VCU Buys Downtown Altria Building for $150M
Virginia Commonwealth University will purchase the Altria Center for Research and Technology in downtown Richmond for $150 million. The major acquisition expands VCU's academic and research footprint, potentially creating new opportunities for health sciences and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The nine-story Altria building, located at 601 E. Jackson St., adds 450,000 square feet of advanced research labs and academic space adjacent to VCU's medical campus. Acquiring the facility is projected to be one-third the cost and five to nine years faster than building a comparable new structure. This expansion provides modern lab space for VCU's Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and is expected to house parts of the School of Pharmacy and School of Public Health. The university states the facility is critical for attracting top researchers and strengthening Richmond as a hub for pharmaceutical innovation. The acquisition aligns with VCU's established focus on women's health. The university's Institute for Women's Health (IWH), founded in 1999, was designated a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health in 2003 and involves nearly 200 affiliate faculty members from across VCU. VCU also hosts a federally funded program called Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH), which trains junior faculty in five key areas, including Maternal-Child Health. The IWH has helped bring over $36 million in research funding to VCU in the last three years. VCU Health currently operates the only midwifery practice in the Richmond area to receive the American College of Nurse-Midwives' Triple Aim Best Practice designation. Its team of Certified Nurse-Midwives specializes in low-intervention childbirth and collaborates with on-site OB-GYNs. The expansion comes as Virginia grapples with significant healthcare workforce shortages, with about 36% of its counties classified as "maternity care deserts". Recent legislation aims to address these gaps by expanding midwives' scope of practice and ensuring insurance reimbursement parity to make the profession more sustainable. A new state law, HB 1904, will allow certified nurse midwives to provide 24-hour on-call nursery care in hospitals when a physician is unavailable, a measure specifically aimed at keeping rural labor and delivery units open.
