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(From left) Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones , Hunt Military Communities President Brian Stann and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao help announce a deal to allow Hunt to run the barracks in Hampton Roads. (Photo via Hunt Military Communities) |
Navy kicks off ambitious $1.7 billion plan to turn all barracks in Hampton Roads over to private contractor |
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| Military and Veterans Reporter |
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On Friday, the Navy finalized a $1.7 billion agreement with Hunt Military Communities to privatize housing for junior sailors in Hampton Roads. The five-year contract requires Hunt to build or renovate 8,000 barracks beds, making it the largest barracks privatization project in military history. A major component of the plan includes constructing a 5,000-bed complex in Newport News to replace Huntington Hall, with construction scheduled to begin later this fall. Despite past lawsuits involving Hunt over maintenance conditions and federal contract disclosures in other military housing projects, local officials expressed confidence in oversight for the barracks contract. |
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The short, electric life of Work|Release |
Careyann Weinberg, former director of Work|Release, outside the Texaco building in Norfolk's NEON District under the venue's original signage. (Photo by Brian Saunders) |
Operating from 2015 to 2017 in Norfolk’s NEON District, the venue Work|Release served as a singular creative hub that merged contemporary art, live music and night life. Founders Meredith and Arthur "Brother" Rutter acquired and renovated the dilapidated Texaco building on Granby Street to house the venue. Over its two-year run, the venue's accessible, open-door approach drew broad, eclectic crowds and helped launch the careers of numerous local Hampton Roads creatives. |
| How the Perry Glass Studio's Pumpkinpalooza has become a hot fall tradition |
Norfolk resident Margaret Gemski watches as the final touches are applied to the pumpkin she created from glass. (Photo by Vicki L. Friedman) |
Norfolk's Perry Glass Studio offers its popular Pumpkinpalooza program every year, allowing participants to design and craft custom glass pumpkins. After launching in 2016, the hands-on activity has become a seasonal tradition and major revenue driver. Guided by studio assistants, participants select custom colors, roll molten glass into crushed pieces, blow the starter shapes and mold signature ridges using a furnace set to 2,150 degrees. |
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New coalition aims to keep Virginians covered as Medicaid rules tighten Read More |
As Virginia's data center buildout shifts, Georgia takes the lead in construction Read More |
A D.C. park was made 'for the pleasure of the people.' Trump's plan would change that. Read More |
With jet fuel prices near a record, holiday airfares soar higher Read More |
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