Rick Fischl, Sarah Rosenblatt and Natsumi Oba, from left, in Hanbury’s new office space on Main Street. (Photos courtesy Hanbury)
After planting its flag in Richmond four years ago, a Norfolk-based architecture and interior design firm is heading to a significantly larger local office space.
Hanbury is getting ready to relocate from Broad Street in the Arts District to 1623 W. Main St. in the Fan.
The firm last fall signed a seven-year lease for the nearly 12,000-square-foot Try-Me Gallery space a block west of Lombardy Street. The move quadruples Hanbury’s current space at 119 W. Broad St., where it set up shop when it expanded to Richmond in 2022.
Sarah Rosenblatt
Because Hanbury has tripled its staff count since then to 21 today, the larger space gives the team room to grow while also providing more conducive spaces for collaboration, said Sarah Rosenblatt. Hanbury recently named her Richmond office lead, heading up the local outpost with associate principals Rick Fischl and Natsumi Oba.
“We’ve outgrown our space and just need more and different types of spaces to really facilitate the type of work we do and the type of collaboration that we really strive to,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s a sizable increase, but it’s a great space and it was a hard one to pass up.”
The group worked with JLL’s Kaylin Farruggio and Gareth Jones to secure the space. Thalhimer’s Jeff Cooke and Reilly Marchant handled lease negotiations for the landlord, an entity tied to local developer Tom Papa that has owned the building since 2015.
Hanbury is aiming to move this spring after completing a light renovation of the space, working with Emerald Construction and engineering firm 2RW. Rosenblatt said the amount of investment that Hanbury is putting into the space hasn’t been finalized.
“We love the space as-is,” she said. “We’re going to add a little bit more enclosed space, but in a very similar manner to what’s already there.”
The building at 1623 W. Main St. is doors down from the former Heritage restaurant and previously housed Try-Me Gallery. (Jonathan Spiers photo)
Having previously housed an art gallery, the space is planned to also highlight Richmond artists and the local art scene, as Hanbury has done with its Broad Street space during the First Fridays art walks and with other events.
“We are hoping, in the same light that we have in our current office, of supporting the local arts and local artist community,” Rosenblatt said. “That’s something that we’re really hoping to utilize in the new space as well, considering that we do have a little bit of extra space.”
Founded in Norfolk in 1979, Hanbury is an employee-owned firm that focuses on architecture, planning and interior design services in areas including higher education, life sciences, and civic and community projects.
Local projects include the upcoming VCU School of Dentistry (with Kahler Slater) and the massive mixed-use building at 3200 W. Moore St. in Scott’s Addition that Hoffman & Associates is developing with DeBartolo Development. Hanbury also developed the latest 10-year plan for Virginia Union University.
Recent additions to Hanbury’s local team include principals Mitch Crowder, previously with Marvel and Architecturefirm, and Patrick Gegen, previously with Architecturefirm and Hickok Cole.
Hanbury’s move to the Fan will make it the latest in a line of architecture firms relocating away from the Arts District area. KEI Architects is moving its Monroe Ward office to the Tilt Creative + Production building in Shockoe Slip, while Hummel Associates has vacated its office on First Street with its recent acquisition by PSH+, which itself moved from Monroe Ward to the Willow Lawn area.
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