Capitol gets top spot - Real Estate

Capitol gets top spot

Renovation praised by commercial real estate association

Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 - 12:04 AM

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By STAFF REPORTS

The state Capitol won the 2008 Project of the Year from the Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate.

The seventh annual Real Estate Stars 2008 ceremony honored one project in each of seven categories. About 200 people attended the event last week at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Henrico County.

"The number and caliber of entries we had this year underscores the vibrancy of Richmond's real estate market," said GRACRE President John Mercer.

The architect/interior designer on the state capitol project was The Hillier Group. BCWH Architects was the associate architect. Contractors were Gilbane Building Co. and Christman Co.

Other winning projects were:

Best Renovated/Historic Rehabilitation Project -- deLux Restaurant, a 3,500-square-foot, two-story project at the corner of Strawberry and Main streets.

The owner/developer is Lion's Paw Development Co.; the architect, Johannas Design Group; interior designer, HL Reed Design; contractor, Walters Construction.

Best Multi-family Project -- 2C Condos, a 12-unit condo building in the former 1960s Virginia Mutual Insurance Building at the corner of North Second and East Clay streets.

The owner/developer is Walker Row Partnership; architect/interior designer, BAM Architects; contractor, Capstone Contracting Co.

Best Institutional Project -- Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Business and School of Engineering, a four-story building on East Main Street.

The owner/developer is VCU; architects/interior designer, Moseley Architects, Hillier Architecture, Payette Assocs., Smith+McClane Architects; contractor, Gilbane Building Co.

Best Office Building -- Philip Morris Research & Technology Center, a nine-story, 450,000-square-foot building on 34 acres in the Virginia Bio-Technology Research Park.

The owner/developer is Philip Morris USA; architect/interior designer, CUH2A; contractor, Hourigan Construction.

Best Recreational/Entertainment Project -- Richmond International Raceway expansion, which added 7,800 fixed seats on a three-tiered structure, The Torque Club with 700 reserved outdoor seats, two themed sports bars with 80 HDTV's and three high-speed elevators.

The owner/developer is RIR/International Speedway Corp.; architect/interior designer, Baskervill Motorsports; contractor, Taylor and Parrish.

Best Interior Project -- Gregory Kaplan PLC at the Commons at Plant Zero, an 11,500-square-foot adaptive reuse project with a glass conference room, glass offices, in-ground planters on the ground floor, a mezzanine with 10 glass and steel office pods, bamboo flooring throughout, complemented by large skylights and decorative lighting.

The owner/developer is Fountainhead Development; architect/interior designer, SMBW; contractor, Capstone Contracting Co.

Best Commercial/Retail Project: Richmond International Airport terminal expansion, adding 155,000 square feet to support nine airlines.

The owner/developer is Capital Region Airport Commission; architect/interior designer, Gresham, Smith and Partners; contractor, Hunt Construction Co.