“Bellair is a very desirable location,” says Realtor Jim Duncan with no hesitation. No hesitation whatsoever.
Bellair’s lake is a picture-perfect finishing touch in a well-groomed landscape. |
No wonder. The entrance—just past the 250 Bypass as you drive away from UVA along Ivy Road—looks a bit like the entrance to a national park. Once inside, you’re greeted with a sign saying, “SLOW. Children Playing and People Walking.” Actually, “People Playing” wouldn’t feel like a misnomer in this enchanting place. The rolling landscape complete with a pristine lake (complete on this spring day with Canadian geese) at the center is home to many a home, but with no corresponding lack of green space, and more old-growth trees than you can shake a branch at.
“I think of subdivisions as house house house; this is more like a development,” Duncan says in between discussions of the precious few homes for sale in Bellair at the moment—a situation that isn’t likely to change any time in the future.
Technically, Bellair is a subdivision, and it was one of the first in the Charlottesville area. The mid-1940s, when it was established, was an era when visually pleasing and entirely peaceful locations for development were there for the picking and little or no concessions had to be made.
There was no 250 Bypass back then, and no Barracks Road Shopping Center. And even 60 years later, Bellair residents, tucked away in their homes within the established confines of the neighborhood, may be aware that the outside world is encroaching on them, but they’re not obliged to feel it.
Right choice
Two of those residents are Lisa Ross, who on weekdays makes the easy commute to Downtown, and her retired husband, Bob Moorefield. The couple moved to the neighborhood in 1988. Their sizeable, ranch-style house, built in 1959, never made it onto the market in ’88. They discovered that the house was going up for sale and went straight to the owner. “We pretty much begged her,” Lisa says.
A long and winding drive leads to Bob Moorefield and Lisa Ross’ house (left). which they snagged in 1988 before it even made it onto the market. |
They couldn’t be happier with their decision. When thinking about the neighborhood’s advantages, it’s difficult for them to know where to start.
“It’s close to anywhere,” Lisa says, though their main concern is the atmosphere surrounding them when they go nowhere. “We have a blue heron that lives right down there,” Bob says, pointing out the window of their elegant, low-ceilinged living room (a product of the days before cathedral ceilings were the rage) to their backyard. Also close by, he says, is a fox with three legs and her cubs. “Our children built forts out there,” Lisa says.
In addition to all the timeless nature, they appreciate being part of a human story. “What’s appealing about the neighborhood,” Lisa says, “is that there are still people here who can give you a sense of the history.”
Bob has in his possession a copy of the original Bellair bylaws, one of which specifically forbids people of non-Caucasian descent from buying a home there. That part of the lore of the neighborhood, the couple says, is long gone. With protection from the bustling world outside doesn’t come seclusion from 21st century enlightenment.
On a far plainer level, after living in Bellair for almost 20 years, the couple themselves can provide new residents with a sense of the hardly cataclysmic, but significant changes the neighborhood has undergone. When they moved in, “you could count on one hand the number of children in elementary school,” Bob says. “You saw this gradual transition,” says Lisa. “Now the majority of new residents are couples with children.” A lot of them, she says, have lived in other neighborhoods. It’s easy to imagine them waiting patiently in the wings and pouncing on an opportunity to live in Bellair, just as Lisa and Bob did.
Bob, along with other residents, helped on the project to remove a road, which allowed for more controlled access and made the neighborhood even safer. And it took five years of lobbying by residents to get a stoplight outside the front entrance.
The price of perfection
The couple is hard pressed to think of any drawbacks to living in Bellair. Even with the nice signs, speeding can be a problem, but only with nonresidents. When it’s very quiet, Lisa and Bob can hear cars on the Bypass. And yet, ironically, there aren’t many neighborhoods that would ever reach such a level of quietness that remote sounds can be heard. “There are maintenance issues,” Bob says, referring to the age of the average house in the neighborhood. The couple has plans to do some renovations in the coming years.
Lofty heights: Bellair home prices have averaged nearly $800,000 since July 2006. |
That’s something that will be on the minds of new buyers. Another ranch-style house currently for sale—list price $649,900—was built in 1949. A Colonial-style house—list price $1,250,000—was built in 1954. Duncan says that many of the houses that go on the market in Bellair already have been renovated (one reason for the above price discrepancy), but there’s always potential for more work.
“You make that concession,” Duncan says. “Location can outweigh other considerations.” Ah yes, location location location. “There’s nothing that has this type of location and this type of house,” Duncan says after pondering whether there is anything else in the Charlottesville area that matches Bellair.
For Lisa and Bob, these practical considerations are certainly a worthy topic of discussion, but there is no shortage of other positive angles for them to take when they muse on their Bellair experience. “There are a lot of nice people here,” Bob says.
AT A GLANCE
Distance to the Downtown Mall: 3.3 miles
Distance to UVA: 2.8 miles
Elementary School: Murray
Middle School: Henley
High School: Western Albemarle
Number of homes sold since July 2006: 4
Average price of these four sales: $783,962.50
