The Richmonder was invited to tour the construction site of the new headquarters for VPM, the public media entity that houses Richmond's PBS and NPR affiliates.

The building, which will have an investment of at least $65 million, is tentatively scheduled to open in May, though the exact date will depend on the group's ability to move a variety of technical and broadcast elements to the new site, while still maintaining operations at its current site on Sesame Street in Chesterfield County.

CEO Jayme Swain led the tour and said the new site on Broad Street was chosen deliberately to be a part of the revitalization of downtown.

"We believe in downtown. We want to be downtown. We very intentionally picked this location, to be an anchor," she said. "Throughout downtown, our small businesses have been through difficult times, and it's important that they get the support that they need.

"This is about uplifting and bringing people downtown, to go to Waller (& Company Jewelers), to go to Bunkie Trinite Trophies, to go to Haqq's Drawer. What's really important to us is really supporting the neighbors as well."

Here's a look inside...

The main entry has a gathering place that can be used for field trips or other community groups that tour the space.

Adjacent is a community room that can host concerts, speaking events, podcast tapings or any other gathering. The room is equipped to be able to broadcast any event that is staged there.

"I think the community room, and the ability to be public media and be truly public — we don't get people that come by on Sesame Street," Swain said. "It's a great location and a great name. It's served us well for 60 years. But this is an opportunity for us to be truly public and engage in a much different and more intentional way, and we're really excited to be that public square for the area."

The building's showstopper is a fourth-floor terrace that overlooks downtown, and will also be available for events.

Swain was asked about opening the building in light of recent cuts to federal media by the Trump administration. She noted that a major piece of funding for the building comes from VPM's $182 million sale of two pieces of broadcast spectrum in 2017.

That money was entrusted to the newly created Virginia Foundation for Public Media.

"We really started this four or five years ago, well before the changes with federal funding," Swain said. "We very responsibly set up the financing through the foundation. We're very fortunate to have a foundation, and we're in a position of strength, and we're very lucky for that. The community has also stepped up in a big way, not only to support the capital campaign for this project, but also our ongoing operations."

VPM Vice President Harry Orell led a tour of the technology that runs the building. The group's broadcast tower will remain in Chesterfield, with a dedicated line running between the two sites.

The construction team expects to have the building certified LEED Silver for sustainability and environmental performance.

Because the stations will remain on the air during the move, VPM's tech team will run operations in Chesterfield while preparing to "flip the switch" and move to the Broad Street site.

A series of recording studios were created with podcast and social media production in mind. From this one, there is a view of the parking deck being constructed to accompany the building. The deck will have 50 spots for employees and 50 spots for the public to purchase.

The back of the parking deck has a ground-floor retail space, which has not yet been leased out. VPM plans to commission a mural for the side of the deck and is still considering its options for the space.

The two television studios will not use physical sets. Instead, the backgrounds will be created with augmented reality technology, allowing a better use of the space.

The studios are a "building within the building," constructed with separate concrete pours and soundproofing so that they will not be impacted by traffic on Broad Street or any other events taking place in the building.

Swain said another reason to use the new technology was so outside groups can take advantage of the space.

"If you think about government, Fortune 500 companies, there are so many people that create media now, and the great flexibility of these augmented reality spaces will allow those folks to be able to use these studios," she said.

The building itself is on the former site of a department store. The fourth and fifth floors are stepped back from the street, so as not to dominate the skyline in the area.

Swain described it as a modern build, with nods to the history of the space.

More photos from the tour:

Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.