CarMax Picks Commonwealth for 435,000-SF Headquarters

RICHMOND, VA-After about a year of looking around in the Richmond vicinity and in spots like Atlanta, CarMax Inc. has decided to stay put in the area. The used car specialty retailer will relocate its corporate headquarters from its current home at the Glen Allen, VA-based Innsbrook Corporate Center to a new 435,000-sf facility at the 3,500-acre West Creek Business Park in nearby Goochland County. Both Glen Allen and Goochland County are in the greater Richmond region.

With regard to development costs for the company’s new digs, CarMax spokesperson Lisa K. Van Riper tells GlobeSt.com that CarMax “has not made that disclosure yet.” However, Capital One Financial Corp. is in the process of developing a headquarters property on 316 acres in West Creek Business Park, as well, and its 1.5 million-sf campus will cost $400 million to realize; meaning CarMax’s project should cost somewhere in the area of $116 million to develop. It was just last month that the car dealership concern forked over $11.2 million for 58 acres in the business park. Upon completion, the compound will feature two four-story office buildings, a parking facility and a fitness center. CarMax expects to relocate its staff of approximately 600 employees to the new headquarters locale in 2005 or 2006.