Page 96 – Virginia Business

Accenture Federal Services wins $1.6B task order

Accenture Federal Services has been awarded a task order of up to $1.6 billion to scale and enhance Cloud One, the cloud computing platforms available to the U.S. Department of Defense that are managed by the Air Force, the Arlington County federal contractor announced last week.

“Accenture Federal Services will help the U.S. Air Force optimize its current cloud environment and support Cloud One in realizing its full potential,” Justin Shirk, a mission operations and cloud ecosystems managing director for Accenture Federal Services, stated in a news release.

Initiated in 2017, Cloud One is designed to provide common secure computing environments, standardized platforms, application migration and support services and data management, according to the DOD.

The Accenture subsidiary will work as a managed service provider for cloud account services, delivering enterprise-scale software support. It will also offer multi-cloud billing and account management services for the Air Force.

This order is the first of three follow-ons to the Air Force’s original Cloud One contract. The length of the task order support contract is up to five years and 3 months.

Two offers were received for the contract, according to the Department of Defense.

Accenture Federal Services employs 15,500 workers. Its parent company reported $64.9 billion in revenue in FY 2024.

Virginians wager $622M on sports in September

Virginians bet $622 million on sports in September, up 19.6% from September 2023, according to Virginia Lottery data released Friday.

Virginia bettors won $550.5 million in September.

About $618.3 million of September’s gross sports gaming revenues came from mobile operators, and the remaining $3.7 million came from casino retail activity. Virginia currently has three casinos: the temporary Bristol Casino: The Future Home of Hard Rock, the permanent Rivers Casino Portsmouth, and the temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville. In September, the state’s casinos reported $56.56 million in revenue.

September’s handle was a 49% increase from the roughly $417 million that Virginians bet in August. The NFL season began on Sept. 5.

Nationally, Virginia received more tax revenue than other states with sports betting, according to Steve Bittenbender, an analyst with sports betting vendor BetVirginia.com.

“Virginia’s September betting numbers are in, pushing the national handle over the impressive $100 billion mark just nine months into the year,” Bittenbender said in a statement. “The state of Virginia stands out as the month’s big winner, with tax revenue jumping by 88.3% from August and totaling a notable $9.875 million.”

The licensed operators included in September’s sports revenue reporting were:

Betfair Interactive US (FanDuel) in partnership with the Washington Commanders
Crown Virginia Gaming (Draft Kings)
BetMGM
Rivers Portsmouth Gaming (Rivers Casino Portsmouth)
Caesars Virginia
Twin River Management Group
Penn Sports Interactive
Colonial Downs Group
Digital Gaming Corporation VA
VHL VA
HR Bristol
Hillside (Virginia)
DC Sports Facilities Entertainment
Betr VA
PlayLive Virginia

An additional operator, Sporttrade Virginia, launched in the state on Oct. 24.

Virginia is likely to see increased sports betting reflected in October’s numbers, Bittenbender said. “With the Commanders, Capitals and Wizards all in season, October is poised to be a standout month for Virginia’s sports betting scene. Fans rallying behind their local teams not only boosts excitement but continues to drive significant returns to the state.”

Virginia places a 15% tax on sports betting activity based on each permit holder’s adjusted gross revenue (total wagers minus total winnings and other authorized deductions).

With 10 operators reporting net positive AGR for September, state taxes for the month totaled more than $9.87 million. Of that, 97.5% — more than $9.62 million — will be deposited in the state’s general fund. The remaining almost $247,000 will go to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund, which the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services administers.

For casinos to come, the team behind the delayed Norfolk casino has announced it will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the casino Oct. 30. The permanent Bristol casino is set to open Nov. 14, and the permanent Danville casino is expected to open late this year. On Tuesday, more than 80% of Petersburg voters approved a casino referendum, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections.

