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Future home of RBVa

Restoration Builders of Virginia has been in the business of breathing life into old and dilapidated buildings for more than 30 years. After a long stint on Marshall Street, RBVA will soon be moving to a brand new home on what is currently an empty lot at 2926 P Street.

“I’m hoping to move in before Christmas,” Sydney Jordan-Cooley says, after “at least a year” of planning.

The new building will be easier to work in and easier on the environment. “We’re trying to go as green as possible,” explains Jordan-Cooley. “LED lights, enough windows that I hope the crew will only have to turn on the lights 30% of the time, a washer/dryer so our employees don’t have to take toxic dust into their homes and expose their families, a parking lot so the company vehicles don’t get left on already crowded streets, and actual heat in the shop to make wintertime work possible.”

The new building will be bigger than their current shop, which could offer opportunities for a shared purpose space.

“We will have a lot more space, so we could potentially rent to other small wood working businesses,” says Jordan-Cooley. “I would also like to have after school carpentry classes; it’s been a dream of mine for a long time. Too many of our generation are pushed into college, to no avail.”

“We’re running a very successful apprentice program,” she explains, “I’m hoping to attract more people by reaching out to local high school kids.”

The new RBVA spot will share a city block with the Robinson Theater, who themselves brought a renewed vitality to that fairly vacant section of the neighborhood with their 2008 renovation. The new Blue Sky Fund offices are also nearby. The block is also home to a vacant, city-owned complex on the southeast corner and a parking lot/warehouse space on the northwest corner.