Tuesday was a banner day for Richmond as ground was broken on one of the biggest single private developments in city history.

The groundbreaking launched the $460 million complex that real estate data firm CoStar Group is undertaking on 5th Street near the riverfront, providing the company with space to add 2,000 new jobs and boost its total to more than 3,000 in the city.

Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin and Mayor Levar M. Stoney joined CoStar founder and Chief Executive Andrew Florance to mark the formal start of construction of the complex, which is to include a 26-story skyscraper and a smaller six-story multipurpose building.

Gov. Youngkin extolled the project. “You’re going to see opportunities become not just realities in people’s lives, and it’s going to happen right here,” he said.

Mayor Stoney said that the development represents important growth that will produce both jobs and revenue “to improve the quality of life for those who live, work and do businesses in our city.”

Mr. Florance expressed his pride in the opportunity to create one of the city’s tallest buildings on “an amazing and really beautiful piece of land.”

The complex is to sit next to the company’s nine-story Richmond headquarters at 501 S. 5th St.

Mr. Florance announced nearly a year ago the plan for the development, and the company’s design and construction team are now pushing to get this complex finished in two years.

The state is contributing $15 million to assist with the cost of sidewalks and other public infrastructure.

William Chilton, the architect behind energy giant Dominion’s 20-story headquarters that opened in 2019 in Downtown, has led the design effort.

Among other things, the complex is to include fitness and wellness spaces, an auditorium, 50,000 square feet of green roof terraces as well as space for retail and restaurants and 2.65 acres of outdoor green space, the company has said.

Mr. Florance said the new buildings enable employees to, among other things, focus on drone imagery, 3D visualization, digital imagery, forecasting, machine learning, econometrics and photogrammetry.

The new space also will allow the company to expand its residential and international businesses, he said.

Based in Washington, CoStar has grown by leaps and bounds in Richmond since it arrived in 2017. Richmond beat out Charlotte, N.C., as the chosen site for the company’s operations, marketing, sales and global research center.

Mayor Stoney previously described CoStar’s expansion as a “game-changer” that would be a key element of the city’s post-pandemic renaissance.

The company already employs more than 1,000 people, ranking it among the top 25 private employers. The company expects the expansion of employees to add several billion dollars to its annual payroll.

In addition, the completion of these new buildings will make CoStar one of the city’s top taxpayers.