“Liberty is excited to be able to accommodate Dana Corp.’s long-term facility needs,” Craig Cope, vice president and city manager for the Virginia region, said in a statement.  “We look forward to continuing our relationship with Dana Corp. in our Bridgeway Commerce Center, an excellent location in Suffolk’s growing warehouse and distribution hub.”

The single-story building, to be known as Bridgeway II, will sit on 9.3-acre tract located at 6920 Harbour View Boulevard. It will feature tilt wall construction and 50-by-50-foot column spacing,which provides flexibility for racking systems.

Randall Paulson Architects Inc. will serve as project engineer. The civil engineer is Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., and the general contractor is ARCO Design Build.

Dana Corp. currently leases 80,000 square feet in Liberty’s Bridgeway Commerce Center I building.  The Maumee, Ohio,-based company is a supplier of driveline products, power technologies and service parts for light- and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers.

With completion of the new project, The Bridgeway Commerce multi-tenant warehouse complex will feature three buildings totaling 554,000 square feet.  Other tenants include Cobham Composite Products, Inc.; Tire Centers, and Capital Lighting, Inc.

Liberty, a Pennslyvania-based real estate investment trust, owns and manages a 1.8 million-square-foot warehouse and office portfolio in Hampton Roads and a 4 million-square-foot warehouse portfolio in Richmond.

Come July 1, guests at The Homestead will be able to enjoy high tea in the Great Hall or a plunge down a 100-foot water slide. The historic, luxury resort in Bath County announced a $25 million “transformation” Thursday that promises to have many new amenities in place by September, including a new water attraction area scheduled to be ready by the Fourth of July.

Mountain Rush will offer three, 100-foot water slides and a 400-foot lazy river, along with a family pool and whirlpool. The other projects include a new spa and wellness center, new restaurants and bars and a miniature golf course.

The idea behind the projects, said The Homestead’s General Manager Peter L. Faraone, is to offer families more multi-generational activities. Asked if the enhancements will change the image of the elegant, four-diamond, historic landmark known for its championship golf courses and natural-fed springs Faraone said, “Not at all.“

He added, “The image of the Homestead will remain exactly the same …Someone who walks through this hotel six months from now will feel the same feeling. We’re keeping the Great Hall, the high tea and the main formal dining hall with its dance band. None of that will change. What we’re doing are enhancements to ensure our success as we move forward and to give customers what they have been asking for.” 

According to Faraone, the projects are the result of feedback obtained through customer-service surveys. “We do a survey on their experience and what they would like to see different and new.”

About 40 miles away, The Greenbrier, another mountain resort, recently added casino gambling. Faraone said the timing of The Homestead’s new amenities “has nothing to do with The Greenbrier. We are a totally different resort from them.” 

This is the second round of renovations that Denver-based KSL Capital Partners has made to the resort since buying it in 2007.  In 2010, it spent $4 million refurbishing the hotel’s 483 guest rooms, meeting rooms and retail space.

Faraone said the projects will create new jobs, but said he didn’t have a firm figure yet on how many. “We’ll be creating many new jobs in the summer months, particularly with the new water feature.”
The spa and wellness center will offer a new fitness center and 29 renovated treatment rooms. Some of its services will utilize the resort’s indigenous hot springs, which initially drew visitors to The Homestead when it opened in 1766. Other improvements to the spa area include a geothermal mineral bath and poolside cabanas.

The architect for the project is David Rau with 3North, based out of Richmond.

“Deciding to move forward with redeveloping this iconic property will save millions in taxpayer dollars,” Robert Peck, GSA’s commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, said in announcing the GSA’s selection. “The tremendous response from the private sector allowed us to select a proposal that will provide a positive economic return for the federal government and better utilize a historic property on our nation’s Main Street.”

The Old Post Office is located at the corner of 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The Trump proposal calls for converting the builidng to a luxury hotel with more than 250 rooms, along with restaurants, a spa, and conference facilities, while preserving its historic features.

GSA and the Trump Organization will spend the next year negotiating a detailed agreement for the building’s redevelopment – specifying building usage, historic preservation requirements and details of the federal government’s revenue stream.  The GSA said it will only move forward if an agreement is reached that provides a positive return for the taxpayer.

While negotiations proceed, GSA will relocate the existing federal tenants in the Old Post Office, including the National Endowment for the Humanities. If all goes well, redevelopment is expected to begin in 2014 with occupancy in 2016. At the end of the lease, control of the building will revert to the federal government.

Trump’s first acquisition in Virginia came in 2009 when he purchased a 600-acre golf course along the Potomac River in Loudoun County that he renamed Trump National Golf Club.

Revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 30 was $3.76 billion net of a $204 million reduction relating to changes in the company’s National
Health Service (NHS) contract in the United Kingdom. Excluding the NHS reduction, revenue was $3.97 billion, a decrease of 0.7 percent when compared to a year ago.

Two significant non-cash charges affected earnings per share from continuing operations:
o On Dec. 27, the company announced it would record a material impairment of the its net investment in the NHS contract. Third quarter results reflect a charge of $1.49 billion, reducing earnings per share from continuing operations of $9.93.
o A further goodwill impairment review for the BSS-Health reporting unit took place in the third quarter and resulted in a net goodwill impairment charge of $60 million which represented all of the remaining goodwill at BSS-Health. This charge reduced earnings per share from continuing operations by 39 cents.

Excluding the impact of these charges, non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.35.

