Project Snapshot: First phase of $500M Kinsale Center takes shape with building’s ‘re-skinning’

An updated rendering of the planned Kinsale Center. (Courtesy Kinsale/Marchetti Development)

The first phase of a roughly $500 million development near Willow Lawn has hit an eye-catching milestone in its construction. 

Kinsale Capital Group and Marchetti Development Co. are preparing to “re-skin” the former Anthem office building at 2015 Staples Mill Road as it’s transformed into Kinsale’s new headquarters. 

The redevelopment of the 254,000-square-foot office building is the first phase of Kinsale Center, a mixed-use development that’s planned to replace nearly 30 acres of surface parking lots at the corner of West Broad Street and Staples Mill Road. 

Kinsale, a publicly traded specialty insurance firm, and Marchetti unveiled their plans for the project a year ago, and renovation work on the office building began in early 2024, just weeks after Henrico County approved the development. 

The concrete façade on the 1960s-era building has been removed to make way for a glass façade, and the interior of the building has been gutted, exposing its concrete floors and framing.

“It’s quite a project,” said Kinsale CEO Michael Kehoe. “When you see the glass skin that goes up, it’ll be a much more contemporary look to the building with a lot more natural light.”

The building will replace Kinsale’s relatively new office headquarters, which was built in 2020 and sits nearby at 2035 Maywill St. Kehoe said the catalyst for the entire Kinsale Center project was the growth of his company, which saw its staff increase from around 300 in 2020 to more than 650 today. 

An extensive renovation and addition to the former Anthem office is underway. (Mike Platania photo)

Kinsale is aiming to complete its move sometime in the second half of 2025. Joe Marchetti Jr., who leads Marchetti Development with son Joe Marchetti III, said they’re in discussions with prospective tenants to take over Kinsale’s current Maywill office building once it becomes available. 

The next phases of Kinsale Center will largely be on the property’s north end near Thalbro Street and are planned to include a nine-story, 160-room hotel; a six-story, 258-unit apartment building; and a 1,300-space parking deck. 

The new hotel marks one of the changes to Kinsale Center’s master plan since it was approved. The development initially included only one hotel and nearly 700 apartments but now is planned for two hotels and about 550 apartments. Marchetti said that the switch was driven by market changes and that they hope to begin work on phase two in early 2025. 

Kinsale Center’s site plan.

The totality of Kinsale Center is expected to take around a decade to complete. Subsequent phases call for 190,000 square feet of office space spread across three buildings, four mixed-use retail and commercial buildings, a 150-unit apartment building and an 11-story, 290-room hotel. Kinsale and Marchetti worked with Baskervill on the master plan. Hourigan is the general contractor on the Kinsale office redevelopment. 

And there’s more in store for the area surrounding Kinsale Center. Major mixed-use redevelopments in the works nearby include the Ukrop’s Homestyle Food complex, Willow Lawn Shopping Center, Reynolds Crossing and the former Genworth Financial Campus, though none has broken ground yet.

Kehoe said he’s glad to have Kinsale Center leading the charge. 

“This part of town has a lot of momentum. We’re right in the middle of all this good stuff, I think it’s a winner,” he said. “It’s a really interesting part of town that I think was crying out for a better design plan than 29 acres of surface parking.”