Welcome back to Cardinal Commerce Notes, our regular feature catching you up on various recent business news items.
If you missed last week’s edition, check it out here to learn about the latest news on a U.S. 58 widening project in Patrick County, new funding for power line worker training and a few real estate notes.
One quick retail note to start this week’s column: Academy Sports + Outdoors, a sporting goods retailer, plans to open a Roanoke store sometime this quarter in the Towne Square shopping center at 1357 Towne Square Blvd. N.W., according to a recent news release from the company.
Please send your store openings and other news tips to matt@cardinalnews.org or connect with me on LinkedIn and message me there.
Framatome’s Lynchburg HQ building listed for sale
The nuclear services company Framatome has put its corporate headquarters building on Old Forest Road in Lynchburg up for sale.
The listing for the 22-acre property with a three-story, 300,463-square-foot office building built in 1969 does not have an asking price, but the property is assessed for tax purposes at $18.8 million, according to Gentry Commercial Real Estate.
Framatome is a French company, with North American headquarters in Lynchburg, that designs, builds and services nuclear power plants.
The real estate offering comes as the company develops a new headquarters campus at its Mill Ridge Road location in Lynchburg. In late 2023, Framatome announced a $49 million expansion that is adding more than 500 jobs to the approximately 1,300 people it employed in the region before.
“The Old Forest Road headquarters has been an important part of Framatome’s history and presence in the region. There are no immediate changes to operations or where employees work, and teams remain in their current locations as planning for the future campus progresses,” said Framatome spokesperson Anna Bentson.
Roanoke-based construction firm names new CEO
The Roanoke-based construction company Branch named Josh Goyne as its new CEO, effective Aug. 17.
Goyne comes to Branch with more than 25 years’ experience in highway, rail, underground and renewable energy construction, including more than 15 years in senior and regional management, according to a news release.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an executive master of business administration degree from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Branch is a fully employee-owned company serving the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States with services in civil and building construction, engineering, electrical and plumbing work, and more, according to its website. It has more than 1,400 employee-owners.
“Josh brings the combination of field experience, operational discipline and strategic leadership that we believe will serve Branch well as we continue to grow,” Ron Oakley, chairman of Branch’s board, said in the release.
Appalachian Power seeks energy storage
Appalachian Power is seeking proposals through the end of September for up to 800 megawatts of energy storage to add to its portfolio to comply with a Virginia renewable energy law.
Energy storage, typically found in the form of hydropower or batteries, stores electricity during off-peak hours when it’s cheaper and deploys it during peak-demand times when it would otherwise be more expensive to generate.
Legislation passed this year requires Appalachian Power to ask state regulators for approval to acquire 780 megawatts of short-duration energy storage by 2040. Short-duration energy storage is generally defined as holding electricity for up to four hours.
One of Appalachian’s requests for proposals, or RFP, looks for up to 500 megawatts from an energy storage asset that the company could buy, while the other looks for up to 300 megawatts of power capacity that the company could purchase without owning the storage itself. More details are available on Appalachian’s website.
“These RFPs will help us continue building a well-balanced resource portfolio to safely and reliably serve our customers in Virginia,” Appalachian Power President and COO Brian Abraham said in a news release. “They’re a key step in proceeding with our clean energy commitments.”
Last year, Appalachian Power canceled plans to build a $57 million battery energy storage system in Grayson and Smith counties, saying it would use other methods to improve service reliability there.
Also last year, state regulators rejected the company’s plan to buy a $164 million battery energy storage system in Wythe County, saying it would not provide a good value for ratepayers.
That’s a wrap for this week. Do you know of a new business expanding or relocating in your town? Excited about a restaurant opening up soon? Maybe you’ve got an update on a story we’ve reported before. Please send me your tips and suggestions: matt@cardinalnews.org or connect with me on LinkedIn.
