Cover Story
Changing times
A demographic revolution is transforming how Virginians live — and vote
Town houses and apartments, storefronts and restaurants, grassy medians, pocket parks, sidewalks everywhere. Doesn’t this look a lot like a downtown? Picking up his mail in slippers and shorts on a brisk January day, Tandy Harris pauses to consider the question. “It does,” he agrees. “It’s got all the bells and whistles.” That’s one reason
Interview
Where the action is
Danville’s Telly Tucker moves to Arlington Economic Development
Published
In the wake of Amazon.com Inc.’s late 2018 announcement that its $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters would locate in Arlington County, there’s been a game of musical chairs taking place among Northern Virginia’s economic development offices. Last July, Victor Hoskins, Arlington’s economic development director, left to head up the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority.
Opinion
Rethinking big
Published
Once upon a time, I worked for a big company. Not for a short time, but a decades-long time. Somewhat unfortunately, I remember those years perhaps too well. Thousands of employees, rules, policies, a big human resources department, politics and power were all concentrated inside the headquarters building. And the customers were on the outside
From This Issue
Chambers of commerce
Published
Virginia State Chamber of Commerce Richmond 804.644.1607 vachamber.com CENTRAL VIRGINIA Altavista Area Chamber of Commerce Altavista 434.369.6665 altavistachamber.com Amherst County Chamber of Commerce Amherst 434.946.0990 amherstvachamber.com Appomattox County Chamber of Commerce Appomattox 434.352.2621 appomattoxchamber.org Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce Bedford 540.586.9401 bedfordareachamber.com Buckingham County Chamber of Commerce Dillwyn 434.983.2372 buckinghamchamberofcommerce.com Caroline County Chamber of Commerce
Great expectations
Virginia has a host of ambitious projects underway
Published
There was perhaps no greater portent last year of Virginia’s rising fortunes than the news that the Old Dominion had regained its perch as the nation’s No. 1 state for business. After eight years, CNBC once again ranked Virginia No. 1 in its annual Top States for Business study. The business news network cited Virginia’s
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Winds of change
Virginia Beach’s $8 billion offshore wind farm moves forward
Published
In September, Dominion Energy Inc. unveiled an ambitious, $8 billion project to erect the nation’s largest offshore wind farm off the Virginia Beach coast. If all goes to plan, it will power 650,000 Virginia homes by 2026. This year, Dominion expects to bring its offshore wind pilot project online and start ocean survey work on
Cyclical patterns
Volvo Group’s New River Valley employment ebbs and flows
Published
Last June, Volvo Group announced plans to invest nearly $400 million, add 350,000 square feet to its Dublin complex in Pulaski County — already the largest Volvo truck plant in the world — and hire 777 new workers over the next six years. Five months after that announcement, though, Volvo said it would lay off
Banner year
With Merck and Hershey deals, valley hits investment record
Published
You’d be hard pressed to find an economic development official who had a better first year on the job than Jay Langston did in 2019. With Langston at the helm, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, a regional economic development group, announced a record $1.5 billion in business investment last year, anchored by Merck & Co.’s expansion of its longstanding pharmaceutical production facility
The bigger they are …
One of the state’s largest law firms, LeClairRyan dissolved in 2019
Published
After 31 years in business, LeClairRyan, the state’s fifth-largest law firm, announced in August 2019 that it would be shutting down. It filed for bankruptcy in September and entered liquidation proceedings a month later. The firm had faced financial and legal struggles, as well as the exodus of many of its associates and shareholders. Just
Record breakers
Donations continue to climb at Virginia universities
Published
Individuals and family foundations spread the wealth in 2019, giving record amounts to Virginia universities but also assisting cancer patients, museums and out-of-work coal miners. In October, the University of Virginia announced a $100 million gift from David and Jane Walentas to help fund a new scholarship program for first-generation students. David Walentas, a 1961
A continuum of learning
JMU, BRCC partner to secure Merck investment
Published
While grocery shopping one evening in February 2019, Melissa Lubin received a phone call from Jay Langston, the new executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership. A major employer in the region was looking to expand its operations, Langston told her, with more than 100 high-paying jobs and a multiyear investment that could reach $1
Healthy and wealthy
Carilion, manufacturing industries step up operations
Published
Roanoke County’s main street — Electric Road (state Route 419) — is getting a big boost from the region’s largest employer. Carilion Clinic announced in September it had leased 150,000 square feet at Tanglewood Mall to accommodate Carilion’s growing children’s outpatient practices. Carilion, the Roanoke nonprofit that operates seven hospitals and more than 200 practice
Moving beyond coal
Stalwart Paul’s Fan Co. diversifies its business, creates jobs
Published
In 1923, the number of people earning a living mining coal in the United States peaked at 862,536. Now, that number is around 52,000, and many people and companies who relied on coal for income have fallen on hard times. That’s one reason the 2019 expansions of Paul’s Fan Co., which has been tied to
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