Mitchell Homes President Scott Slim (left) with channel partners Cabell Hatchett, Angie Griffin and Thomas Joyner (left to right) in the new design studio. (Photo by Jonathan Spears)
After nearly 30 years in Powhatan, the regional home builder enters its fourth decade with a new headquarters and design studio located on the county line.
Mitchell Homes moved to Midlothian and opened a store at 14300 Sommerville Court, in the Sommerville Office Park off the Midlothian Turnpike.
The move marks a new era for the family business, headquartered five miles west of Highway 60 and Holly Hills Road, where namesake Mitchell Slim opened in 1992. This founded the company.
The 12,000-square-foot building doubles the size of its previous premises, a converted 5,000-square-foot office from home. It also houses a large 4,000-square-foot home design studio, the company’s largest showroom. Additional showrooms are located in Fredericksburg, Newport News and Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
The founder’s son, Scott Slim, led the company as president for over a decade. He describes the design studio as a more efficient version of the roadhouse models of his father’s generation. The company had a sales office on Brook Road in Henrico, but closed a few years ago to support the studio.
”My father started the company 30 years ago with the (business model) of building a model house in a convenient commercial area near the highway. It will be a real house with furniture and we will have a small area for communication,” said Slim.
“Over time, we have developed a shopping center and have grown to the point that we can show several vignettes. This allows us to show even more.”
The building also houses offices and amenities for Mitchell Homes employees, which has grown from 33 in 2018 to 51 following a move in late 2021. Slim bought the building through a limited company in October of that year for $1.85 million. He said the company spent $175,000 to furnish the space and completed the design center late last year.
Speaking about the previous office, Sliem says: “We had nowhere to put someone; We have doubled the size of the office. Since it was an old house, there were maintenance issues and I didn’t feel like it was giving our staff or customers what we wanted. image.”
Slim said he found the Somerville building in partnership with Colliers’ Peter Wick, who represented his LLC in the purchase. The 17-year-old building, formerly owned by medical provider Zimmer Mid-Atlantic, is owned by Moseby Enterprises LLC, which bought it in 2006 for $2.19 million. Chesterfield County has an estimated value of $2.14 million for the 0.8 acre lot.
Slim, 47, said he prefers the building because it has access to Route 288 and is in a developing corridor. The Somerville Office Park, west of Winterfield Crossing and 488 miles from Westchester Commons, is home to fellow builders of Main Street Homes.
“This allows our customers to easily come from two hours because it’s close to the motorway and it’s easily accessible to our employees,” he said. “The building is perfect for us in terms of scale. Yes, it is in very good condition. The condition and the office space is designed.”
The design studio, formerly a Zimmer warehouse, offers designer display cases and options for different rooms in the home, as well as customization options from paint color to granite and quartz countertops and other finishes. According to Slim, individualization has increased as Mitchell has grown from a predominantly rural customer base.
“Our clients have always been rural people who don’t do much in terms of upgrades. Over the past five years, we have seen significant changes. Our options, upgrades and average prices have just gone up significantly.”
As a builder on scattered lots, Mitchell builds individual homes on land already owned by his clients, mostly family lands. Sliem said the company is not buying land or lots in established communities.
The company offers 40 floor plans for further customization. According to Slim, the average home is 2,200 square feet and costs $350,000.
Mitchell operates in Virginia, southern Maryland and North Carolina and expanded his business five years ago. Slim said the company built 205 homes last year and brought in about $72 million in sales — up from 110 closures and $23 million in sales in 2017. According to him, this year it is planned to build 220 houses.
The firm will be open this weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00 to celebrate the opening of the design studio. Salespeople from each Mitchell location will be in attendance at the event, which includes a food truck, children’s activities, and studio tours.
Mitchell follows other builders who have been making plans for new excavations in recent years. Across the river from Henrico, Virginia-owned Eagle Construction moved its headquarters from West Broad Village to the Canterbury Mall on Paterson Avenue.
Jonathan joined BizSense in early 2015 after ten years in Wilmington, NC as Henrico County Executive. Virginia Tech alumnus covers government, real estate, advertising/marketing and other news. Contact him at [email protected] or (804) 308-2447.
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Post time: Mar-24-2023
