The fate of the parking lot at the Amtrak train station on West Main Street may be at a turning point. The owners of the lot, local developers Gabe Silverman and Allan Cadgene, will finally pave it.
“That’s what we have been trying to do all this time, is to pave the parking lot,” says Silverman. The lot has been unpaved since the developers bought it in 1997.
After an attempt by the owners to use a product called Durasoil to abate the dust problem, area residents and business owners were prepared to pursue a lawsuit they had temporarily shelved. Peter Castiglione, co-owner of Maya Restaurant, previously retained lawyer Edward Lowry, who contacted Cadgene and Silverman about the threat of legal action if the dust problem was not resolved. Cadgene, a lawyer based in San Francisco, responded to a request from Lowry for “binding assurance” to try and bust the dust with Durasoil—which, according to its website, is an odorless fluid meant to bind with any surface.
Ultimately, says Castiglione, “Durasoil was worthless.” The restaurateur says he saw twisters of dust rise from the lot a few days after the product was used and, after the heavy rain of last week, “big new puddles” materialized throughout the lot. Silverman claims that Durasoil resolved the lot’s problems. “There doesn’t seem to be dust anymore…I’m happy about that,” he says.
Now, with neighbors and developers on the same page regarding plans to pave, the lot owners’ next step is putting the paving contract out to bid. Although Silverman says the document will be ready in the next couple of weeks, he does not know how long it will be before the lot is paved.
“It really depends on the people who are going to bid, and when the contract is signed,” says Silverman. “I would hope that it happens in the next month or so.”
Meanwhile, the City of Charlottesville recently approved an amendment to a site plan for the parking lot. Valid for five years, the site plan calls for landscaping, new street lights and a rain garden—a storm management featureâ—in the center of the lot. According to City Planner Nick Rogers, the lot will be leveled first, then paved.
In an earlier interview, Silverman said outside buyers were interested in purchasing the lot, on the market for $13.5 million, for a multi-story development. However, things now may be different. “No updated information about that. We are just going ahead and paving the lot,” he says.