Richmond: Economy/Business/Real Estate

[540_804]

I love to hear of companies relocating to downtown Richmond.

[burt]

I read about a couple of interesting Real Estate deals recently on Richmond Biz Sense:

#1. Alliance Group of Virginia has taken 5,884 s/f at 11 South 12th Street in Shockoe Center with plans to operate a restaurant. Cushman, Wakefield & Thalhimers handled the lease.

This address is across 12th Street from The Bank of America Building and I believe it has housed restaurants in the past.

#2. Red Hat has leased 7,042 S/F at 1001 Haxall Point. Jones Lang LaSalle is the leasing agent.

A company called Red Hat has plans to build a high-rise headquarters in Raleigh. I wonder if they are the same company?

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/print-edition/2011/01/14/downtown-bound.html

Also at Haxall Point, a father/son duo recently announced plans for a breakfast/lunch restaurant in the space formerly occupied by McAllister's Deli in the Troutman Sanders Building on the ground level opposite BlackFinn.

The nearby Lady Bird building now houses two entertainment venues -- The Hat Factory and Off the Hookah as well as office space.

I suspect since the developers of the Reynolds North plant have aspirations to begin building soon it has spurred activity in the area.

Edited February 12, 2011 by burt

[burt]

The Picasso Exhibition at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, running 2/19/11 thru 5/15/11 is expected to boost the Richmond economy.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/news/2011/feb/13/tdmain01-picasso-exhibit-means-business-ar-839307/

[burt]

Jerry Cable, who owns and operates THE TOBACCO COMPANY restaurant in Shockoe Slip, has purchased the neighboring property known as The Commercial Block. It went into foreclosure when former owner Justin French defaulted. Cable paid $4 million and, essentially, owns the entire row of buildings on the south side of East Cary between 12th and Shockoe Plaza (13th Street) except for the unkempt warehouse next to The Tobacco Company.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/business/2011/feb/23/tdbiz01-tobacco-company-owner-buys-adjoining-prope-ar-860723/

[burt]

Richmond biz sense reports that people in Metro Richmond are spending more on things that some might consider luxuries, and that includes dining out.

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2011/02/23/richmonders-loosen-the-purse-strings/

[burt]

Wells Fargo Bank will hire more than 1,000 in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia by May as it transitions its branches from Wachovia.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...ring-ar-888554/

Edited March 7, 2011 by burt

[burt]

Wells Fargo Bank will hire more than 1,000 in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia by May as it transitions its branches from Wachovia.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...ring-ar-888554/

203 of the thousand+ jobs being created by Wells Fargo will be in Central Virginia (Metro Richmond?).

The grumpy old man brigade is out in force commenting on Wells Fargo and old age in general.

I'm sure glad I didn't grow up to be such a curmudgeon.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...ring-ar-888554/

Edited March 8, 2011 by burt

[Icetera]

According to Forbes, Richmond is #6 for "Best Cities to Find a Job."

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/03/17/10-best-cities-to-find-a-job/?icid=maing{sodEmoji.|}aim{sodEmoji.|}dl8{sodEmoji.|}sec1_lnk1{sodEmoji.|}50663

For comparison sake, Raleigh was actually rated #2 for worst, of which I found surprising.

[burt]

Icetera:

Note that writer Alix Bryan added a couple of updates under her amusing story about Richmond's good, bad and the ugly.

From today's Richmond dot com:

http://www2.richmond...-rva-ar-913160/

Edited March 21, 2011 by burt

[calwinston]

GE is opening a IT center in Henrico County (Innsbrook)! It will eventually employ 200!

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2011/apr/13/general-electric-to-open-it-center-in-henrico-empl-ar-969777/

Edited April 13, 2011 by calwinston

[burt]

Rolls-Royce has begun production at its new Prince George County plant in the Tri-Cities area of Metro Richmond.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2011/may/03/tdbiz01-rolls-royce-is-up-and-running-in-prince-ge-ar-1012159/

[burt]

If this page is correct, Virginia is home to 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Northern Virginia is home to 9 of them.

Richmond is next with 6 (which includes Owens Minor in Mechanicsville)

Hampton Roads has 4 with one each in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Smithfield and Virginia Beach

And Roanoke has one.

From CNN MONEY dot com:

NOTE: The "Isue Date" at bottom left of list is May 23, 2011 which we have not yet reached.

http://money.cnn.com.../states/VA.html

Edited May 6, 2011 by burt

[burt]

If this page is correct, Virginia is home to 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Northern Virginia is home to 9 of them.

Richmond is next with 6 (which includes Owens Minor in Mechanicsville)

Hampton Roads has 4 with one each in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Smithfield and Virginia Beach

And Roanoke has one.

From CNN MONEY dot com:

NOTE: The "Isue Date" at bottom left of list is May 23, 2011 which we have not yet reached.

http://money.cnn.com.../states/VA.html

Somewhere on the money.cnn website is a list of cities showing their number of 500 companies and Richmond is lumped with those which have five rather than six. I can't find that list now, but according to the Times Dispatch, the Richmond area is, indeed, home to six. Perhaps Owens Minor was not included among the Richmond companies because of its suburban location.

