Recycling Richmond

Nothing escapes the consequences of time.

Whether you’re talking about architecture, style, product lines, or ideas, everything ages – some for the better, others for the worse. New ideas and technologies disrupt, as they like to say, what was once thought to be the established way. Businesses grow or stagnate, merge or perish.

Real Estate is the Constant

One thing that remains: the land beneath all these businesses and ideas. One business or structure may die on the vine, but certainly something else will follow quickly behind it. There are few better places to prove this than Virginia, a perennial Top 10 business environment, and more specifically Richmond. Here there is a diverse array of compelling real estate for new businesses.

All across the Richmond area, you can see the ghosts of industry’s past. Reynolds Metals called Richmond home for decades. Philip Morris was here, then wasn’t, then was here again with a different name and new headquarters right where Reynolds use to reign. And it now has one of the most advanced research facilities ever constructed.

Recycling and Recreating

These two companies helped shape Richmond business for decades and kept the entire area on the national commerce map. Some of their old warehouses have since spawned new businesses, and perhaps one of these will be the business that will carry Richmond through the next generation.

Another interesting example is Richmond’s downtown. Long ago a thriving retail corridor that then became empty as retail moved to the suburbs, downtown became a place for business. But business has changed, too, and more and more companies are seeking out interesting real estate locations that are going to draw the next generation of talent. What we’re seeing runs the gamut, and each is an example of the evolved economy looking back, via interesting architecture, to make their homes. Bottom line is that Richmond truly has a little bit of everything to attract nearly any business imaginable.

Re-Use is everywhere.

Of course, reusing real estate happens, and often, beyond the boundaries of business.

Just look at Cary Street in Shockoe Bottom. The massive warehouses were the lynchpin of the thriving industry a century ago. Fast forward to the late 90s, and developers made this one of the biggest loft projects in the mid-Atlantic area. Today, it stands as a testament to what can happen when real estate professionals get creative in thinking about how urban space can weave together work, play, and the home.

That’s not the city’s only example. Stuart Circle Hospital had outlived its useful life but was resuscitated and converted into condos, really on the vanguard of this type of conversion in Richmond. Ginter Place is yet another chapter in that book, with the most contemporary look, modern amenities, and dazzling views of the city skyline.

This is how Richmond continues to grow and meet the needs of both business and residents. From startups to corporate offices, warehouse lofts to craft breweries, RVA continues to offer something for everyone.