Grand Classroom Acquires 7,440 Square Foot Office Condominium and Relocates Corporate Offices to The Gleason in Charlottesville
Sam Orr and Brian Thomas of MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services represented the seller and provided tenant advisory services to the buyer
Grand Classroom, a company which sponsors customized educational trips to elementary, middle school and high school students, has acquired a 7,440 square foot office condominium within The Gleason, located at 200 Garrett Street in Charlottesville. The group, which was founded by JT Maxwell and his wife Robin in 2002, recently relocated its corporate headquarters and approximately 30 employees to the mixed-use development featuring residential and commercial office condominiums. Grand Classroom is in the process of selling its former headquarters building on Rio Road E. in Charlottesville. Sam Orr and Brian Thomas of MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services represented the seller in this transaction and also provided tenant advisory services to new ownership group.
Following a stint working for a competing student travel company for 13 years, the Maxwell’s formed their own group in Charlottesville with the intent of eventually moving the operation to Arizona. Grand Classroom, named with a nod to the Grand Canyon, quickly earned a strong customer following and excellent reputation in the industry and steadily grew, making the decision to relocate across the country exceeding difficult due to its expanding employee base.
“Charlottesville is an incredibly beautiful place, we have long-tenured and extremely loyal employees, and we came to the conclusion that this was now our long-term home,” said JT Maxwell. “Similar to most start-up companies, we started Grand Classroom in our house and utilized the home office, basement, garage and even one of my daughter’s bedrooms before outgrowing it. After three years, it became obvious that we needed a dedicated space.”
Grand Classroom organizes and executes excursions which takes students to cities such as New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and well as destinations including the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Yosemite. International trips are also part of the packages offered, with frequently-visited spots including Belize, as well as cities throughout Europe and Canada. The average group size is 30 to 35 students and the typical trip length is four days. Grand Classroom provides a soup-to-nuts experience including booking all the transportation, arranging activities and providing meals.
“The student experience is significantly different as compared to traveling with their parents,” Maxwell explained. “Our excursions are highly structured and prioritize learning and the expanding of horizons,” he added. “The students are taught to be respectful to the tour operators and partners, and there are multiple layers of growth achieved when spending multiple days in this environment. For those trips that accentuate experiencing the outdoors, young people have the opportunity to push themselves to high limits when hiking and walking.”
Grand Classroom consists of four separate departments including account management, accounting, administration, and sales teams. Maxwell indicates that more employees are expected to be hired as the company continues to grow, which was among the reasons triggering the corporate headquarters relocation. “Companies that purchase office condominiums have a good handle of their long-term growth and we do as well. But, at the same time, our previous space was bursting at the seams and we need to make an aggressive decision,” he said.
“We purchased our first building because, simply put, we wanted access to an entire space without sharing it with anyone,” Maxwell said. “It was larger than we originally needed, so we sub-let the unneeded space to a variety of end-users including a dog groomer before eventually taking everything back for our own use.”
“The Gleason is the perfect landing spot for Grand Classroom on many different levels,” said Thomas, MacKenzie’s Real Estate Advisor. “The company is built upon engaging young people to experience new adventures and this development is situated within the central core of the city with extremely high energy and activity. Amenities are located virtually outside their doorstep, which will help recruit new and retain its existing workforce. Grand Classroom chose a space which features picturesque sightlines of the surrounding area from all four sides of the building, which is an added plus,” he said.
The MacKenzie Companies operates five full-service divisions addressing all real estate asset classes including MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services, MacKenzie Management, MacKenzie Capital, MacKenzie Contracting and MacKenzie Investment Group. For additional information, visit https://www.mackenziecommercial.com/virginia/
