LandAmerica Files For Bankruptcy & Sells Underwriting Units

Title insurer LandAmerica has filed for bankruptcy. Three of its underwriting units will be sold, the company said. Fidelity National Financial said it would buy LandAmerica’s underwriting units Lawyers Title Insurance Corp and United Capital Title Insurance Co for $139.4 million. The units Fidelity National is purchasing remain solvent and continue to operate. Read more

Innsbrook Empties Out: Vacancy Rate Poised To Double

Nearly 1 million square feet of class A office space in the Innsbrook area could be vacated as locally-based corporations downsize, driving down rental rates in the area but potentially making the Richmond area more attractive to corporations considering moving here. Read more

Residents Concerned About Expansion Of Nearby Landfill

Residents living off largely rural Kain Road are just a mile or two from the chaos and traffic of Short Pump, but you’d never know it with the thick surrounding woods that buffer the neighborhood. Property owners may be shielded from suburbia for now, but their proximity to Goochland County may be a bigger concern in the near future. Read more

Fire Crews Battle Two-Alarm Blaze At West Broad Village

Henrico firefighters were called to an apartment complex under construction at the West Broad Village mixed use development Friday morning. The small fire started in a trash can and was put out within 20 minutes. Initial reports came in that it was the Whole Foods Market that was on fire, but those tips were incorrect. There were no injuries, and the cause of the trash fire has yet to be determined. We’ll follow this story and report more details as they emerge. Read more

Dining & Discounts Come To The Parc Place Shops

There are two new additions to the Parc Place Shopping Center at Short Pump Town Center. The first is a Dollar Tree superstore. The company has expanded operations of its “everything’s one dollar” stores in the wake of consumers looking for bargains in this tough economy. The other new addition is a Japanese hibachi grill and sushi bar called Kenji. Dollar Tree is now open; no word on when Kenji will open their doors. Read more

How Soon Is Too Soon For Christmas?

I love Christmas. I do. I love everything it stands for, Rankin & Bass movies, ABC Family’ 25 Days of Christmas, the Charlie Brown Tree, the Tacky Lights Tour, and having an excuse to jingle gold balls all along the way. But I ask you, is Santa coming too early this year? As I type this it’s not even Thanksgiving and I already have a radio station programmed in my car purely because it’s playing Christmas music 24/7. The new Gap Ads have been released, and while it was 60 degrees in Harrisonburg yesterday, seeing Mary Louise Parker decked out in purple gear made me long for Christmas.

I was watching ABC Family and they have a countdown to the 25 Days of Christmas! Woah marketing fiends, hold up, I haven’t even bought a turkey. The trees just dropped all their red and yellow leaves on my top of my car and you want me to have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head?

What happened to the day after Thanksgiving being the day when the trees come down from the attic along with all the other Christmas decorations? What happened to the stores magically being transformed on Black Friday to a Christmas wonderland? Global warming has done a lot to deter the weather from making me have visions of snowball fights and missing class because my car is snowed in, but it obviously has not stopped the marketing and TV people from making me long for Christmas before Thanksgiving’s even come and gone. It should also be noted that How The Grinch Stole Christmas will be on my TV. Not the real actor version, but the classic animated version. Too soon, I tell you, too soon.

I almost feel bad for Thanksgiving. It has all the makings for a great holiday. Family, food and football. Okay, the last part I really could care less about, but I am told that football is an integral part of Thanksgiving. Despite all these amazing things, who is thinking about Thanksgiving right now? Not me. Even though Thanksgiving is next week, I can only think about Christmas. Thank you, peppermint flavored drinks, and stores being decorated in subtle Christmas themes. Thank you, emails from clothing stores reminding me about the sales that will be going on, and that it’s not too early to start creating my Christmas wish list so that my friends and family will know exactly what to get me.  I haven’t even seen a commercial for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. That is a crime. But I guess the fact that I can get a Charlie Brown Christmas tree at Urban Outfitters makes up for this.
There is really one group of people who can start decorating and celebrating Christmas early. College kids. My best friend’s apartment is already set up with a Christmas tree and garland. With Thanksgiving break falling two weeks before we all have to go home for Christmas break, I think we have a legit reason to hold Christmas parties, decorate our apartments, and bake Christmas cookies in November. How else are we supposed to spread Christmas cheer on our campus during exam week?   Maybe that makes us lucky. We get double the Christmas magic. I guess when I look at it that way, I can’t really be mad at the marketing gods for wanting to bless the rest of the world with double the Christmas magic.

---

This story was submitted by a local Downtown Short Pump contributor. All views and opinions are solely those of the author, and Downtown Short Pump staff does not necessarily share them.

Crews Clear Land For New Middle School

Construction crews recently began clearing land for a new Henrico County middle school, to be constructed off Nuckols Road, between the West Shore office condiminiums and the Wyndham Forest neighborhood. The new facility will ease overcrowding at Short Pump Middle School, and is scheduled for completion just before the 2010-2011 school year. Read more

Silver Diner Opens In Innsbrook

The highly anticipated Silver Diner Restaurant opened this past weekend in Innsbrook, at the corner of West Broad Street and Cox Road. Lines were reportedly backed out the door as hungry people eagerly waited to be seated to try out the new ’50s style diner. We were on hand for the opening and will have a restaurant review on the establishment later in the week. Read more

Fitness Center Track Remains Closed After Roof Leak

A clogged pipe on the roof of the new American Family Fitness Center behind Short Pump Town Center is to blame for a major roof leak that left the facility’s track closed until further notice. As of Tuesday, the track, which runs around the perimeter of the entire building, was still closed, pending an investigation into whether significant mold growth took place as a result of the standing water. Heavy rainfall over the weekend overwhelmed the already clogged pipe. Read more

Circuit City Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

In a move that didn’t surprise most financial anylists, Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early Monday morning, after laying off 800 workers on Friday. The filing indicates the company has $1 billion in assets and owes more than $1 billion to creditors and other parties. An internal email  (sent to us anonymously) sent out to employees at the company’s Short Pump-area nationwide headquarters stressed that the company was not going out of business. Read more

Next Page »