Richmond: Economy/Business/Real Estate

[burt]

I'm gonna be there for thanksgiving weekend (unless this snowstorm they say is supposed to hit gets bad ). Any place our resident New Yorker Burt can recommend visiting? (maybe I should move this to

off-topic ).

Welcome to the Big Apple, vdogg! I'm going to try to PM you, but knowing my lack of expertise, it probably won't work! LOL.

[burt]

vdogg, did my message come thru?

[vdogg]

vdogg, did my message come thru?

Yes, I got it. You should get a reply shortly.

[burt]

Yes, I got it. You should get a reply shortly.

Good. I got the reply. Thanks. Chat later on aol, OK?

[wrldcoupe4]

man I didn't know we were up to 12 fortune 1000 HQ's... I wonder if that includes Genworth? Cuz that would make 13!

[wrldcoupe4]

Genworth Financial joins S&P 500 today

Genworth Financial Inc. gained 45 cents to $34.45 on news that the stock of the Richmond-based insurance and investment-products company will be added to the S&P 500 today.

It will replace troubled energy merchant Calpine Corp. Calpine shares lost 57 percent of their value Tuesday after the company said its chief executive and finance chief were leaving the company. Calpine fell 3 cents to 51 cents per share yesterday.

[burt]

Good. I got the reply. Thanks. Chat later on aol, OK?

Never heard anything further from you, vdogg, but hope you had a swell time in NYCity.

[vdogg]

Never heard anything further from you, vdogg, but hope you had a swell time in NYCity.

I had a fantastic time but it was an extremely cold and expensive place. Sorry I didn't get back to you, but that weekend was really hectic. At the last minute we decided we were gonna make a side trip to Atlantic City on the way back. Needless to say I wound up staying on Vacation a day and a half longer than expected. It was a good trip but exhausting. I'm glad to be home.

[wrldcoupe4]

I wish I could go to NYC sometime... There is an arts bus that leaves campus every so often at like 6 pm for NYC. They just drop you off and let you roam for hours... only $50 roundtrip too!

Once I have $50 to spare.. I might do it with the gf

[wrldcoupe4]

Now this is what I call a good business to have in the community! First joining the S&P 500, now helping at risk youth!

Serving it up.. Genworth style..

When tennis A-listers Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick hold court at the Siegel Center for this Friday night's sold-out Genworth Children's Advantage Classic, two Richmond groups will reap rich rewards: The William Byrd Community House and Lobs and Lessons.

And Richmond-based insurer Genworth Financial isn't attaching any asterisks or hiding any fine print: it's donating 100 percent of the proceeds of the $500,000 it hopes to raise to the two organizations......

The idea of doing a tennis event was also a natural fit for Genworth because Agassi and Graf both mug for the company's commercials. ...

If you don't already have tickets, you're out of luck, as the Siegel Center's 6,000 seats sold out last month. However, the Genworth Children's Advantage Classic will air several times on The Tennis Channel throughout December.

"I don't think we envisioned having it sold out," Skottegaard said. "We're getting calls for tickets every day, which is really exciting. We didn't anticipate being quite where we're at today."

[wrldcoupe4]

Not bad! not bad at all!

Virginia Jobless Rate at 3.2%

Nationally, Virginia's 3.2 percent tied with Florida as the second-lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate.

The national unemployment rate of 4.6 percent was down from 4.8 percent in September.

"The national economy keeps rolling along," said William F. Mezger, the commission's chief economist, and he said Virginia's economy also is thriving.

Of the top 50 metropolitan areas nationally, Richmond's rate of 3.2 percent was the sixth lowest.

The number of unemployed Virginians dropped 12,000 to 127,700. The labor force increased 11,600 to 3.95 million.

[wrldcoupe4]

Philip Morris expands once again in Richmond

Philip Morris growing?

Philip Morris may be expanding in the Richmond area.

The tobacco giant, which moved its corporate headquarters to the former Reynolds Metals Co. building in 2004, apparently will lease the 206,000-square-foot former Capital One building at 11011 W. Broad St. near the Innsbrook Corporate Center, real estate sources say.

Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, declined to provide any details. "I'm not able to share any information about that."

That building, built in 1976, had been used by Bank of Virginia, which changed its name to Signet Banking Corp. in 1986, for its credit card operations. Those operations were spun off to form Capital One in 1994.

The building was sold last year. Capital One vacated the building as of last week.

