A rendering of VPM’s planned five-story headquarters that would feature TV and audio studios in addition to event space in downtown Richmond. (Images courtesy of VPM)
After nearly 60 years on Sesame Street, VPM will soon be on its way to downtown Richmond.
The public media organization announced plans Wednesday to relocate from its current home at 23 Sesame St. in Chesterfield County to a new five-story, 53,000-square-foot headquarters building at 13-17 E. Broad St., next to jewelry store Waller & Co.
VPM President Jayme Swain said the nonprofit’s current, similar-sized headquarters was built in 1964 and has reached its technological limits, which motivated the organization to find a new home better equipped to handle the needs it has in modern times.
“The impetus for thinking about a facility upgrade was the technology,” Swain said. “Certainly the technology that was implemented in 1964 no longer allows us to meet our mission.”
In addition to being home to the nonprofit’s news operations, the new complex would also be a venue for civic programming and events. For those uses, VPM was in search of a more central location, Swain said.
“We see this building not just being production and content distribution, but a space to convene the community, whether that’s film festivals, forums, debate (or) music performances,” she said. “We are public media and we see ourselves as a convener. That’s harder and harder in Chesterfield where we currently are. It used to be a wide-open field and now there’s a lot of growth and it’s harder to find us.”
VPM is under contract to purchase a 0.7-acre parcel that’s now a parking lot and owned by an LLC tied to Fred Shaia. It expects to close on the sale at the end of the year, Swain said.
Jayme Swain
Swain declined to share how much VPM is planning to pay to acquire the site and said a cost estimate for construction of the new headquarters was still being worked out.
The property most recently was assessed at $1.7 million, according to online city land records.
The Virginia Foundation for Public Media, which is affiliated with VPM, will provide funding for the project alongside a fundraising campaign.
VPM hopes to break ground next spring. The organization aims to move into the building in the spring of 2026. SMBW is the project architect. A general contractor hasn’t been selected yet.
The property fronts both Broad and Grace streets. The five-story VPM headquarters building will be built fronting Broad Street, while a 1,500-square-foot, one-story building is planned for the Grace Street side. A parking structure is also part of the plans.
The headquarters building will feature studios for TV, audio and digital operations in addition to a ground-floor studio for the community and event space to hold live broadcast events.
Swain said the uses of the one-story building on Grace were still being considered.
“The Grace Street building is a requirement from the city, because what they don’t want is for Grace Street to just have a lot of parking structures. We’re still early in thinking about whether that’s going to be VPM programming or if that’s an opportunity to lease or find a partner to work with us,” she said.
Swain said the city’s economic development office helped VPM identify potential sites for the new headquarters and talks were underway between city and VPM leaders about an incentive package tied to the relocation to Richmond.
A rendering of VPM’s planned 1,500-square-foot, one-story building that would front Grace Street as part of a larger project to build a new headquarters facility in downtown Richmond.
VPM owns its current Chesterfield property, and the organization’s leadership is still talking about the future of that facility. Ideas being kicked around include selling or leasing portions of the property to other users.
Swain said VPM will continue to need the site’s two, 1,000-foot broadcast towers, which the organization doesn’t own, and will maintain a minimal presence in Chesterfield after the Richmond headquarters is operational.
Swain said public transit and the ability to be closer to city and state decision-makers also attracted VPM to the site in Richmond.
“From a news organization point of view, we’re proximate to City Hall and the Capitol. We’re an arts and culture organization and now we’re in the heart of the Arts District,” she said of the future headquarters.
VPM has 99 employees assigned to the headquarters facility. The organization, which also has offices in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, has a total of 110 employees.
VPM operates TV and radio stations that broadcast across Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. The public media organization’s TV stations are VPM Plus, VPM PBS KIDS, VPM Create (a lifestyle channel) and VPM World (international programming). The organization also operates radio stations VPM News (the Richmond NPR station) and VPM Music, and owns news publication Style Weekly, which it revived in 2021.
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