Studio Two Three Buys Dogtown Dance

Richmond Times Dispatch
Colleen Curran, October 23, 2022

Studio Two Three, the arts center and printmaking studio currently located in Scott’s Addition, is buying the Dogtown Dance building in Manchester. The listing price was $1.8 million.

“We joked about a headline: ‘Scrappy artists pry treasured building from the hands of condo developers’ — though there’s a measure of truth in it,” Ashley Hawkins, executive director of Studio Two Three, said.

When the 15,000-square-foot historic building in Manchester went up for sale in the spring, many were concerned that the property would be scooped up by a developer for apartments or condominiums for the booming neighborhood.

Dr. Robert “Pops” Petres, a local OB-GYN, purchased the building 15 years ago to support his son’s dream of starting a dance nonprofit, which turned into Dogwood Dance.