Forming a nonprofit organization can be perfect for people who want to be their own boss and devote their work to charitable causes. A nonprofit is established just like a for-profit enterprise, with the additional step of applying for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.

In Virginia, nonprofits must:

- Be registered as either a non-stock corporation or a limited liability company (LLC).

- Register with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for the ability to raise funds.

- Obtain a local business license, and, if required, register with the Virginia Department of Taxation.

A nonprofit organization becomes tax-exempt (allowing individuals and businesses who donate to the organization to deduct their gifts on their federal tax returns) by filing an application to become classified as a 501(c)(3) organization.

Necessary forms include IRS Form 8718 and IRS Package 1023. For instructions on filling out these forms, read IRS publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization.
All IRS forms can be obtained by calling (800) TAX FORM or downloading them from http://www.irs.gov.

The Business Information Center of the VDBA can e-mail you a step-by-step explanation with live links to numerous resources and all required forms and instructions. Call (866) 248-8814 to request nonprofit instructions or e-mail your request to vbic@vbda.virginia.gov.

Business One-Stop to be unveiled in 2008

Starting a business in Virginia will become easier in early 2008 when the online “Business One-Stop” is introduced.  Entrepreneurs accessing the one-stop site will need to answer only a few simple questions to receive detailed information on the registrations, licenses and permits required.

Debut date of the new “Business One-Stop” will be announced on the Virginia Department of Business Assistance Web site, http://www.vdba.virginia.gov and the Virginia Business

Portal, http://www.business.virginia.gov.

The company said it has gotten inquiries from several outside parties about the possible sale of some print assets. Media General’s operations include 18 network-affiliated television stations, 23 daily newspapers and their associated websites. Eight of the daily papers are in Virginia, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The company has retained investment banking advisory firm Peter J. Solomon Co. to help in a strategic evaluation of such a move. But Media General added there is no timetable for the evaluation process and no assurance that any of the newspapers will be sold.

In recent months, the company has indicated that it would consider selling assets as a way of reducing its total outstanding debt.

Media General said that valuations of local media properties, including local newspapers, have reflected their strong market positions in recent merger and acquisition deals.  The company described its newspapers as the leading print products in their core markets.

Virginia Business was founded by Media General in 1986 and sold in 2009. It is now a portfolio company of Richmond-based Virginia Capital Partners LLC.

The Chesapeake-based discount retailer reported Wednesday that fourth-quarter revenues increased 12.8 percent to $1.95 billion, compared with $1.73 billion during the fourth quarter of the previous year. Earnings per diluted share rose 24 percent to $1.60 from $1.29 per share during the same period last year.

“I am pleased to report that our business momentum remains strong as Dollar Tree’s sales, operating margin, and earnings continued to expand in the fourth quarter,” Dollar Tree President and CEO Bob Sasser said in a statement. “Dollar Tree is focused on providing a broad, balanced assortment of merchandise that customers need and want at surprising values.

For the full year ended Jan. 28, net sales were $6.63 billion, a 12.7 percent increase over 2010. Sales at comparable stores rose 6 percent. Diluted earnings per share rose 30 percent to $4.03.

That is one of the conclusions of a report examining the effects of foreclosures on Virginia’s economy released Wednesday by Home Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia Inc. (HOME), a Richmond-based nonprofit.

“Even as the housing crisis begins to slow,  we are going to see this vacancy crisis, which will be with us for some years to come,” said Brian Koziol, the author of the report, who is a housing policy and research analyst with HOME.

The report found that foreclosure activity in Virginia declined 32 percent from 2010 to 2011, from 64,975 to 43,6237, the first drop since the start of the recession in 2007 . Foreclosures, however, still are 1,000 percent higher than in 2006 before the start of the recession. 

Subprime mortgages continue to be a major cause of foreclosures. Subprime mortgage foreclosures climbed 51 percent from the third quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of last year , accounting for more than 12 percent of all foreclosures in 2011.

“Subprime mortgages are still wreaking havoc on the economy and will continue to do so,” said Koziol, who describes the mortgages as “unsustainable loan products that should never return.”

As foreclosures continue, residential vacancies are rising, representing 9 percent of the commonwealth’s total housing stock in 2010.  Homeowners living near vacant properties in Virginia have lost a total of $26 billion in home equity in the past two years, Koziol said.

