CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA:  Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announces Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) has leased 27,466 square feet of office space within Apex Plaza located at 120 Garrett Street SE in Downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. SELC headquarters and Virginia offices are set to move from their current locations, also located in Charlottesville, VA. 

Totaling 187,000 square feet, Apex Plaza is a state-of-the-art, eight-floor sustainable office building currently under construction in Downtown Charlottesville. Designed by world-renowned architect William McDonough, Apex Plaza will feature six floors of CLT (cross laminated timber) construction and will be the first of its kind on the East Coast, joining other best-in-class timber frame buildings at the cutting edge of sustainable development. The building will feature additional sustainability features including cradle-to-cradle design, a green roof, significant on-site solar energy generation, and more. 

SELC will be combining its headquarters and Virginia offices at the site in early 2022. “We are thrilled our new home in Charlottesville will bring our two offices together again in one space,” said Jeff Gleason, Executive Director of SELC, “Best of all, this building is fully compatible with our values and is the kind of construction we want to promote. Our new office space represents a better environmental future, which is what we work for every day, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”

The move to Apex Plaza will be a homecoming of sorts for SELC Executive Director Jeff Gleason. The building sits on the corner of Gleason and Garrett Streets and is built on property that used to be part of HM Gleason Company, a farm supply store started by Jeff Gleason’s great grandfather in 1870 and run by the Gleason family for over 100 years. “This is where I spent my summers working throughout college,” Gleason noted. “I guess you can say my career has come full circle.”

SELC will join Apex Clean Energy, Hourigan Construction, and others in the building confirming their shared dedication to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly future. Development partners Riverbend Development and The Hourigan Group, share similar vision for the future of office building development. Alan Taylor, president of Riverbend Development said, “SELC is exactly the type of firm we were hoping would lease office space at Apex Plaza. We wanted to develop a project that focused on building with sustainability though carbon capture and renewable energy.  We’re excited to have them join Apex and thrilled to be one of the first developers to bring this pioneering construction technology to the United States.”

John Pritzlaff and Jenny Stoner of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled the lease negotiations on behalf of the tenant.