What Saunders+Crouse Architects does

Saunders + Crouse Architects, LLC (S+CA) is a privately held architecture and planning firm founded in 2013 and headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The firm was established by Burrell F. Saunders (CEO) and John H. Crouse (COO), who previously co-led award-winning CMSS Architects, PC for 28 years. S+CA delivers urban design, master planning, and development advisory services for town centers, mixed-use districts, and revitalization projects ranging from 20 to 800+ acres across the Mid-Atlantic region. Its service portfolio spans master planning, urban revitalization, historic restoration, mixed-use developments, multi-family and affordable housing, hospitality, corporate office, cultural arts, parking structures, and restaurant design, with adjacent advisory offerings in Socioeconomic Visioning and Development Advisory. Differentiated capabilities include the proprietary "Genesis Effect" methodology that frames architecture through an economic development lens, LEED-certified green design, and an AIA National Honors Award for Planning (Diggs Town, Norfolk). The firm serves municipal governments (primary), regional developers, federal agencies, higher education, and commercial enterprises, delivering project-based, custom-quoted professional services through direct enterprise engagement. Operations are supported by a small team (11-50 employees) working in REVIT, with active projects across Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and a single Texas engagement. Revenue is generated through percentage-of-project and fixed professional services fees on multi-year engagements, with no disclosed financials, no external funding, and founder-owned independent operating status.

Name

Saunders+Crouse Architects

Legal name

Saunders + Crouse Architects, LLC

Website

https://saunderscrousearchitects.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Saunders + Crouse Architects is a Virginia Beach-based architecture and planning firm founded in 2013, serving municipalities, developers, and federal agencies in the Mid-Atlantic region with master planning, urban revitalization, mixed-use design, and development advisory services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Virginia Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Planning Services: Professional services revenue from architectural design, master planning, and development advisory services for urban mixed-use projects. Revenue is project-based, typically involving multi-year engagements with municipalities, developers, and organizations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Saunders+Crouse Architects is a design-oriented architecture and planning firm that provides master planning, urban design, urban revitalization, historic restoration, mixed-use development, multi-family residential, hospitality, corporate office, cultural arts facility, and affordable housing design services. The firm also acts as a development advisor to municipalities, regional developers, and federal agencies, applying its proprietary Genesis Effect and Socioeconomic Visioning approaches to create long-term community and economic benefits.

Product overview

Saunders+Crouse Architects is a design-oriented architecture and planning firm offering comprehensive urban development services. The firm operates as a unified service-based practice rather than a software product company, providing master planning, urban revitalization, historic restoration, mixed-use developments, multi-family residential design, hospitality design, corporate office design, cultural arts facilities, parking structures, and restaurant design. The firm also offers socioeconomic visioning and development advisory services, functioning as trusted advisors to developers and city management in addition to traditional architectural services. Projects span town centers, urban cores, corporate campuses, hospitality venues, and residential communities throughout Virginia Beach and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Master Planning & Urban Design
• Urban Revitalization
• Historic Restoration & Revitalization
• Mixed-Use Developments
• Multi-Family Residential Design
• Hospitality Design
• Corporate Office Design
• Cultural Arts Facilities
• Affordable Housing Design
• Socioeconomic Visioning
• Development Advisory

Quantifiable outcome

• Four major town centers planned and designed
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Torti Gallas + Partners: Mid-sized architecture and urban design firm specializing in town centers, mixed-use districts, and New Urbanist placemaking — the closest functional analogue to S+CA's town-center and urban-revitalization practice.
• Opticos Design: Architecture and planning firm built on the New Urbanism / Smart Growth thesis, focused on missing-middle housing, master planning, and form-based codes — directly comparable to S+CA's Smart Growth-integrated urban design work.
• Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ CoDesign): Pioneering New Urbanist architecture and town-planning firm behind many of the foundational mixed-use town-center projects in the U.S., competing in the same master-planning and mixed-use design arena as S+CA.
• WRT (Wallace Roberts & Todd, now part of Perkins Eastman): Urban planning, landscape, and architecture practice known for large-scale urban revitalization, master planning, and waterfront redevelopment — directly overlapping with S+CA's downtown Norfolk and Rocketts Landing waterfront work.
• Cooper Carry: Mid-Atlantic architecture firm with deep mixed-use, hospitality, and urban-infill practice, including town-center and master-planning work across the Mid-Atlantic — a clear size-and-scope comparable to S+CA.

Broad incumbents

• HOK: Global architecture and urban-design incumbent with a substantial urban-design and master-planning practice; competes with S+CA on large municipal and developer commissions but operates at vastly greater scale and breadth.
• SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill): Global architecture, urban-design, and engineering incumbent with a long track record on mixed-use and urban-district master plans; relevant to S+CA only at the high end of municipal RFPs but useful as an upper-bound peer.
• Perkins&Will: Large global architecture firm with healthcare, education, civic, and urban-design practices; a broad incumbent that competes with S+CA on institutional and mixed-use urban projects but at significantly greater scale.
• CallisonRTKL (now part of Arcadis): Global architecture and urban-design practice with strong mixed-use, retail-anchored, and town-center work, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic; a comparable incumbent competing for developer-led mixed-use commissions.

Regional players

• Moser Mayer Phoenix Associates: Mid-Atlantic architecture and planning firm with mixed-use, civic, and urban-revitalization work, sharing the regional Virginia/Mid-Atlantic footprint and similar municipal client base as S+CA.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/saundersandcrouse
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/saunders-crouse-architects
• Instagraminstagram.com/saunders_crouse
• Xx.com/saunders_crouse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Saunders+Crouse Architects