The parking lot west of the former C&O railroad station building at 600 E. Water St. is for sale. The asking price for less than a third of an acre? $2.4 million, or roughly $200 per square foot. And that’s just the parking lot, not the former station.
“It’s an excellent spot for a mixed-use development, which is precisely what the City is looking for,” says Bob Kahn, whose realty company is brokering the lot’s sale. He describes the “infill” possibilities, with first floor retail and high-end condos or apartments above. “The city is in desperate need of true ‘class A’ space Downtown.”
“Water Street is a very very hot area right now,” Kahn says. “It’s going to be one of the finest addresses Downtown for residential and office environments, and the opportunity to be on Water Street with infill development is quite unique.” He notes that top-floor condos (or apartments, depending on what the developer wants to do) would have excellent views of both the mountains and the urban landscape of the Mall.
Water Street’s newfound desirability, along with zoning that allows for nine-storeys, presumably justifies the asking price. The City Assessor’s Office values the entire 0.829 acre property, including both former station and parking lot, at $1,051,200, or $29 per square foot. By that math, the lot would be worth $350,000, though City assessments are almost always lower than selling prices.
Neil Sansovich, who owns the property (including the former railroad station), justifies the price by comparing it to the per-unit cost of County development, with its larger demands of land and infrastructure. The Downtown zoning on the lot allows 87 residential units per acre, and up to 200 with a special-use permit.
Kahn says that the shape of the lot, which narrows towards its eastern boundary, could make for creative architecture. “We see it as Charlottesville’s version of the Flatiron Building in Manhattan. It could have just wonderful architectural features. Of course, that’s up to the developer. We’re merely selling the land and creating a palate for an architect and developer’s creation.