Booz Allen.

According to Bloomberg, the contractor’s report said: “Continued access to any payments systems, even ‘read-only’ likely poses the single greatest insider threat risk the Bureau of Fiscal Services has ever faced.” The report mirrors concern that has been shared by security experts, Democratic lawmakers, consumer advocates and government officials.

According to The Washington Post, the Treasury’s highest ranking career official, David A. Lebryk, abruptly retired last month after clashing with Musk allies over DOGE team members having access to a sensitive payment system the federal government uses to disburse trillions of dollars annually.

Axios reported Tuesday that security experts fear Musk’s team having such widespread access posed risks of data leaks, violations of federal security protocols and insider risks.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Booz Allen has more than 34,000 employees and reported fiscal 2024 earnings of $10.66 billion, its best revenue year since went public in 2010.

Playa Hotels & Resorts to be acquired in $2.6B deal with Hyatt

Resorts owner, operator and developer & has entered into an agreement to be acquired by an indirect subsidiary of Hotels for approximately $2.6 billion, including approximately $900 million in debt, the companies announced Monday.

is a Dutch public limited liability company headquartered in Amsterdam with an administrative office in . The company’s investor relations operations are based in Fairfax, according to contact information in its 2023 annual report.

Chicago-based Hyatt is currently the beneficial owner of 9.4% of Playa’s outstanding shares. The indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Hyatt, Dutch private limited liability company HI Holdings Playa B.V., will acquire all outstanding shares of Playa for $13.50 per share.

The will take Playa private. Playa went public in 2017 through a merger with a special purpose company.

The acquisition is expected to close later this year and is subject to Playa shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Playa owns and/or manages a portfolio of 24 resorts with a total of 8,627 rooms in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominion Republic, under the Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Hilton All-Inclusive, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, Wyndham Alltra, Seadust, Kimpton, Jewel Resorts and The Luxury Collection brands.

“We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Hyatt and look forward to delivering the many benefits of the transaction to Playa’s shareholders, guests, employees and other stakeholders,” Playa Chairman and CEO Bruce D. Wardinski said in a statement.

Playa Hotels & Resorts revealed the potential for the acquisition in December 2024, when confirmed it had executed an exclusivity agreement with Hyatt Hotels under which Playa agreed to negotiate exclusively with Hyatt regarding potential strategic options, which could include Hyatt acquiring the company.

“The transaction will deliver to Playa shareholders a 40% premium to the company’s unaffected stock price prior to the disclosure of exclusive discussions with Hyatt,” Wardinksi said in a statement.

Playa announced the exclusivity agreement Dec. 23, 2024. At close on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, Playa shares were trading for $9.61.

Hyatt “intends to identify third-party buyers for Playa’s owned properties,” according to a news release, and, following the close of the transaction, anticipates realizing at least $2 billion in proceeds from asset sales by the end of 2027.

The company expects to fund 100% of the acquisition with new debt financing, according to a news release, and to pay down more than 80% of the new debt financing with proceeds from asset sales.

“Hyatt has firmly established itself as a leader in the all-inclusive space, a journey that began in 2013 through an investment in Playa Hotels & Resorts that launched the Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara brands,” Hyatt President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said in a statement. “We have respected and benefitted from Playa’s operating expertise and outstanding guest experience delivery for years through their ownership and management of eight of our Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara hotels.”

Trump’s steel, aluminum tariffs could impact Va. economy

President Donald Trump imposed 25% on and imports Monday. Now, the world waits to see what impact they will have.

“If you look at the behavior of investors, investors are signaling again that they don’t believe these tariffs will be long-lived,” said Bob McNab, chair of Old Dominion University’s Department of Economics and director of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “If you’re looking at statements from the administration and president, they are suggesting that the tariffs may be in place for a while.”

After all, McNab noted, U.S. stocks rose Monday.

