The building at 201 E. Franklin St. is for lease after housing the headquarters for Richmond Fire and Emergency Services for 15 years. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
A sizable office building on a prominent downtown corner is up for grabs after a move by the city’s fire department.
“For lease” signs have been posted on the 25,000-square-foot building at 201 E. Franklin St., which for 15 years has housed the headquarters for Richmond Fire and Emergency Services at Franklin and Second streets.
The department, which leased 19,000 square feet of the building, recently moved its operations to the Ritchie Building at 1904 N. Hamilton St., where it’s consolidating support services and logistics storage for nine stations in the city.
The department has moved operations to the building and warehouse at 1904 N. Hamilton St. (Photo courtesy LoopNet)
The city-owned Theater Row Building at 730 E. Broad St. (BizSense file)
As part of the relocation, some administrative staff and senior personnel have relocated to the city-owned Theater Row building at 730 E. Broad St., which houses other city departments, including Justice Services and the Adult Drug Treatment Court program.
Richmond City Council signed off in June on a 15-year lease for the Hamilton Street space. The 26,000-square-foot building and warehouse, down the street from the Carvana car vending machine tower, is expected to accommodate growth and improve department functions.
The 1.3-acre parcel also includes 50 on-site parking spaces. As a result of the move, the department is eliminating roughly $57,000 in annual parking fees needed for the downtown location, which has 37 on-site spaces.
Fire apparatus and other equipment and vehicles are visible at the Hamilton Street site.
The department is renting the Ritchie Building from an LLC tied to Tim Ritchie, who has owned the building since 2006, city property records show. Built in 1964 and renovated in 2021, the building once housed a national HVAC wholesaler, according a property description included with city documents.
According to the approved lease, the department’s rent starts at nearly $480,000 the first year, or just under $40,000 a month. The rent escalates 3 percent each subsequent year before reaching nearly $725,000, or $60,300 a month, the final year. The 15-year lease includes two five-year renewal options.
The move was prompted by the Franklin Street lease expiring at the end of May. While the department expects its new annual base rent to increase by about $97,000 compared to renewing its lease at its previous location, a memo to City Council states that the new site is 7,300 square feet larger while also eliminating the annual parking fees.
The office building at Franklin and Second streets once housed the chamber of commerce. (Photo courtesy Commonwealth Commercial)
The move frees up 201 E. Franklin St., which is listed for lease by Commonwealth Commercial’s Michael Good, Tucker Dowdy and Jamie Galanti.
Tucker Dowdy
Dowdy said the listing has received interest from primarily office and medical users since it hit the market about a month ago. He said the building could also appeal to a creative-office user.
“We’re trying to lease the entire space and not subdivide. The ownership is okay with it; they would just prefer to have a single tenant instead of multiple tenants,” Dowdy said.
“It’s a really interesting, cool building; lots of natural light, lots of perimeter offices. I think it would work great for a corporate office or nonprofit. Lots of parking over there, and it’s obviously a great location.”
The three-story building was built in 1986 and previously was home to the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, now ChamberRVA. The half-acre property is owned by an LLC tied to Douglas Development, the D.C.-based developer that bought it in 2005 and is actively redeveloping several other buildings in the area.
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