EASTERN VIRGINIA
Bon Secours Health System Inc. and one of its surgical oncologists, Dr. Eugene Y. Chang of Suffolk, have agreed to pay $400,000 to settle civil fraud allegations that, while at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth, Chang billed Medicare and other federal health-care payers for non-covered breast examinations and ultrasounds. The civil claims settled by this False Claims Act agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
The restoration of The Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach is costing $20 million more than anticipated and taking more time to complete, according to a letter from Bruce Thompson, manager of Cavalier Associates LLC, which is developing the property. The company is spending more than $200 million on the Cavalier property. Thompson did not ask the city for additional money and said that he and his partners plan to honor their commitment to restore the 89-year-old hotel and develop the adjacent properties. The anticipated opening date is next April. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Dollar Tree Inc. announced the former CEO of Family Dollar has resigned from the Chesapeake company’s board of directors. Dollar Tree said Howard R. Levine resigned April 19, adding there were no disagreements between Levine and the company. Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar and its more than 8,200 stores last year in a deal worth $9.2 billion. Levine stepped down as CEO of Family Dollar in January. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Endurance IT Services, which has offices in Virginia Beach and Newport News, acquired the information technology support team of Virginia Beach-based Doran Consulting Technology Group. Endurance specializes in managed services and IT infrastructure. Doran will continue to offer web, data and SharePoint services as well as project management. (Daily Press)
SHENANDOAH VALLEY
A small cidery in Highland County received nods at the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition in April. The contest awarded Big Fish Cider Co. a Best-in-Class award, which marks the first time in the competition’s 11-year history that a Virginia cidery has earned that distinction. The cidery received four medals in the competition, which drew 1,003 entries. (The News Leader)
Eight finalists competed for $21,000 in startup money in April as part of a new program called Grow Waynesboro. Three local business projects received funding — Ula Tortilla ($8,000). The Faded Poppy ($7,000) and Make Waynesboro ($6,000). Grow Waynesboro seeks to find, fund and support startups in the area. (The News Leader)
The city of Harrisonburg, James Madison University, and dpM Partners are collaborating on the Hotel Madison & Shenandoah Valley Conference Center, which will be located on the southern end of downtown Harrisonburg, on the edge of JMU’s campus. The 235-room boutique hotel is slated to open in fall 2017. The $36 million hotel will be privately owned and operated by dpM Partners. (News release)
Edinburg-based Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (Shentel) has completed its acquisition of Waynesboro-based NTELOS Holding Corp. The deal, announced in August, will more than double Shentel’s wireless customer base. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Augusta Health’s Wal-Mart Convenient Care Clinics in Waynesboro and Staunton have closed. During the past five years, Augusta Health has opened Urgent Care Centers in Staunton, Waynesboro, Stuarts Draft and Weyers Cave. During that time, patient traffic at the Wal-Mart-based clinics has significantly declined. (The News Leader)
SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Dominion Virginia Power’s Brunswick Power Station began producing electricity in April. The 1,358-megawatt natural gas plant is expected to generate enough power for 325,000 homes. The company said the power plant was needed to meet growing demand and to replace electricity from older, coal-fired plants. The plant will have 43 employees with an annual payroll of $7.5 million. The station will pay about $4 million a year in local property taxes until 2017 and up to $5 million annually beyond that year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Nationwide Custom Homes is expanding production at its Martinsville manufacturing operations, creating 59 jobs. Nationwide President Andy Miller said the $986,342 project involves renovating one of its four plants at its Rives Road site to extend its production line. Nationwide produces modular housing for the single and multifamily residential markets. It also serves commercial markets, producing apartments, hotels, student housing and rental cottages. It is an operating division of Palm Harbor Homes, which is part of the Phoenix-based Cavco family of manufacturers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
URW Credit Union held a ribbon-cutting and grand-opening ceremony in April at its new South Boston location on Halifax Road. According to URW’s website, members of the United Rubber Workers Local 831 Labor Union started the credit union in 1970. URW also has branches in Danville and Chatham. (The Gazette-Virginian)
Virginia’s Department of Labor and Industry has issued three citations and recommended a fine of nearly $17,000 for violations it deemed serious at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Danville after the death of an employee at the plant last summer. Since then, two other plant employees have died on the job, and a third suffered second-degree burns in an accident. According to Jennifer Rose, safety director for the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Compliance Program, Goodyear is contesting the citations, so the case remains open. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Developers of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline anticipate delaying the start of construction of the $5.1 billion project until summer 2017. The pipeline would be about 600 miles long, beginning in West Virginia and terminating in North Carolina. Its route in Virginia would pass through 14 counties and cities. (The Roanoke Times)
