|
|
|
|
All News & Blogs
E-mail Alerts
First quarter 2011 economic review for the Fredericksburg area
-FILE photos by THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place |
Date published: 4/16/2011
By Bill Freehling
The Fredericksburg-area economy was mostly improved in the first three months of 2011 compared with the same period the year before.
Though housing prices and commercial real estate rents were mostly down from that time period, most other local economic indicators--including housing sales, new vehicle registrations, sales tax receipts, unemployment rates, vacancy rates and leasing activity--improved. See the sidebar for the data.
Here were some of the business stories making news in the Fredericksburg region during the first quarter of 2011:
- Exterior construction ends on new 718,000-square-foot, $312 million Russell-Knox building on Telegraph Road in North Stafford. BRAC jobs on the way to facility.
- Germanna Community College breaks ground on its third academic building on the Fredericksburg-area campus. Facility is 50,000 square feet and three stories. A parking garage is also planned. Germanna also decides to move automotive training program to a new facility near the Stafford Regional Airport.
- Home Properties Inc. breaks ground on Cobblestone Square apartment project in Fredericksburg, which has the potential to bring hundreds of people within walking distance of downtown business district. In other apartment news, McLean-based Insight Property Group buys the 200-unit Townsend Square Apartment community in Fredericksburg for $18.3 million, and work continues on the Haven complex at Celebrate Virginia South.
- Capital Ale House organizes inaugural "Fredericksburg Green Scene" event downtown for St. Patrick's Day.
- One Richmond-based bar and restaurant, Home Team Grill, opens in Fredericksburg's Eagle Village while another, F.W. Sullivan's, plans to open downtown later this year.
- K. Hovnanian Homes closes in on a deal to buy the undeveloped portions of the Leeland Station mixed-use subdivision in Stafford County after community's developer declares bankruptcy.
- Walmart continues to explore possible sites for store near Wilderness battlefield in Orange County after dropping controversial plans to locate on a spot that preservationists deemed too close to the historic area.
- Foode and Longstreet's were among the new businesses to open downtown. Castiglia's renovated its William Street restaurant and built a wood-burning brick oven for pizza. Fredericksburg discusses joining the Virginia Main Street Program.
|
Local economic data Here is a look at some local economic indicators for the first quarter of 2011 (January-March, where possible) compared with recent quarters. Unless otherwise noted, the data are for Fredricksburg, Caroline, King George, Stafford and Spotsylvania.Home sales Q1 2011: 840 Q4 2010: 819 Q1 2010: 819 Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. Median housing prices March 2011: $190,000 March 2010: $200,000 March 2009: $199,000 March 2008: $265,000 Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. Unemployment rate Feb. 2011*: 6.4 percent Feb. 2010: 7.4 percent Feb. 2009: 6.2 percent *March data aren't out yet. Source: Virginia Employment Commission New vehicle registrations Q1 2011: 2,917 Q4 2010: 2,810 Q1 2010: 2,375 Source: Virginia Automobile Dealers Association Local sales tax receipts Dec. 2010-Feb. 2011*: $9.37 million Dec. 2009-Feb. 2010: $8.73 million Dec. 2008-Feb. 2009: $9.30 million *Taxable sales receipts aren't yet available for March. Source: Virginia Department of Taxation Commercial real estate vacancy rates (Retail, Office, Industrial/Flex) Q1 2011: 6.9 percent, 12.4 percent, 19.1 percent Q1 2010: 7 percent, 13.3 percent, 19.6 percent Source: Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer Commercial real estate asking rents (Retail, Office, Industrial/Flex) Q1 2011: $16.72, $21.69, $5.30 Q1 2010: $17.62, $23.26, $4.90 Source: Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer Commercial real estate leasing activity (Retail; Office; Industrial/Flex) Q1 2011: 81,366 square feet; 132,745 SF; 33,677 SF Q1 2010: 50,741 square feet; 46,508 SF; 41,319 SF Source: Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer About this report This is a quarterly feature in which The Free Lance-Star Business team gives a snapshot of area market conditions and reviews some of the important happenings over the past three months that have affected the area's economy. Look for it a few weeks after the end of each quarter, and let us know if there are additional things you'd like to see here. |