Richmond competing for Google’s ultra high speed broadband

Google, Google, where art thou Google.

The City of Richmond has joined a growing list of municipalities hoping tech giant Google picks it for a new a high-speed broadband experiment that could increase Internet surf times by 100.

“The city that wins this project will be recognized globally and the impact it will have is the technological equivalent of being awarded the Olympics,” said Mayor Dwight Jones in a press release.

There’s an App for that

Local business wunderkind Joel Erb seems to be making a bit of a comeback. That may seem an odd word to use for a 26 year-old entrepreneur, but Erb started his first company at age 15. Now he is developing an iPhone “App” that lets concert goers order merchandise while at a concert – no need to visit the long lines or interact with moody merch-vender.

His web design firm quickly landed high-profile New York-based clients including Hugo Boss. Locally, clients have included Charles Luck and Comfort Zone Camp. INM United, Erb’s firm, has settled into doing mostly marketing and branding.

Erb recently created a new product that is making a splash in a trendy new business space – iPhone applications. iPhone apps caught corporate attention about a year ago, with everyone seemingly coming up with some cute little game or interactive program for customers to play on their iPhones.

Business Licenses 3.18.10

Best names this week: Poshfairytail Inc. and Tow for U LLC.

Henrico AGI Productions Richmond Home Show 600 E Laburnum Ave, 23222 Sales Promotion/Flea

Ackermann - XIII, LLC Various Locations Contr Foreign Gen

C & E Gun Shows Dixie Classic Gun Shows 3000 Mechanicsville Tpke, 23223 Sales Promotion/Flea

Michael O. Connelly Greenway Vending & Distribution 9510 Oldhouse Dr, 23238 Merch-Plac-Vend

Glued to the cell phone

For commercial real estate brokers, being out of touch is akin to being out of business. So each time Hampton Carver broke his cell phone, he was down $300 and perhaps more importantly, temporarily unable to make deals. The second time it happened, a light went off. For the last three and a half years, Carver has spent more than $100,000 of his own money designing and building a stretchy cell phone holder that he hopes will sell to a cell-phone addicted generation. Now that his website is live with the LinQ for sale, his biggest challenge is spreading the word. The rubbery device, which costs around $10, sticks to the back of a cell phone and fits comfortably in-between a user’s fingers. It allows the user to have more dexterity with the phone in one hand.

March Madness for stock analysis

The University of Richmond has a bad outbreak of March Madness.

The men’s basketball team is heading to the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years. But a team of crack finance students are trying to go to the Big Dance for another tournament, and this one is on a world stage.

Last month UR’s team won the CFA Virginia Investment Research Challenge for the second straight year, and will compete March 17 and 18 in the Americas regional competition held in New York. That competition will feature winners from all over North and South America vying for a chance to head to Hong Kong. Last year Brazil won the Americas region.

The Herd: New Hires & Promotions for 3.17.10

Socialite/Reality TV Former Richmonder and New York Socialite Tinsley Mortimer (who was on the cover of a Virginia Living magazine) is in a new reality TV show on the CW called “High Society”. You can read a not-so-complimentary review here.

Technology: Les Venable has joined local computer support firm The HelpDesk Company as a senior sales representative. Venable, a graduate of Morgan State University, was most recently at Electronic Systems. Legal / Public Relations: Andy Poarch joined the Alliance Group as VP for Communications. Poarch, who studied at UVA for both his undergraduate and law degrees, was previously an attorney at Hunton & Williams.

200 acres in Varina to be sold on courthouse steps

Two hundred acres of fertile rural farmland in Varina with a stretch of waterfront on the James River will be auctioned off March 25, the result of a foreclosure of one of Richmond’s biggest builders. In 2006, an entity called Randolph Estates LLC (perhaps the future name of the project) paid $2.5 million for the narrow 210-acre parcel. That entity was run by the heads of Richmond-based Prospect Homes, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

‘Tax credits! Get your tax credits!’

Local builders are pretty sure you’ve heard of the two big tax credits for buying a new home, but a friendly reminder never hurts. The Home Builders Association of Richmond last week launched RightHouseRightNow.com, a website that has news about the two federal tax credit programs as well as a listing of new homes for sale in the Richmond region.

Foreclosures 3.16.10

Eleven properties in this week’s list have defaulted loan values of more that $250,000, with Chesterfield seeing a particularly expensive property that had a value of $877,100. Bank owned properties: Richmond City: 2005 Cedar St., Richmond, VA 23223 -Estimated market value: $110,279 -Recording date: February 3, 2010 -Owner: Wells Fargo -Single family residence 901 N 35th St., Richmond, VA 23223 -Estimated market value: $192,986 -Recording date: March 4, 2010 -Owner: Bank of America -Single family residence 1021 N 1St St., Richmond, VA 23219 -Estimated market value: $187,902 -Recording date: February 22, 2010 -Owner: Freddie Mac -Duplex

Credit unions can now become banks

State credit unions can now convert themselves to banks, thanks to a law passed by the General Assembly. House Bill 482 and Senate Bill 440, which passed both chambers unanimously, give state credit unions the same powers that federal credit unions have. “For the first time, a state-chartered credit union can now convert to a mutual savings bank,” said Delegate Mark Sickles, D-Alexandria, who wrote the House bill. Previously, once an institution was established as a state credit union, there was no way it could become a bank. The credit union would still need to notify its members and to put the matter to a vote. “Conversion requires approval of two-thirds of the eligible and voting members of the credit union, unless the articles of incorporation allow a greater or lesser vote (which shall in no event be less than a majority),” according ...

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