Man, this company has made an enormous impact in our local economy! What could they possibly need another 206,000sf of space for?

[wrldcoupe4]

well... this would be bad news for Chesterfield, but as a Region, LandAmerica's growth can only benefit us. Unless of course, they will still keep offices at Gateway Centre and then have more in the westend....

New digs?

LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. is looking to move its corporate headquarters.

The Richmond-based title insurance and real estate services provider has grown rapidly in recent years and has outgrown offices for its 600 employees in Chesterfield County.

The company has been in the Gateway Centre, off Midlothian Turnpike near the Powhite Parkway, since 1998.

LandAmerica apparently is seriously considering at least three buildings in western Henrico County, real estate sources say.

"We are looking at a number of options and no decision has been reached," said Peter A. Habenicht, LandAmerica's vice president of corporate communications. "But we hope to have a decision by the end of the year."

LandAmerica Financial outgrows corporate HQ

I'm not sure about the last go around, but recently, LandAmerica was one of Richmond's coveted Fortune 1000 companies....

[burt]

Downtown misses out again! Why can't P/M and LandAmerica buy or build Center City? Grrrrrrrr.

206,000 square feet is a lot of space to fill! I would guess P/M must be bringing in a lot of new employees. The building on West Broad across from Innsbrook was built to house Bank of Virginia, which morphed to Signet and then Capital One. It's an attractive building, IMO. Not unlike, though hardly as architecturally renown, as the old Reynolds Metals structure which is now Phillip Morris headquarters across from Brookfield on West Broad near I-64.

Edited December 5, 2005 by burt

[burt]

Brian Glass, of Grubbs/Ellis Real Estate, predicts that construction cost will rise dramatically - as much as 1% a year over the forseeable future. Some plans may be delayed, altered or abandoned.

Over 1.7 million square feet of new space is under construction downtown, and this figure does not include residential building and reconstruction.

[burt]

Metro Richmond's Ethnic mix is rapidly expanding. And to accommodate the influx, markets catering to their needs are popping up all over the area.

Two gentlemen, Mr. Im and Mr. Choe who ran Korean stores in Petersburg have recently purchased a former Safeway (25,000 square feet) at 2916 Jeff Davis Highway. It will be stocked with items heretofore unavailable in the Richmond market. The men anticipate that at least 40% of their customer base will be Hispanics.

Another entrepreneur is Michelle Cosby who now has expanded her Bodega Latina empire to four locations: one each on Quioccasin Rd., Gayton Rd, at Tuckernuck (what a dumb name! My comment!) and a fourth unidentified location.

[eandslee]

Metro Richmond's Ethnic mix is rapidly expanding. And to accommodate the influx, markets catering to their needs are popping up all over the area.

Two gentlemen, Mr. Im and Mr. Choe who ran Korean stores in Petersburg have recently purchased a former Safeway (25,000 square feet) at 2916 Jeff Davis Highway. It will be stocked with items heretofore unavailable in the Richmond market. The men anticipate that at least 40% of their customer base will be Hispanics.

Another entrepreneur is Michelle Cosby who now has expanded her Bodega Latina empire to four locations: one each on Quioccasin Rd., Gayton Rd, at Tuckernuck (what a dumb name! My comment!) and a fourth unidentified location.

I think it's cool that these guys are going to open stores for the hispanic market in Richmond. I remember growing up as a kid in Richmond...I don't think I ever saw any latinos, but 15 years later (late 1990s) there were tons!! I think its good and their food is to die for! I love latino food! Just goes to show that Richmond is really growing and drawing people from all walks of life. Diversity in Richmond is good!

[wrldcoupe4]

I love hispanic food as well! There is a great peruvian chicken restaurant up here that has awesome rotisserie chicken and these things called yucca fries..... yum!

back home, my favorite mexican is Don Jose.... best mexican south of the river! The people there are fantastic too!

[eandslee]

I love hispanic food as well! There is a great peruvian chicken restaurant up here that has awesome rotisserie chicken and these things called yucca fries..... yum!

back home, my favorite mexican is Don Jose.... best mexican south of the river! The people there are fantastic too!

I had always liked Mexico (the resturant) because it was truely authentic mexican food. Believe me, I lived in Southern California (near the border of Mexico) and nothing brought me back to when I lived there like Mexico (the resturant). Great authentic food. Can't wait to get back to eat some more!

