Uncommon folks could be drawn to this residential area in the works. Photo by Erdy McHenry Architecture
The mixed-use residential complex going up on West Main and 10th streets now has an official name: Uncommon. And the developers have a description of the type of people they hope will live there.
“Uncommoners are trendsetters who don’t try too hard,” the development’s website says, but this hip tagline doesn’t describe the planning they’ve put into building such trendy digs.
The city had previously granted a special use permit to build a nine-floor, 101-foot structure, but Erin Hannegan from Mitchell Matthews Architects says the residential building “was reduced for a variety of reasons.”
That’s probably just as well after the outcry following the development of The Flats @ West Village, the sheer bulk of which has caused some city councilors to ask whether such density is appropriate for West Main.
According to the developer, Ryan Doody of CA Student Living in Chicago, a smaller building with fewer units is better suited to fit the needs of the student population and is more in tune with the character of West Main Street.
Charlottesville city planner Brian Haluska says the decision on how high to build a particular site comes from cost of land, construction type, terms of the loan, minimum requirements or formalities of the building and that “there aren’t many sites left for large scale brand new buildings,” on West Main.
The Sycamore House Hotel is a nine-story hotel in review, but beyond that, he doesn’t see many more popping up.
This hotel will be built where the current Sycamore House Studio Art Shop sits at 1108 West Main St.—right down the block from Uncommon. John Bartelt, owner of the art shop, says the development of West Main Street isn’t preferred, but it’s inevitable. He’s noticed more foot traffic past his shop since the opening of The Flats.
“I don’t know if it necessarily translates to more business,” he says, “Probably not.”
Bartelt thinks business on West Main won’t increase until more retail shops are created instead of residential areas. He says the 7,100-square feet of retail provided by Uncommon isn’t enough.
The now six-floor, 66-foot-tall residential complex at Uncommon will house 162 units of 4-bedroom, 3-bedroom, 2-bedroom and studio apartments. Uncommon will include a community room along Roosevelt Brown Boulevard, which will be similar to CitySpace on the Downtown Mall, and scheduling preference will be given to the Fifeville and 10th and Page neighborhoods or residents in the building, according to Hannegan.
Residential and commercial parking will be under the building and the complex will include a fitness room, study lounge, club room, yoga studio and terrace-level swimming pool.
“Uncommoners live on the edge, but just down the street,” the Uncommon website says. As developments in this area continue popping up, more and more people may soon be “living on the edge” in an area that once took pride in staying true to its historic aesthetic.
However, Haluska says the building was approved by the Board of Architectural Review, which ensures that new construction is compatible with existing historic districts. Now that it’s only six floors, it will better fall in line with the UVA Children’s Hospital, which was an original concern, Haluska says.
And the changing of West Main continues across the street from Uncommon, where the former Team Tire building is being renovated for as-yet-undisclosed retail/restaurant use, according to Ecorp Real Estate president Mark Green.
Behind-the-scenes political dealings are revealed as Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) takes confidential meetings in the National Theatre’s broadcast of The Audience. Publicity photo
From the Oscars to the Oliviers to the Tonys, the performance world can’t throw enough awards at Dame Helen Mirren for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. The legendary actress reprises her royal role in the National Theatre’s encore HD screening of The Audience, an original West End play that draws back the curtain on her majesty’s top secret meetings with over half a century’s worth of prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to David Cameron.
Thursday 6/25. $10.50-14.50, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.
Amherst County Attorney Ellen Bowyer led the legal charge to keep Sweet Briar College open, taking the case to the Supreme Court of Virginia June 4.
Photo: Christian Hommel
Students, faculty, and supporters of Sweet Briar College are breathing a sigh of relief that the home of the Vixens will stay afloat for at least another year.
Following months of uncertainty over the future of the women’s liberal arts college after President James F. Jones announced in March the school would close due to “insurmountable financial challenges,” Bedford County Circuit Court Judge James W. Updike Jr. approved a settlement June 22 to keep Sweet Briar open for the 2015-2016 academic year.
According to the signed settlement agreement and order, plaintiff Ellen Bowyer, Amherst county attorney, demonstrated that Saving Sweet Briar Inc., an alumnae organization founded to ensure the continued operation of the school, would transfer at least $12 million to the college in a series of installments beginning with $2.5 million on July 2. A second installment of $6 million will be transferred 30 days later, and 30 days after that’s received, a third installment of at least $3.5 million will be transferred.
Following receipt of the three installments, Sweet Briar will seek consent from Attorney General Mark Herring to release $16 million from the college’s endowment for the continued operation of the college.
Sweet Briar’s leadership will also undergo major changes before the start of the new school year, giving the nonprofit Saving Sweet Briar control. The settlement stipulates that at least 13 members of the college’s board of directors will resign, and at least 18 new board members will be elected. Current board members will appoint new directors from a list of candidates provided by the plaintiffs. The appointees will constitute a majority and control the board.