The Roanoke nonprofit Local Environmental Agriculture Project has opened The Kitchen in the city’s West End neighborhood. The Kitchen is designed to support development of small, food-related businesses. (The Roanoke Times)
A multiproperty deal worth just over $90 million has placed the New River Valley’s only mall in new hands. Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust — PREIT — announced that it completed the sale of four “non-core” mall properties, placing the nearly three decades-old New River Valley Mall under the ownership of an affiliate of global asset management firm Farallon Capital Management LLC. (The Roanoke Times)
Radford Army Ammunition Plant officials broke ground on a gas-fired electricity and steam plant in April, saying the $60 million project will reduce the facility’s environmental impact. The commander of the U.S. Army-owned, contractor-operated plant, Lt. Col. Alicia Masson, also said that $7 million has been released by the Army Contracting Command for the design of an enclosed incinerator to handle much of the waste that now is disposed of at the facility’s much-criticized Open Burning Ground. (The Roanoke Times)
The Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau has a new name: Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge. After operating for 31 years under the old name, the time had come for a new identity, according to bureau President Landon Howard. The organization represents the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Roanoke, Franklin and Botetourt. (The Roanoke Times)
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Capital One Financial Corp. plans to open a café branch in Richmond’s Carytown shopping district. The McLean-based company also plans to open other banking cafés in Chesterfield County and western Henrico County, sources close to the deal say. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Event management company Cvent has agreed to be acquired by affiliates of Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 billion in an all-cash deal. Under the agreement, Cvent stockholders would receive $36 per share, a 69 percent premium over Cvent’s closing price on April 15. Cvent’s headquarters would remain in Tysons. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Fairfax County supervisors agreed in April to allow the county’s Economic Development Authority to accept $1.3 million in state grant funding to help accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP expand operations in Tysons. The state also will provide $227,200 from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program. By Dec. 31, 2018, Ernst & Young must invest nearly $12.7 million in the facility and create and maintain at least 462 additional positions beyond the 1,422 employees working for the company in Tysons as of Nov. 1, 2014. (Inside NoVa)
McLean-based Gannett Co. will ask shareholders of Tribune Publishing to withhold their votes for the June election of eight nominees to Tribune’s board of directors. The move is an attempt to prod Tribune’s management to begin negotiations on Gannett’s $815 million takeover bid. Gannett owns USA Today and 107 local news properties. Chicago-based Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Press in Newport News and eight other dailies. (USA Today)
Dulles-based Orbital ATK Inc. has received a $121.4 million contract to convert old supersonic air-to-ground tactical missiles into another batch of Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles, or AGM-88Es. The AGM-88E is currently used on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft. It is a joint program involving the Pentagon and the Italian Ministry of Defense. (Washington Business Journal)
CENTRAL VIRGINIA
Two subsidiaries of Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies Inc. have been awarded $3.1 billion in contracts for the manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components and fuel by the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The reactor components contracts were awarded to BWXT Nuclear Operations Group Inc. while the nuclear fuel contracts were awarded to Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Richmond-based Hardywood Park Craft Brewery plans to open a brewery and taproom in Charlottesville later this year. The facility will be located in the Uncommon student apartment building at 1000 W. Main St. It will have a 3.5-barrel brewery, 1,100-square-foot taproom and outdoor beer garden. Hardywood plans to open the brewery and taproom by September. (The Daily Progress)
Hunton & Williams LLP has launched a 3-D printing team to advise clients as they use the technology, which is being adopted by many manufacturers. The team aims to give clients an advantage as they consider the opportunities presented by using 3-D printing. Hunton & Williams serves clients from 19 offices around the world, including locations in Richmond, Norfolk and McLean. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Quirk Hotel in downtown Richmond is officially complete with the opening of its rooftop bar and terrace. Construction on the two-level space picked up last September when the 74-room hotel opened, says Kate Brown, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing. The 2,800-square-foot space offers a panoramic view of Richmond from the eight-story, boutique hotel. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones, the Richmond Flying Squirrels and Virginia Commonwealth University said in April they are working together to identify a location for a new ballpark. They are seeking a site that is near the current ballpark, The Diamond, but not on the city-owned 60 acres bounded by the Boulevard and Hermitage Road. The announcement follows the issuance of a report recommending development of the city property and inclusion of sports and entertainment venues in the larger area. (News release)