The Genworth campus (highlighted in blue) spans 45 acres.
A front-runner has emerged in the bid to win the redevelopment rights for Genworth Financial’s corporate campus in Henrico County.
Greenberg Gibbons, a Baltimore-based developer and real estate investment firm, is under contract to buy the 45 acres that make up Genworth’s mostly shuttered office complex at 6620 W. Broad St., just east of Glenside Drive.
The pending deal is the result of an RFP process Genworth began in 2021, when the Fortune 500 insurance giant envisioned being the office anchor tenant of a large mixed-use development dubbed Compass Town Center.
While Genworth ultimately decided to move near Innsbrook and scrapped its plans for a new office building in the eventual project, it continued its efforts to find a developer for the campus.
It narrowed its list of prospective buyers to three finalists, with Greenberg Gibbons beating out Thalhimer Realty Partners and Hourigan Group, both of which are Richmond-based.
Genworth declined to comment on the pending deal.
It’s unclear what the sales price will be and when exactly the deal is expected to close. It’s also unclear what Greenberg Gibbons’ plans are for the complex. It hasn’t yet filed a plan of development with the county.
Messages left at Greenberg Gibbons were not returned by press time.
One of the main buildings on Genworth’s current campus.
According to its website, Greenberg Gibbons was founded in 1968 by Erwin Greenberg with an initial focus on retail strip centers. It then expanded into mixed-use projects and developed more than 12 million square feet, including Annapolis Towne Centre, Waugh Chapel Towne Centre and Hunt Valley Towne Centre, all in its home state of Maryland.
A few years ago, it began raising real estate investment funds to invest in properties of all sorts.
Genworth’s Broad Street campus is home to four buildings totaling nearly 500,000 square feet of office space, much of which is past its prime and empty both from the pandemic and previous downsizing. The property also houses vacant land, a large parking deck and a smaller parking deck. The assemblage was most recently assessed by the county at more than $50 million.
Genworth is based temporarily across the street in 88,000 square feet of subleased space at 6603 W. Broad St., a building previously occupied by Altria in Reynolds Crossing.
It will remain in that building while its new home in the former SunTrust Business Center at 11011 and 11013 W. Broad St. is renovated. The company will eventually occupy 175,000 square feet in those two buildings.
Genworth has approximately 800 local employees and 2,000 companywide.
Henrico has watched Genworth’s land closely after identifying it as an attractive spot on its future development map. The property was the subject of a county charrette in 2019 to begin to study the best uses of the campus.
The Genworth campus (highlighted in blue) spans 45 acres.
A front-runner has emerged in the bid to win the redevelopment rights for Genworth Financial’s corporate campus in Henrico County.
Greenberg Gibbons, a Baltimore-based developer and real estate investment firm, is under contract to buy the 45 acres that make up Genworth’s mostly shuttered office complex at 6620 W. Broad St., just east of Glenside Drive.
The pending deal is the result of an RFP process Genworth began in 2021, when the Fortune 500 insurance giant envisioned being the office anchor tenant of a large mixed-use development dubbed Compass Town Center.
While Genworth ultimately decided to move near Innsbrook and scrapped its plans for a new office building in the eventual project, it continued its efforts to find a developer for the campus.
It narrowed its list of prospective buyers to three finalists, with Greenberg Gibbons beating out Thalhimer Realty Partners and Hourigan Group, both of which are Richmond-based.
Genworth declined to comment on the pending deal.
It’s unclear what the sales price will be and when exactly the deal is expected to close. It’s also unclear what Greenberg Gibbons’ plans are for the complex. It hasn’t yet filed a plan of development with the county.
Messages left at Greenberg Gibbons were not returned by press time.
One of the main buildings on Genworth’s current campus.
According to its website, Greenberg Gibbons was founded in 1968 by Erwin Greenberg with an initial focus on retail strip centers. It then expanded into mixed-use projects and developed more than 12 million square feet, including Annapolis Towne Centre, Waugh Chapel Towne Centre and Hunt Valley Towne Centre, all in its home state of Maryland.
A few years ago, it began raising real estate investment funds to invest in properties of all sorts.
Genworth’s Broad Street campus is home to four buildings totaling nearly 500,000 square feet of office space, much of which is past its prime and empty both from the pandemic and previous downsizing. The property also houses vacant land, a large parking deck and a smaller parking deck. The assemblage was most recently assessed by the county at more than $50 million.
