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Va. Tech names real estate program for Blackwoods
Blackwood Development Co. family commit to $10M total gift
Virginia Tech’s real estate program will now be named for the Blackwood family, a familiar name to those in the state’s real estate industry. Willis Blackwood, founder and president of Richmond-based Blackwood Development Co. Inc., his wife, Mary Nolen Blackwood, and their children, Morgan Blackwood Patel and Nolen Blackwood, donated $2 million to the program
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Virginia Tech Transportation Institute taps new executive director
Zachary Doerzaph was director of VTTI’s Division of Vehicle, Driver and System Safety
Published
Zachary Doerzaph will become the next executive director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the university’s largest research institute, effective Oct. 1. “Zac Doerzaph is a nationally recognized transportation researcher with extensive leadership experience in large team projects from different sponsors,” Virginia Tech Vice president for Research and Innovation Dan Sui said in a statement.
Branch Group HQ in Roanoke sells for $2.9M
Construction company will remain in building as tenant
Published
The Branch Group Inc. has sold its Roanoke headquarters building for $2.9 million, Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group announced this week. The 39,016-square-foot building at 442 Rutherford Ave. will remain as the company’s headquarters in a sale-leaseback transaction that allows the construction company to be a tenant. The buyer, represented by Matt Huff and
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Nonprofit news site launches to cover SW and Southern Virginia
Cardinal Press' founding editor is ex-Roanoke Times Editorial Page Editor
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Cardinal Press, a new nonprofit digital news service covering Southwest and Southern Virginia, will begin publishing stories in late September, with Dwayne Yancey, former editorial page editor for The Roanoke Times, at the helm as its founding editor. Nonprofit organization Cardinal Productions, incorporated in June, created Cardinal Press, which will publish original stories five days
Historic Roanoke building sells for $9.5M
Freedom First Credit Union will move its HQ into building built in 1919
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The Elmwood Building in Roanoke sold for $9.5 million, Hall Associates Inc. and buyer Freedom First Credit Union announced Tuesday. Located at 207 Bullitt Ave. SE in Roanoke’s Downtown Historic District, the 4-story, 46,500-square-foot building was built in 1919 and has housed a hardware store, furniture warehouse and Meridium Inc., and is currently housing GE
Roanoke plant still empty after FreightCar America exit
Published
More than two years after FreightCar America left town, eliminating about 200 assembly jobs, the buildings once occupied by the railcar manufacturer in downtown Roanoke remain empty. Chicago-based FreightCar America opened its Roanoke plant in 2005, leasing space at the East End Shops, a locomotive workshop and maintenance complex of about 900,000 square feet of
A Roanoke reawakening
Regional revitalization strategies gain traction
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The Roanoke area is anything but sleepy when it comes to economic development these days. In fact, “the opportunity for Roanoke is greater now than it has been in quite some time,” says John Hull, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, a public-private joint venture that works to attract new business to the region.
Va. Tech’s College of Business dean to retire
Robert T. Sumichrast has been the dean since 2013
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Robert T. Sumichrast, the Richard E. Sorensen Chair and dean of Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business since 2013, announced his retirement Tuesday. Sumichrast will stay through the end of the current academic year. Virginia Tech will start an international search for his successor this fall. He began his academic career as an assistant professor
Pennsylvania company to build $11M expansion in Pulaski
The Patton Logistics Group's 150,000-square-feet facility is expected to create 63 jobs
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The Patton Logistics Group will invest $11 million to expand its trucking, logistics and warehousing operation in the New River Valley Commerce Park in Pulaski County, creating 63 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. The company will add 150,000 square feet to its 250,000-square-foot logistics center. The expansion will include a trucking operations and maintenance
N.C.-based Oransi merges with Radford’s Aviemore
Merger follows air purifier maker's plans for $5.6M Radford facility
Published
Raleigh, North Carolina-based Oransi, a manufacturer of air purifiers, will merge with Radford-based Aviemore Technologies, Oransi announced Monday. In April, Oransi, announced it would build a $5.6 million manufacturing facility in Radford. Founded in 2009, Oransi will utilize proprietary technologies from Aviemore, a designer and manufacturer of motion controls, to manufacture an air moving system