A year after landing a state agency as a major tenant, an Innsbrook office complex has sold to a new-to-market buyer. 

Franklin Commons, which spans three buildings at 5600-5640 Cox Road, was purchased this week by Minneapolis-based Onward Investors for $31 million, according to Henrico County. 

The trio of three-story buildings are tucked away in the northeastern corner of Innsbrook and house 312,000 square feet between them.

The 25-year-old complex got a boost last year when the Virginia Department of Social Services signed on to take about 100,000 square feet to replace is its downtown Richmond nerve center. Another major tenant at the park is water treatment firm ChemTreat. The complex is about 85 percent occupied. 

The seller was Franklin Street Properties Corp., a public REIT out of Massachusetts that bought the complex in 2003 for $38.1 million. Franklin Street didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Franklin Street was represented in the sale by Newmark brokers Will Bradley and Mark Williford. 

The state’s Department of Social Services relocated there last year.

The sale was recorded with the county July 15. The lease with the Department of Social Services bolstered the complex’s value. The 26-acre campus’ assessed value jumped from $18.7 million in 2023 to $32.5 million in 2024. 

The purchase marked Onward Investors’ entrance into the Richmond market and its first in Virginia overall. The firm has about $730 million in assets under management, with over $500 million of that in the Midwest.

Onward Investors director Francis Luzum said that the firm sees Richmond as a “very healthy market” and that it was drawn to Franklin Commons because of its “quality tenancy and stable cash flow profile, with the opportunity to grow net operating income and enhance value through future leasing.”

Private investment is part of how Onward Investors finances its deals. Last summer the company announced the closing of a $112 million capital raise for its “Onward Investors Value Fund III.” It said it planned to use those funds to pursue commercial and residential real estate investments. That fund looks to have helped finance the Innsbrook deal, as the entity Onward Investors used to buy Franklin Commons was OIVF III Innsbrook LLC. 

In other Innsbrook office news, local Fortune 500 healthcare distribution giant Owens & Minor is relocating its global headquarters from Hanover County to the Henrico office park.

Just down the street from Franklin Commons is the former Innsbrook After Hours site that was planned to become a food truck court, however those plans were recently scrapped.  

Micah Grafenstein-Kinzel achieved a personal goal in June, a challenge he gave himself 20 years ago. He can even tell you how many toenails he sacrificed to get there: close to 30.

“That’s a rough estimate,” he said with a smile.

Grafenstein-Kinzel ran a marathon in Helena, Mont., to join a relatively exclusive club of people who have completed a 26.2-mile course in all 50 states.

A plan he hatched after turning 30 and becoming a new father concluded when a large cheering section of family and supporters welcomed the 51-year-old from Minneapolis across the finish line.

An organization known as the “50 States Marathon Club” officially recognizes the accomplishment. Runners can join the club after finishing marathons in 10 states.

Grafenstein-Kinzel became the 68th club member from Minnesota to earn the distinction of completing the full circuit of 50 states. Roughly 1,900 club members worldwide have run all 50, though the number of finishers who haven’t applied for membership to have their feat recognized undoubtedly pushes the fantastic 50 number higher.

Grafenstein-Kinzel’s logbook underscores the undertaking.

Total miles run: 1,310.

Total elapsed time: 173 hours, 2 minutes.

Estimated miles traveled to the 50 states: 56,832.

Pairs of running shoes used: roughly 80.

Cost of completing 50 states?

“Priceless,” he said.

The idea came to him as he was looking for a new challenge.

Grafenstein-Kinzel fell in love with running as a child. He ran Grandma’s Marathon at age 18 and competed in track at the University of North Dakota.

He raced competitively throughout his 20s, with a goal of running fast times. He qualified for the Boston Marathon four times. He also ran the Chicago and New York marathons.

Competitive racing started to become taxing on his mind and body around the same time he and wife Lora had their first child in 2005.

Grafenstein-Kinzel read an article about a retired lawyer from Chicago who had just completed his 50th state. He already had a few states checked off his own list, so he set his sights on the rest.

Iowa was one of his first states. His son Mikolas was 3 months old. A few months later, Mom, Dad and Mikolas traveled to Arizona for a marathon.

