Roastology is preparing to relocate for the second time in four years. (Mike Platania photo)
Three years after buying its property in the Fan, a local coffee shop has struck a deal that will send it on the move yet again and bring a new sort of occupant to the site.
Roastology recently sold its 5,000-square-foot building at 2701 W. Cary St. for $1.7 million to the local office of architecture firm ENV.
Roastology has operated at the corner of West Cary and South Mulberry streets since owner Dan Allen bought the building in early 2020 for $1.5 million.
The coffee company will remain in the building through the end of the year, under a leaseback agreement. Allen, who founded the company as Adbibo Coffee Co. on Midlothian Turnpike in 2012, said he’s looking at another location for his business but wouldn’t comment further.
After Roastology moves out, ENV will convert the former industrial building into its office. Owned locally by principals Whitney Campbell and Laura Marcus-Plant, ENV’s Richmond operation is affiliated with ENV’s national office in New York and has been in Richmond since 2018, offering architectural and interior design services.
Laura Marcus-Plant and Whitney Campbell. (BizSense file)
ENV’s local work has included Lynx Ventures’ The Current and the first phase of the Sauer Center. It’s also currently working on Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s office conversion in Innsbrook and Capital Square’s mixed-use redevelopment of the N. Chasen & Son complex in Scott’s Addition.
The firm has been leasing a 1,600-square-foot office in Manchester since 2019. With the lease expiration date approaching, Campbell and Marcus-Plant said they decided to look for a permanent home for their staff of nine.
“While we have loved where we are, we were limited in how we could subdivide the space and had run out of room to grow,” the duo said in an email. “We liked the idea of having some permanence by owning property we could utilize long term.”
ENV’s deal with Roastology was finalized July 24. CBRE’s Chris Wallace and Eric Williford represented ENV in the deal. The city most recently assessed the building and its land at a combined $842,000.
ENV is looking to begin renovations in early 2024 and move in by the second quarter. Campbell and Marcus-Plant said the building has been kept in great shape and is well suited for an office conversion.
“The space is divided into rooms roughly the size of two-car garages, due to its previous life as an auto mechanic shop,” the duo said. “For us, this module worked nicely for a materials library, studio space and conference rooms, with lots of flexible lounge space for design meetings near the front doors.”
The future is less clear for a property across Mulberry Street, as the former Cary St. Cafe site at 2631 W. Cary St. has sat vacant since its 2021 sale to the owners of The Eatery in Carytown.
Roastology is preparing to relocate for the second time in four years. (Mike Platania photo)
Three years after buying its property in the Fan, a local coffee shop has struck a deal that will send it on the move yet again and bring a new sort of occupant to the site.
Roastology recently sold its 5,000-square-foot building at 2701 W. Cary St. for $1.7 million to the local office of architecture firm ENV.
Roastology has operated at the corner of West Cary and South Mulberry streets since owner Dan Allen bought the building in early 2020 for $1.5 million.
The coffee company will remain in the building through the end of the year, under a leaseback agreement. Allen, who founded the company as Adbibo Coffee Co. on Midlothian Turnpike in 2012, said he’s looking at another location for his business but wouldn’t comment further.
After Roastology moves out, ENV will convert the former industrial building into its office. Owned locally by principals Whitney Campbell and Laura Marcus-Plant, ENV’s Richmond operation is affiliated with ENV’s national office in New York and has been in Richmond since 2018, offering architectural and interior design services.
Laura Marcus-Plant and Whitney Campbell. (BizSense file)
ENV’s local work has included Lynx Ventures’ The Current and the first phase of the Sauer Center. It’s also currently working on Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s office conversion in Innsbrook and Capital Square’s mixed-use redevelopment of the N. Chasen & Son complex in Scott’s Addition.
The firm has been leasing a 1,600-square-foot office in Manchester since 2019. With the lease expiration date approaching, Campbell and Marcus-Plant said they decided to look for a permanent home for their staff of nine.
“While we have loved where we are, we were limited in how we could subdivide the space and had run out of room to grow,” the duo said in an email. “We liked the idea of having some permanence by owning property we could utilize long term.”
ENV’s deal with Roastology was finalized July 24. CBRE’s Chris Wallace and Eric Williford represented ENV in the deal. The city most recently assessed the building and its land at a combined $842,000.
