Target opens next week at Pembroke Mall

Target Corp. plans to open its 12th discount store in Hampton Roads on Wednesday at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach.

The store at 4576 Virginia Beach Blvd. includes an expanded grocery section with fresh produce, meats and bakery items. Target recently updated many of its existing Hampton Roads stores to accommodate more space for groceries.

A private ribbon-cutting event is scheduled for Tuesday evening. Target also plans to host a grand-opening event Oct. 14 for the public.

– Carolyn Shapiro  

Smithfield touts improvements on website

Smithfield Foods Inc. announced it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions and plans to use less material for packaging.

The Smithfield-based pork company this week updated one of its websites, www.smithfieldcommitments.com, to update the public on results from its fiscal 2012.

The company said it had reduced greenhouse-gas emissions from its plants by 11 percent since fiscal 2008. Smithfield said its divisions also have "introduced new packaging-reduction projects."

It reported that it had provided more than $1.2 million to educational programs for employees and their children.

Smithfield launched the website in November 2011 to promote improvements in animal welfare and environmental policies, among other areas.

"We are proud of our results," Dennis Treacy, the company's executive vice president and chief sustainability officer, said in a statement, "and believe they serve as evidence of our performance over time and relative to others in our industry."

- Philip Walzer

Patrick Henry Corporate Center changes hands

PWA Real Estate LLC of Pittsburgh said it paid $14.1 million to buy the Patrick Henry Corporate Center, a 99,000-square-foot office building on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News. The building, near Patrick Henry Mall, is anchored by Northrop Grumman Corp. and has six other tenants, according to PWA.

The previous owner, KBS Realty Advisors, had purchased the building in 2007 for $18.55 million from an entity affiliated with Carr Properties.

- Dave Mayfield

First came Start Norfolk. Next: Start!Peninsula

The concept started in the region last year with "Start Norfolk" -- a competition aimed at getting would-be entrepreneurs off to a flying start.

Now comes Start!Peninsula, whose goal is to create a dozen news businesses in 54 hours.

A consortium including the Hampton Roads Partnership and the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce will hold the event Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 at Christopher Newport University in Newport News.

“There are many intelligent people with brilliant ideas who do not have the resources needed to execute these ideas,” Mike Kuhns, president of the Peninsula chamber, said in a news release. “Start!Peninsula is a wonderful gateway to pursue these ideas and can progressively and successfully change the local economy.”

More information on the event is available at www.StartPeninsula.com.

¬¬- Dave Mayfield  

Architecture and engineering firm announces layoffs

Clark Nexsen, the Norfolk-based architecture and engineering firm, announced this week that it has cut “a small percentage” of its staff.

“After a detailed review of our current operations and looking forward to 2013, the board of directors of Clark Nexsen, P.C. concluded that our overall staffing levels required trimming, a process we completed this week,” company president, Chris Stone, said in an email.

He would not release the actual number of employees laid off. The company has previously said it employs about 350 people here.

“All those impacted are being offered a severance package as well as multiple other forms of assistance, to include job placement and counseling services and a continued period of healthcare insurance coverage,” he said.

“We have been fortunate to forestall the impact of the sluggish economy for as long as we have,” he added.

He also said the company remains optimistic for the future and has not changed its plan to move its headquarters from Norfolk’s Interstate Commerce Park to a new planned tower at Virginia Beach Town Center.

Clark Nexsen has previously said it has a total of 550 employees in nine offices in three states and Washington D.C.

- Tim McGlone

Port hearing set for Thursday at Nauticus

A public hearing on the four proposals for operating the Port of Virginia is scheduled from 3-7 p.m. Thursday at the theater inside Nauticus, on Waterside Drive in Norfolk.

It’s being sponsored by the Virginia Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners.

Representatives of APM Terminals Inc., RREEF America LLC and The Carlyle Group, the three private entities that have submitted proposals to the state, have been asked to make presentations.

The current port operator, Virginia International Terminals Inc., also has been invited.

The authority’s board will be asking the specific question, “Can we do better?” said Michael J. Quillen, the board’s chairman, in a statement.

“It’s the right question to ask as we position Virginia to attract more cargo with the widening of the Panama Canal, and it’s a question that we want all of the port’s stakeholders to address in their feedback.”