Genworth is based temporarily across the street in 88,000 square feet of subleased space at 6603 W. Broad St., a building previously occupied by Altria in Reynolds Crossing.
It will remain in that building while its new home in the former SunTrust Business Center at 11011 and 11013 W. Broad St. is renovated. The company will eventually occupy 175,000 square feet in those two buildings.
Genworth has approximately 800 local employees and 2,000 companywide.
Henrico has watched Genworth’s land closely after identifying it as an attractive spot on its future development map. The property was the subject of a county charrette in 2019 to begin to study the best uses of the campus.
Nice to see this prime real-estate in Henrico will have new life. Looking forward to seeing what they do with this location that it prime for mix use development.
That location was the regions westernmost outpost in the late ‘70’s, after the completion of I-64. Willow Lawn SC was the hot new shopping center. The Hyatt was the exciting new businessman’s hotel. That was rebranded as a Sheraton Hotel, then removed completely as the hotel business shifted further west. It wasn’t difficult to see how that location had diminished in stature. West Broad retail had become a barbell, from Willow Lawn to Short Pump. There will be a resurgence of residential uses along the corridor for the next ten years and that could revive the former Genworth location in… Read more »
I agree with Bruce Milam. This is a 45 acre gem waiting to be polished to its fullest potential! In order for this prime property to flourish, it needs to be developed the right way. Considering our area’s explosive growth, mixed use development is here to stay, for the foreseeable future. If memory serves, I believe this property is within Henrico County’s “Opportunity Zones”thus providing additional potential incentives for this development. In consideration of these factors, it would be great to see Greenberg Gibbons team up with a tried and true local partner, such as Gumenick Properties, to capitalize on… Read more »
I have worked with Greenberg Gibbons in the past. They are capable of developing the property without the assistance of Gumenick Properties. In my opinion Genworth made a good decision in choosing a developer from outside the region. GRTC needs to get its act together and extend the PULSE bus line past Willow Lawn. I’m fairly certain that Henrico County will encourage GRTC to do that. In stages it needs to be extended to Short Pump. The 45 acres will most definitely be mixed use, with more apartments and/or townhouses to come, similar to Libbie Mills. The perimeter of the… Read more »
And Gumenick doesn’t need partners! BTW, I think Southern States is just a partial tenant in the old building of ours.
FWIW, I also agree with Bruce without having his deep memory of the history of the area — I almost always forget the name of Libbie Hill and I don’t even know where Willow Lawn is, but just looking at a map shows the potential of development creeping in from Short Pump and out from Willow Lawn. This site in general is right at the Junction of 64 and 250 and has a walmart supercenter close by(yes, I know, none of you shop at walmart — stop typing…) The question of TRAFFIC will come up, but that is one of… Read more »
Shawn you obviously never been to that Walmart as it is NOT a true Supercenter. It is only 90,000 square feet as supercenters are close to 175-200k square feet. I will say it does generally carry most of the same items but in much smaller quantities and is nice store. I too hope to see the redevelopment of Genworth site. I remember as a kid visiting the Santa Village that used to be a big draw during the Christmas season. Despite the vacancy on the campus, Genworth should be applauded for keeping the site so well maintained. As for Willow… Read more »
Former Life of Virginia complex.
What great memories of Christmas Village, concerts on the lawn including the famous 4th of July concert with Air Force fly over. But most of all the wonder people I met while working here, like family!
Hope new development brings joy to those who live and work in the area.
Don’t forget the home for unwed mothers that was once there. I think it’s my parents said it was but don’t know if was a fact. I do recall what looked like a large 2 frame structure that set off from Broad Street a few hudred yards.
I hadn’t heard anyone mention the home for unwed mothers in decades. My father delivered babies there when he was a student at MCV in the early 50s
In the 70s the Hyatt House hotel had a great restaurant and night club there. That was kind before Shulas moved in
I miss that Christmas Village. I walked through the complex today and it’s sad how it’s deteriorated. The beautiful stream is green and overrun. Ugh.
Nobody has mentioned Don Shula’s steak house that was part of the hotel
It’s amazing how much of this half a mile area is vast half empty parking lots. You could easly add 5,000 units of housing and offices by merging the parking into two or three parking decks.
Vdot does need to rebuild this interchange to allow the sidewalks on Board Street to cross the interstate or any future development could build a pedestrian crossing of the interstate.