Anyway, here is a story from yesterday's RTD. In it, Greg Wingfield, President of The Greater Richmond Partnership, said he believes the region will have 10 companies in the Fortune 1000 list when it is released.

http://www2.timesdis...500-ar-1020273/

Edited May 7, 2011 by burt

[burt]

While Richmond ranks high among Fortune 500 headquarters, it doesn't do so well on this list of 65 Best Cities for Job Growth:

http://www.newgeography.com/content/002211-large-cities-rankings-2011-best-cities-job-growth

[Shakman]

If this page is correct, Virginia is home to 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Northern Virginia is home to 9 of them.

Richmond is next with 6 (which includes Owens Minor in Mechanicsville)

Hampton Roads has 4 with one each in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Smithfield and Virginia Beach

And Roanoke has one.

From CNN MONEY dot com:

NOTE: The "Isue Date" at bottom left of list is May 23, 2011 which we have not yet reached.

http://money.cnn.com.../states/VA.html

I thought Northrop Grumman and Hilton Corp are fortune 500? Both companies recently moved from CA to NOVA. Though I am not 100% sure if NG has moved to a temporary location until their headquarters is complete.

[burt]

Commercial real estate sales are booming in the Richmond area, according to Richmond Biz Sense.

From today:

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2011/05/17/all-of-a-sudden-boomtown-usa/

[burt]

One of my favorite bank buildings in downtown Richmond is at 821 East Main Street. It is directly adjacent to the old 1st & Merchants National Bank tower at 9th and Main Streets and now houses the Richmond operations of Northern Virginia's Middleburg Bank.

It was built as Virginia Trust in the early 1920's and has an old-fashioned soaring 3-story glass facade and a four-story interior atrium.

Here are before and after photos of its recently rearranged interior:

http://www.cmd-gc.com/TredTrst02.htm

Richmond Biz Sense reports on Middleburg Bank's expansion in Richmond:

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2011/06/16/in-the-middle-of-the-action/

Edited June 18, 2011 by burt

[540_804]

Wow...that is stunning. I'd love the chance to tour the place.

I love that Richmond has preserved (or is restoring)so many of her historic buildings.

[burt]

For the next month, 30,000 conventioneers meeting in weekend shifts at The Richmond Coliseum will fill between 1,700 and 3,500 hotel rooms for each of four weekends. Being that they are Jehovah's Witnesses, it's not likely they'll be dropping big bucks in the local club scene, but they are a boon for the local hospitality industry during the doldruims of summer.

At the same time, the Greater Richmond Convention Center, across 5th street from the Coliseum, has been transformed into a massive cow barn to accommodate a large convention of Holstein cattle folks.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/business/2011/jun/25/tdmet01-more-than-30000-jehovahs-witnesses-coming--ar-1132165/

[burt]

One of the largest trucking companies in the nation is expanding its headquarters in the West End of Richmond.

Estes Express has purchased the old Universal Corp building at 1501 North Hamilton Street which is at or near the corner of West Broad. (A wonderful night club called Tantilla Gardens that brought big-name bands to Richmond for years between the 1930's and 1960's was on Broad Street very close to this property.)

Estes is headquartered in a building at 3901 West Broad, about two blocks west of the Universal Corp building. The company already owns several properties between the two buildings and hopes to eventually connect the two in a campus-like setting.

From the RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...er--ar-1132120/

Edited June 27, 2011 by burt

[Culpeper Hokie]

I thought Northrop Grumman and Hilton Corp are fortune 500? Both companies recently moved from CA to NOVA. Though I am not 100% sure if NG has moved to a temporary location until their headquarters is complete.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Northrop Grumman moved the HQ for one of their many business units to NOVA, but not their entire corporate headquarters.

[burt]

If Capital One Financial Corp successfully acquires the Dutch ING Groep NV, it would become the largest online bank in the country, according to this story from Richmond Biz Sense.

http://www.richmondb...asons-to-close/

Where would it establish headquarters?

Edited June 28, 2011 by burt

[eandslee]

If Capital One Financial Corp successfully acquires the Dutch ING Groep NV, it would become the largest online bank in the country, according to this story from Richmond Biz Sense.

http://www.richmondb...asons-to-close/

Where would it establish headquarters?

I assume that it would stay in Northern Virginia...that's my guess anyway, but I like the way you're going with this, Burt!

On another note, I found this article with a photo of downtown Richmond on the front: "America's Top State for Business: Virginia is Victorious--Again."

Although it doesn't specifically mention Richmond (rather Virginia as a whole), Richmond is "representing" the Commonwealth of Virginia for this article. Also, I would submit that Richmond may have had a part in winning this accolade (however, honestly, NOVA is probably the major key factor to getting this recognition). Click link below:

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/113031/americas-top-states-business-cnbc-2011

[burt]

You never know, Eric. When I was a kid, Richmond was a major center of banking.

This story indicates there's interest from small operations across the state to relocate in the area. Could it be the precursor of something BIG?

From today's Richmond Biz Sense:

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2011/06/30/all-the-cool-banks-want-to-be-in-richmond/

[Shakman]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Northrop Grumman moved the HQ for one of their many business units to NOVA, but not their entire corporate headquarters.

It is their entire corporate. Their Corporate HQ will in an existing 12? story building at Arlington Blvd and the Beltway.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604235.html