Commercial real estate data provider CoStar Group plans to expand its research and technology center in Richmond, Virginia, investing $460 million to build a two-building complex to create a corporate campus that's expected to bring 2,000 new jobs to the banks of the James River.

The company is embarking on construction of a 26-story, LEED-certified office tower as part of a complex with 750,000 square feet of space. Plans for the campus also include a six-story, mass-timber, multipurpose building, with the development expected to break ground next year, according to CoStar founder and CEO Andrew Florance.

At 425 feet tall, the main tower could become the tallest building in Richmond when it is slated to be completed in 2024. The current title holder, the 449-foot James Monroe Building at 101 N. 14th St., is being eyed for demolition.

When the CoStar project is finished, the Washington, D.C.-based firm would have a more than 1 million-square-foot hub along the river. CoStar will also become the largest technology company and one of the largest private employers in Richmond.

Florance announced the plans during a press conference at CoStar's research center at 501 S. Fifth St. that outgoing Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and state Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball attended.

“The skyline is about to change a little bit more,” Stoney said, adding that the CoStar expansion will be "a game-changer for Richmond” and "part of a post-pandemic renaissance” for the city.

At full build-out, the expanded Richmond campus is expected to house more than 3,000 CoStar employees in research, technology, operations, marketing and sales. The company, which publishes CoStar News, said it considered a number of alternative sites, though executives said it ultimately picked Richmond because of the local talent, existing operations and state and local support.

Speaking with reporters after the conference, Florance said 2,000 new jobs will come to Richmond, mostly related to CoStar's expanding residential and international businesses. He also expressed confidence in the return of the office market.

The collaboration and learning when employees are face to face can't be duplicated or as effective as when people are in the same work space, according to Florance.

"I can't imagine as a young professional building my career I wouldn't want to be right here in this amazing campus interacting with a bunch of really bright people," he said. "I would not want to be sitting in my closet with a little pop-up desk."

CoStar's project "will leverage public infrastructure upgrades" funded by the state of up to $15 million, according to a press release from the governor's office.

“Under Gov. Northam, Virginia was named the best state to do business in the 2021 CNBC rankings,” Florance said in a statement. “Our decision to double down on investing in Virginia is driven by our confidence that with Governor-elect Youngkin’s successful commercial experience, Virginia will be open for business."

Northam, whose last day in office is Jan. 14, said the development will stand as one of the last economic actions of his administration.

Plans for the hub include conference space, fitness and wellness amenities, an auditorium, 50,000 square feet of green roof terraces, retail space and a variety of restaurants and dining options. CoStar's new campus will also incorporate over 2.65 acres of outdoor green space. William Chilton, the architect behind energy giant Dominion's 20-story headquarters that opened in 2019 in downtown Richmond, is designing the campus expansion.

Florance referred to the planned campus — centered in part on new technology such as drone imagery, 3D visualization, digital imagery, forecasting, machine learning, econometrics and photogrammetry — as "our little HQ2."

There will be 1,200 software jobs at CoStar's new facility, high-paying jobs that will help usher new innovation into the city as employees leave to create startups and spinoffs, according to Florance.

Real estate is a $180 trillion asset class, and “we’re digitizing all of it,” he said. CoStar will be adding $4 billion in payroll in Richmond over the next 10 years, he said.

The planned nearly half-a-billion-dollar investment is the latest for CoStar, a real estate data company that through various expansions has grown exponentially in the city. It opened its research headquarters in Richmond five years ago after moving the division from the nation's capital.

It almost didn't happen. Back in 2016, CoStar had also considered North Carolina for the site of its research hub, with the city of Charlotte offering more than double the incentives to secure the company as well as $250 million it pledged to invest into the local economy.

However, a state law requiring individuals on government property to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex was passed by Republican lawmakers in North Carolina that year. Critics derided the legislation as an anti-LGBT measure and it played a deciding role in CoStar's final selection of Richmond.

"We will affirm LGBT rights and the rights of every one of our employees and those in the community are a very high priority and core to our firm's values," CoStar said at the time.

CoStar's economic impact on the local market since its decision has been immense, with the company estimating its total economic effect on Richmond to be more than $3.2 billion.

Though the company initially anticipated a 730-job expansion, CoStar is now one of the 25 largest employers in Richmond with a staff that tops 1,000 members — its largest employment hub globally. The firm is also one of the largest office tenants in the city, where it owns or leases roughly 340,000 square feet of space.

That includes its main Richmond hub on Fifth Street, a nine-story office building overlooking the James River that it bought from Office Properties Income Trust earlier this year, one of the priciest deals in the history of Richmond's office market, for $130 million.

CoStar also subleases three floors of global healthcare logistics and medical supplies provider Owens & Minor's space within Riverfront Plaza and operates swing space at the historic Pattern Building at 470 Tredegar St., part of the historic Tredegar Iron Works that dates back to the mid-1800s. The company also controls nearly 4 acres adjacent to its South Fifth Street building after paying $20 million for the excess land last summer.

At one time, the company had also considered plans to occupy a proposed 400,000-square-foot office tower pitched as part of Navy Hill, a contentious $1.5 billion development that promised to revitalize 10 blocks mostly north of Broad Street with roughly 2,000 apartments, office space, retail, a Hyatt Regency hotel and the project's anchor, a new 17,500-seat arena that would have been the largest stadium in the commonwealth of Virginia.

However, CoStar opted to pursue a purchase option of its 501 S. Fifth St. location after Richmond City Council voted down the Navy Hill project, citing concerns over the scope of the massive mixed-use development, as well as the request to use public financing.