Between Norfolk’s Lambert’s Point neighborhood and the rail-lined stretch of the Elizabeth River Trail, a once-industrial site has been transformed into a 21st-century hub for innovation, creativity, and community. The new headquarters for IPConfigure, a video surveillance software firm, reimagines the historic Dubin Metals Building, originally built in the late 1930s to produce acetylene gas for World War II, as a workplace campus that merges Norfolk’s industrial past with its technological future.
The 28,000-square-foot building, including a newer metal addition, had long been underused, but IPConfigure saw possibility in it. Previously housed in a research building near Old Dominion University, IPConfigure needed a new space to accommodate an expanding workforce, demonstrate their wares to customers, and construct the necessary computer frames to run the IP-based video surveillance systems. Rather than build new in the suburbs, the company chose to stay rooted in the city, near the airport, near ODU’s talent pipeline, and within reach for a regional workforce. The site came with unexpected advantages: no asbestos, no contaminants, and a layered history that would shape the company’s identity.
“It’s hard to find cities that have 80-year-old buildings that can function in modern times.”
– Chris Uiterwyk, CEO.
The design honors that history without attempting to mimic it. The original loading dock canopy now marks the building’s front door, guiding visitors into a public-facing Experience Center anchored by a coffee shop and product showroom. The old tower — once part of a gas testing facility — has become a lounge and break area. Office and assembly spaces are divided by eras of previous design: knowledge workers occupy the brick-and-beam original building, while camera systems are assembled in a later metal addition. A rebuilt 15-foot chimney rises over Hampton Boulevard, and a restored acetylene generator sits in the lobby as a quiet monument to the site’s wartime role.
Light plays a critical role in creating a welcoming space throughout the building. It is filtered through wood slats, diffused by skylights, reflected in steel. Equally important to employees is what happens outside. Surrounded by 4.5 acres of open space, with passing trains and shaded pathways, the campus provides access to nature and movement. “People can’t sit all day and write software code,” Uiterwyk says. “They need to get outside.” For a company competing with tech giants, this matters. “This will be a place to work that doesn’t feel like work.”
That vision has extended beyond IPConfigure itself. What began as a single-tenant headquarters has grown into a community destination within the newly minted Norfolk Innovation Corridor and the Norfolk & Western Railroad Historic District. Today, the campus includes a brewery, a coffee roaster, a landscape firm, and a taco and margarita bar, each one drawing foot traffic, energy, and life to a previously quiet stretch of the city. Events are now a regular feature, with the building hosting everything from neighborhood meetups to company demos.
Positioned between West Ghent and Lambert’s Point — a historically Black neighborhood long underserved by public amenities — the project has become an unexpected civic anchor. It was the first new retail investment in the area, and its presence helped spark momentum for broader revitalization, including a planned grocery store that would serve Lambert’s Point residents.
Through adaptive reuse, layered programming, and a commitment to place, IPConfigure’s headquarters is more than a modern workplace. It is a catalyst for connection — between past and future, between industry and community, and between Norfolk’s neighborhoods.
