Everything you missed at Red Ventures’ announcement regarding their massive new campus, RV4

Red Ventures purchased an additional 120 acres surrounding their current Indian Land headquarters, bringing their total acreage to 170. Massive. They’re building all sorts of Google-esque stuff on this new land, starting with a complex of three buildings named RV4.

RV4 will be 46 acres (current campus is 39 acres). Total of 300,000 square feet of new space. Includes a six-story tower, 60,000-square-foot learning and development center, 275 seat auditorium, convertible ballroom that seats 650, 90,000-square-foot sales center and huge parking deck with 1,450 spaces. Other amenities: outdoor amphitheater, on-site cafe, jogging/biking trail and additional fitness facilities. The entire complex will be complete by the second quarter of 2017.

Here’s a play-by-play of the press conference…

Arrived at RV2, the main Red Ventures lobby. 

Lobby was delightful. Enjoyed some ESPN SportsCenter before being ushered down two hallways towards the cafeteria.

Walking back to the cafeteria, I stopped to take a photo of a Red Ventures meeting in action.

And a photo of their basketball court. Just crazy.

The space is cool.

Arrived in the cafeteria area to find some important political people, construction people, finance people and media people.

Walked straight to the snack area. Had a yogurt parfait, tasty.

The cafeteria coffee area was popular, so I wandered the RV2 first floor looking for coffee. Found a kitchen area and was very impressed by their K-Cup selection (although they should use a local coffee company like Pure Intentions or Enderly Coffee, just saying).

Back in the cafeteria, the crowd started to build and there was a buzz when Ric entered the room.

I stared at this poster showcasing RV4. It looked like something from NASA.

Red Ventures CFO Mark Brodsky talked for 12 minutes.

Announcement: @redventures is adding a new 300,000 sqft three-building complex named “RV4” Red Ventures says: “will be home to a learning & development center and 6-story tower & sales center.” This doubles the size of their campus. Wow.

A video posted by Axios Charlotte (@charlotteagenda) on

It’s pretty big-time that Red Ventures can dictate to Marriott that their new hotel needs to have RV colors.

Group then exited the cafeteria to the outside “groundbreaking.”

Crowd gathered.

The groundbreaking was symbolic.

Solid golden shovels.

Media got set up.

Stage looked sharp.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley arrived from the left and chit chatted with Ric. These two seemed to be good friends.

Crowd builds.

Executive Vice President of Human Capital Joel Martinez spoke on the expansion and what it means for the recruitment and culture…

… I couldn’t pay complete attention to Joel because of Ric’s shoes. What are these? Not sneakers, not drivers and not boat shoes. Maybe some type of black leather ECCO shoe with white soles? Ric seemed very comfortable with his footwear and it looked like he could break into a sprint at any second.

Nikki Haley killed it with a three-minute talk highlighted be the following bite sized nuggets, “There is no losing at Red Ventures” and “I want to work at Red Ventures when I grow up.” She’s a very compelling speaker.

She then gave Ric some type of well-wrapped gift.

After the press conference, I said hi to Ric and asked him, “What type of gift did the governor give you? I bet it’s a plate.” He looked at me like I was an idiot and responded, “Yeah, probably.” (Note: Ric or Nikki, please email me the contents of the gift, I’m curious).

Update (12:47pm on Thursday):

Symbolic groundbreaking! I give Nikki a lot of credit for getting into the symbolic dirt with her high heels.

Media goes nuts for the groundbreaking shot.

I walked back into the cafeteria to see if I could grab some of the leftover bagels for the ride home, only to find RV4 cake. Hat tip.

Cake was a strong B+.

On the way out, I couldn’t help but look into the Guests Only refrigerator.

Branded water bottle for the ride home? You bet.