Work begins on phase 2 of McLean affordable housing development

Construction has started on the second phase of the two-phase Somos at McLean Metro, an affordable housing development backed by Amazon.com, SCG Development, a Tysons real estate developer, announced last week.

Work on the 231-unit first phase began in April. Phase B will add 225 new units, a mix of studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, for households earning between 50% and 70% of the area’s median income. (60% of the AMI is $64,980 for a one-person household.)

“Somos at McLean Metro Phase B will bring high quality affordable housing options to families and individuals in a very high barrier to entry market that is walkable to the McLean Metro and all the surrounding amenities that Tysons has to offer,” Steve Wilson, president of SCG Development, stated in a news release.

Virginia Housing, the commonwealth’s housing finance agency, has committed over $38 million in financing, as well as 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which the federal government uses to subsidize the acquisition and construction of affordable rental housing. Previously, Virginia Housing committed $28.3 million for the first phase of development, according to SCG Development.

“Innovative partnerships like this will be a driving force to continue to address the affordable housing crisis,” Tammy Neale, CEO of Virginia Housing, said in a statement. Amazon, through its Housing Equity Fund, provided an $18.2 million low-rate loan for Phase B of Somos at McLean Metro.

HQ2, Amazon’s East Coast headquarters in Arlington County, began a phased opening in June 2023.

In 2021, Amazon launched the Housing Equity Fund, a $3.6 billion commitment to create or preserve more than 35,000 homes for low- to moderate-income families in areas where the company has offices: Seattle, Washington; the Washington, D.C., region and Nashville, Tennessee.

For both Phase A and Phase B of the McLean project, the Housing Equity Fund has committed over $47 million.

“In addition to creating much-needed affordable housing, Somos at Mclean will connect individuals and families to transit, employment and other critical resources across the DMV,” Senthil Sankaran, managing principal of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, said in the news release.

According to Apartments.com, the average monthly rent in McLean is $2,350 in November, and the Zillow Home Values Index put the average McLean home value at $1.3 million, according to data through Sept. 30.

Fairfax County is providing more than $15.8 million in financing to the Somos project, in addition to more than $11.4 million awarded in Phase A. Fairfax County also invested more than $19 million to buy the property.

Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored home mortgage company, made a contribution of $32 million of tax credit equity through Hudson Housing Capital, a New York financial services company, for the housing project.

“This new housing is the result of creativity and commitment from both the public and private sector, and a great example of how Freddie Mac can inject the equity needed to get complex deals over the finish line,” said Peter Lillestolen, vice president of targeted affordable housing at Freddie Mac Multifamily.

Nelson Teague | Elk Hill Farm, Inc.

Elk Hill announced Nelson Teague, Jr. has been named Board of Trustees Chair. Teague has served on the Board over 20 years. A native Virginian, Teague graduated from Washington and Lee University and earned his law degree from University of Richmond. Teague has been working in renewable energy for 20 years, most recently at East Point Energy.

Announce your new employees, promotions, board positions, community notes and leaders in your organization to our influential audience. The information in the Professional Announcements section is provided by the submitter.

Click here to make a Professional Announcement submission and to find out more.

Click here to see more Professional Announcements

Boykin retiring as NNS president; Wilkinson named as successor

Jennifer Boykin, the president of Newport News Shipbuilding, will retire at the end of the year, parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries announced Wednesday. Kari Wilkinson, the president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding based in Mississippi and executive vice president of HII, will succeed Boykin in January.

Boykin has been with the shipbuilder for 37 years, and is the company’s 20th president. NNS is the state’s largest industrial employer, with 26,000 shipbuilders, according to the news release.

“I have asked Jennifer to stay on in an advisory capacity through March to support a seamless transition to Kari,” HII CEO and President Chris Kastner said in a statement. “You will not find a more loyal advocate than Jennifer for her shipbuilders and the Hampton Roads community. Kari’s leadership has steered Ingalls Shipbuilding into its next phase of growth, having secured serial production contracts for both the destroyer and amphibious ship programs. She is a tremendous leader and now brings her great energy and expertise to Newport News.”

