Former Dominion Energy tower in Richmond getting $158M makeover

The former Dominion Energy tower in downtown Richmond is undergoing a $158 million transformation that will result in a new hotel, housing and dining.

Washington, D.C.-based Douglas Development, the project developer, purchased the building at 707 E. Main St. for about $19.25 million near the end of 2024. The building is 325,000 square feet and 20 floors. Isaac Rudin, Douglas’s capital markets and investments manager, said this week the company began interior demolition activities in early 2025 and that construction is now underway.

The approximately 207-room hotel will be under Marriott‘s AC Hotels brand and is expected to open sometime between March and May of next year. Meanwhile, the housing component, featuring 288 market-rate multifamily apartments, will likely be completed by the fall of 2027, although Rudin said it could take “up to two years.”

The project will feature exterior LED lighting, low-flow plumbing and energy-efficient HVAC systems. Rudin said the company will preserve the building’s historic facade, which was constructed in the 1970s.

A sizable portion of the project is being funded through a $38 million commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) loan, which is being financed through Nuveen Green Capital,  a commercial real estate financing firm specializing in clean energy and energy efficiency financing for buildings.

The statewide C-PACE program enables eligible property owners to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, resiliency and other measures on their property through a loan that is placed as a special assessment lien. The nonprofit Virginia PACE Authority administers the program.

The Dominion tower revamp is the first project in Richmond to utilize the C-PACE program, following Richmond City Council’s 2023 passage of an ordinance to join the program.

“We are honored to partner with the City of Richmond and Virginia PACE on Richmond’s first C-PACE-financed project,” Rudin said in a statement. “This financing makes possible a development that will reinvigorate the downtown area, provide essential housing and hospitality services and preserve the city’s urban and historic fabric.”

According to the authority, the project will provide total energy savings of $3.3 million. In a statement, Virginia Pace Authority Executive Director Abby Johnson said the renovation of the Dominion Energy tower will provide “much needed rental housing in the city” and that it’s the seventh project to close under the Virginia C-PACE Program.

According to the authority, the types of building measures on commercial and multifamily properties that the C-PACE program supports include reduced energy, water or other operating costs, improved business profitability, increased property value and improved resiliency to the real estate.

Established in 1985, Douglas Development has more than 270 properties across 7 states and D.C., including over 19 million rentable square feet and over 3,600 residential units.