Richmond’s Commission of Architectural Review this week approved a revised certificate of appropriateness application for VPM Media Corporation’s planned headquarters in Monroe Ward.
The proposed five-story commercial building, which would be located at 13 E. Broad Street, is being designed by SMBW; associate Rick Fischl submitted the application since the plans are within the Broad Street Historic District.
The commission did concept reviews of SMBW’s application back in July, but had requested the firm submit clearer elevation drawings of the building as it would be seen from East Grace Street. It approved the updated application as submitted on Tuesday.
A separate East Grace Street–side annex building is also being designed by SMBW, but was not included in the application since it is located outside of the historic district.
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.
As VPM News has previously reported, VPM's current headquarters is in Chesterfield County and was built in the 1960s. Construction of the new headquarters is expected to break ground in 2024 and will be funded by its Virginia Foundation for Public Media as well as a community fundraising effort.
Disclosure: VPM Media Corp. is the FCC license holder of VPM News, which operates as 88.9 FM in Richmond, 89.1 FM in the Northern Neck (Heathsville) and 90.1 FM in Southside Virginia (Chase City). VPM also produces VPM News Focal Point, which airs on VPM PBS.
As a newsroom, VPM News maintains editorial independence — this article went through our usual fact-checking and editing process. Station leadership did not view this article prior to publication.
Questions about this article and VPM News’ overall editorial policy should be directed to Managing Editor Dawnthea M. Price Lisco and News Director Elliott Robinson.