Brian Blanchette, Ingalls Shipbuilding’s vice president of quality and engineering, was named to succeed Wilkinson.

Boykin joined NNS in 1987 in its nuclear engineering division, and became its first female president in 2017. The company is the nation’s only manufacturer of nuclear-powered Ford-class aircraft carriers for the Navy; it is also building 10 submarines for the service under a $22.2 billion-plus deal that was the military branch’s largest-ever shipbuilding contract, from which NNS is set to receive $9.8 billion. The shipbuilder reported 2023 revenues of $6.1 billion.

“Leading shipbuilders in the critical work we do for the nation has been and will continue to be the greatest honor of my life,” Wilkinson said in a statement. “I join the Newport News team with deep respect for its nuclear culture, commitment to safety, and an exceptional legacy further strengthened by Jennifer and the NNS team. I am fully committed to advancing our mission in support of our sailors, their families, and for all of us who depend on them for freedom and security.”

Wilkinson has been president of Ingalls Shipbuilding since 2021, overseeing 11,000 shipbuilders who build the Navy’s amphibious assault and surface combatant ships. Under her leadership, the company secured a $9.6 billion multi-ship procurement contract for three San Antonio-class amphibious ships and contract modification for the next America-class large-deck amphibious ship.

Petersburg casino passes with 81% of unofficial vote

Updated Nov. 6

More than 80% of Petersburg voters said yes to the city’s casino referendum, according to unofficial Election Day results from the Virginia Department of Elections, as of 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The vote gives a green light to Cordish Cos.‘ $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel, set to be built on an undeveloped 100-acre site off Interstate 95 in Petersburg. It is the fifth casino voters have approved in Virginia, where casino gaming facilities were legalized by the General Assembly in 2020 with the requirement that local voters pass a referendum in support of a casino.

According to the Virginia Board of Elections’ unofficial tally Tuesday night, 10,265 voters selected “yes,” compared to 2,325 people voting no.

“We are deeply gratified by the community’s affirmation of this project and very hopeful about the meaningful impact it will have on the city’s future,” Virginia Beach developer Bruce Smith, co-developer of the project, said in a statement Tuesday. “The casino will not only create good-paying jobs for our residents but will also attract visitors statewide and beyond, stimulating local businesses and in turn producing an overall ripple effect of economic growth. Now that the voters have spoken, we look forward to working with the City of Petersburg and the Virginia Lottery to secure all of the necessary permitting, licensing and regulatory approvals for this project to move forward.”

Developers said earlier this year that the Petersburg casino resort would be built in phases. The first phase would include a 200,000-square-foot casino, featuring 1,000 slot machines and 23 table games. The full 400,000-square-foot project, to be completed two years after approvals, would include a 200-room hotel, 1,600 slot machines, 46 live-action table games, a 3,000-seat entertainment venue and eight food and entertainment establishments, three of which would be reserved for Petersburg businesses. Smith said he anticipated 1,500 jobs with average salaries of $70,000, and an estimated $240 million in local tax revenue in the first 10 years. In a news release Tuesday, the developers say they expect the project to create 6,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.

Virginia has three operating casinos: Rivers Casino Portsmouth, the state’s first permanent casino; the Caesars Virginia temporary casino in Danville; and the temporary Bristol Casino: Future Home of Hard Rock, which opened in Bristol in July 2022. The permanent $515 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol is set to stage its grand opening Nov. 14, and according to Caesars Virginia officials, the permanent, $750 million Danville casino is expected to open in December. Meanwhile, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Boyd Gaming broke ground in October for the long-delayed Norfolk casino.

