VIRGINIA BEACH — Every year at the State of the City event, Mayor Bobby Dyer highlights the accomplishments of the city’s public safety personnel. “This year, sadly, is different,” the mayor said on Wednesday inside the convention center. Dyer called for a moment of silence for police officers Cameron Girvin and Christopher Reese, who died after they
were shot during a traffic stop on Feb. 21. “Anytime a first responder loses their life on the job, it’s painful and tragic,” the mayor said. “To lose two in the same incident is staggering and almost beyond comprehension. We grieve for the family for our public safety departments and for our city.” Recognizing heroes and the city’s major economic successes took center stage at the annual event hosted by the Hampton Roads Chamber. Roughly 1,300 people attended including dozens of local business leaders, state and city officials, two former governors and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Dyer and City Manager Patrick Duhaney took turns speaking to the audience as they have in years past. Among the many individuals recognized at the event was Vada Carawan and her dad, Cameron Carawan. Vada, a Virginia Beach Girl Scout, recently
saved her father’s life with CPR with assistance from 911 dispatcher David Fowler. All three attended and received a standing ovation.
Atlantic Park
The city’s newest entertainment venue The Dome,
set to open May 4 , inspired interactive audience participation. Attendees scanned a QR code with their phones and responded to the question of who they want to see perform at The Dome, and what was the first concert they saw. The responses were shared live on two screens. The venue is part of Atlantic Park, a $350 million project and the city’s largest public-private partnership to date. Atlantic Park will include an entertainment venue, surf park, retail, restaurants, apartments and offices. Venture Realty Group in partnership with celebrity Pharrell Williams are behind the project. In total, the city has funded $153 million for Atlantic Park. “It’s an exciting project and will reinforce Virginia Beach as an outstanding place to live as well as a year-round vacation destination,” Dyer said.
Tourism
Duhaney gave a nod to Virginia Beach’s tourism industry, which sustains 33,000 jobs, representing 19% of the city’s workforce, he said. Visitor spending contributes $336 million in state and local tax revenues, reducing the annual tax burden by almost $2,000 per Virginia Beach household, Duhaney said.
Subsea cables and wind energy
Virginia Beach wants to be the highest capacity digital port on the eastern seaboard, Duhaney said. Globalinx will add
four additional subsea cables at its Sandbridge landing site, more than doubling the capacity of its data center in Corporate Landing Business Park. The center is currently connected to three subsea cables that land in Virginia Beach. Dominion Energy’s
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is marching along. When completed, the 2.6 gigawatt project will power up to 660,000 homes. Half of the monopile foundations which are needed for the 176 turbines have been installed, the mayor said. Construction is expected to be completed by 2026.
New and expanding businesses
Dyer and Duhaney both touted new and expanding businesses in the city, including Amazon’s 650,000-square-foot
robotics fulfillment center off Dam Neck Road. The new facility will add 2,000 full-time jobs in Virginia Beach and nearly 200 electric delivery vans will operate out of the center, the mayor said. Zim, a container shipping company, invested $30 million to relocate and expand its U.S. headquarters in Virginia Beach. And
Doma Technologies , a cloud-based document management software company, is currently expanding its headquarters. Duhaney, who was hired five years ago and is Virginia Beach’s first Black city manager, said city contracts with minority and women-owned businesses in 2024 increased by $75 million compared to the previous year.
