Project Announcement: Virginia Public Media Richmond HQ
SMBW is thrilled to be working with Virginia Public Media on realizing their Richmond headquarters.
“VPM Media Corp. and the Virginia Foundation for Public Media announced Wednesday that it is building a new headquarters in Downtown Richmond.
The nonprofit’s new site is currently a surface parking lot located along East Broad and Grace streets in the Monroe Ward area, between North 1st and Foushee streets. VPM is currently headquartered in Chesterfield County at 23 Sesame St., which was built in 1964.
‘We're thrilled to come into that location in the heart of Richmond and activate what has been a parking lot for decades,’ Jayme Swain, president and CEO of VPM Media Corp. and the Virginia Foundation for Public Media, told VPM News last week.
The project will consist of two buildings with a parking deck in between, VPM said in a press release. It is expected to be funded by the foundation and a community fundraising effort.
A five-story, 53,700-square-foot building facing East Broad Street will have audio, television and digital content production studios.
VPM operates public television stations VPM PBS, VPM Plus, VPM PBS KIDS, VPM Create, VPM WORLD, as well as VPM News and VPM Music. VPM Media Corp. also operates Style Weekly, which it purchased in 2021.
Swain said current efforts have been focused on designing the new building's exterior, but VPM is planning for a street-level community studio and event space: ‘Imagine a regular studio, you would see it now with the lights and cameras, but an ability to do community events there and have that transparency from the public from the Broad Street side.’”