BizSense Beat is a weekly collaboration between VPM News and Richmond BizSense that brings you the top business stories during NPR's Morning Edition on Fridays.
Here’s a recap of the top stories for the week of September 13, 2024:
’15 years is a long time to wait’: Flying Squirrels celebrate start of new stadium
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jonathan Spiers
With some ceremonial shoveling and tossing of dirt, the new home of baseball in Richmond is now officially under construction.
Officials with the city, Major League Baseball and naming-rights sponsor CarMax joined the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ owners and staff on Friday for a groundbreaking ceremony of the newly named CarMax Park, site work for which is already underway.
Nutzy and Nutasha were among the crowd that included the minor league ballclub’s season-ticket holders to celebrate the start of the $117 million stadium that in turn kicks off the larger Diamond District mixed-use development.
The $2.4 billion, 67-acre development will be anchored by the new stadium, which is being built beside the decades-old Diamond it will replace. The 10,000-capacity stadium is targeted for completion before the start of the 2026 baseball season.
LL Flooring reverses course; cuts deal to sell assets to founder and former CEO
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Michael Schwartz
In an abrupt reversal just days after announcing it would go out of business entirely, LL Flooring may have a new lease on life thanks to an eleventh-hour deal with its founder and former CEO.
The bankrupt Henrico-based retailer on Friday said it struck an agreement for a “going-concern” sale to F9 Investments, a firm run by Thomas Sullivan, who founded LL as Lumber Liquidators 30 years ago.
The company said F9 will acquire 219 of LL’s 430 stores, along with the store’s inventory and that of the company’s massive distribution center in Sandston. Also included in the deal is LL’s intellectual property.
The sale is expected to be completed by the end of the month, the company said, and is subject to bankruptcy court approval.
Outback Steakhouse exits, other restaurants come aboard at Courthouse Landing
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jack Jacobs
A restaurant previously announced as a tenant at Courthouse Landing has reversed course, while additional eateries appear to have signed on at the massive mixed-use development in Chesterfield.
Outback Steakhouse recently confirmed it no longer plans to open a location at the 124-acre project that’s in its early stages at the intersection of Courthouse and Iron Bridge roads.
“We do not have any restaurants planned for this area,” Outback spokeswoman Elizabeth Daly said in an email.
The steakhouse chain had planned a 5,000-square-foot location that would have fronted the Iron Bridge Road side of the project, according to a site plan filed with the county earlier this year.
Construction stalls, liens pile up at ‘cohousing’ project on Arthur Ashe Blvd.
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Mike Platania
Construction of a sizable development along Arthur Ashe Boulevard has apparently stalled, leaving concrete columns and rebar jutting out from the ground. It’s also left several contractors wondering if they’ll get paid.
In recent weeks a series of mechanic’s liens were filed against the property at 1101 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd., a 0.3-acre parcel where Washington, D.C.-based Outlier Realty Capital had started to build a six-story multifamily housing development.
The liens, filed primarily by Henrico-based general contractor Breeden Construction, seek around $2 million for “labor and materials for the construction of a multifamily…apartment building and associated improvements,” city court records show.
The filings started in late July, around the time that work on the development apparently ceased. A handful of roughly one-story-tall concrete columns currently stand on the site, as does a crane. But there’s been no noticeable activity at the property in recent weeks.
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