Genworth forges ahead on campus revamp Genworth forging ahead on plans for mixed-use development envisioned to overhaul its headquarters complex

Genworth Financial Inc. is proceeding with plans to redevelop the insurance giant's corporate headquarters campus into a mixed-use development.

The Henrico County-based company said it is taking the next step in the process by seeking and identifying potential partners for the project.

This request for information phase of the process is expected to take several months to complete. Then it will be followed by issuing a request for proposals, which could take several additional months.

"We're not ready to comment or commit to a timeline yet. We're just taking the process one step at a time," Genworth spokesperson Amy Rein said.

"Our goal is to identify and engage the development partner, or partners, that can best work with us to achieve the highest and best use for the campus," she said. "It's a big undertaking. So we want to make sure that we're being thoughtful and aligned with our goals."

Preliminary plans call for tearing down the four-building Genworth campus in the Brookfield office park off West Broad Street at Interstate 64 in Henrico.

Replacing those structures would be a new corporate headquarters building possibly along with other office buildings and space for retail, town homes, apartments and restaurants.

The 46-acre property has four Genworth buildings that were constructed in the 1970s and early 1980s for the former Life of Virginia.

Genworth initially has dubbed the redevelopment project Compass Town Center, Rein said.

The Fortune 500 company has worked with commercial real estate brokerage Cushman Wakefield | Thalhimer to help Genworth pull together a list of potential partners to participate.

The company, Rein said, is not providing details on the redevelopment plan, the request for information or those invited to participate in the process.

When workers return to the office early next year - they have been working remotely since the early days of the pandemic - employees will work in smaller subleased space in a building in the nearby Reynolds Crossing development.

That space will be used on a temporary basis until a new corporate building or buildings are constructed, Rein said.

The company is subleasing 88,000 square feet in the eight-story building at 6603 W. Broad St., which is across from the headquarters for Altria Group Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris USA. Altria for years had used that building, which was built in 1968 and renovated in 2007.

Genworth employees have been told that they may be returning to the office on Jan. 4, but a final decision would be made in mid-December, Rein said.

When the sublease space reopens, the company will operate using a hybrid approach to work with some employees returning to the office, some employees working remotely and others working a combination of both.

But employees will not return to the existing four-building campus, she said. Genworth will use the existing office furniture in the Reynolds Crossing building and has moved files and other belongings from the current buildings into the new space.

Genworth is one of the Richmond region's largest private employers with about 850 local workers.

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