One day in March, Ikea representatives were in Norfolk talking with city officials about plans for the chain’s first Hampton Roads store. The negotiations were so secret the city had given them the code name “Project Neptune.”
Mayor Paul Fraim said he had someone for the group to meet, and in walked Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
“We had no idea he was going to be there,” recalled Annette Banks, Ikea’s national real estate manager.
The governor was in Norfolk that morning to help announce ADP LLC’s plan to bring 1,800 or more jobs to downtown.
