Virginia Beach’s new economic development director on regional cooperation, booming investment interest

VIRGINIA BEACH — Charles “Chuck” Rigney, the city’s new director of economic development, landed the job at an opportune time. Virginia Beach had just closed a deal with Amazon to build a fulfillment center and delivery station off Dam Neck Road. Rigney would head up implementation.

“They give me the ball on the one yard line with first and goal,” Rigney said. “You don’t want to fumble the ball. It was a nice one to come in on and help this team just get it finished.”

Rigney, 68, replaced Taylor Adams, who left for another job.

The son of a Navy fighter pilot, Rigney grew up in Norfolk. He was serving as Virginia Beach’s interim director since last year, and before that, worked in economic development for several Hampton Roads cities, including Hampton, Norfolk and Portsmouth.

He’s finding his sea legs in Virginia Beach  — a less urban environment than places he’s previously worked — with a resort area that presents possibilities and challenges.

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Sand dollars

Developers are chomping at the opportunity to redevelop aging hotels at the Oceanfront and want the city to chip in, said Rigney, who sat down for a wide ranging interview this month in the economic development board room in Town Center.

“There are serious developers wanting to invest mega-millions of dollars in our resort area,” he said. “Those guys come to us and say, ‘Hey, if we tore these things down and put something new up, can you help us with parking, water, sewer and the like?’”

Rigney and his team are charged with figuring out which projects will provide the most return on investment. Virginia Beach has a limited amount of developable land left. Maximizing what the city can get out of a site is critical, and that means density and capital investment and high paying jobs are priorities, he said.

They also have to gain support of the public and the City Council.

“There’s nothing worse than taking the ball way down the field and then find out that the council and the manager are like, ‘What are you, an idiot?” he said.

A proposal in the early stages to redevelop the Dairy Queen and 17th Street public park property at the Oceanfront could soon be ripe for community engagement. The city bought the land for $12.8 million in 2022. The Virginian-Pilot first reported in January that former Gov. Bob McDonnell and Gerald Divaris are shopping around a hotel and parking garage proposal.

“It hasn’t really evolved to the point of ‘ready for prime time’ just yet,” Rigney said.

The proposal includes maintaining public park space.

“Not one square foot of park would go away,” said Rigney. “It would simply be repurposed in a different scheme.”

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Star influence

When Rigney travels, he rarely meets a person who hasn’t heard of Virginia Beach. He credits the ongoing development of Atlantic Park for drawing new interest nationally.

Award winning singer and music producer Pharrell Williams is a partner in the project to build the surf park, entertainment venue, apartments, offices and retail in the heart of the resort area. The city is also a partner.

“It’s putting our name on the map,” Rigney said. “Along with the fact that Pharrell, from the days that he grew up here, and now leading Louis Vuitton, and continuing to speak highly of the beach, and wanting to put his reputation and name on Something in the Water and Atlantic Park… People are saying, ‘Why is he looking at the beach, and then they come here and see it.”

Rigney supports bringing more festivals to Virginia Beach, promoting action sports and a public park at Rudee Loop.

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A regional approach

A proponent of regional cooperation, Rigney is already grooming the city and his staff on its value.

“There are different types of economic development people in the world,” said his former colleague Jared Chalk. “Chuck is the friendly networking guy who knows where his strengths are and knows where to hire. He puts a good team around him.”

Chalk and Rigney worked together in Norfolk’s economic development department where they negotiated with Virginia Beach city leaders on the road alignment for the Norfolk Premium Outlets.

“He knows the region really well,” said Chalk.

At Rigney’s urging, the city recently joined an organization that provides the mechanism for localities to participate in and benefit from development projects outside of their city’s boundaries.

The Eastern Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority, also known as RIFA, could be a game-changer for Virginia Beach where tracts of open space for major development projects no longer exist.

Membership in the authority, managed by Hampton Roads Alliance, works like this: If a city invests 30% into another city’s development project, it can reap 30% of the tax revenue the project generates, Rigney said.

Chesapeake, for example, currently has “an exciting site for the whole region (that) could attract something like a car manufacturer or something really big,” Rigney said.

It would involve significant capital investment and would bring new jobs to the region.

“The upside is so big, it’s something that we want to see Chesapeake succeed in getting, and if they need some infrastructure development help or something along those lines, we could take a look at it, and say, we’ll throw in on it,” he said.

He believes RIFA will transform the region and steer colleagues in his industry away from what he calls the “coyote and roadrunner method” of economic development.

“If you remember the cartoon, during the day the coyote and the roadrunner or sheepdog just kill each other all day long, then they punch out the clock and go drinking at night,” said Rigney, smiling through his more-salt-than-pepper beard. “The next day they get up and do the same thing.”

Without a structure like RIFA, when Virginia Beach lands a deal, all the money comes only to Virginia Beach. So cities compete hard against each other, Rigney said.

“Where we have the ability to share in the revenue, it really opens up the door to major projects that maybe we couldn’t do individually,” he said. “And for a city like the beach that may want to invest in other major projects so that we can continue to grow our tax base away from the reliance on the residential real estate tax, it’s super cool.”

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com