So far, Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada have led to deals to delay enforcement, preventing retaliatory tariffs by those countries, so investors are not sure whether the steel and aluminum tariffs are for real or a bargaining chip. Trump told reporters about the tariff announcement as he flew to Louisiana for the Super Bowl on Sunday.

But depending on how long the tariffs are enforced, McNab said, Virginia consumers and business owners could take a hit to their pocketbooks.

“If we see the tariffs come into play and remain in force for an extended period of time, then prices of imported steel and aluminum obviously are going to rise, but the price of domestically produced steel and aluminum will rise as well, and those costs will be passed along to American businesses and consumers,” he said.

McNab described a person standing in an empty pool and holding a hose to fill with water.

“It might start off barely nipping at your toes, and at some point it’s at your knees, and at some point it’s at your nose, and then it’s above your head,” he said. “Sort of like that, the effects will accumulate over time and grow larger over time as the costs of goods increase, and then we start to see firms and consumers make decisions about consumption due to the higher price of goods.”

The tariffs will have a bigger impact on states where steel and aluminum production is concentrated than it will on the commonwealth, McNab believes.

“I haven’t seen anything that suggests that we’re wildly different from any other state,” he said of Virginia.

In 2018, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, although some countries — including Australia, Canada and Mexico — got breaks on the duties.

The Biden administration later rolled back some trade restrictions on steel and aluminum tariffs with the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Fred Treyz, CEO and chief economist of REMI, a Massachusetts based policy modeling firm, said northern states with economies that rely heavily on automotive manufacturing stand to take larger hits, because those companies work hand in hand with Canada.

“That’s disruptive to the auto industry, even to the U.S. side of the auto industry because they’re working together,” he said.

For Virginia’s aluminum manufacturers, he said, tariffs could actually help business by providing protection from competition outside the United States, Treyz said. “So it does tend to give the domestic manufacturer more pricing power, so they can increase their prices and increase their output if they’re not facing the international competition.”

Neither Crown Holdings, which has a beverage can manufacturing facility facility in Henry County, nor Belvac, which produces technology for the two-piece can industry at a Lynchburg facility, immediately returned a request for comment.

Chris Gregory, executive vice president at SteelFab, a with a fabrication plant in Emporia, sent an email Monday night, explaining that the company was waiting to learn more details about the tariffs. “But we are bracing ourselves for pricing increases across the board,” he wrote. 

Ben Phelps, vice president of Frederick County’s Winchester Metals, explained in an email that tariffs would impact the steel distribution, processing and fabrication facility, but added that it won’t necessarily be in a negative way.

“We generally pass on any raw material increases that we incur to our customers,” he wrote. “Our business is more transactional as opposed to contractual, so we’re not locked into price points.”

Impact on

It’s well established that Virginia is popular with data center developers because of its location near Washington, D.C., and internet exchange points, as well as its business friendly environment.

Data center developers are also fans of steel, which they often use for the exteriors of buildings and for use in things like enclosure racks and HVAC systems.

David Smith, a senior vice president with Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, doesn’t think the tariffs on steel imports will cause data center developers to hit pause on their plans, however.

“I wouldn’t expect the tariffs to have a long-term negative impact on data center development at all,” said Smith, who specializes in land sales in the area and often works with data center developers.

The cost of real estate and the cost to put up data center buildings “relative to what the data centers generate in income is very small,” he said.

The increased cost of materials due to tariffs won’t be enough to erase that profitability, according to Smith. For developers who are just beginning their journey to get data centers built, he said, tariffs are likely be a nonfactor. It takes developers an average of four to seven years to get the necessary approvals from localities and utilities after purchasing land to build data centers, according to Smith.

“It would be my expectation that the tariff situation on steel and aluminum by that time will be long ironed out and resolved,” he said.

Last week, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico as retaliation for illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking. However, he later agreed to pause those discussions for 30 days after leaders in both countries issued plans to increase border security. Trump implemented a 10% tariff on China last week and Chinese tariffs of 10% to 15% on some U.S. products were set to take effect Monday.