In addition, the surplus of vacant houses has driven median home sales prices down 21 percent (from $280,000 to $200,000) since 2007. Aaccording to the report, this drop in property value has resulted in 32 percent of Virginians with a mortgage being “underwater,” or owing more than their home is worth. Virginia ranked eighth in the nation last year in the number of underwater homeowners

Koziol noted that falling property values also affect the revenue of local governments because of their dependence on real estate taxes.

To help stem the tide of foreclosures and help the state’s housing market recover, HOME recommends expanding funding for foreclosure prevention counseling and using “targeted investments” to rehab vacant homes for sale to low- and moderate-income families.

Koziol says money for these efforts could come from Virginia’s part of $25 billion national foreclosure settlement with five major banks.

HOME also believes struggling homeowners should be protected from dual tracking in which lenders work on loan modifications for a home at the same time they are pursuing foreclosure on the property.

“It’s important that we prevent as many unnecessary foreclosures as we can since this economic recovery is really fragile,” Koziol said.

“This possibility has been in the works for quite some time so we were not caught off guard,” he said. “In spite of the challenges Grubb & Ellis has faced, Grubb & Ellis | Harrison & Bates has been profitable the last three years of this deep recession. We will keep on taking care of our clients’ needs just as we have for the last 102 years.” 

Gentil added in an interview that the company, which employs about 50 people, “is always exploring our options. With the Grubb episode, once that settles down, we’ll figure out what to do.“
Under the affiliation, Harrison & Bates pays a monthly fee — which Gentil said is not large — for inbound and outbound referrals.

Grubb & Ellis Co., located out of Santa Ana, Calif., said yesterday that it signed an agreement to sell nearly all of its assets to BGC Partners Inc., a New-York based broker of financial products.  To implement the sale, G&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday in U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.  It blamed its financial instability on the country’s weak financial markets in 2008 and the downturn in the U. S. real estate market.

BGC acquired Newmark Knight Frank, one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the U S., in October. It said in a press release that its planned purchase of Grubb & Ellis, which must be approved by the court, will bolster efforts “to build a premier position in real estate services.”

In 2011, Grubb & Ellis said it completed about 12,000 sale and lease transactions. The company and its affiliates currently manage more than 250 million square feet of property, including enough projects in the Washington, D. C. metro area to earn it a sixth place ranking on the Washington Business Journal’s list of top commercial real estate leasing brokerages.  According to the Journal, Grubb & Ellis made $23.9 million from area leasing deals in 2010.

Now affiliates must decide if they will stick with new owner BGC Partners or seek affiliations with other companies. 

Peterson, located in Fairfax, said it will be the lead developer for the retail and entertainment components.  DRI, an Arlington-based subsidiary of Transwestern Commercial Services, will serve as lead developer for office, hotel and residential development. 

“This is arguably one of the best mixed-use development opportunities in the country – offering unparalleled location and superior demographics.  It’s exactly the type of project that we excel at creating,” Steven Peterson, president of The Peterson Cos., said in a news release.

Rock Spring Centre will be a 1 million-square-foot, high-density “smart growth” development.  At completion, it would offer 210,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 550,000 square feet of class A office, 90,000 square feet of entertainment uses including a multi-screen movie theater, a 200-unit hotel and 161 residential units.

The project received site plan approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board on Feb. 17.  A groundbreaking is anticipated later this year, and the project is slated to open in spring 2014.

“We partnered with The Peterson Cos. because of their track record of success in developing some of the region’s finest retail and entertainment driven mixed-use projects,” Christian J. Spitz, president, DRI Development Services LLC said in a statement.

The Peterson Cos., which is financing the project, has developed many signature projects in the Washington, D.C., metro area including Fairfax Corner, the Burke Centre, Tysons McLean Office Park and more recently, National Harbor, a massive, 300-acre, mixed-use development on the banks of the Potomac River in Oxen Hill, Md.

The Rock Spring site in Montgomery County is located on 54 acres of land owned by the Camalier/Davis Family.  It is bounded by Old Georgetown Road to the east, Rock Spring Drive to the south, Rockledge Drive to the west and the I-270 spur to the north. It’s also adjacent to Rock Spring Park, a 5-million-square-foot office park that is the global headquarters for Lockheed Martin and the corporate headquarters for Marriott and Coventry Health Care.