Jones is expected to step down within seven business days, and Phillip Stone, former president of Bridgewater College, will assume office.
Paul McCartney performed at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on Tuesday. The rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, who turned 73 last week, showed no signs of age and blasted through a set of 30-plus familiar songs that kicked off with “Eight Days a Week,” leaving nothing to prove as one of the most influential musicians in the history of pop music.
Live Arts’ 25th season of volunteer theater will have a showbiz undercurrent. “They all have something that is like a nod to theater or Hollywood,” says Kisha Jarrett. Photo: Martyn Kyle
It’s a theme of mystery, of unfolding intrigue and wonder, that defines Live Arts theater’s 25th anniversary season, and for writer, director and actor Kisha Jarrett, that same sensibility fuels the non-profit’s quarter-century celebration.
“When I think about Live Arts, how it [was] started in this teeny tiny space on a wing and prayer by eight people in Charlottesville who wanted to do something cool, and how it grew—now the building itself is an arts mecca with more than 150 people that pass though the doors every day,” says Jarrett. “There are a bazillion things going on, from rehearsals to prep to committee meetings—it’s amazing when you think that 25 years ago there was no money, and now we have a new building and space and this thing that I’m guessing is bigger than what the founders originally envisioned.”
In her art, Jarrett, whose short film script Scout was recently listed for potential inclusion by the Sundance Film Festival and who works as Live Arts’ Marketing and Communications Manager, finds the groundswell of collaborative effort particularly powerful.
“There’s something that’s really freeing about writing for film in particular, but that you find in theater as well, which is that you have an entire world in your head but there’s only so much you can give,” she says.
Jarrett, who began her writing career with short stories and poems before transitioning to theater and film, explains that so much of her work must live in dialogue. “There’s the potential for so much artistry, she says. “The director’s vision, the actors voice and backstory, my favorite part is the process and the act of collaboration.”
Collaboration is the name of the game at Live Arts, where volunteers stage, produce, costume, perform and staff every single show. In the new season brochure, Executive Director Matt Joslyn and Artistic Director Julie Hamberg reflect on the very first Live Arts newsletter, which revealed many names still familiar to those who perform. Upholding tradition is not just about engaging new faces in community theater but learning from those who never left.
“With it being an anniversary season, there was a lot to think about it in terms of whether it would be a retrospective or if we would look forward,” Jarrett says. “Julie decided that we would continue with the tradition of never repeating a show (the only exception in the theater’s history was A Christmas Carol, which ran four times in the early ’90s).”
That commitment to charting unfamiliar waters reflects across the 2015/2016 season shows, which are “all a bit self-referential. They all have something that is like a nod to theater or Hollywood, even if it isn’t immediately noticeable.”
The theater’s line-up for the new season offers the blockbuster favorites (To Kill a Mockingbird, Dreamgirls) as well as smaller shows that encapsulate its experimental artistic roots.
“Dirty Blonde is based on Mae West, and it follows two lonely people who find each other because they flock to her gravesite and develop this weird relationship,” Jarrett says. Scenes in the lives of the man and woman, both of whom impersonate Mae West, jump back and forth across time. As the writer puts it, “I can imagine what the Post-It Notes on that diagram board looked like.”
City of Angels is likewise inventive, but with a different nod to silver screen magic. In 1940s Hollywood, a writer tasked with translating his novel into a screenplay for a movie studio works and lives in color, while the action of the screenplay unfolds in black in white. Eventually, worlds intertwine. “It’s a super inventive concept,” Jarrett says, “and one that asks the question ‘What do you do when you say something is your work but it no longer is?’”
The Other Place is unusual, too, not only for its first-person take on unraveling amnesia but its older female lead—a rare occurrence, even in this day and age.
And Hunter Gatherer “is a fun wackadoodle script that I’d recommend to anyone,” Jarrett says. “It speaks to me. It’s about animal sacrifice and first world problems, which is part of the point—about two couples who come together for their dual anniversary and half the couples are cheating with the others.”
“Nobody would put [a show like Hunter Gatherers] in a normal season,” she adds.
That free range flexibility and commitment to new, different, unfolding theater is perhaps one reason Charlottesville will see the community-driven non-profit enter its 25th year with more joie de vivre than ever.
“It’s relevant to the time that we’re able to take those risks,” Jarrett says. “It’s a testament to the people who support Live Arts.”
Live Arts’ 25th anniversary season begins on October 9 with the debut of Dirty Blonde.
