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Philip Morris’ center is a big boost for downtown
Richmond
by Otesa
Middleton Miles
for Virginia Business
October 2006
It’s the kind of project every city wants: a big,
showy $350 million research center in the heart of downtown.
As the seven-story Philip Morris USA Center for Research & Technology
rises from two city blocks, it gives Richmond a visible
symbol of downtown’s ongoing rebirth.
“
The impact is beyond measure,” says Garland Williams,
interim director of economic development for Richmond. “It
symbolizes a rebirth of industry coming back to the city.”
A longtime capital city inhabitant and once its largest
private employer, Philip Morris can now claim one
of the largest private investments in Richmond’s history.
Located in the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park,
the 450,000-square-foot structure should be complete
by next year. It will house more than 500 scientists,
engineers and support staff.
So far, construction is about halfway done. Hundreds
of construction workers have removed 16,000 truckloads
of dirt and hauled in 90,000 square feet of glass
for the structure that sprawls between Fifth and
Seventh
streets.
Workers hired for the new high-tech
jobs will research new products for the country’s
No. 1 cigarette maker and explore ways to reduce the
risk of smoking,
says Philip Morris spokesman Bill Phelps.
Besides providing space for modern laboratories
and research, the center will offer amenities
such as
a fitness center,
library and on-site cafeteria.
Designed by
New Jersey-based architects CUH2A and built by Richmond’s Hourigan
Construction Corp., the center will have 40 miles of
piping, 550 miles of wiring and 24,000 cubic yards of
concrete.
The center’s location provides a welcome boost
to the biotechnology park’s stature and visibility,
by nearly doubling its space. Downtown Richmond got the
nod for the building because of its proximity to the
Life Sciences Program at Virginia Commonwealth University
and its medical college. Richmond donated the land, and
Virginia threw in about $15 million in state incentive
money.
Philip Morris is now recruiting globally
for scientists and researchers who will
receive “generous compensation
packages, well above the city’s prevailing wage,” says
Phelps. Williams hopes the new hires will go beyond working
downtown, to dining, shopping and living there, joining
a growing residential population that is snapping up
the area’s new luxury high-rise condos.
With what could be any city’s mantra, Williams
sums up the bustling crews that are turning a former
parking lot into a state-of-the-art research center: “When
you see cranes in the air—it’s always a good
sign.”
Project: Philip Morris USA Center for
Research & Technology
Owner/developer: Philip Morris USA
Cost: $350 million
Architect: CUH2A
General contractor: Hourigan Construction
Corp.
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