[wrldcoupe4]

news from the Richmond business world:

Richmond-based AMF to soon get new chief financial officer

William McDonnell will join AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc. as vice president and chief financial officer at the end of the year.

Since 2000, McDonnell has been with Rent-Way Inc., an operator of rental-purchase stores with 791 locations in 34 states. He is Rent-Way's CFO, AMF said in a news release.

"Bill McDonnell will be a great addition to our senior management team," said Fred Hipp, president and CEO of Mechanicsville-based AMF.

AMF is an owner and operator of bowling centers, with more than 350 in the U.S.

[wrldcoupe4]

Richmond trust buys 3 complexes, sells 2

United Dominion Realty Trust Inc. has bought three apartment complexes and sold two in the fourth quarter.

The Richmond-based real estate investment trust, the nation's fourth-largest, said it bought two complexes in San Mateo, Calif., and one in Seattle for $96.8 million.

It sold a community in Phoenix for $79.6 million at a gain of $55.2 million, and a complex in Houston that it developed through a joint venture. United Dominion owned 20 percent of the Houston complex, which sold for $39.2 million.

[wrldcoupe4]

Interesting business for PM to enter... guess it's a good thing though!

Philip Morris USA undertakes first non-tobacco product

"The nation's largest cigarette company is getting into the business of treating lung disorders.

Click here.

Richmond-based Philip Morris USA said yesterday that a research-focused division of the company, Chrysalis Technologies, has agreed to work with a Pennsylvania biotechnology company to develop therapies for lung disorders such as respiratory distress in premature infants.......

Philip Morris employs more than 6,400 people in the Richmond area. Chrysalis, which is based in Chesterfield County and became a division of Philip Morris in January, has been working quietly on the aerosol device and holds more than 40 patents on the technology. The number of employees was not disclosed.

Under the agreement announced yesterday, Chrysalis will work with Discovery Laboratories Inc., a Warrington, Pa.-based biotechnology company, to fine-tune the device for specific therapeutic uses."

Check out the whole article ^^^

[wrldcoupe4]

Richmond-based Insmed wins FDA approval for growth hormone medicine

This is a success story for the Virginia Biotech Park in downtown Richmond... Insmed was nurtured there before moving out to Innsbrook in Henrico.

Insmed Inc. said yesterday evening that federal regulators have approved its drug iPlex, propelling the Henrico County firm into a small but competitive marketplace.

The Food and Drug Administration also granted Insmed "orphan-drug" status on iPlex, used to treat children with a growth-hormone deficiency. An approved competing drug has the same status, which gives a company seven years of marketing exclusivity for drugs that treat rare diseases...........

Mark A. Herzog, executive director of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and Robert T. Skunda, president and chief executive of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, praised the Insmed approval yesterday as a step forward for the state biotechnology arena.

Insmed is the first alumnus of the 10-year- old park to win approval of a drug, they said.

The company was founded in 1988 in Charlottesville, moved to the biotechnology park in Richmond in 1996, and relocated to Innsbrook Corporate Center in 2001.

check out the whole article ^^^^

[burt]

Our friend in Washington, Mr. Jemal, has just purchased The James Center for $185M. It includes three high rises totaling more than 900,00 square feet. The space is 97% leased.

I'm sure coupe will "link" the Gilligan story in today's RTD.

Jemal recently bought the United Way building at the n/w corner of Broad and Third directly across Broad from his recently purchased classical skyscraper formerly known as Central National Bank. The tower is now undergoing modernization.

United Way is moving from the building to a site on Maywill Street in Henrico County into part of the Ukrops Headquarters setup, if I understand it correctly.

That's 65 fewer workers downtown. Jemal says he will seek new tenants before launching renovation of the 3 story United Way building.

Edited December 16, 2005 by burt

[wrldcoupe4]

It's great to hear that one of Richmond's Fortune 500 companies is expanding. Carmax plans to add 11 new stores nationwide by 2007.

Carmax expands, including locations in Charlottesville and Fredericksburg

The new Virginia outlets are part of a plan to expand the company's used-car store base by 16 percent during the fiscal year that ends in February 2007. The company plans to open 11 stores nationwide, including five larger standard superstores and six smaller satellite superstores. Other markets with new stores opening are Hartford/New Haven, Conn.; Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City, and within 16 months, Charlotte, N.C.; Los Angeles; and Austin, Texas.

Edited December 22, 2005 by wrldcoupe4