The agenda for the meeting includes:

• 3 p.m., opening comments from Quillen
• 3:15 p.m., overview of the port-proposal process by Ryan Pedraza, program director at the state’s public-private partnership office.
• 3:30 p.m., presentations by the bidders
• 4:15 p.m., break
• 4:30 p.m., public hearing begins
• 7 p.m., adjournment

Sign-up for those wishing to speak at the hearing starts at 2:15 p.m. the day of the event.

Members of the public who speak will be limited to three minutes; representatives of industry and business associations, as well as leaders from cities with port terminals, will have five minutes.

Those unable to attend can email comments to pptacomments@portofvirginia.com starting at 8 a.m. Oct. 1. For more information, contact Joe Harris at 683-2137.

The theater at Nauticus has a capacity of 350.

– Robert McCabe  

Food Lion hosting events Wednesday at 6 stores

Food Lion plans to offer free products, coupons and shopping-spree entries Wednesday at its six former Bottom Dollar Food stores in Hampton Roads.

The supermarket chain, based in Salisbury, N.C., is hosting events to highlight renovations at the Bottom Dollar locations that have turned back into Food Lions. The retailer announced in January that it would close four of its no-frills, low-priced Bottom Dollar stores in Hampton Roads and convert the remaining six in the region back to its own name.

The stores hosting events Wednesday are at 6203 Virginia Beach Blvd., 8401 Hampton Blvd., 2401 Colley Ave. and 1235 N. Military Highway in Norfolk; 85 Coliseum Crossing in Hampton; and 12917 Jefferson Ave. in Newport News.

Starting at 8 a.m. at those locations, customers can register for a chance to win a Food Lion shopping spree. The sprees will take place this Saturday and Oct. 6 at all six stores. Each store will announce one winner at 9 a.m. on those days, and winners must be present at that time at the store where they registered to take part in the spree.

– Carolyn Shapiro

Sprint rolling out 4G LTE network in Hampton Roads

Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. announced that it plans to start building its fastest mobile network in Hampton Roads.

The network known as 4G LTE, which stands for fourth-generation long-term evolution, allows users of 4G mobile devices to access top speeds for surfing the Internet, viewing videos, and downloading or uploading photos or applications. Most of the major wireless companies are gradually migrating to 4G LTE from the 3G network, at least in major markets.

Sprint has started to roll out the new network in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News. Sprint customers in those cities “will encounter a signal on LTE phones pretty quickly,” said Kelly Schlageter, a Sprint spokeswoman. The company will later expand the system across its 3G footprint in the region, she said.

Sprint is the second of the major carriers to bring 4G LTE to Hampton Roads. Verizon launched its 4G LTE system in October in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News and expanded it in May to the Outer Banks.

AT&T has rolled out its 4G LTE network in some parts of the country but hasn’t yet expanded it to Hampton Roads. It does have a 4G network, which is faster than 3G service, operating in this region.

– Carolyn Shapiro

New outdoor store to open Friday in Ghent

A new shop selling outdoor gear plans to open Friday at 717 W. 21st St., in the Ghent area of Norfolk.

GreenLife Adventure Sports will carry mens’ and women’s clothing, footwear and equipment for outdoor activities. The selection will include apparel brands Patagonia and Mountain Hardwear, Merrell and Keen hiking shoes and boots, MSR tents, and Arc’teryx Leaf, which specializes in gear for law enforcement and the armed forces.

The store will officially welcome the public in a week but has scheduled a “soft” opening on Friday to test out its systems with a few early customers.

Norfolk native Tommy Dunn, an Eagle Scout who has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, owns the store. He previously worked in commercial real estate.

GreenLife customers also will find information about rentals and classes for kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding and environmental projects at the store.

– Carolyn Shapiro

Virginia holding Wine Summit in October

Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, will host the first Virginia Wine Summit on Oct. 2 at the Richmond Marriott.

The keynote speaker will be British wine expert Steven Spurrier. Sessions will include “Fresh Insights on Tasting Wine,” “Uncommon Food and Wine Pairings” and “What Will Be Virginia’s Red?” It will conclude with a wine reception from 4 to 5 p.m.

The summit will kick off Virginia Wine Month in October.

More information, including ticket prices, is available at virginiawinesummit.com.  

- Philip Walzer