Winemaker Kirsty Harmon fell in love with Virginia wine as a UVA biology student. After formal training at UC Davis, she returned to helm Blenheim Vineyards where she bottles viognier on its own and blends it in the Painted White and White Table Wine. “Viognier is an important grape for us,” says Harmon. Photo: Amy Jackson
Viognier and the Virginia wine scene have one thing in common: They both sprung from meager beginnings over the last few decades. In the late 1960s, only about 35 acres of viognier existed in the world, and most of it grew in France’s Rhône Valley. Around the same time, there wasn’t much of a Virginia wine scene. But as viognier spread around the globe and came to places like Charlottesville, both the grape and our local wine region grew to new heights. Today we can visit over 250 Virginia wineries, and we can find viognier worldwide with more than 10,000 acres in France alone.
Viognier has become a cornerstone of the Virginia wine scene over the last few decades. First planted by Dennis Horton, viognier’s thick skins proved to be suitable to Virginia’s heat and humidity. “Viognier likes warm, dry weather with cool nights, which is what we have here,” says Andrew Ornee of Blenheim Vineyards.
The grape also tends to ripen right before hurricane season, which can be a harvest miracle in certain vintages. Its functionality in our unique local climate make it a fine choice for planting, and many wineries have looked to viognier for the staples of their bottling programs.
Some benchmark producers of local viognier include Blenheim, Veritas, Horton, Jefferson Vineyards and Michael Shaps. Blenheim’s juicy viogniers, crafted by Kirsty Harmon, are joyous and hedonistic, and they can also handle a few years of aging, which makes them fun to watch over the long term (Ornee points to the 2012 as one of his favorite recent vintages).
New to wine? Start with Veritas for a tasty textbook example of viognier’s lush, aromatic character.
Horton’s viogniers tend to show depth and complexity; they are made from the oldest viognier in the state and old vines mean deep roots and extra complexity in the grapes.
Jefferson Vineyards recently made headlines with its 2013 viognier’s double gold win at the 2014 San Francisco International Wine & Spirits Competition, which also got it an invite on a national trade tour, granting Virginia’s power grape further recognition in the industry.
For a European-style example of what viognier might taste like in the northern Rhône, try Michael Shaps Virginia viognier, made to old world tastes and ready for some Condrieu-esque aging. Joy Ting, enologist at Michael Shaps’ Wineworks, says, “In a good year, Virginia viognier can be some of the best in the world.”
Even in Colonial times, Virginians were enchanted with viognier and references appear in texts relating to Côte Rôtie in the Northern Rhône as early as 1781. Soon after, Thomas Jefferson sampled the wines of Côte Rôtie, and also the famous viognier from nearby Chateau Grillet, which he deemed to be the best white wine in the northern Rhône.
Today, we can acquire the prolific vino a bit easier than Jefferson. A few additional excellent viognier bottles to hunt down include Barboursville, Chester Gap, Chrysalis and King Family. While Virginia has experimented with many well-known international varieties (merlot, cabernet, chardonnay), viognier is a unique part of our heritage and it helps to distinguish the identity of Virginia in the international market.
Another important tidbit when choosing a local wine with dinner: “Our viogniers work nicely with a lot of different foods,” Ting says.
Erin Scala is the sommelier at Fleurie and Petit Pois. She holds the Diploma of Wines & Spirits, is a Certified Sake Specialist and writes about beverages on her blog, thinking-drinking.com.
Singer-songwriter Parker Milsap’s character-driven lyrics and winning charisma push the young singer into the limelight at the Southern on Thursday. Publicity photo
Soulful storytelling steals the show when Oklahoma native Parker Milsap takes the stage with his unique blend of rock, country, blues and whatever genre you think Tom Waits plays. At age 21 this ambitious Americana musician has come a long way from the fire-and-brimstone preaching of his religious childhood and he’s already racking up critical praise and award nominations for the passion imbued in his music.
Thursday 6/25. $10-12, 8pm. The Southern Cafe & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.
Touted as an instant classic, Pixar’s Inside Out features an all-star cast voicing the conflicted emotions of a tweenage girl. Photo: Walt Disney Studios
After several years of leaning heavily on sequels and good-but-not-great properties, the Pixar we all know and love is back with Inside Out to reclaim its title as a beacon of emotional honesty in the spastic, cynical world of family entertainment. Its long history of tugging at audience’s heartstrings by making us empathize with unlikely protagonists for animated films—from monsters to toys to lonely widowers—has reached its logical conclusion with this tale of literal emotions on a fantastical journey inside the brain of a young girl dealing with life’s complexities for the first time. Equal parts adventure through the mysteries of the mind and metaphor for emotional growth, the catharsis and introspection you’ll get from Inside Out is worth far more than the price of admission.
