Commonwealth Architects acquired by N.Y.-based firm

CommonwealthArchitects2 Cropped

The Commonwealth Architects team at a recent 25th anniversary party. (Photo courtesy Commonwealth Architects)

After teaming up for a project at Maymont, a local architecture firm and a New York-based peer have decided to make their collaboration permanent.

Richmond-based Commonwealth Architects has been acquired by CPL, a 50-year-old firm with two dozen offices in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

The acquisition closed Nov. 1 and was announced this week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Commonwealth, which is launched 25 years ago and is based in Shockoe Slip, is now CPL’s 25th office and its first in Virginia.

CommonwealthArchitects1

Commonwealth’s office at 101 Shockoe Slip. (Jonathan Spiers photo)

Commonwealth will be transitioning to the CPL name and branding over the next several months. The acquisition adds 13 employees from Commonwealth to CPL’s staff, which totals over 500.

Commonwealth President Lee Shadbolt said the firm was approached two years ago by CPL, which had been looking to expand to Virginia and plant its flag in Richmond specifically. The location fills what had been a geographic gap between CPL’s footprint in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio and its offices in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.

Lee Shadbolt

Lee Shadbolt

“When we started to talk, we realized that CPL felt very much like Commonwealth Architects. We have a lot of commonalities in the way that we work, what our values are and the systems that we’re using, so that felt comfortable for both sides from the start,” Shadbolt said.

After talking it over for about 18 months, the firms did a test run of sorts by going in together on a project for the Maymont Foundation to design a renovation of Maymont’s Dooley Mansion and several new wildlife enclosures – part of a $12 million enhancement effort ahead of Maymont’s 100th anniversary next year.

While the renovation of the century-old mansion fell in Commonwealth’s wheelhouse, Shadbolt said the firm needed CPL to handle the wildlife part – a sharing of resources that he said will continue and provide the local office with what he called “bench strength.”

“We have a real talented design studio, but the ability to just reach out to the rest of CPL, just like we did to get the Maymont Foundation project – yes, we had enough historic experience to be able to get the job, but we had absolutely no experience with animal enclosures and doing kind of a small zoo. They did,” Shadbolt said. “They have these pockets of expertise that’s nice to be able to tap into.”

Todd Liebert, CPL’s CEO, said the Commonwealth team brings with it design expertise in higher education and community projects, which make up two of CPL’s five focus areas that also include K-12, infrastructure and healthcare.

Liebert Todd medium

Todd Liebert

“We had been trying to get into Richmond since 2021,” Liebert said. “In the discussions that we had with Lee and his team, it became evident that there was a great fit from a talent standpoint.

“They align very well with our higher education and our community and culture work that we do. We already did some work in Virginia, but now, with this coming together with Commonwealth, it provides us with a completely different footprint,” he said.

CPL worked with Denver-based BaseRock Partners in its M&A search. Liebert said CPL’s gross revenue last year totaled $100 million.

Revenue numbers for Commonwealth were not provided. In 2017, when it acquired Henrico-based firm Architects Dayton Thompson & Associates, Commonwealth brought in about $4 million in annual net revenue. Three years later, Commonwealth acquired another local firm, Boynton Rothschild Rowland Architects PC.

Founded in 1999 by Doug Harnsberger, Bob Mills and Dominic Venuto, Commonwealth carved out focus areas over the years that included interior architecture, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse and infill design.

Its local projects have included the apartments conversion of the old Baker Public School in Jackson Ward, an expansion of the Highland Woods Apartments and Highwoods Townhomes in Highland Springs, and the boutique hotel planned for The Shenandoah building off Monument Avenue.

Beyond the name change, Shadbolt said the local office will continue as it has but with the additional resources of CPL behind it. In addition to the Shenandoah hotel, the office is working on four projects for the University of Mary Washington, a new courthouse in Petersburg and the Altitude on Main project that’s converting the Whytestone Plaza office tower in Richmond to apartments.

“I think it was time for us,” Shadbolt said of the acquisition. “Every couple years, you have to reinvent yourself in this industry. And with CPL comes better opportunities for our employees, better opportunities with clients, and better recruitment opportunities and better retention for the people that we have.”

