Providence Hill Real Estate owners buy office building near Tuckahoe HQ

The Ridge Office Building near Tuckahoe Shopping Center changed hands this spring. (Photos courtesy Providence Hill Real Estate)

After expanding with a second office across the river, the owners of a Tuckahoe-based real estate brokerage have secured additional room to grow across the street from their home base.

Providence Hill Real Estate’s Elliott Gravitt and brothers Caleb and Dawson Boyer recently purchased the Ridge Office Building at 8010 Ridge Road, just across and up the road from the brokerage’s original storefront at Tuckahoe Shopping Center.

Dawson Boyer said they jumped at the opportunity when they saw the building had been listed for sale. He said the two-story, 7,700-square-foot building, which is fully occupied, could eventually provide additional space for Providence Hill if it outgrows its Tuckahoe storefront, which the brokers plan to keep open.

Either way, he said the building was an appealing investment.

“We weren’t really looking to expand; we just noticed that it popped up on the market and we started chatting about how we’ve grown over the last four years, and there’s not really ever any space that becomes available in that little intersection right there,” Dawson Boyer said.

“We just got excited about the opportunity and mobilized quickly to get in an offer,” he said, adding that they competed with other offers on the property. “We don’t have plans to move immediately, but we’re committed to that area, we all live in that area and are from that area, so it was just a cool opportunity to plan for the future and have available space down the road.”

The group purchased the building from an entity tied to Hob Sigmon, a longtime area real estate agent who had co-owned the property since the 1980s.

Sigmon, president of Hob Sigmon Realty, said the property was put up for sale at the request of the family of his late investment partner, who had held the majority stake in the ownership entity. The property was listed by Mary Sigmon, Hob’s daughter and co-owner of Hob Sigmon Realty, who also managed the building.

Hob Sigmon

“We were happy with where it was going, because it stayed full and was easy to manage, and it was always nice to say it was the only office building around near the shopping center,” Hob Sigmon said. “We were happy with it, but (the family) kind of insisted we sell it and owned a little bit more than we did, so that’s why we sold it.”

Hob Sigmon, who likewise resides nearby, said he was happy that the building would remain in local ownership.

“That’s primarily the reason why we entertained his offer without asking for a whole lot of other bids,”he said, adding that Boyer helped seal the deal by writing him a letter stating why he wanted to own it and how he planned to keep it managed locally.

“He told me he’d gone to Tuckahoe Elementary and his children are going there. He’s been a local boy, so that was particularly appealing to us, because we felt the same way about it,” Hob Sigmon said. “It was a local, little investment that we had and we would like for another local person to have.”

The Boyers and Gravitt bought the property with an LLC in a deal that closed in late April. Henrico property records show they paid $865,000 for the building, which was built in 1981 and last sold for $475,000 in 1987. The half-acre property was assessed by the county this year at $740,500.

The building shares a parking lot with another office building that fronts Forest Avenue where it intersects with Ridge. That building, at 500 Forest Ave., was not included in the sale and is owned by nearby Third Church, which uses it for administrative offices.

Dawson Boyer said the Ridge building is fully leased, with tenants including two law firms – River Run Law and Pathfinder Injury Law – and massage therapy practice Erin’s Healing Hands. He said Providence Hill would likely take a space in the building when one comes available and use it for administrative needs.

The brokerage’s storefront at Tuckahoe Shopping Center, where it launched four years ago.

Dawson Boyer said the brokerage has nearly outgrown its Tuckahoe storefront, which totals 2,800 square feet. While the immediate plan is to keep that office open, he said the business will eventually need up to 3,500 square feet, either at the Ridge building or through a combination of the two spaces.

The additional space would further add to a growing office footprint for Providence Hill, which opened a second location last fall at 13356 Midlothian Turnpike. The Boyers and Gravitt likewise bought that building, which they also lease out to additional tenants. The brokerage takes up about half of the building’s 7,400 square feet.

The trio launched Providence Hill in 2021 after breaking off from SRMF Real Estate, which also has its headquarters near Tuckahoe Shopping Center. Providence Hill has since grown from an eight-agent brokerage to 70 agents between its Tuckahoe and Midlothian offices.

Providence Hill opened its Midlothian location last fall.

The residential brokerage’s sales volume last year reached $301 million with 654 homes sold. Dawson Boyer said that was up from $201 million and 435 units the previous year.

He said the brokerage had just over 100 active listings as of mid-June. In addition to single-family homes, it lists and sells units for multifamily properties as well, such as the under-construction Manchester Square townhomes that WVS Cos. is developing in Richmond.

Dawson Boyer said the local housing market has remained hot despite current mortgage rates and declining sales across the state.

“There’s just so much cash in the Richmond market that the interest rates haven’t really impacted the areas that we primarily sell and work in, in Central Virginia,” he said. “It has started to slow a little bit, but not out of character with the usual beginning-of-summer slowdown we’ve seen the last two or three years.”

In other residential real estate news, global brand Engel & Völkers is re-entering the Richmond market with a new local team and storefront at 3101 Ellwood Ave. The office is scheduled to open later this month.

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