Reed Smith appoints new Richmond office managing partner

Global ‘s is the new office managing partner in , the firm announced Thursday.

Farmer succeeds Edward Mullen, who is part of the firm’s Richmond-based government relations team that spun off from Reed Smith to create Seven Hills Group, according to a January news release.

Farmer, who previously worked for Hirschler Fleischer, joined Reed Smith in 2023. He is one of six attorneys in the Richmond office.

Farmer is a member of the firm’s Global Corporate Group and leads its institutional investor practice. He focuses on the investment management industry, serving institutional investors and investment managers.

“I am excited to lead the talented group of attorneys and staff in our Richmond office,” Farmer said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to provide the highest level of service to our clients in the region.”

Farmer received his bachelor’s degree from the and his law degree from U.Va.’s School of Law. He serves on the board of directors for the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls Foundation.

Farmer previously served on the City of Richmond Retirement System’s board of trustees and investment advisory committee. He is a former board president of Greater Richmond Stop Child Abuse Now.

Founded in Pittsburgh in 1877, Reed Smith has more than 1,600 lawyers across more than 30 offices in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Asia.  As of Jan. 1, 2024, Reed Smith had 33 attorneys in Virginia, and the office was its largest in Virginia.

Va. Democratic Party chair to depart in March

Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman announced Monday she’s stepping down after a decade in the position.

Swecker has served as chairwoman since March 2015 and said that her 10 years in the role has been “both an honor and a privilege.”

“After our strong victories in Virginia this past November, I believe the time is right to pass the torch to a new leader who can continue to build on our successes and further strengthen our party,” Swecker said in a statement.

Swecker said that when she ran for chair back in 2015, she wanted to help the state’s Democratic party grow and maintain a strong infrastructure that would be sustainable.  She said the party has successfully done so with a larger full-time staff, stronger local committees and established year-round programs focused on voter protection and training.

“Susan Swecker has done important, difficult and often thankless work shepherding DPVA through some pretty eventful years,” Democratic U.S. Sen. said on X. “She’ll leave behind an organization that is stronger and more effective thanks to her service.”

Although was reelected with the popular and electoral vote nationally, in Virginia, more than 51% of voters supported the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Statewide during Swecker’s tenure, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam was elected in 2017, and the party won control of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia State Senate in 2019, leading to progressive legislation’s passage in Virginia in 2020 and 2021, including the legalization of marijuana, the end of the state’s death penalty and the Virginia Clean Act.

Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who served as chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, said on X that he recommended Swecker to be chair of the party nearly a decade ago.

“I knew she would fight for our values, support the party in every corner of VA, and most importantly, keep a laser focus on electing VA Democrats at every level,” he said. “She has done all of that and so much more in a truly-history making run as chair.”

She will vacate the position after the party elects a new chair in March. The Steering Committee will meet on Feb. 20 to adopt rules of procedure for an election to replace Swecker on March 22.

“As I step down, I do so with pride and confidence, knowing that our party is in capable hands,” Swecker said in a statement. “The solid foundation we’ve laid will ensure Virginia remains a beacon of Democratic strength for generations to come.”

NoVa could feel pain if Trump cuts federal office space

Northern Virginia is sure to weather aftershocks if the Trump administration moves forward with plans to shutter half of the properties owned and leased by the federal government.

“We’ll see some strong reverberations,” said David Tarter, executive director for the Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship and the master’s in real estate development program at George Mason University. “That’s a lot of coming back on the market.”

Michael Peters, commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, publicly stated last week that the agency, which builds and acquires office space for other federal agencies, plans to cut the square footage in the agency’s portfolio by 50%. Additionally, he said the GSA plans to cut the amount of office space it uses (along with cutting the number of employees at the agency).

Peters, who was appointed to his new role by President Donald Trump at the end of January, spoke Jan. 28 during a meeting of the Public Buildings Reform Board, which has a mission to make recommendations about whether federal properties should be sold or redeveloped. The Federal News Network reported that at the meeting Peters said the agency probably won’t be able to shed that much of the federal government’s office space in six months, but he added, “we’re going to try to do this as rapidly as we can.”

