AWARDS
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's Member Health Index has been honored as a 2007 BlueWorks winner. A program of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, BlueWorks recognizes the innovative ways Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are working to increase the efficiency and quality of care delivery nationwide. The Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy evaluates submissions from participating Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies and makes recommendations for BlueWorks award winners. Anthem's Member Health Index is a tracking system that incorporates nearly all of Anthem's 2.9 million members in Virginia. The Member Health Index combines more than 40 selected health care measures including screening and prevention, care management, clinical outcomes and patient safety. Using a proprietary calculation developed by a multi-disciplinary team including quality improvement experts, health care economists and clinicians, the Member Health Index tracks the health plans' progress toward improving members' health through education, care management and wellness programs. Health improvement strategies are then designed to improve each measure based on analysis of the data.
CarMax Inc. has won the 2008 International Torch Award for Marketplace Excellence by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Since 1996, the BBB has been honoring businesses that demonstrate high ethical standards of behavior toward customers, employees, shareholders and communities and have earned a reputation for noteworthy community contributions. Companies from all 50 states, Canada and Mexico compete annually for this coveted award.
EVENTS
WOW! is a one-day conference being held April 5 to help professional women focus on themselves, energize their careers and celebrate their brilliance. National speakers, such as author Libby Brown, will share their expertise on everything including leading change; managing money; improving professional image; to having more fun in work and life. In addition, four women will be recognized for making waves in their professional lives, through the innagural Smart Woman Awards program. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Select at 1021 Koger Center Boulevard and costs $199. For more information, call Smokie Sizemore at 804-359-1139 or visit www.smartwomansclub.com.
MARKETING
CRT/tanaka has been retained by Our365.com to promote the launch of the company's revamped Web site in the United States. The site offers products and services to expecting parents, including capabilities that give extended family members the opportunity to view baby albums, order personalized picture keepsakes of newborns and stay up-to-date on their babies' developments. The agency's preliminary responsibility will be launching the Web site with a special emphasis on promoting Our365's Baby Namescape application. With 1.3 million names, it is the largest single source for up-to-date baby names. The application allows expecting parents to search for the most popular baby names in their state, city or even a local hospital, through a unique database that captures this information from its affiliated hospitals nationwide.
PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS
Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield recently announced two new property transactions.
Two buildings totaling 9,000 square feet at 701-703 Southlake Blvd. in Chesterfield County were sold to 701 Southlake, LLC from Sowers Building, LLC for $732,500 with plans to occupy the property. I. Rowland Williams III handled the sale negotiations.
A 3,536-square-foot office building at 7509 Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County was purchased by Phuong Thi Tran and Hung Q. Tran from Lighting-Up, LLC for $360,000 with plans to operate Tran Enterprises Inc. at the site. Mac Wilson and Jason Guillot handled the sale negotiations.
REAL ESTATE
W. M. Jordan Company recently celebrated the expansion of its Richmond office with an open house at their Manchester District location. The new 9,508-square-foot office expansion and 4,500-square-foot maintenance shop with related site work will achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification. Green building design elements include bioswales and drought tolerant native plants around the site, oak flooring extracted from another building, low VOC finishes, lighting controls and a high performance building shell and mechanical system. The exterior façade was designed to be reflective of the traditional "Richmond Warehouse." As part of the company's commitment to support the art community, W. M. Jordan will showcase local, original art in its facility.
Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield Alliance, a leading commercial real estate company with offices in Richmond, Virginia Beach and Newport News, has formed a joint venture with Sullivan Properties Inc. of Fredericksburg. The Fredericksburg operation will conduct business as Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield Alliance. Sullivan Properties is the largest full-service commercial brokerage firm in the greater Fredericksburg region with ten commercial brokerage associates, as well as a property management division and maintenance group. Joining Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield's brokerage group are Neil Sullivan, Virgil Nelson, Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Berkley Mitchell, Mike Degen, Sharon Schmidt, Douglas Brown, Jamie Scully, Wilson H. Greenlaw Jr. and Shawn Carrington. Also joining Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield are Sullivan's property management group including Shaun M. Sullivan, Ann M. Allen, Joann Gaskins, Patricia Stone and Kathy Butler. Neil Sullivan will continue to manage Thalhimer's Fredericksburg office.
Liberty Property Trust announced that it is nearing completion on its 77,708-square-foot Class A office development located in the Westerre Business Park in Henrico County. To be known as the Westerre IV building, the project marks Liberty's second development in the park and the company's first sustainable development project in Richmond. Liberty broke ground on the project at the end of August 2007 and anticipates the building's opening in mid-May. The three story multi-tenant Class A building features an elegant lobby, state-of-the-art telecommunications and fiber optics and a high-tech energy management and security system. To achieve LEED certification, Liberty has registered the project with the U.S. Green Building Council. Westerre IV has already received pre-certified LEED "silver" status, and Liberty is currently seeking the LEED "silver" certification. The architect for the Westerre IV project is Freeman & Morgan, the general contractor is ARGO Development and Dana Dame, vice president of development is Liberty's project manager. Upon completion, Northwestern Mutual will be the first tenant to move into the building. The company has leased 46,500 square feet of office space on the first floor of the building. David Wilkins, Trib Sutton and Scott Durham of CB Richard Ellis represented Northwestern Mutual in the transaction.