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CoStar further commits to Greater Richmond
June 17, 2021
CoStar, the largest commercial real estate information and analytics provider, performs business with leading real estate firms throughout the U.S., the U.K. and Canada from its global research headquarters in the City of Richmond. Settled overlooking the James River, CoStar continues to expand in the city and spread its resources throughout the region.
Richmond’s canal walk will soon be bustling with more and more CoStar employees as the firm recently announced its expansion in Richmond in part of the historic Tredegar Iron Works and American Civil War Museum. The company will use the space to accommodate advanced client-facing technology to support virtual meetings and presentations. This news comes just months after CoStar leased 51,000 square feet for 200 employees down the street in Riverfront Plaza.
CoStar sees tremendous value in downtown Richmond real estate. In December 2020, CoStar finalized its acquisition of its current property on Fifth Street. The nine-story building sold for $130 million, one of the most expensive sales in Richmond’s office market history. The company also purchased four acres of land adjacent to its current tower in August 2020.
CoStar’s founder, president and CEO, Andrew C. Florance, said in a statement last August, “We are very excited about the potential. [The space] is a very special site, and we want to make sure that anything we do will be harmonious with the area and the river.” Florance also discussed increasing CoStar’s employee base: “There’s no question with the current trajectory we will need 500 to 1,000 employees a year for the next couple of years — and most will be in Richmond.”
CoStar’s office occupancy has grown tremendously over the past several years. In 2015, the organization originally established its research center with an investment of $8.2 million and announced 732 new jobs. However, the fast-growing firm ramped up to 1,000 employees in a matter of 12 months.
CoStar ended 2016 with 69,000 square feet of space but by 2020, it had increased to 167,000 square feet and is projected to operate on 231,400 square feet by fall of this year. This will place CoStar among the 10 largest office tenants in downtown, joining other companies such as Dominion Energy, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Hunton Andrews Kurth and others.
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