ENV is looking to begin renovations in early 2024 and move in by the second quarter. Campbell and Marcus-Plant said the building has been kept in great shape and is well suited for an office conversion.
“The space is divided into rooms roughly the size of two-car garages, due to its previous life as an auto mechanic shop,” the duo said. “For us, this module worked nicely for a materials library, studio space and conference rooms, with lots of flexible lounge space for design meetings near the front doors.”
The future is less clear for a property across Mulberry Street, as the former Cary St. Cafe site at 2631 W. Cary St. has sat vacant since its 2021 sale to the owners of The Eatery in Carytown.
When I saw the price of the 2020 sale, we did some quick math at our office to figure how many $4.25 lattes you’d have to sell each day to pay the note on the building. It was something like one every 90 seconds if it was magically free to make them. Mad props to everyone who makes a go in that industry–cool building.
It’s unfortunate to lose a retail tenant on Cary St as Carytown pushes further East. The size of the building Roastology used seemed awfully large/expensive to operate for a coffee shop. Hopefully something similar will open close to Robinson St to fill the caffeine void.
Is Carytown pushing East though? We have been hearing that for years. If anything, east of Carytown, is getting more residential.
It’ll always ebb and flow with the retail market and it’s a slow process. However, compared to where things were before 2005 or 2010, I’ve seen many improvements suggesting Carytown and/or its influence is creeping East. We have had a decent number of restaurants and shops east of Arthur Ashe Boulevard with Kreggers, The Coop, Cary St Cafe, the Clothes Rack, Beet Box, ReCycled, ReDefineRVA, Wink and Roastology. I’m not sure what will come of the new Hive owned/operated building east of Kreggers, but it seems likely there may be another street facing tenant. Past Robinson St there are PBR,… Read more »
There is already no shortage of retail North of the James, and there is also no shortage of potential space for retail.
As to your comment on space, A+! I know a woman that once managed a coffeeshop (she co-owns some restaurants now) she said if she ever opened a coffee joint, it would be as close to a “window” as she could make it, maybe with some weather proof seating outside at most.
Laura Marcus-Plant and Whitney Campbell are two amazing business leaders, talented architects/designers and women on the go! They will add so much to the area and be excellent neighbors to all. Congratulations! I am so happy for you and ENV!
Roastology has a parking lot in front of its building which they refuse to use. On Saturday and Sunday mornings there is often bumper-to-bumper gridlock from their customers driving through the residential neighborhood to pick up their coffee. Good riddance. Lots of people in the neighborhood are looking forward to the arrival of ENV!
I can understand how folks who live just adjacent would feel that way, Architects would make great neighbors. EVERYONE wants a coffeeshop a short walk away, but few want a busy one right next door.
PARKING!
I’m sure these ENV people are great, but a historic and beloved retail, shopping and food corridor needs – you guessed it – retail, shopping, and food businesses, not an office that does not engage or enrich the neighborhood or community. This is/was a fantastic space for a coffee shop and community third space that will now be closed off to the community. No laws broken, of course, but a waste of a space, if I dare call it like I see it.
I agree. Let the downvotes come, but I think this is an incredibly lame development for a stretch of Cary Street that’s been very exciting over the past several years. This is…exactly the opposite of “exciting.”
I completely agree, Randall. It’s a shame to see it become an office that will offer nothing to add to the walkability of the area.
I don’t agree, and it looks like I will get the downvotes — I’m not sure the fan area needs another coffeeshop or artesianal cocktail purveyor.
I like having more higher-skilled businesses to support the lower skilled ones. I can’t design a tall building, but even my 13 year old daughter can make coffee.
The vacant building a block east The Coop occupied would make a great coffee shop, just saying. So would the old Cary Street Cafe across the street. Those are the only two holes really in that stretch of Cary.
I knew an Architect who ran his firm out of an old auto repair shop, and he told me that he LOVED the way they worked as buildings and that he would find himself driving in a rural area or largely vacant town and see and old garage and be daydreaming of turning it into offices or some kind of hip retail with indoor-outdoor abilities and then catch himself and say what we all say when we see a bldg like that in a location that is less than workable… Anyway, those things are the ultimate smallish flex spaces, and… Read more »
Congratulations Whitney and Laura! It’s great to see ENV thriving in Richmond.