By Anne Cosgrove From the September/October 2024 Issue
Site development across Virginia is in motion, with the state having introduced a targeted effort in 2022. This past July, Governor Glenn Youngkin awarded a total of $126 million in Virginia Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP) development grants for 23 sites across the Commonwealth. Administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), this discretionary program partners with localities, utilities, and state agencies to fund infrastructure improvements that build operations-ready sites.
In addition to developing the project-ready sites, the VBRSP program assembles permits and approvals to make way for a smooth construction process. VBRSP identifies, assesses, and improves industrial sites with at least 100 contiguous, developable acres, or 50 acres in the western part of the Commonwealth and in areas with other qualifying conditions.
“Speed to market is a major consideration in site selection decisions, and the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program has helped Virginia increase its inventory of suitable sites for major projects,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick at the July announcement. “This round of the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program will enhance 23 sites across the Commonwealth, ensuring all of Virginia is positioned to fully capture economic development and job creation opportunities for years to come.”
Located in Arlington, VA, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is one of the 65 public-use airports in the Commonwealth. (Photo: Adobe Stock/ nate hovee)
Since the program’s inception in 2022, 45 sites have received funding, and to date, 3,720 direct jobs have been announced on sites that have received VBRSP grants. In 20224, 23 sites representing more than 10,000 acres of developable land are receiving funding.
“Virginia has worked strategically to create a diverse portfolio of project-ready sites to meet company needs in a variety of target sectors, and these grants are a primary reason why Virginia is recognized as a national leader in site development,” said Jason El Koubi, VEDP President and CEO. “I am incredibly proud of the results of the program’s efforts. This investment in Virginia’s infrastructure will continue to accelerate economic development in every region of the Commonwealth for years to come.”
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VBRSP was developed by a team of state, regional, and local partners including VEDP, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, railroad representatives, utility representatives, civil engineers, and other government, business, and industry representatives.
Richmond Airport Handles Record Cargo
According to reported statistics, activities attributable to the Richmond International Airport (RIC) create nearly 16,000 jobs and contribute about $2.1 billion in annual economic activity. Commercial activity at RIC reflects operations by Allegiant, American, Breeze, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country (seasonal), United and their regional airline affiliates, as well as cargo operations by Amazon, DHL, FedEx, and UPS.
Over the past two and a half years, an average of 16 million pounds of cargo has moved through RIC each month. The May 2024 data reporting 20.3 million pounds was the most cargo through the facility since at least January 2014. Since January 2022, cargo moving through the airport has increased an average of 1% per month.
Canon Virginia Expands, Plenty Unlimited Opens
Canon Virginia, Inc., the global manufacturer of consumer and office products, will expand its manufacturing facility in the City of Newport News. The expansion will support Canon’s initiative to scale a method of isolating natural silk protein to create a solution with applications for multiple industries. Canon Virginia will retrain 30 employees to staff the new line, which is one of the company’s first ventures outside their longstanding core business of image-related products.
“This announcement brings great opportunity for Canon Virginia to continue our commitment to innovation, growth and development in Virginia,” said President & CEO of Canon Virginia, Inc. Shingo Shigeta.
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“With this expansion, we will make silk protein a viable commercially scaled technology with broad application use in various segments,” continued Shigeta. “Virginia’s conducive business environment and the healthy business ecosystem has helped us achieve this goal—this is only possible through unwavering support from the Commonwealth of Virginia, Gov. Youngkin, VEDP, the City of Newport News, and the Hampton Roads Alliance.”
Canon Virginia is expanding its manufacturing capacity at its site in Newport News. (Photo: Canon Virginia)
Canon Virginia, Inc., a subsidiary of Japanese corporation Canon Inc., serves as the Canon manufacturing, engineering, recycling and technical support center for the Americas. Canon Virginia produces products such as the new silk protein using advanced manufacturing methodologies while also serving as a factory service center providing customer service in the repair and refurbishment of Canon products. Canon Virginia’s manufacturing services extend to injection mold making, contract manufacturing, medical contract manufacturing and aftermarket services.
VEDP worked with the City of Newport News to secure the project and will support Canon Virginia’s retraining efforts through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program. Gov. Youngkin also approved a performance-based grant of $350,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, an incentive that encourages continued capital investment by existing Virginia companies.
In Chesterfield, VA, Plenty Unlimited chose a site in 2022 for its indoor vertical farming operation. This fall, the company opened the new facility slated to produce more than four million pounds of strawberries annually by growing vertically on towers that are 30 feet tall. The Greater Richmond operation is the world’s first farm to grow indoor, vertically farmed berries at scale.
The Plenty Richmond Farm Campus is the largest indoor vertical farm campus in the world and a projected $300 million investment that is planned to bring more than 300 total jobs to Virginia.
The first set of strawberries from the farm is expected to be available in early 2025.
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Check out all the latest news related to Virginia economic development, corporate relocation, corporate expansion and site selection.
A Richmond, Virginia, woman lost more than $30,000 after police say she fell victim to a scam.
Click here for updates on this story
RICHMOND, Virginia (WTVR) — A Richmond, Virginia, woman lost more than $30,000 after police say she fell victim to a scam.
