Richmond: Growth & Development
A quick look at recent ecoomic development projects in the Richmond region

Virginia Business
April 2006

New tenants announced as Willow Lawn renovates
Construction continues at Willow Lawn, one of the first shopping malls developed in the Richmond area in 1956. New anchor tenants include Ross Dress for Less, Gold's Gym, Panera Bread, AAA, and First Market Bank. The $20 million redevelopment plan is being managed by The Wilton Cos. a real estate company that owns, develops and operates a diversified portfolio of multifamily, office, industrial and retail properties in Central Virginia. The new “open” plan gives stores visibility from Broad Street, which will attract more shoppers, developers say.

Owens & Minor moves to Hanover County offices
Owens & Minor Inc., a Fortune 500 medical- and surgical-supply company, has moved its corporate home offices to the Atlee Station Business Park in Hanover County. The project involved construction of a 160,000-square-foot building on a 25-acre tract. The new headquarters allows the company to locate all of its corporate offices in one building. The total number of employees at the site will be about 475. Timmons Group served as the engineer on the project and Baskervill was the architect.

MeadWestvaco Corp. to relocate its headquarters to Richmond area
Global packaging company MeadWestvaco has chosen the Richmond area for its corporate headquarters, now located in Connecticut. The company will move into temporary quarters this summer and expects to have a permanent location by 2008. The move will create 400 new jobs, including executive, administrative and corporate operations positions. About 200 additional jobs currently in Chesterfield County will transfer to the new location.

New medical facility coming to Goochland’s West Creek
HCA Inc., a health-care company operating six hospital campuses in the Richmond area, has bought 60 acres in Goochland County for $10.5 million. The company plans to build a medical facility on the property in the West Creek office park. HCA is the second-largest private employer in the Richmond area, with almost 6,600 workers. Its local hospitals include CJW Medical Center (with Chippenham and Johnston-Willis campuses), Henrico Doctors' Hospital (with Forest and Parham campuses), Retreat Hospital and John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell.

Construction of federal courthouse on schedule
Construction on the $102 million federal courthouse building in downtown Richmond is on schedule for completion in 2008. The 2.2-acre block bounded by Broad, Seventh, Grace and Eighth streets is the site of the facility. Architect Robert A. M. Stern designed the building.

VSU plans engineering and technology building
Virginia State University has broken ground on a new engineering and technology facility. The building will be a three-story, 77,000-square-foot classroom and research laboratory facility supporting technology education in the areas of mechanical and electronic engineering, computer engineering and manufacturing engineering. The building also will contain mechanical, manufacturing, computer and electronics labs, multimedia classrooms, faculty offices and a state-of-the-art auditorium.

Chesterfield lands major IT facility for its Meadowville Technology Park
A sweeping outsourcing agreement with Northrop Grumman Corp. to modernize Virginia’s information technology infrastructure will bring a multimillion technology center and 631 jobs to Chesterfield County. Northrop Grumman's investment will include a $34.6 million, 167,000-square-foot operations center in Meadowville Technology Park that will house Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) and Northrop Grumman employees. The agreement allows the state to plan the transition of IT infrastructure services to Northrop Grumman pending reviews by the General Assembly. In May, Northrop Grumman will offer jobs to more than 800 VITA employees.