Education company Great Minds moves out of Sauer Center HQ, leaving T-Rex behind

Great Minds’ former HQ features a life-sized T-rex replica named Stan. (Photos courtesy 7 Hills Advisors)

Four years after moving in, education curriculum developer Great Minds has vacated its Richmond headquarters, leaving the nearly 19,000-square-foot building and its resident T-rex skeleton up for grabs. 

The company confirmed it has moved out of its office at 840 Hermitage Road in the Whole Foods-anchored Sauer Center development. 

Great Minds spokesman Rodney Whitmore said in a statement to BizSense that the large office was no longer needed by the nonprofit due to a “vast majority” of Great Minds employees now working remotely.

“Our workforce has evolved over the years, and the vast majority of our employees now work remotely. While we maintain a strong employee base in the Richmond area, we no longer have a need for an office space of this size,” Whitmore said in the statement. 

Great Minds currently has around 1,000 employees total, with around 100 of those being in Virginia, the company said.  

Great Minds is now trying to sublease the Sauer Properties-owned building, with Christina Jeffries and Landon Hinton of 7 Hills Advisors handling the listing. 

“To maximize in-person collaboration among our employees, we have decided to sublease the building and invest in future meeting spaces for our employees in Richmond and around the country to gather in person when needed to advance our work supporting classrooms nationwide,” Whitmore said. 

Great Minds first leased the property in 2019, and moved staff into it, after a full renovation, in 2021. The building, formerly part of the surrounding spice factory complex, was originally built in 1900. 

Located near the intersection of Hermitage Road and West Clay Street, the office building is described in the listing as eclectic, with modern art adorning the walls, mid-century inspired furniture, open-air workspaces, and even the state’s only full-size Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton replica, named Stan. 

Architecture on the project was headed up by Fultz & Singh Architects, with LF Jennings as the contractor on the base building. The office renovation won several awards. 

The exterior of the renovated 840 Hermitage Road.

Founded in the D.C. area by Lynne Munson in 2007, Great Minds offers its own curricula for English, math, science and history that’s used by public, private and charter schools, as well as homeschoolers.

Munson told BizSense in 2019 that she chose to move the Great Minds headquarters to Richmond from D.C. because her family chose to move to the area at the same time the nonprofit was looking to grow. She said at the time that the Hermitage Road office would have room for at least 80 employees. Munson is seemingly still based in Richmond. 

Great Minds took on private equity in 2022 when investment fund A-Street invested $150 million into Great Minds’ public benefit corporation, acquiring a stake from the company’s majority stakeholder, which is the Great Minds nonprofit organization.

In late 2023, Great Minds laid off 79 of its then-1,450 employees.

Great Minds is now led by CEO John White, who took on the role earlier this year after joining Great Minds in 2022. Munson is now CEO Emeritus, per her LinkedIn. 

Great Minds previously had an office in Farmington Hills, Michigan, which is no longer listed on the organization’s website. It is unclear when the Michigan office closed. The nonprofit retains an office in Washington, D.C., according to its website. 

Remaining tenants elsewhere in Sauer Center include CarMax’s Midtown office and a newly opened Bon Secours sports medicine and primary care practice.

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