CBS 6 Crime Insider Jon Burkett spoke to Frank Oley, her financial adviser and Greg Wade, a Richmond detective about how this happened.
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The woman got an email which appeared to be from PayPal.
“It was about the purchase of some type of malware and if you didn’t want it to call a certain number,” Wade said.
She then called the number and got swindled.
“After the transaction was done, he said, ‘You added too many zeroes,’ and, ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to lose my job, it’s Christmas time and I have kids,’ laid it on thick to her. This client being such a nice, honest and decent person felt sorry for this guy,” Wade explained.
The woman felt so bad she withdrew a total of $34,300 from two banks in an effort to pay for what she thought was her mistake.
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The scammer instructed her to load the cash into a bitcoin machine along Azalea Avenue. It took her two hours and 873 separate transactions to do.
Detective Wade got a search warrant and told the store to shut the machine down. A representative came to open it, and the woman’s money was still there.
Her money is being held as evidence for now, but she will get it all back.
“The good news is with George, the Richmond City Police Department, we got the money back,” Oley said.
Wade says the scammer was traced to a location outside the United States.
East Carolina cornerback Isaiah Brown-Murray (26) committed to Virginia Tech on Saturday night. (East Carolina athletics)
Isaiah Brown-Murray Cornerback East Carolina 5-10, 191 2 years remaining (r-Jr.)
Virginia Tech received a commitment from East Carolina cornerback Isaiah Brown-Murray on Saturday night.
The Charlotte, N.C, native tallied 63 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in three seasons with the Pirates. He deflected 11 passes over that span, intercepting one, while forcing a fumble and recovering one.
He led ECU’s defense with 830 snaps this season, per PFF. He graded out well, too: 74.0 overall, 74.1 in run defense, 80.4 in tackling and 73.2 in coverage. Those marks ranked 13th, 12th, sixth and 13th at his position in the AAC, respectively.
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For comparison, here’s where his grades stack up against Hokies cornerbacks Dorian Strong and Mansoor Delane:
In some ways, he’s a mix of Strong (coverage) and Delane (run defense, tackling). More than anything, though, he’s played 1,246 snaps in his career and is immediately the most experienced player in Tech’s cornerback room. With Strong and Delane gone, Dante Lovett has the most returning career snaps with 244.
Brown-Murray slid into ECU’s No. 1 cornerback role in Week 4 at Liberty after Shavon Revel, a projected first-round NFL Draft pick, tore his ACL in the third game of the season. The redshirt sophomore notched his first career interception against the Flames and returned it 34 yards, and he also forced his first career fumble that game. In the next outing vs. UTSA, he recovered a fumble for the first time.
A product of Hough High School in Cornelius, N.C., Brown-Murray was a three-star recruit in the 2022 class and a top-40 prospect in the state. He held Power Four offers from Arkansas, Louisville and Kansas while being heavily pursued from Group of Five schools like Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Marshall and Old Dominion. He showed his versatility as a senior by scoring five all-purpose touchdowns: one interception return, two punt returns and two kickoff returns.
With the addition of Brown-Murray, the Hokies have eight scholarship cornerbacks for the 2025 season. He’ll slot in alongside Lovett and ahead of a young trio of Thomas Williams (r-So.), Krystian Williams (r-So.) and Joshua Clarke (r-Fr.). They’re all expected to see time in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Minnesota on Jan. 3. Tech also has three incoming freshmen at that position in Knahlij Harrell, Jordan Crim and Jahmari DeLoatch.
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He’s the fifth transfer portal addition of the offseason for the Hokies, joining Clemson safety Sherrod Covil Jr., Bowling Green running back Terion Stewart, Central Missouri running back Marcellous Hawkins and Hampton defensive tackle Jahzari Priester.
For more information on Virginia Tech’s comings and goings in the portal, click here for Tech Sideline’s roster management page.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Erik Reynolds II knocked down five 3-pointers and put up 25 points to help Saint Joseph’s pull away from Virginia Tech to earn an 82-62 win on Saturday.
The victory gave the Hawks their first back-to-back wins since they won three straight in November.
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Reynolds hit from behind the arc with 27 seconds left in the first half to send the Hawks (8-4) into intermission with a 32-30 lead. After the Hokies got two free throws to start the second half, Reynolds’ layup kicked off a 10-0 run to take a double-digit lead at 42-32. Derek Simpson’s second 3 of the half made it a 47-34 lead with under 16 to play. Ben Hammond hit from deep to get Virginia Tech within 10 at 54-44, but Anthony Finkley answered with a 3 and Reynolds followed with a layup as the Hawks pulled away.
Reynolds was 10 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 11 from deep, with three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Simpson was 4 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 18 and Rasheer Fleming was 8 for 8 from the line to add 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Finkley chipped in 13 points by hitting 3 of 4 from deep. Saint Joseph’s was 15 of 32 from long range.
Hammond finished with 11 points and Ben Burnham was 3-for-3 from distance off the bench to add another 11.
Saint Joseph’s plays host to Delaware State December 28 before opening Atlantic 10 Conference play against UMass on New Year’s Eve.
Virginia Tech (5-7, 0-1) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play New Year’s Eve at No. 5 Duke.
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