Biz Beat Roundup: Affordable-housing project takes step forward

BizBeat Roundup is sponsored by Synctivate.

• Micah Ecumenical Ministries’ Jeremiah Community project off Fall Hill Avenue in Fredericksburg has received a $1.25 million grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. The grant, which will be distributed through Atlantic Union Bank, will go toward construction of 50 multi-family units at the $17.5 million project, which is planned on 31 acres behind the Bragg Hill Family Life Center and the Sunshine Ballpark. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta this week announced $13.6 million in grants to support 13 affordable housing projects in Virginia through the organization’s 2025 Affordable Housing Program General Fund awards.
• There were 110 homes sold this past week in the Fredericksburg area, including four for more than $1 million, according to the weekly sales list from the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors. Check back weekly for the new list.
• The Cannon Ridge Disc Golf Course in Spotsylvania, which was created by an executive with a local land-development company, is the subject of this week’s Biz Beat Clips video.
• Longtime local real estate professional and investor Fitz Johnson is the guest on this week’s edition of the Biz Beat Banter podcast.
• Fearless Gluten Free Cafe opened last week at 610 Caroline St. in downtown Fredericksburg.
• Moldova European Food Market is moving from Stafford to 3500 Plank Road in Spotsylvania.
• Tashika Griffith of Tampa, Fla., has been named the next president of Germanna Community College.
• The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission went back to the drawing board last week, holding a joint work session to again discuss design standards for data centers on industrially zoned land.
• After hearing from more than 40 speakers at a public hearing last week on the proposed Buc-ee’s in Stafford, the county’s Planning Commission deferred discussion on the project until Jan. 14. 
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  Warner Cohen

  Fredericksburg-based ILM Corporation is welcoming the third generation of the Cohen family as the data-management company approaches its 50th anniversary. Warner Cohen, son of current ILM President Jason Cohen, is joining the company’s Management Development Program. Jason Cohen’s parents started the company in 1976.

• Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), through charitable contributions from its members, recently awarded $118,858 to 33 nonprofits across its 22-county service area. The funding focuses on food insecurity, housing and shelter assistance, health and education programs, and other needs. More than 36,000 REC members contribute to the program by rounding up their electric bill each month to the next whole dollar.
• A rezoning application has been submitted to Stafford for a 140-acre data center campus just east of U.S. 1 near an existing data center project. The new project, called Eskimo Hill Technology Center, would be on currently wooded land that’s just north of Potomac Creek, south of the under-construction Stafford Technology Campus and Eskimo Hill Road, west of the Stafford Detention & Diversion Center, and 3,500 feet east of the terminus of Potomac Creek Drive. It would include up to 681,800 square feet of data center buildings and accessory uses. A conditional-use permit and Comprehensive Plan Compliance Review are also required.
• Chunky Cup plans to open its new store at the former Sweet Frog location at 1211 Emancipation Highway in Fredericksburg’s Eagle Village shopping center in March. The business’ offerings will include bubble tea and ice cream.
• Certificates of occupancy (either temporary or permanent) were granted recently for the following projects/businesses in Stafford:
  • The Dairy Queen at 51 Civilian St. next to the Waffle House
  • The Basilico New York Deli, El Jimador Mexican Restaurant, HOTWORX fitness center and Cold Stone Creamery at 115 Valor Court along Garrisonville Road
  • The Edge Express Tunnel Car Wash at 200 Garrisonville Road
  • The Charleys Cheesesteaks at 305 Garrisonville Road
  • The Callahan Learning Center at 628 Cambridge St.
  • The Holy Cross Academy expansion at 250 Stafford Lakes Parkway
  • The O’Reilly Auto Parts distribution center at 200 Centreport Parkway
  • The Utopia Hair Salon at 20 Plantation Drive
  • The My Home Thai restaurant in Embrey Mill
  • The Holistic Psychiatry & Medical Center at 556 Garrisonville Road
• 

  1403 Washington Ave.

  Local home builder Simply Home has started a thorough renovation of the 3,000-square-foot house at 1403 Washington Ave. in Fredericksburg, which the company acquired last month for $850,000. Simply Home’s James McCloskey said the three-bedroom house should be ready by April with an anticipated listing price of $1.7 million. The previous owners, Chris Kucera and Zach Hatcher, had started a renovation there before tragically being killed in a single-engine airplane crash in July 2024.

• Johnson Realty Advisors announced the following commercial leases in the region:
  • Matrix Health Solutions, 150-square-foot office lease (one year) at 181 Kings Highway in Stafford
  • Osmani LLC, 250-square-foot office lease (one year) at 420 Hudgins Road in Spotsylvania
  • Antonio’s Moving & Storage, 10,000-square-foot industrial lease (five years) at 1600 Howard Ave. in Fredericksburg
  • Aldon Priorities Consulting, 1,000-square-foot office lease (two years) at 500 Lafayette Blvd. in Fredericksburg
  • Amentum, 47,000-square-foot industrial lease (one year) at 5160 Lad Land Drive in Spotsylvania
  • SimVentions, 3,250-square-foot industrial lease (one year) at 15049 Dahlgren Road in King George
  • VxL Enterprises, 6,266-square-foot office lease (five years) at 701 Kenmore Ave. in Fredericksburg
  • Honaker Blankenship Construction, 1,400-square-foot office lease (one year) at 8120 Woodlyn Drive in Fredericksburg (one of the principals of the site-work company, Grant Honaker, is the son of the late local real estate developer Jud Honaker)
• 

  Abigail Pond

  Abigail Pond has joined Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s Commercial Property Services team in Fredericksburg as a property management assistant. She previously worked with Thalhimer Multifamily.

• Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite announced the following commercial leases in the region:
  • Car Riders LLC, 1,296 square feet of retail space at 1609 Dixon St. in Fredericksburg from NAG Commercial LLC
  • Steve Guy and Associates P.C., 3,000 square feet of office space at 4900 Southpoint Drive in Spotsylvania from Southpoint Plaza III LLC
  • Virtual Xperiences LLC, 3,400 square feet of industrial space at 71 Commerce Parkway, Unit 107, in Stafford from Heritage Corps Crossing LLC
  • Dynamic Health Solutions LLC, 622 square feet of office space at 1219 Central Park Blvd. in Fredericksburg from IWC Properties LLC
  • Trina Rice and/or Assigns, 1,435 square feet of office space at 556 Garrisonville Road, Suite 202, in Stafford from Global Health Care Agency LLC

Biz Beat Roundup runs every Wednesday and includes a roundup of business news from around the Fredericksburg region. Send submissions to: bill.freehling@fredericksburgfreepress.com