Colliers International | Richmond will relocate its Henrico office to Glen Forest Office Park

Usually commercial real estate companies find space to help other companies move.  Yet in a portfolio sale that helps a Boston-based player expand its footprint in the Richmond market, Colliers International | Richmond found itself a new home as well.

The company signed a 12,375-square-foot lease that will relocate its West End office in the Southern States Headquarters Building off West Broad Street to a building in the Glen Forest Office Park off Forest Avenue in Henrico.

The building at 7200 Glen Forest Drive is one of four in a 150,000-square-foot portfolio that was sold to Grander Capital for an undisclosed price. The seller was Chevy Chase Land Co.  Colliers International | Richmond represented both parties in the sale of the properties, and simultaneously leased the largest space.

Grander Capital owns two other properties in Henrico, including a building on North Parham Road and one on Discovery Drive.

“They’re acquisitive and expecting to expand more,” said David Williams, managing director of Collier’s Richmond office. “We’re already working with them on a variety of things in Richmond and other markets.”

Chris Wallace in the firm’s Richmond office, Chris Todd from Colliers’ Norfolk office and Bill Kaye out of Colliers’ Washington, D.C., office handled negotiations on behalf of the buyer and seller. Wallace and Kit Tyler handled lease negotiations on behalf of the lessee.

Colliers expects to move its staff of 45 by Thanksgiving.  Its new building, built in 1986,  includes 36,363 square feet on three floors. It is bordered by I-64, Broad Street and Glenside Drive. Colliers will occupy the entire second floor.  The company has been in its current location at 6606 W. Broad St. since 2004.

Besides being a business opportunity, with Colliers leasing the portfolio space for Grander, “the new office gives us a clean slate,” said Williams. “We want to hire across the board. We have hired millennials, and we’ll continue to do so because there will be more of them soon than anyone else. The floor plan will allow for open collaboration and space to maintain confidentiality for our clients. It will be a good mix.”

Collier also likes the new location, about a quarter of a mile from where it is now. While some companies are flocking back to downtown or to development hotspots such as Scott’s Addition in the city, Williams said a poll of Colliers’ employees found that most of them liked the area. “From a client centric perspective, you can’t get a better logistical location than this. It’s easy access in and out to get to our clients and for them to come to us,” said Williams.

This office will be the primary location for sales, leasing, and brokerage operations. Colliers maintains two other offices in the Richmond area, at 5316 Patterson Avenue and a downtown location in the James Center at 1021 E. Cary St.