Inside the head of a young girl named Riley exists a command center inhabited by five emotions/characters: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. Each emotion takes control of Riley momentarily, guiding her through life from the moment she’s born, creating memories in the shape of crystal balls that are then imbued with that emotion’s sensibility. Until age 11, Joy has taken the lead, and virtually all core memories that shape Riley have been happy ones. When her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, things start to change for Riley and the emotions in her head, and Sadness begins to have an unexplainable effect on formerly happy memories simply by coming into contact with them, leading her and Joy on a journey through Riley’s brain to reverse the ensuing damage. As the emotions struggle to keep order, Riley herself begins acting differently for reasons neither she nor those around her can understand.
There are many triumphs in Inside Out, from its engaging narrative to impeccable casting to its richly inspired silliness. Chief among these attributes is its ability to explore the depth of a single defining experience in a young person’s life and give it the depth it deserves. Plotwise, there is nothing in young Riley’s story that wouldn’t fit into a simplistic public service announcement, and it would be easy to play to an audience’s sympathy by showing a girl who’s sad that she left all of her friends behind. But individual moments in a person’s life are far more emotionally complex than the moment-by-moment facts of how they transpire. By taking this approach to the story, director Phil Docter is able to explore just how confusing Riley’s journey is without putting words in her mouth that a child in her circumstances would normally never say. She doesn’t fully understand what’s going on in her head because neither do her emotions, and once the emotions themselves come to a greater understanding of their true role, Riley is able to make more sense of herself and the world around her.
An empathetic cry is far more cathartic than a sympathetic one, and after being buttered up by the touching accompanying short Lava, that’s exactly what you’re in for with Inside Out. Not only is it the funniest, most honest and insightful film that Pixar has ever made, it’s a useful tool for anyone struggling with establishing a healthy relationship with her own emotions.
Mark Brown says he’s not angry the city rebuffed scenarios to settle the Water Street Garage litigation, but he is selling the Main Street Arena and looking for more hospitable municipalities.
Photo Jackson Smith
Power. We know it when we feel it. Sometimes it’s a server who dawdles while taking our order when we’re starving. Or, on a grander scale, it’s the people who hire and fire, who make the decisions that affect people’s lives, both for good or ill, and in at least a couple of cases, even determine life or death.
The folks named to this year’s list of most powerful Charlottesvillians have the ability to accomplish something—in every realm, from development and government to economy and tourism—in the local fishpond. It’s not an exact science. In fact, it’s pretty subjective, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned about the nature of power, it’s that it’s always shifting.
The Enterpriser: Mark Brown
Before he was 30, Mark Brown had entered the realm of big-time downtown developers with the 2010 purchase of what was then the ice rink at the west end of the Downtown Mall. A relative unknown at the time, Brown turned the struggling ice skating business into the now profitable Main Street Arena, and has spent the last few years making more bold moves that have landed him headlines.
First he purchased Yellow Cab in 2012 and aggressively pursued exclusive access for his new fleet of high-tech hybrid cars at the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport. Then, late last year, Brown seemingly came out of nowhere to buy the Charlottesville Parking Center, the for-profit corporation that owns and/or operates the two downtown parking garages and the flat lot adjacent to the Water Street garage. Coupled with the arena, that last purchase makes Brown one of the largest property holders downtown, and while he has frequently pointed out that parking rates are set by the city, there’s no question that he’s carrying more clout than ever. He’s pushing for metered parking on the streets downtown, and those who find him difficult to deal with might want to get used to it ’cause at age 34, the guy’s going to be around for a long time.
Image: Jason Crosby
The Entropizer: Phil Dulaney
Some people exercise their power with bold, sweeping actions. But make no mistake: Inaction can be its own form of power. Exhibit A: Phil Dulaney, whose dilapidated buildings atop Afton Mountain and sprinkled around Charlottesville assault the eyeballs of all who pass. You may be driving a $2 million Bugatti Veyron on your way to meet the President of the United States for lunch at the Boar’s Head Inn, but unless you’ve mastered the art of driving with your eyes closed, you will be forced to see the decaying ruins of Charlottesville Oil Company along the otherwise bucolic Ivy Road. And even if you’re rich, don’t think you can just buy his properties and fix them up yourself. Oh, no. In response to criticism of the state of Afton Mountain structures, including the Inn at Afton and the former Howard Johnson restaurant and motor lodge, Dulaney told C-VILLE back in February that he’ll handle his properties his own way. “I don’t like being pushed around,” he said. Boom! That’s power.
Photo: Ashley Twiggs
The Survivor: Teresa Sullivan
Of course the head of Charlottesville’s largest employer and Virginia’s flagship university would be on a power list. Sullivan, 65, is UVA’s eighth president and first female to hold that position. But Fortune called her “the unluckiest president in America,” starting with her unprecedented dismissal in 2012 barely two years into her contract. The faculty, alums and students rallied to her side, and the Board of Visitors rehired her, but easier times weren’t necessarily ahead.
