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 November 22, 2024:
City threatens litigation, requests mediation in VCU Health tax payments spat
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jonathan Spiers
The dispute between Richmond and VCU Health over tax payments tied to a failed downtown development could be headed to mediation – or litigation.
The city on Monday sent a letter to VCU Health requesting that the parties enter into mediation to resolve their disagreement over annual real estate taxes stemming from the aborted redevelopment of Richmond’s old Public Safety Building site.
The letter, from Mayor Levar Stoney and City Council President Kristen Nye to VCU Health CEO Marlon Levy, states that the city “is prepared to pursue all available options, including litigation,” to collect owed and future payments that, if paid in full, would total nearly $56 million for a project that was never built.
However, the letter adds, “we would prefer to participate in a collaborative dialogue to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. To that end, we write to invite VCUHS to engage in mediation.”
Former Richmond Fed bank examiner pleads guilty to insider trading
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Michael Schwartz
A former bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond admitted on Tuesday to a four-year scheme in which he illegally pocketed more than $700,000 by trading on the stocks of the same financial institutions of which he had oversight.
Chesterfield resident Robert Brian Thompson pleaded guilty in federal court to felony counts of insider trading and false statements, charges that carry a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years.
He entered his plea before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Mark Colombell, who allowed Thompson, 43, to remain free on bond until his sentencing hearing on March 19.
Flanked by his attorney Megan Rahman of law firm Troutman Pepper and small group of supporters, Thompson admitted to using “material nonpublic information” that he obtained due to his position at the Fed to make 69 trades, both purchases and sales, of tens of thousands of shares in more than seven different publicly traded financial institutions. The scheme ran from at least October 2020 through February of this year.
Thompson personally profited from those trades to the tune of $771,000, an amount he’ll be forced to forfeit once convicted.
Kabana Rooftop to be replaced with new concept next year
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Mike Platania
The city’s tallest rooftop bar is shutting down, but its enviable view won’t be off limits for long.
Kabana Rooftop, the 9,000-square-foot downtown restaurant and bar atop the Shamin Hotels-owned Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites at 700 E. Main St., will close at the end of the year and be replaced with a new concept to open next year.
Neil Amin, Shamin Hotels’ CEO, said the new restaurant will be owned and operated by locally based Shamin, and will be integrated with the rest of the hotel’s operations.
Kabana is currently operated by LX Group, the local hospitality firm from Neal Patel and Kunal Shah, who also previously ran the now-closed Belle & James restaurant at the bottom of the hotel. Patel and Shah weren’t available for comment by press time.
Amin said that Kabana had a good run but that he’s excited for the new, to-be-announced concept.
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