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The Hilb Group, an insurance brokerage that has been on a continuous procurement spree since its 2010 launch, is relocating its headquarters from the Stony Point office park to Riverfront Plaza at 901 E. Byrd Street in Richmond, Virginia.
Bob Hilb, founder and CEO, Hilb Group, said that the company signed a lease last week for around 9,000 square feet in the twin-towered complex’s west tower, which is a jump up from 5,000 square feet in its present home at 8720 Stony Point Parkway.
Through a private equity support, Hilb Group has been a regular in recent years on the Inc. 5000 list and BizSense’s RVA 25 list of Richmond’s fastest growing companies, climbing to $125 million in yearly revenue and more than 800 employees nationally after clinching around 40 insurance agencies.
Hilb began searching for a new place about a year ago, as its Southside lease was coming due at the end of 2017.
“While it’s a great building, it has turned into very much a medical office space. There’s nothing wrong with that; it just doesn’t fit our vibe,” Hilb said in an article published on the Richmond BizSense website.
He added that the company looked at many sites downtown and settled on Riverfront Plaza, initially to take space of the east tower’s 11th floor. Fortune 500 Owens & Minor clinched that space, yet Hilb said that Hertz Investment Group and Trib Sutton, CBRE broker, helped get the company on the 18th floor in the neighboring tower.
Hilb reported that major renovations are planned for the space, and expects to move in by year-end. The company will cover some of those expenses, along with tenant improvement fees from the landlord.
“We had done two deals and there were five of us at the corporate office. The previous tenant left all the furniture. If we stayed in business through the sublease that furniture became ours. As a startup that was the big thing for us,” Hilb said in his recollection of their Stony Point days.
“A little less wood and more glass,” he remarked.
“As we grow, there’s no question that being able to attract millennials and having a really nice progressive office makes a difference. A lot of people in our business, you walk into their office and it’s like you’ve walked into a hunting lodge,” he added.
Though Hilb Group has 800 employees company wide, the majority of which work at different agencies it owns around the country, it will have 17 employees moving into its new Richmond HQ.