These days, there’s plenty of love coming from the board, which extended Sullivan’s contract by two years, but also allowed an early exit by fall 2017 if her successor has been found. And the board upped her $494,000 base salary $15,000 this fiscal year and $25,000 the next. The only visitor to abstain in the vote to extend Sullivan’s contract? Her old ouster nemesis, Helen Dragas, who said it was because of tuition increases.
Sullivan has weathered storms like the murder of Hannah Graham and the now-discredited Rolling Stone article, “A Rape on Campus.” Her greatest power? Surviving.
Photo: Ashley Twiggs
The Manager: Coran Capshaw
When you read about Coran Capshaw in Billboard’s Power 100 (he’s No. 6, down from No. 2 in 2012) there’s no mention of the vast quantities of real estate he owns that have surely put a mark on Charlottesville. In fact, while recent City Council candidates have decried the massive apartment complexes going up around town—like the Flats on West Main and City Walk—guess what? Capshaw owned both before selling to developers through his Riverbend Development. And underway are Fifth Street Station, with its much anticipated Wegman’s and the soon-to-be-redeveloped Coca-Cola Building on Preston Avenue.
And yet, these major real estate holdings seem like mere trifles in Capshaw’s business empire. His original claim to fame was as manager of hometown sensation Dave Matthews Band. His Red Light Management still oversees DMB, but has grown to be the largest independent artist management firm in the world with more than 200 artists, according to Billboard. So when bands like Alabama Shakes or My Morning Jacket play here at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion or The Jefferson Theater—other Capshaw ventures—it’s not a coincidence.
But it’s not all acquisitioning for Capshaw. Earlier this year, he sold his flagship restaurant, Blue Light Grill, and he finally unloaded his historic Greenwood estate, Seven Oaks, which had been on the market for about seven years, for $5.5 million last October.
Image: Jason Crosby
The Spy-meister: Ketti Davison
You probably wouldn’t recognize Colonel Ketti Davison if you ran into her on the Downtown Mall, but let’s just say that Davison, who took command of the National Ground Intelligence Center on May 26, could direct a drone strike to your house. Kidding. Davison is in charge of gathering for the Army foreign ground forces intelligence, not domestic. Still, the rest of the world, watch out. And here at home, she carries a lot of clout being the boss at one of the biggest employers in Albemarle County, with around 1,200 employees.
Photo: Amy Jackson
The MoJo: Maurice Jones
Few saw it coming that the former NBC29 sportscaster/city flack would one day rule City Hall and its $156 million budget, but lack of experience has never slowed Maurice Jones, who has been city manager since 2010. He didn’t have experience in fundraising when the Miller Center hired him as development director, and he didn’t seem to have much experience in running a city when he came back to work as assistant manager in 2008. But back in 2005, the affable Jones said the important thing is to meet people and build relationships, and it appears to be working.
Despite Jones waiting five months to report what became a misuse of public funds scandal in the registrar’s office last year, City Council indicated June 15 it will keep him around when his contract expires December 7. And he keeps his $180K job, although he told the Daily Progress he won’t be seeking a $17,000 bonus for meeting goals to improve the Charlottesville Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
Image: Jason Crosby
The Philanthropists: Woodriff, Weschler, Bills,Et al.
Have you ever taken in a show at the Paramount, dropped your kids off at the Boys and Girls Club or read a story on the Charlottesville Tomorrow website? To the delight of scores of local nonprofit organizations, this town’s most financially successful citizens are also known for their largesse. Check out the donor lists for various organizations, and chances are good you’ll see certain names including the ones above pop up repeatedly. Former hedge fund manager and current Warren Buffett right-hand-man Ted Weschler (a co-owner of this paper) has supported numerous nonprofits and ventures including the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. Michael Bills is co-founder of Charlottesville Tomorrow, and is married to another well known local philanthropist, Sonjia Smith. And in the area of charitable giving, it’s hard to compete with Jaffray Woodriff, a hedge fund manager who gives millions away to nonprofits locally and farther afield through his Quantitative Foundation. Thanks for sharing the wealth!
Photo: Amy Jackson
The Idea Man: Keith Woodard
Keith Woodard has quietly been accumulating properties since he moved here from Kentucky in 1976 with a degree in architecture. His early efforts were in quality student housing, and Woodard Properties currently houses nearly 750 students, according to its website. In the 1980s, he moved into commercial properties and renovated the Exchange Center on the Downtown Mall. His holdings include McIntire Plaza and the Market Street parking lot that’s racked up a lot of complaints from towed parkers.
He bought four semi-historic buildings on the mall that other developers had failed to get city approvals to tear down—and Woodard’s plans to build a nine-story mixed use structure didn’t fly either. Sure the buildings sat empty and created a ghost town stretch on the Downtown Mall for about five years, but today they house Derrière de Soie and other high-end retailers.
