VCU ‘tops out’ CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation

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Virginia Commonwealth University has reached a milestone in construction of the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation.

On Tuesday, the "topping out" - the placement of the highest beam on the seven-story structural frame - was celebrated for the 213,000-square-foot multidisciplinary complex at the corner of Broad and Belvidere streets in downtown Richmond, a prominent entry point to VCU's academic campus. The center is expected to open to the public in early 2027.

The $253 million CoStar Center - bringing together visual and performing arts under one roof - will be a place where the arts and other disciplines can intersect to innovate and solve the world's toughest problems, said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D.

"We could never advance, ever, if we did not have the art of design," Rao said at Tuesday's event. "Art and design cut across every culture … and they bring the best out of all human beings. … It enables them to solve problems that could never be solved if you didn't bring all of the best of those minds together. It helps us to find and communicate solutions to vexing, difficult problems. And it's happening every day. It's bringing together the most creative thinkers that we have everywhere."

The CoStar Center is named for CoStar Group, a global leader in commercial real estate information, analytics, online marketplaces and 3D technology. The S&P 500 company has substantial operations in Richmond, and it committed $18 million to the project, which will feature flexible classroom spaces, interdisciplinary performance venues and makerspaces for rapidly growing partnerships across arts, business, humanities, sciences, medicine and engineering.

"VCU has been transformative to us. And the work that these students are doing is transformative to the world," said CoStar founder and CEO Andy Florance, a member of the VCU Board of Visitors since 2021. "And I believe there's nothing more impactful than what happens here. The students who come here learn, work and innovate. They basically end up with a lot more opportunities in their life and a much greater ability to contribute to their community."

Designed to be a resource not only for VCU but for the broader Richmond community, the center expects to offer wide-ranging programs from opera to quantum computing, integrating the disciplines of engineering, cinema, theater, immersive media technology, gaming and the creation of knowledge.

"It is very much an incubator for ideas bringing different types of art, creativity and pedagogy within one space," said Carmenita D. Higginbotham, Ph.D., dean of VCU's School of the Arts. "This is the place where things will develop and evolve. This is where ideas will grow and influence with so much significance both nationally and internationally."

She added that the Costar Center will be "truly transformative for the School of the Arts. It's one that positions VCUarts and VCU as a leader in education, a leader in creative research - one that is engaging in the seminal problems of our society and one that is spearheading educational and professional opportunities for students, faculty and staff."

Celebrating a structure's "topping out" is a centuries-old tradition commemorating the placement of the final steel beam completing its frame. Members of the project team - including representatives from VCU, CoStar Group, architecture firm William Rawn Associates, consulting architect Glavé & Holmes Architecture and managing construction firm Hourigan - signed the beam before its final placement. As is tradition, a Christmas tree and American flag were attached to the beam.