Dad’s passion soon became a family affair. The couple had two more sons, and marathons doubled as family vacations. Lora’s parents own an RV and would join them on trips.

“We put a list together of all the places we want to take the kids before they left home [for college],” Lora said. “We mapped out everything to coincide with his marathons.”

The boys — Mikolas (19), Sebastian (17) and Pavel (15) — traveled to more than 20 states. They went surfing in Hawaii and rafting in Alaska.

“I remember traveling every year to see cool places around the U.S.,” Mikolas said.

All three boys were at the Governor’s Cup Marathon in Montana on June 8 as their dad finished his 50th state. Tears flowed through the 26.2 miles. For everyone.

“It’s been a big commitment for all of us,” Lora said. “That’s why I’ve always encouraged him to keep doing it. He is such a good example for the kids.”

Grafenstein-Kinzel doesn’t hesitate when asked his favorite marathon course of the 50: “Big Sur was the most fun,” he said.

The hardest? “Bar Harbor, Maine,” he said. “That was constant hills.”

Strangest? Mississippi in 2017. Organizers cancelled the race that morning because of an ice storm. Grafenstein-Kinzel checked nearby states to see if there were any alternatives. Bingo. Mobile, Ala., had a marathon the next day.

Once ice melted off the roads later that day, “I drove to Alabama and got signed up and ran Alabama,” he said.

Biggest payday? South Dakota in 2006.

“$250 for third place,” he said.

On three occasions, Grafenstein-Kinzel ran marathons on back-to-back days in neighboring states. He did Idaho-Utah in 2012, Connecticut-Rhode Island in ’13 and Delaware-New Jersey in ’14.

“The second day, the toughest part is those first three or four miles,” he said. “They’re just brutal. Once you get past that, you’re OK.”

Grafenstein-Kinzel has no new immediate challenge now that he has crossed the finish line of 50 states.

“I do have an idea,” he said. “Maybe I can run across Minnesota. Forrest Gump-like.”

Uptown businesses are pushing back against a medical respite shelter proposed for 918 W. Lake St., saying they want the area’s homeless people to receive help, but not in view of their shops.

Lakeshore Care Inc. is asking the city for a conditional use permit to run the shelter in an area zoned as a “community mixed-used district.” Applicant Tim McLaughlin of Grootwassink Real Estate did not respond to an interview request, but his application states the center aims to provide clients with a smooth recovery process in a facility supervised 24/7 by trained staff and an advanced medical practitioner.

Still, nearby business owners are concerned that “perceptions” of crime brought by a homeless shelter in their midst would repel customers.

“My staff right now do not feel very safe, and especially in the winter time when it gets dark out early, tripping over needles,” Stephanie Swanson, a State Farm agent at Lake and Hennepin told the Planning Commission on Monday. “To think that it would get more congested with people who are unhoused in that area is going to make that perceived safety more difficult for everyone. And I say perceived because I really don’t believe that these people have anything that they’re necessarily going to do to harm us.”

Esthetician Matisse Johnson, who owns the spa #FACE directly across the street from the proposed shelter, said she has to keep her doors locked because homeless people frequently try to enter.

“I’m scared at the thought of my clients sitting in these beautiful, $500 swinging chairs that they’re too scared to sit in sometimes,” Johnson said. “I just don’t want them to have to sit and view what may or may not be coming out of this building.”

The Planning Commission also received dozens of emails opposing the project from business owners and neighbors, the vast majority copies of a letter from the group Vibrant Lyndale, which primarily advocates for the preservation of on-street parking along Lyndale.

City staff are recommending approval of Lakeshore Care’s conditional use permit. The Planning Commission public hearing was continued to August 12.

The Uptown commercial district struggled with sustained protests after law enforcement killed Winston Smith in one of its parking ramps in 2021. Drag racing, street reconstruction and homeless encampments near the Walker Library have posed myriad challenges for businesses. Signers of the Vibrant Lyndale letter include those who have asked for more resources for people experiencing addiction and homelessness in the encampments.

Medical respite facilities for homeless people in Minneapolis include Catholic Charities’ Exodus and Endeavors residences, Our Savior’s Community Services and the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center.