Is Chesterfield sports facility a quixotic quest?

(Editor’s Note: This story is several pages long. To keep reading, click the “next page” link at the bottom.)

Each time Steve Burton talks about SportsQuest, his plan sounds more ambitious.

It has been his dream for more than seven years to build the Mecca of sports facilities – complete with turf soccer fields, an indoor bicycle track, a 5,000-seat arena, minor league teams, swimming facilities and more – devoted to every level of competition and training.

And as he gets closer to breaking ground on the 250-acre Chesterfield County project, his plan is getting even bolder, with underwater cameras to film swim meets and broadcast them over the Internet, and family entertainment venues.

“People will come to SportsQuest for a tournament, and while they are here, they will have a membership,” he said during a recent interview in the Boulders office park, where he has set up shop inside the offices of Timmons Engineering. “Every night there will be a Bonnie Raitt concert or a chili cook-off.” Read more

Kids’ gym biz isn’t playing around

Not everybody is taking a wait-and-see approach to planning budgets for 2010.

Romp n’ Roll, a Richmond-based chain of kids’ gyms, wants to raise $1 million to $5 million as soon as possible to add more stores and recruit more franchisees for markets around the country. Read more

Markel adds third company to ‘PE’ portfolio

Markel Corp., one of the largest specialty insurance companies in the U.S. with its headquarters in Richmond, has added to its investment portfolio a Texas-based manufacturer in a deal valued at less than $50 million.

Panel Specialists — which makes walls, furniture and other products for property managers, architects and builders – has around 175 employees during peak months. The company has revenue of $30 million, according to Michael Mendelson, a senior vice president at Anderson Strudwick who helped assemble the deal. Read more

Deja vu all over again: Anderson Strudwick deal off

An out-of-state brokerage’s bid to buy Anderson Strudwick has been called off. Read more

The numbers in the Anderson Strudwick deal

Richmond BizSense has learned more about the Anderson Strudwick sale to Tennessee-based Wunderlich Securities. Read more

Anderson Strudwick sold

Anderson Strudwick will officially lose its independence.

After a false start, the locally-based financial services firm will be acquired by a Tennessee-based financial services company. The price tag on the deal has not been released.

Read more

Sale of Anderson Strudwick on hold

Updated 12:04 p.m.

Wunderlich Securities is back at the bargaining table to buy Richmond investment bank/brokerage Anderson Strudwick, likely for a lower price. Read more

Anderson Strudwick in merger negotiations

Richmond-based investment bank/brokerage Anderson Strudwick is in merger negotiations with Wunderlich Securities, a Tennessee investment bank/brokerage.

Representatives from Wunderlich will be in Richmond today to present the deal to the company, according to a source familiar with the deal. It’s likely that employees will vote later today. Read more