It’s part of an overall effort to shrink the federal government’s footprint, as Trump and world’s wealthiest person , head of the () and owner of X, SpaceX and Tesla, aim to persuade 5% to 10% of federal employees to resign or face layoffs in the near future.

The GSA did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

It’s too soon to have a detailed analysis of what this plan could mean for Northern Virginia’s office market, according to Marcy Owens Test, the Washington, D.C.-based head of the Federal Lessor Advisory Group for CBRE, a Texas-based global commercial real estate services and investment company.

“It’s really an evolving situation,” she said. “It seems like things are happening really, really fast, but it will take some time for all of this to get clear.”

The GSA’s — which includes the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and , , Loudoun and Prince William counties in Virginia, as well as Washington and parts of Maryland — has a portfolio of about 44 million square feet of leased space.

The Virginia section of the National Capital Region has 16 million square feet of leased office space and 185 leases, according to CBRE data. Leases for just over 5 million square feet expire over the next four years and about 500,000 square feet expires in the next four years if termination options are executed, Test explained.

As far as federally owned property, the Virginia section of the GSA’s National Capital Region has six buildings, according to Test.

“This is just GSA portfolio,” she stresses. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the Pentagon.”

Playing defense

Having a heavy occupation of federal agencies connected to defense is one thing that Northern Virginia has going for it, according to Steven Teitelbaum, faculty coordinator for real estate specialization at the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, D.C.

Northern Virginia has less to worry about since more of its office spaces are occupied by defense-oriented federal agencies than Maryland or Washington.

“I’m just guessing that, given the emphasis of the current administration on defense, that they’re not going to be terminating defense leases,” he said.

Teitelbaum, previously a commercial real estate , stressed that the government is locked into office space leases “pretty much the same as a private sector tenant.”

Even so, he also acknowledged that President Trump and some of his associates have shown “that they’re willing to bend the rules or break the rules and see if anybody tries to prevent them from doing that.”

“They may just say, ‘We’re out of here. Come after me.’ Right?” Teitelbaum said.

And that could have broader ramifications. “That really turns a lot of things on its head and sends a certain message to the market,” he said.

Ryan Touhill, director of Arlington Economic Development, said it’s too early to worry about the federal government downsizing its portfolio of leased office space.

“We have a strategic plan for economic growth that we are focused on, and we recognize the importance of the federal government, but …things are way too early to make any kind of shifts in our or policy,” he said.

If the federal government does ultimately decide not to extend leases of office space in , “we’ll have to deal with that if that comes,” Touhill said.

Circumstances vary

Still recovering from the pandemic when massive numbers of employees began working from home, Northern Virginia had an office vacancy rate of 17.8% in the final quarter of 2024, according to data provided by Virginia Realtors. A high vacancy rate is typically considered anything about 10%.

The hit could be more or less painful depending on how quickly the GSA sheds its inventory, according to GMU’s Tarter, who’s also a former commercial real estate lawyer.

If the federal government sets a policy to not renew office building leases as they expire, he explained, vacancies will be spread out over a period of years, giving the market more time to absorb the available space.

If the federal government decides, on the other hand, to pay the remaining owed rent on a lease and gets out of dodge, Tarter said. “I think it’ll have a much more significant impact because it’s sort of a flood of office space hitting the market all at once.”

Overall office rent in Northern Virginia was $34.35 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to data provided by Virginia Realtors.

If the federal government sheds 50% of its office portfolio in Northern Virginia, Tarter speculated, it will keep rent prices where they are, or “rents could go down beyond what they are now.”

An increase in office vacancies, according to Tarter, generally can lead to lighter coffers for localities, who collect property taxes from the owners of office buildings.

“When commercial buildings are unoccupied, or they’re mostly vacant, they’re not worth as much, so that means that local governments will get less [in] property taxes,” he said.