As outrage mellows to acceptance during the development review process, only the dedicated opponents continue to pipe up at public meetings. On July 24, the Albemarle County Planning Commission considered rezoning 87 acres just north of I-64 for a big-box shopping center. While in the past citizens for and against the project have shown up, this time Morgan Butler of the Southern Environmental Law Center stood alone.
 This earlier plan for a shopping center just south of Charlottesville has had only minor tweaks. The county Planning Commission has recommended its rezoning approval. |
Butler complimented plans for a parking structure and environmental designs for the buildings, but wanted a more compact layout with multistory buildings for a development that could set a precedent for retail space that’s the opposite of Route 29N. "The idea that some retail may be appropriate in this area of the county should not compel you to recommend a flawed project that will bring giant parking lots and giant shopping centers to another area of the county," said Butler.
But among the planning commissioners, even Bill Edgerton (who would earn the "Most Likely to Antagonize a Developer" superlative if the county had a yearbook) seemed resigned to the 476,000 square feet of commercial space.
"I’ve had conversations with a number of folks in the development community about this. There’s a tremendous reluctance from the big-box companies, they won’t even bring in a two-story building unless there’s enough of a market existing to justify the additional expenses in construction," said Edgerton. "Basically we have to take their worst solution, their cheapest building, with a big footprint until our market grows big enough that we can justify a two-story building. By that time we will have given up the opportunity of saving what we want to save. …They will not consider [a two-story building] here."
The Commission voted 5-1 to approve the rezoning (with Edgerton in opposition), which will go to the Board of Supervisors in September.
Plans for the shopping center, to be sited between Avon and Fifth streets, call for a grocery store, a major retail store and a home improvement store; Home Depot and Target have moved into multistory facilities in cities like New York and Cleveland.
The two big developers associated with the project, Coran Capshaw and Hunter Craig, are involved in more progressive projects elsewhere in the area—Capshaw with the Coal Tower project, Craig with Biscuit Run. But says their attorney, Steven Blaine, "The settings or markets in which you see a multistory discount department store like a Target are typically in a true urban setting where land values justify the additional costs to construction. You’ll see a two-story Whole Foods in Manhattan, but not in Charlottesville."
UVA architecture Professor Ken Schwartz points to a two-story Wal-Mart going up in Largo, Florida, on the site of an abandoned shopping center. He also references the Ikea store in Potomac Mills, Virginia, right off I-95. "There are examples out there."
Would a store like Target take a chance on building higher in a place like Charlottesville? Target spokesperson Ana Williams wouldn’t elaborate on the likelihood. Williams says of the 36 multilevel Targets: "Most are in the metro area. They’re built to fit the community that they’ll serve."
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