CommonwealthArchitects2 Cropped

The Commonwealth Architects team at a recent 25th anniversary party. (Photo courtesy Commonwealth Architects)

After teaming up for a project at Maymont, a local architecture firm and a New York-based peer have decided to make their collaboration permanent.

Richmond-based Commonwealth Architects has been acquired by CPL, a 50-year-old firm with two dozen offices in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

The acquisition closed Nov. 1 and was announced this week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Commonwealth, which is launched 25 years ago and is based in Shockoe Slip, is now CPL’s 25th office and its first in Virginia.

CommonwealthArchitects1

Commonwealth’s office at 101 Shockoe Slip. (Jonathan Spiers photo)

Commonwealth will be transitioning to the CPL name and branding over the next several months. The acquisition adds 13 employees from Commonwealth to CPL’s staff, which totals over 500.

Commonwealth President Lee Shadbolt said the firm was approached two years ago by CPL, which had been looking to expand to Virginia and plant its flag in Richmond specifically. The location fills what had been a geographic gap between CPL’s footprint in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio and its offices in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.

Lee Shadbolt

Lee Shadbolt

“When we started to talk, we realized that CPL felt very much like Commonwealth Architects. We have a lot of commonalities in the way that we work, what our values are and the systems that we’re using, so that felt comfortable for both sides from the start,” Shadbolt said.

After talking it over for about 18 months, the firms did a test run of sorts by going in together on a project for the Maymont Foundation to design a renovation of Maymont’s Dooley Mansion and several new wildlife enclosures – part of a $12 million enhancement effort ahead of Maymont’s 100th anniversary next year.

While the renovation of the century-old mansion fell in Commonwealth’s wheelhouse, Shadbolt said the firm needed CPL to handle the wildlife part – a sharing of resources that he said will continue and provide the local office with what he called “bench strength.”

“We have a real talented design studio, but the ability to just reach out to the rest of CPL, just like we did to get the Maymont Foundation project – yes, we had enough historic experience to be able to get the job, but we had absolutely no experience with animal enclosures and doing kind of a small zoo. They did,” Shadbolt said. “They have these pockets of expertise that’s nice to be able to tap into.”

Todd Liebert, CPL’s CEO, said the Commonwealth team brings with it design expertise in higher education and community projects, which make up two of CPL’s five focus areas that also include K-12, infrastructure and healthcare.

Liebert Todd medium

Todd Liebert

“We had been trying to get into Richmond since 2021,” Liebert said. “In the discussions that we had with Lee and his team, it became evident that there was a great fit from a talent standpoint.

“They align very well with our higher education and our community and culture work that we do. We already did some work in Virginia, but now, with this coming together with Commonwealth, it provides us with a completely different footprint,” he said.

CPL worked with Denver-based BaseRock Partners in its M&A search. Liebert said CPL’s gross revenue last year totaled $100 million.

Revenue numbers for Commonwealth were not provided. In 2017, when it acquired Henrico-based firm Architects Dayton Thompson & Associates, Commonwealth brought in about $4 million in annual net revenue. Three years later, Commonwealth acquired another local firm, Boynton Rothschild Rowland Architects PC.

Founded in 1999 by Doug Harnsberger, Bob Mills and Dominic Venuto, Commonwealth carved out focus areas over the years that included interior architecture, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse and infill design.

Its local projects have included the apartments conversion of the old Baker Public School in Jackson Ward, an expansion of the Highland Woods Apartments and Highwoods Townhomes in Highland Springs, and the boutique hotel planned for The Shenandoah building off Monument Avenue.

Beyond the name change, Shadbolt said the local office will continue as it has but with the additional resources of CPL behind it. In addition to the Shenandoah hotel, the office is working on four projects for the University of Mary Washington, a new courthouse in Petersburg and the Altitude on Main project that’s converting the Whytestone Plaza office tower in Richmond to apartments.

“I think it was time for us,” Shadbolt said of the acquisition. “Every couple years, you have to reinvent yourself in this industry. And with CPL comes better opportunities for our employees, better opportunities with clients, and better recruitment opportunities and better retention for the people that we have.”

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