Woodard showed his humanitarian side when he bought Dogwood Properties in 2007 from local civil rights leader Eugene Williams, who believed in affordable housing and mixed-income neighborhoods. And in 2008, he adapted a radical management approach called the Great Game of Business that gives employees a stake in his company’s success.
And now Woodard tackles his most ambitious project yet: Market Plaza, another nine-story residential, retail and office behemoth on a city-owned parking lot on Water Street that includes outdoor space for City Market. This time, despite grousing about tall structures changing the face of Charlottesville, City Council gave a thumbs up.
Photo: Amy Jackson
The Dem Power Couple: Denise Lunsford and Richard Brewer
Denise Lunsford, Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney, and Richard Brewer, president and CEO of Commonwealth Assisted Living, with its 20 facilities across the state, are powerhouses in their own right. But together, by virtue of Brewer’s volunteer job as chair of the Albemarle County Democratic Committee, the couple has a headlock on who the party backs—and who it doesn’t.
Just ask Lawrence Gaughan, who ran as a Democrat for Congress last year and now is running as an independent for the county Board of Supervisors after he got a cold shoulder from his own party. Clerk of Court Debbie Shipp was elected as a Democrat, but is running for reelection as an independent after Jon Zug announced a challenge more than a year ago and secured the Dem nomination—and he works as a prosecutor for Lunsford. Heck, even some Republicans seeem fearful of getting on the wrong side of this couple.
Not that everything has been smooth sailing for the pair. While assisted living remains a growth business, being an elected prosecutor for eight years inevitably puts a target on one’s back, never more so than with the controversial Mark Weiner conviction. Lunsford faces a contested reelection run along with a high-profile capital case against Jesse Matthew.
Photo: Jackson Smith
The Voice: Jeff Fogel
If power can be defined as the ability to give a voice to the voiceless, attorney Jeff Fogel would be yodeling at the top of the list. A free speech advocate, he filed suit against the City of Charlottesville on behalf of downtown panhandlers, claiming the new city law prohibiting begging at the cross streets was a constitutional no-no. Federal judge Norman K. Moon agreed, and wrote a harsh rebuke of the city, noting that the mall is the site of the free speech monument, and that the organization behind that monument, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, filed an amicus brief on behalf of the panhandlers. With the wind of that victory now at his back, Fogel has sued the city again, this time seeking the story behind each time police detain someone.
Photo: Jackson Smith
The Fixer: Susan Payne
On the popular ABC television series “Scandal,” actress Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope, a crisis PR guru who will go to any length to help her high-profile clients manage sticky situations. If the setting for “Scandal” were moved from Washington, D.C. to Charlottesville and recast, we’d definitely place Susan Payne in the lead role. To the best of our knowledge, she’s never capped a knee on behalf of a client like Pope once did, but she’s definitely the one the big dogs call when they need to put their best foot forward. When Hunter Craig unloaded Biscuit Run for a state park and tax credits, he called Payne, Ross and Associates. And who can forget Halsey Minor’s proud groundbreaking ceremony of the Landmark Hotel on the Downtown Mall? And her influence goes beyond the local. She’s married to former congressman L.F. Payne and she’s chairwoman of the board of the Virginia Tourism Corporation, so she most definitely has the power to keep Charlottesville in the state and national spotlight.
Image: Jason Crosby
The Ruler: Cheryl Higgins
All judges wield power—anyone who’s gotten so much as a speeding ticket knows that—but sitting on the bench of the Albemarle County Circuit Court means Higgins holds the reins over any wrongdoing in one of the geographically largest counties in the state. Getting a divorce? Higgins will decide who gets the dough. Got a case of sticky fingers? It’s up to Higgins whether you’re headed to the pokey. And she’s in a particularly high-profile position this year as she prepares to preside over the trial of Jesse Matthew, unless his lawyers convince her to step aside. It’s the county’s first capital murder case in years and one the whole country will be watching.
Photo: Jane Haley
The Investor: Larry Kochard
The man who came in to manage UVA Investment Management Company in 2011 had to deal with both his predecessor’s abrupt departure for personal reasons and the plunge in the university’s endowment from $5 billion to $4 billion during the Great Recession.
Larry Kochard was chief investment officer at Georgetown University, and also has managed funds for the Virginia Retirement System. Since his arrival here, UVA’s long-term pool, which includes the endowment, has rebounded to $7.2 billion, and it showed a 19 percent return, according to UVIMCO’s 2014 annual report.
