The Boy Scouts are planning a new hub for the region’s offices and troops. Renderings courtesy of Boy Scouts Heart of Virginia Council.
As its multimillion-dollar fundraiser quietly continues, a local nonprofit has secured the land for its new home.
The Boy Scouts of America’s Heart of Virginia Council recently completed its $450,000 purchase of a 2-acre parcel at 9040 Stony Point Parkway, the future site of its Center for Scouting.
The 23,000-square-foot center will include conference space, training rooms, space for special events and a Pinewood Derby track in the lobby. The goal is to construct a facility that will cater to the 12,300 Boy Scouts that the Heart of Virginia Council supports.
“This is going to be a true starting point for a boy’s, and a family’s, adventure in scouting,” Deputy Scout Executive Todd Martin said. “Currently, we’re in a 1954 office building, and it’s really just an administrative office. This new center will be the true home for scouting locally.”
But first, the organization has some fundraising to do. It is in the quiet phase of a $7.6 million capital campaign that will fund the Center for Scouting. It has raised $1.2 million so far.
The new facility will be less than a mile from Stony Point Fashion Park near the intersection of Chippenham and Stony Point parkways.
Martin said the council is attempting to reach at least 50 percent of its goal before going public with the campaign. This initial phase is aimed at a list of donors and securing donor leadership.
Marshall Morton, former CEO of Media General, is one of the leaders heading up the early phase of the campaign. The organization also received a $300,000 challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation.
The council had planned to close on the 2.28-acre parcel last October but was stalled in purchasing the land from Highwoods Properties as the city finalized a subdivision plan and the parcel’s boundaries.
The group chose the Stony Point parcel because it is centrally located for the group’s members, Martin said. The council serves scouts in the Central Virginia area, but also includes Virginia’s Northern Neck and goes as far east as New Kent and Charles City counties.
“This area has a good road network, since it is just off Chippenham Parkway, and is good for accessing most parts of the region,” Martin said.
He said when the group moved from a house to its current home at 4015 Fitzhugh Ave. in November of 1992, the transition was a big step up for the organization. But now it has outgrown even that facility.
“I was just talking to someone the other day who asked, ‘Why not just lease or rent space?’” Martin said. “But our thing is, we need to design this so it speaks to scouting, it can be a real home, not just a temporary space. It needs to inspire people about the outdoors and scouting.”
Local architecture firm Baskervill is designing the project for the council. Martin said they have yet to select a general contractor and are not ready to start that part of the process.
The council operates with a $3.3 million annual budget, Martin said.
The Boy Scouts are planning a new hub for the region’s offices and troops. Renderings courtesy of Boy Scouts Heart of Virginia Council.
As its multimillion-dollar fundraiser quietly continues, a local nonprofit has secured the land for its new home.
The Boy Scouts of America’s Heart of Virginia Council recently completed its $450,000 purchase of a 2-acre parcel at 9040 Stony Point Parkway, the future site of its Center for Scouting.
The 23,000-square-foot center will include conference space, training rooms, space for special events and a Pinewood Derby track in the lobby. The goal is to construct a facility that will cater to the 12,300 Boy Scouts that the Heart of Virginia Council supports.
“This is going to be a true starting point for a boy’s, and a family’s, adventure in scouting,” Deputy Scout Executive Todd Martin said. “Currently, we’re in a 1954 office building, and it’s really just an administrative office. This new center will be the true home for scouting locally.”
But first, the organization has some fundraising to do. It is in the quiet phase of a $7.6 million capital campaign that will fund the Center for Scouting. It has raised $1.2 million so far.
The new facility will be less than a mile from Stony Point Fashion Park near the intersection of Chippenham and Stony Point parkways.
Martin said the council is attempting to reach at least 50 percent of its goal before going public with the campaign. This initial phase is aimed at a list of donors and securing donor leadership.
Marshall Morton, former CEO of Media General, is one of the leaders heading up the early phase of the campaign. The organization also received a $300,000 challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation.
The council had planned to close on the 2.28-acre parcel last October but was stalled in purchasing the land from Highwoods Properties as the city finalized a subdivision plan and the parcel’s boundaries.
The group chose the Stony Point parcel because it is centrally located for the group’s members, Martin said. The council serves scouts in the Central Virginia area, but also includes Virginia’s Northern Neck and goes as far east as New Kent and Charles City counties.
“This area has a good road network, since it is just off Chippenham Parkway, and is good for accessing most parts of the region,” Martin said.
He said when the group moved from a house to its current home at 4015 Fitzhugh Ave. in November of 1992, the transition was a big step up for the organization. But now it has outgrown even that facility.
“I was just talking to someone the other day who asked, ‘Why not just lease or rent space?’” Martin said. “But our thing is, we need to design this so it speaks to scouting, it can be a real home, not just a temporary space. It needs to inspire people about the outdoors and scouting.”
Local architecture firm Baskervill is designing the project for the council. Martin said they have yet to select a general contractor and are not ready to start that part of the process.
The council operates with a $3.3 million annual budget, Martin said.