All four of those casino projects were passed via local referendum in 2020, but Richmond voters rejected the Urban One casino project in 2021 and 2023 votes. Earlier this year, Virginia General Assembly lawmakers passed legislation that gave Petersburg a chance to host a casino, pending voters’ approval of a referendum on the November ballot, and barred Richmond from a third try. The state’s casino laws cap the number of casinos to one per city in five designated cities: Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and now Petersburg, which replaced Richmond.

Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., which was among competing casino developers in Richmond, and Smith, a NFL Hall of Fame member and owner of Bruce Smith Enterprise, teamed up to vie for the opportunity to develop a casino in Petersburg. Five development groups put in bids, and in April, a controversy erupted when Petersburg city councilors accused Petersburg-based state Sen. Lashrecse Aird, who sponsored legislation to hold a casino referendum vote in Petersburg, of pressuring city officials to choose Bally’s Corp. as developer.

Aird disputed the allegation, and Petersburg City Council ultimately chose Cordish as the casino’s developer. In 2022, the Petersburg council voted to approve Cordish as a potential casino developer, as Petersburg officials began trying to win state approval to hold a casino referendum there following the casino’s first defeat in Richmond.

“The approval of the destination resort and casino in Petersburg marks a significant milestone for our city,” Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham said. “Voter approval follows a three-year journey on this transformative project that will bring positive change to Petersburg for generations. This destination resort, casino, retail and residential development will be the largest economic and tourism project in Petersburg’s history. City Council and administration look forward to working with the Cordish Cos. and Bruce Smith Enterprise to positively impact our community and its prosperity.”

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the pro-casino Vote Yes Petersburg committee funded by a Cordish limited liability company spent more than $1 million this year on its campaign to pass the referendum, with the majority of money going toward campaign marketing materials and advertising. Unlike in Richmond, there appeared to be no coordinated opposition campaign against the Petersburg casino.

Thank You

U.Va. Wise receives largest ever donation

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise has received its largest ever donation, $11.2 million, from The Bill Gatton Foundation, the Wise County college announced Monday.

The late Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, a successful businessman who owned the Gatton Automotive Group with dealerships in Kentucky and Tennessee, made significant gifts to the University of Kentucky and East Tennessee State University during his lifetime, and after his 2022 death, his Bristol-based foundation has made further donations, including $2 million to Emory & Henry University in 2023.

According to U.Va. Wise’s announcement, the foundation’s donation will create six endowed funds and support:

The Chancellor’s Greatest Needs Fund, which includes the naming of a hospitality suite and seating box at the David J. Prior Center, which hosts sporting events and concerts;
Naming of the Bill Gatton Department of Nursing;
Naming of the Bill Gatton Department of Technology Management and Data Analytics, and construction of the department’s new building;
Creation of the Bill Gatton Scholars Program, with three new scholarship funds. U.Va. will match this donation with $4.5 million.
Creation of the Rachel Clay-Keohane Mathematics Fund to honor the longtime U.Va. Wise faculty member, alumna and head coach of the college’s women’s basketball team;
Support and naming of the Bill Gatton Softball Field.

“To say this gift will be transformative doesn’t really capture the monumental impact that it will have,” Donna P. Henry, U.Va. Wise’s chancellor, said in a statement. “Every future student at the college will benefit from this gift.”

With U.Va.’s scholarship matching funds, the Gatton Foundation’s gift will add $15.7 million to the school’s $166 million endowment, according to the announcement.

Taurean Russell | Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Taurean Russell has joined the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research as the new Vice President of Information Technology. Russell previously served as Deputy Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Winston-Salem State University. In 2023, Cyber Defense Magazine recognized him as one of the Top Global CISOs.

Click here to make a Professional Announcement submission and to find out more.

Click here to see more Professional Announcements

Connie Nyholm | VIRginia International Raceway

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has appointed Connie Nyholm to the board of trustees for the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research for a returning three-year term. Nyholm previously served 2017-2020. She is co-owner & CEO of VIRginia International Raceway, a destination for professional and amateur racing, automotive testing and team-building.