Photo: Tom Daly
The New Mogul: Dave Frey
Watch out Coran, there’s a new music mogul in town, and this one has the power to draw some of the biggest musical acts in the world to a massive tract of land in Nelson County. Two years ago, Dave Frey launched the Lockn’ Music Festival on a 5,000-acre estate in Arrington. In its first year, the event drew tens of thousands to hear big name acts like Phil Lesh and The Black Crowes. But fans weren’t the only ones in attendance. Several ABC officers also on hand at the event were so scandalized by the sight of pot smoking and at least one topless sunbather that they brought the fight to Frey in an effort to take away his license. Frey paid a fine, the most scandalized ABC agent moved to another jurisdiction, and the show went on in 2014 with even bigger acts including Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Willie Nelson. This year’s event brings Carlos Santana and Robert Plant among dozens of others, and Frey’s lovin’ the Nelson scene so much he recently launched another smaller venue called the Blue Ridge Bowl.
Photo: Cole Geddy
The Man Behind the Message: David Martel
A year after UVA President Teresa Sullivan survived a BOV coup, she brought in her own communications guy, David Martel, who previously was at University of Connecticut and specializes in strategic communication, media relations, marketing and branding. As chief communications officer, he reports directly to Sullivan, in contrast to during the 2012 ouster, when university communications was appropriated by then-rector Helen Dragas until she hired a PR firm to handle the debacle.
It’s been a tough year to be brand-meister for UVA when murder, rape and the bloody arrest of a black student are in the national news. And it didn’t help that the response penned for Sullivan in the wake of the now-discredited Rolling Stone article seemed more concerned with how the article “negatively portrayed” the university than with the alleged sexual assault of a student. But by the arrest of Martese Johnson, Sullivan’s statement and concern were spot-on.
File photo
The Driver: Liza Borches
If you want to buy a car in this town (and much as most people claim they love alternative transportation, everyone needs at least one set of motorized wheels, right?), chances are good you’ll check out at least a couple of lots under Borches’ control. As the president and CEO of the Carter Automotive Group, the company her family founded in 1924, Liza Borches heads up 11 car dealerships in Central Virginia, including Volvo of Charlottesville and Colonial Honda, Kia and Nissan as well as the Colonial Auto Group here in Charlottesville. She’s a shrewd businesswoman, no doubt, and has received numerous awards and recognitions. She’s also a founding member of Women United, a nonprofit organization formed in 2005 to encourage and support women philanthropists that’s poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into local causes.
Photo: Amy Jackson
The Tom-aniac: Paul Beyer
When homebuilder scion Paul Beyer first appeared on the public scene to run for City Council in 2011, the then-29-year-old NYU grad lost by a scant 31 votes, and some figured he’d be running for office again before too long. Instead, he showed up a year later with this crazy South by Southwest idea called the Tom Tom Founders Festival, featuring music, art and innovation—for free. In a festival-clogged town, it seemed like a nice idea that would die quietly. Instead, Beyer just finished his fourth Tom Tom fest, and he’s created a behemoth.
Beyer scaled back the original month-long event to a week, but length of time is about the only thing he’s scaled back. After partnering with UVA and Darden’s iLab, this year Tom Tom boasted 384 participants in the Founders Summit, including the entrepreneurs who founded Reddit and the Container Store, plus six block parties, four pitch events and dozens of free events. Prediction for the future? It’s only going to get bigger.
Photo: Tec Petaja
The Party Planners: Lynn Easton and Dean Andrews
How did Charlottesville become an East Coast wedding mecca? If Lynn Easton and Dean Andrews asked that question while gazing into a mirror, they’d see a big part of the answer. As operators of the Easton & Porter hospitality group, they run high-end event planning company Easton Events and co-own gorgeous winery estate Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards (which has landed on a slew of national wedding “Best of” lists) as well as downtown restaurant Red Pump Kitchen. The couple, perhaps more than anyone else in this area, have helped develop the local wedding industry into a juggernaut that (red) pumps millions into the economy every year.
Image: Jason Crosby
The Apprentice: Eric Trump
The son of the Donald may not live here, but as executive VP of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization, Eric Trump has stamped the Trump brand on Albemarle County.
Trump, 31, oversaw the transformation of Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard into Trump Winery, and in 2013 Wine Enthusiast named him rising star of the year. While his plans for a golf course on the former John Kluge property ultimately were thwarted by a conservation easement and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Trump did find a way around county bed-and-breakfast zoning and opened the former Albemarle House as what its website calls the “luxury boutique hotel,” Albemarle Estate, this spring.
Albemarle seems to be the rare failure in Trump’s golf course portfolio. He’s expanded the organization’s holdings from three in 2006 to 15. And his Eric Trump Foundation has donated and pledged $28 million to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, which helps mitigate those unfortunate African safari dead-leopard shots making the rounds online.
