Richmond Leader

Chamber RVA (Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce) issued the following announcement on Dec. 17

Commercial real estate analytics and research firm CoStar Group Inc. plans to build a 26-story office building along the James River in downtown Richmond.

The Washington-based company announced Friday that it plans to invest more than $460 million to expand its corporate campus to Richmond on vacant land adjacent to the 9-story building it acquired this year that is across from the entrance to Brown’s Island.

The new campus represents about 750,000 square feet of new office and retail space. The project is expected to add 2,000 new jobs to the 1,000-plus employees that CoStar has here now.

In addition to the 26-story office tower, CoStar plans to have a 6-story, multipurpose building to be used as a central location for employee amenities, including conference facilities, fitness and wellness, auditorium, and mixed-use retail and restaurant spaces.

Once the project is completed, CoStar will occupy about 1 million square feet of office space in downtown Richmond.

Gov. Ralph Northam made the announcement Friday morning. “Their continued success is a direct result of our attractive business climate and dynamic workforce found across the state,” Northam said in a statement.

“Richmond is a growing community with access to a deep pool of diverse, highly-skilled workers, a vibrant culture of innovation and a wonderful quality of life for our existing and future employees,” said Andrew C. Florance, CoStar’s founder and CEO.

“The strong partnerships we have established with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the City of Richmond, and institutions of higher education such as VCU, will be critical for our continued growth. Virginia, Richmond, and Costar Group all have bright futures ahead, and we are excited to grow together.”

CoStar moved its global research headquarters into the upper floors of a building at 501 S. Fifth St. – it is next to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s office tower – in late 2016 and early 2017. It acquired that building, which now has the CoStar name on all sides, for $130 million in January.

The new building will be next door on now-vacant 3.89 acres at 600 Tredegar St., which CoStar bought in August 2020 for $20 million.

The new space will include offices for sales, marketing, software development, customer service and support functions.

CoStar continues to grow here. The company initially expected to employ about 730 people when CoStar moved its research operations here.  But CoStar kept adding employees locally.

It now has more than 1,000 people and it expects to add 1,000 to 2,000 more workers to its Richmond operations over the next couple of years, Andrew C. Florance, CoStar’s founder, president and CEO, said in January.

Earlier this year, CoStar began renting 2½ floors in the east building of Riverfront Plaza to accommodate workers.

This summer, it began leasing the entire Pattern Building at Historic Tredegar next to the American Civil War Museum. The historic Pattern Building is about a block from CoStar’s research offices.

Original source can be found here.