New business awards were $4.1 billion for the quarter and $13.0 billion year to date, which represents an increase of 71 percent and 26 percent, respectively, when compared to last year.

The Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors was scheduled to meet at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday to vote on the takeover and did not give a reason for the delay.

The meeting has been rescheduled for the same time on Monday.

Capital One is trying to acquire online bank ING Direct USA from Netherlands-based ING Groep NV in a $9 billion cash and stock deal.  If approved, ING Direct USA’s $80 billion of deposits would make Capital One the fifth largest bank in the country with about $200 billion in deposits.

Consumer advocates are against the takeover, contending the bank will become too large, and threaten the economy.

Under the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul, the Federal Reserve is required to decide whether bank merger would create risks for the economy. The Federal Reserve’s vote will be the first to test the Fed’s decision making.

See related coverage: http://www.virginiabusiness.com/index.php/news/article/new-money-habits/

The ad features a grandmother who finds a way to sling her grandson across the yard to grab a Doritos bag from a taunting boy.

The ad received a rating of 4.33 on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. The other ads that received top rankings were for Bud Light, Kia, Chrysler and M&Ms.

The voting was open to Facebook users, who would view, rate and share the national ads that aired during the game. Voting was open during the Super Bowl until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

This was the first time USA Today, which is based in McLean, teamed up with Facebook to rank Super Bowl ads. A separate live panel decided that its favorite ad was one from Doritos that featured a cat-killing dog who uses Doritos to convince a man not to tell on him.

That ad was designed by Jonathan Friedman of Virginia Beach, who won $1 million for winning the panel’s reviews. The maker of the Doritos sling commercial will also receive $1 million.

Dimension Data, a $5.8 billion company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, said it will focus on increasing Xigo’s U.S. market share and meeting the TEM needs of multinational organizations.  Over time, its TEM services will be rolled out to other countries.

Xigo’s relationship with Dimension Data goes back more than five years.  In 2010, two companies concluded a strategic global partnership agreement to offer the a localized global telecom expense management solution.

Dave Spofford, CEO of Xigo, will continue to lead the his team, reporting to Dimension Data’s Americas CEO, Jere Brown, on operations and Steve Joubert, the company’s group executive of global solutions, on strategy.

The transaction was effective as of Jan. 18. The financial terms were not disclosed.

The center, known by the acronym CCAM, is a collaboration involving three universities and private industry. CCAM’s primary focus are in the areas of surface engineering and manufacturing systems.

CCAM was started after Rolls-Royce announced plans to build a jet engine components factory in Prince George County. The center’s 60,000-square-foot facility is under construction near the Rolls-Royce plant. Completion is scheduled for September.

Sulzer Metco joins six organizing industry members in CCAM: Canon Virginia Inc; Chromalloy; Newport News Shipbuilding; Rolls-Royce; Sandvik Coromant; and Siemens PLM. Aerojet is a a tier-2 industry partner.

The university participants are University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University.

“Sulzer Metco has a proven track record of innovation, quality and success,” David R. Lohr, president and executive director of CCAM, said in a statement. “They are a global leader in surface solutions, which aligns perfectly with one of CCAM’s core research functions – surface engineering. This is a game-changing addition to our membership group, and we are pleased to have them join the team.”
Sulzer Metco enhances surfaces with coating solutions and equipment. It provides customers with a range of surface technologies, coating solutions, equipment, materials, and services, as well as specialized machining services and components.

TechServe said that an increase of 13,300, or 0.3 percent, in IT jobs in January pushed the national employment total past the previous record of 4,088,600 set in September 2008.

On an annual basis, IT employment grew by 3.4 percent in 2011 and 1.5 percent in 2010. 

The latest numbers are based on the rebenchmarked data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In a statement, Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance, said the IT employment record is “an encouraging sign not only for the IT services industry, but the economy at-large.”

TechServe Alliance, a trade association and advocate for services firms, clients, consultants and suppliers.

In 2011, Virginia’s oyster harvest was 236,000 bushels with an estimated dockside value of $8.26 million. That is a 10-fold increase over the 23,000 bushels harvested in 2001. The last time oyster production was as high was in 1989, with more than 272,000 bushels.

For the past four years the Virginia Marine Resource Commission (VRMC) has used a rotational harvest system, sanctuaries and targeted shell plantings on public oyster grounds.
Oyster production typically reached more than 1 million bushels in the 1960s, but two diseases, Dermo and MSX, have spread throughout the Chesapeake Bay. The diseases don’t transfer to humans, but kill oysters when they reach marketable size around three years. In 1998, Virginia’s oyster production reached a low of 20,250 bushels.

“The strides have been remarkable, and indications are this year’s harvest may be the best we’ve seen in 25 years,” said VMRC Commissioner Steven G. Bowman. “It can get even better if we stay the course and continue to spend the funds necessary to maintain our current level or productivity.”

Many efforts have been made to fight the disease, but the plan enacted four years ago appears to be working. The rotational harvest areas mean certain areas are open on a staggered basis for one harvest season and then closed for one or two years to allow the oysters to grow to market size and be harvested before they are killed by the disease.

In addition, the state uses oyster sanctuaries, mid-season monitoring, preseason stock surveys and the planting oyster shells on public oyster grounds to encourage growth of the Virginia oyster production.

Jim Wesson of the VRMC estimates that for every $1 spent by the state to plant oyster shell yields $7 in economic benefits, such as more jobs for oyster shuckers and at oyster packing houses.