The Handcraft Building in Scott’s Addition is GRACRE’s Project of the Year

Published April 19, 2018 by Paula C. Squires

A former dry-cleaning facility that was redeveloped into a multi-use space credited with setting a new rent ceiling in one of Richmond’s hottest development areas won top honors as Project of the Year during GRACRE’S awards event on Tuesday.

More than 260 people turned out for the 17th annual awards presentation sponsored by the Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate, which recognizes the top commercial real estate projects in the Richmond region.

The top award went to The Handcraft Cleaners Building at 1501 Roseneath Road in Scotts Addition. Originally built in 1940 for Binswanger Glass as its headquarters and production facility, the 97,000-square-foot vacant building was purchased in 1983 by its current owners, Jay, Keith and Jeff Nichols. In 2016, the family decided to re-develop the structure as a multi-tenant office, retail, and manufacturing space.

Today, tenants include Vasen Brewery, Farhenheit Group, Randstad, Hazen & Sawyer, Blueswipe, Fergusson Enterprises, 510 Architects, Smithers and Co. and Stella’s Market.

According to GRACRE, the venture has set a new market rent in Scott’s Addition of $22 per square feet as well as creating a new standard for Class A office space.

Other projects that won top awards included a deal with Owens & Minor to lease nearly 90,000-square feet of vacant space at Riverfront Plaza in downtown Richmond for a new client engagement center.  The center, expected to create 300 new jobs and retain 200 that might have left the region, was named Transaction of the Year for 2017.  According to GRACRE, Owens & Minor considered 60 other cities before deciding to put the project in Richmond. Trib Sutton, Matt Anderson and David Wilkins of CBRE|Richmond were recognized for being the brokers on the deal.

The award for Industrial Project of the Year was the $20 million Amazon Sortation Distribution Center in Ashland. In this deal, known as “Project Lightning, developer Devon USA built a 328,000-square-foot building and got a certificate of occupancy to meet Amazon’s timeline in less than six months.  

Altogether, GRACRE recognized 23 projects and transactions during its ceremony at the County Club of Virginia. Here’s a list of the other winners with locations determined by zip codes: 

Best office: Envera Health, Richmond
Best large-scale retail: West Broad Marketplace, Richmond
Best small-scale retail: Studio Two Three, Richmond
Best health and wellness: Bon Secours Sarah Garland Jones Center for Healthy Living, Richmond
Best multi-family: Gallery Midtown Clubhouse, Richmond 
Best adaptive reuse project: The Eclipse (Phase One), Richmond 
Best mixed-use/infill: 2028 West Cary St., Richmond
Best historic renovation: 3540 Floyd Ellwood Thompson, Richmond
Community Impact Award: Goochland Cares, Goochland County
Cultural Impact Award: Science Museum of Virginia renovations and expansion, Richmond
Institutional Impact: Sargent Reynolds Community College Georgiadis Hall Renovation, Richmond

Award-winning transactions
Best office sale: Villa Park Data Center, Richmond
Best industrial sale: Deepwater Industrial Park, Richmond
Best industrial lease: TemperPack Technologies, Richmond
Best retail sale: Bermuda Square Shopping Center, Chester
Best retail lease: Sun Fuel/Martin’s Fuel stations, Richmond, Chesterfield County
Best retail lease revitalization: Dumbarton Square revitalization and Staples Mill Shopping Center, Henrico County
Best medical lease: Tuckahoe Orthopaedic at GreenGate, Richmond
Best multi-family sale: Wellesley Terrace Apartments, Richmond
Best land sale: Sheltering Arms at West Creek, Goochland County