The Virginia Department of Social Services recently leased 5600 Cox Road to serve as the agency’s headquarters. (BizSense file photos)
As its downtown headquarters is being readied for an apartment conversion, the Virginia Department of Social Services is trading the city for the suburbs.
The agency later this year plans to kick off the relocation of its downtown administrative offices to 5600 Cox Road in Innsbrook, where it is taking over 100,000 square feet. The state agency will occupy about half of the first floor as well as the second and third floors of the three-story building.
The department is moving out of the Wytestone Plaza office building at 801 E. Main St., ahead of a redevelopment project to turn the downtown property into apartments. The agency has leased space in the building since January 2010.
The plan is for the department’s employees to begin to work at the Cox Road headquarters in December. The agency’s lease on the East Main Street location expires at the end of the year. About 850 employees work at the agency’s administrative offices and are planned to make the move to Henrico.
“The new location will offer additional space that will promote interagency collaboration in order to enhance our work in developing more creative and human-centered solutions throughout our many services and programs,” agency spokesman Will Hockaday said in an email to BizSense.
The Wytestone Plaza at the corner of East Main and South Eighth streets is planned to be converted into hundreds of apartments.
The Cox Road building was previously occupied by SunTrust, which departed in 2019. With the lease by VDSS, about 24,000 square feet remain available in the building, which is part of a complex of three office buildings that also includes 5620 and 5640 Cox Road.
Malcolm Randolph and Wood Thornton of Colliers represented the landlord in lease negotiations. The property is owned by Massachusetts-based Franklin Street Properties.
The move of the agency’s headquarters isn’t anticipated to affect its public-facing offices that provide services throughout the region.
“Since the VDSS (Virginia Department of Social Services) home office is not home to public-facing services, the myriad of services offered by local DSS offices in and around Richmond City will not be impacted by the move,” Hockaday said. “Services provided at the Richmond City DSS and Henrico County DSS will also not be disrupted by the move of VDSS’ administrative offices.”
VDSS isn’t the only state agency based downtown and now plotting an exit from the city.
Construction is underway on a new headquarters for the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia in Mechanicsville. The majority of construction on the $189 million project is expected to wrap up in December 2025. Those two organizations have headquarters now at the VA Bio+Tech Park, a research campus in downtown Richmond.
VDSS’ new headquarters isn’t far from the former home of the Innsbrook After Hours concert series, where upcoming food truck park The Glades is planning to begin operation next month.
The Virginia Department of Social Services recently leased 5600 Cox Road to serve as the agency’s headquarters. (BizSense file photos)
As its downtown headquarters is being readied for an apartment conversion, the Virginia Department of Social Services is trading the city for the suburbs.
The agency later this year plans to kick off the relocation of its downtown administrative offices to 5600 Cox Road in Innsbrook, where it is taking over 100,000 square feet. The state agency will occupy about half of the first floor as well as the second and third floors of the three-story building.
The department is moving out of the Wytestone Plaza office building at 801 E. Main St., ahead of a redevelopment project to turn the downtown property into apartments. The agency has leased space in the building since January 2010.
The plan is for the department’s employees to begin to work at the Cox Road headquarters in December. The agency’s lease on the East Main Street location expires at the end of the year. About 850 employees work at the agency’s administrative offices and are planned to make the move to Henrico.
“The new location will offer additional space that will promote interagency collaboration in order to enhance our work in developing more creative and human-centered solutions throughout our many services and programs,” agency spokesman Will Hockaday said in an email to BizSense.
The Wytestone Plaza at the corner of East Main and South Eighth streets is planned to be converted into hundreds of apartments.
The Cox Road building was previously occupied by SunTrust, which departed in 2019. With the lease by VDSS, about 24,000 square feet remain available in the building, which is part of a complex of three office buildings that also includes 5620 and 5640 Cox Road.
Malcolm Randolph and Wood Thornton of Colliers represented the landlord in lease negotiations. The property is owned by Massachusetts-based Franklin Street Properties.
The move of the agency’s headquarters isn’t anticipated to affect its public-facing offices that provide services throughout the region.
“Since the VDSS (Virginia Department of Social Services) home office is not home to public-facing services, the myriad of services offered by local DSS offices in and around Richmond City will not be impacted by the move,” Hockaday said. “Services provided at the Richmond City DSS and Henrico County DSS will also not be disrupted by the move of VDSS’ administrative offices.”
VDSS isn’t the only state agency based downtown and now plotting an exit from the city.
Construction is underway on a new headquarters for the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia in Mechanicsville. The majority of construction on the $189 million project is expected to wrap up in December 2025. Those two organizations have headquarters now at the VA Bio+Tech Park, a research campus in downtown Richmond.
VDSS’ new headquarters isn’t far from the former home of the Innsbrook After Hours concert series, where upcoming food truck park The Glades is planning to begin operation next month.
This is a positive development for the Innsbrook office market, and a plus for the Innsbrook shops.
See ya Richmond City!
It’s interesting to note that many of these suburban offices are leased from for profit owners, while many downtown state occupied buildings are state owned. Therefore, the taxpayers foot the bill for local property taxes when leased but do not when the buildings are state owned.
The downtown offices are coming to the end of their lives and, given the protestations from the Governor at the rising costs of running state government, there’s not the funds to rebuild government-owned offices. Of course, forcing state employees back into offices more often will keep the office footprints higher than they need be on top of this.