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

kinsale center masterplan scaled

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. 

kinsale office Cropped

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 siteplan

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.”

kinsale center masterplan scaled

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. 

kinsale office Cropped

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 siteplan

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.”

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Salim Chishti
Salim Chishti
1 month ago

I like the boulevard/open space concept shown but I still with the parking was located behind the buildings with pedestrian oriented spaces towards the outside.

David Humphrey
David Humphrey
1 month ago
Reply to  Salim Chishti

It may have something to do with the portion along West Broad being located in the City versus the County.

Stephen Weisensale
Stephen Weisensale
1 month ago
Reply to  David Humphrey

To the contrary, the city requires no parking for developments of this nature per the 2023 zoning change for parking. The narrow strip along Broad street is zoned TOD-1, which permits mixed uses up to 12 stories by right, and prohibits surface parking between the street and the building front. But hey, let’s fill it with an asphalt lot because you know, taxes!

Salim Chishti
Salim Chishti
1 month ago
Reply to  Salim Chishti

it should say I “wish”, not “with”. Sorry for the typo.

Bruce Milam
Bruce Milam
1 month ago

This is exciting. I like the hotel development for that corner. West Broad Street is going through a huge transformation from the expressway to I-64 over the next decade.

Michael Morgan-Dodson
Michael Morgan-Dodson
1 month ago
Reply to  Bruce Milam

Agreed and 11-stories just across from the older Holiday Inn is a big change (more vertical) for the area. Looking forward to seeing the new skin up. I do wonder however if all the switches from commercial office to new hotel are feasible? I mean if Holiday Inn stays that would be 3 total hotel at Broad and SMR just down from 2 fairly new hotels at Broad/I-195, that would be just minutes from 1-2 new hotel at Broad and the Boulevard?

Justin Reynolds
Justin Reynolds
1 month ago

This development is an improvement over what is there now, but I had high hopes for a walkable/denser development, especially along W Broad St given the Pulse’s proximity. Unfortunately this rendering is auto-centric and I like the interior roads being added but I wish this was more like West Broad Village instead of having so many small surface parking lots everywhere.

Salim Chishti
Salim Chishti
1 month ago

I agree, you said it better then I did.

Stephen Weisensale
Stephen Weisensale
1 month ago

Local developers seem unable to break out of the 1950s model of surface parking located between the street and the low rise retail boxes. The Staples Mill and Broad intersection appears to be just another anonymous suburban auto centric junction. It would have been nice to see something more creative here. Also the large amount of grade level parking garages with whatever uses located above does not encourage street level pedestrian activities.

Carl Schwendeman
Carl Schwendeman
1 month ago

I really think they should build one 14 or 20 story parking garage and then have some 15 to 25 story buildings in this location. this would get rid of all the smaller parking lots. But in the same scheme of things these smaller parking lots could get replaced with buildings 10 to 15 years in the future after this.