Photo: Amy Jackson
The Seller: Loring Woodriff
Local real estate firms all over town are partneringwith big national or even international firms, but not Loring Woodriff. She founded her own firm a decade ago and has grown it from a tiny boutique agency to a nearly 30-agent force with the fourth highest sales of any firm in the area, according to her website. And she has no plans to fold her firm into a larger entity, no matter how high profile the name. “I’m 100 percent fiercely independent,” Woodriff told C-VILLE a few months back. Fierce is powerful.
Correction June 1, 2015: The original version of this story incorrectly identified Coran Capshaw as the developer of the Flats on West Main and City Walk, as well as the current name of his Riverbend Development. Both have been corrected.
Dave Chapman explains why he didn't proceed with charges against Martese Johnson or the ABC officers who arrested him. Staff photo
Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman spent nearly three hours June 17 presenting almost every scrap of information about Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents’ March 18 takedown of UVA student Martese Johnson that left him with 10 stitches on his forehead. The prosecutor, who dropped charges against Johnson June 12, was sympathetic toward both the student and the agents, and discussed the incident “for understanding and for prevention.”
Chapman concluded it was “inappropriate” to pursue criminal charges against Johnson because “Mr. Johnson was not in fact committing a criminal event” when he handed his valid ID to the owner of Trinity Irish Pub and because “Mr. Johnson received serious injury.”
He said he could have prosecuted Johnson for obstruction of justice because it’s illegal to resist temporary detention in Virginia, but “that would be a bad idea. It would be inappropriate.”
As for the ABC agents, Chapman asked the couple dozen people assembled in City Council chambers how they would feel if they were law enforcement officers in a case like this and there was widespread condemnation and accusations of racism before all the facts were in.
As ABC agents, they had “articulable” reasonable suspicion to detain Johnson after seeing his ID rejected at Trinity’s door when Johnson recited the wrong zip code, said Chapman. “None of the officers committed a criminal offense. Had we thought for a moment that malice, that racial animosity or intentional or reckless disregard of their authority as sworn law enforcement officers had existed, we would not have hesitated to pursue charges- against anyone who was so involved.”
Instead, the Rashomon scenario cobbled together from 15 witnesses at the scene and 52 all together indicates that Johnson and the lead ABC agent likely didn’t hear each other in the crowd outside Trinity, that Johnson pulled away from a perceived stranger grabbing his arm, that the bloody takedown was more a clumsy trip than police brutality—although two witnesses described the agents as slamming Johnson to the ground—and that it all went down in little more than 30 seconds, as partially captured on a camera across the street that was missing six seconds—but had not been tampered with, Chapman assured.
How Johnson ended up on the ground was a factor Chapman considered, as well as whether race was involved. He also looked at the use of force in investigating “a relatively minor offense.” Added Chapman, “That’s an important one.”
According to the statement of the lead ABC agent, Johnson had “bloodshot, glassy eyes” when he approached him and Johnson said something the agent couldn’t hear. He grabbed the arm of Johnson, who shrugged and walked away. That’s when the first agent, joined by a second, “actively began taking him to the ground,” and Johnson was “actively resisting,” recounted Chapman. “We all fell to the ground,” said the agent in his statement, who also noted he could “smell the strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming off him.”
Based on interviews with friends who’d been with Johnson earlier, as well as others he encountered that night, Johnson had been drinking that night to the “level of under the influence,” said Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Nina Antony. That’s different from the “gross intoxication of a drunk in public charge,” in which a person is falling over drunk and a danger to themselves and others, explained Antony.
Johnson was charged with drunk in public and obstruction of justice. Although he was 20 at the time, he was not charged with underage consumption of alcohol, and Chapman said he had no evidence of Johnson’s blood alcohol content.
The unnamed second ABC officer told investigators, “I found myself falling to the ground and landing on my elbow,” as he struggled with the resisting Johnson. Another witness described the fall as “too sloppy to have been done on purpose.”
Community member Jim Bundy asked about the takedown in the contest of Ferguson. “People are tired of seeing tragic results from things that aren’t so important,” said Chapman.
Bundy said he understood Chapman’s reasons for not charging the ABC agents. “I still think the officers need to be held accountable,” he said. “I don’t think they need to be prosecuted, but I found their actions questionable. In 30 seconds Martese Johnson was walking from a bar to on the ground. That’s such a short time. Surely something could have been done to avoid a violent response.”
“I thought it was excessive,” said Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP president Rick Turner. “I don’t think he had to be taken down like that.” Turner also said he believes the the situation was racially motivated.
Daniel Watkins, Johnson’s attorney, issued a statement after Chapman’s presentation: “Our position is and always has been that police lacked justification to seize Mr. Johnson.” He also noted that the three ABC agents declined to participate in the Virginia State Police investigation.
It’s not over for the agents, as Chapman pointed out. They still have to face an ABC administrative review.
Prosecutor Dave Chapman used the Martese Johnson arrest as a teachable moment.
