Month: February 2018

Categories
Living

Teens who do it all share their secrets to success

Evelyn Brown, a senior at Tandem Friends School, juggles schoolwork and AP classes with a ton of extracurriculars including the school’s rock band, varsity cross county (fall), basketball (winter) and soccer (spring) and musical theater. Photos by Eze Amos

In today’s busy world, teenagers are cramming in as much as possible. Meet two teens who are seamlessly navigating packed schedules of school, sports, family, friends and volunteer commitments, and learn why they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Evelyn Brown

Senior at Tandem Friends School

Classes: AP literature, AP government and politics, AP environmental science, discrete mathematics and applications, African-American studies

Senior thesis: Recording her own EP

Extracurriculars: The school’s rock band; varsity cross county (fall), basketball (winter) and soccer (spring); Conservation Lobby Day participant; musical theater (Meg in current production of Little Women)

Dream job: Working for the United Nations’ World Health Organization

Typical daily schedule

7am: Wake up; hit snooze button once

8:30am-3:40pm: Attend morning meeting, classes and community time period

4-5pm: Play rehearsal or basketball
study hall

5:15-6:30pm: Basketball practice

6:45-8pm: Dinner, shower and time
with family

8-10 or 11pm: Finish homework

11:30pm: Go to sleep

Whether she’s doing homework on the bus on the way back from a basketball game or running through her lines before a play rehearsal, Evelyn Brown says the most important part about being involved in so many things is focusing on what she’s passionate about.

“I really appreciate all the extracurriculars that I do because it gives me the opportunity to be on a team or be in a cast and work with different people than I would see every day in my classes,” she says.

And organization is key to making her life easier: She logs into Tandem’s student portal to keep track of all of her homework assignments and due dates, and she is constantly updating her online to-do list app. And just to make sure nothing is missed, she also writes everything down in her planner. Brown estimates how long each task will take to ensure she’s not rushing to get something done and creating more stress.

The hardest part about her hectic schedule is finding time to relax and reboot (she has to miss trips to the mall with friends after school to attend sports or theater practices). But one of her outlets—music—is also a main focus for her this year: She is recording her own EP, Edges, for her senior thesis project. Songwriting is cathartic for Brown, who sings and taught herself to play guitar, and she wrote most of the songs on the seven-track album (there might be one cover, she says). The songs are centered on the theme of Brown’s transition from a high school student who is dependent on her parents to being independent and finding herself.

After participating in Model UN at Johns Hopkins University two years ago, Brown discovered her passion for public health, which she wants to study in college. She’s applied to 10 colleges and is waiting to hear back from six. So far she’s been accepted to VCU, Florida State, Allegheny College and her top pick at the moment: University of Maryland.

And one of Brown’s favorite activities this year revolved around another of her passions: the health of the Chesapeake Bay (Brown is an avid sailor). She attended Conservation Lobby Day at the end of January in Richmond, and spoke to Delegate David Toscano and State Senator Creigh Deeds about offshore drilling in the state and preserving the Eastern oyster.

“I didn’t understand I could make any kind of impact on environmental issues, so having this opportunity and learning that I really can just talk to my representatives, that was really transformational for my ideas about how I can make a difference,” Brown says.

Jackie Hartwig

Senior at St. Anne’s-Belfield School

Classes: AP biology, BC calculus, honors Spanish 5, honors English 12, 21st-century citizenship

Senior capstone thesis: Studying refugee education in Charlottesville

Extracurriculars: President of the Honor Council, varsity field hockey captain (fall) and varsity lacrosse captain (spring)

Dream job: Something that helps improve the education system through public policy

Typical daily schedule

6:15am: Wake up; walk Banxi, her bluetick coonhound

7:15am: Arrive at school for Honor Council meeting (one day a week)

8:45am-3:15pm: Attend class

3:45pm-6pm: Attend sports practice/games

6:15pm-11pm: Eat dinner, shower and then start on homework

11:45pm: Go to sleep

Jackie Hartwig embodies the term leading by example. Which is why the career STAB student (she started school there in pre-kindergarten) made sure she chose a topic for her year-long independent study capstone that would require her to get out into the Charlottesville community.

Hartwig completed the majority of her reading and gathering of empirical data for her thesis project over the summer so that during the school year she could focus on conducting interviews (during free periods, no-school days and weekends) with members of Charlottesville’s refugee community (some STAB students and students at other high schools), as well as English as a second language teachers. Hartwig’s focus is on the gap between local policies and classroom curriculum and practices, and how effectively refugee students are supported and empowered. Hart-
wig chose her capstone topic based on her future goal of landing a job that looks at how the education system can be improved through public policy.

Organization is definitely key to Hartwig’s success, and she admits that she’s not a “huge” technology person. Instead, she relies on a written planner, plasters her window in sticky notes and keeps track of everything in color-coded binders.

Hartwig also understands the importance of a support system: She’s known most of her classmates and teammates since preschool, and says her teachers are like “second parents” who enable her to be involved so much. And Hartwig loves being in the leader role as well: Being a team captain means making sure there’s camaraderie both on and off the field, she says. She meets once a week with her lacrosse coach to talk about “behind the scenes stuff,” such as which service projects the team wants to complete.

And her involvement in Honor Council since freshman year has inspired her to be involved in her college’s honor council as well. She’s applied to six schools and is waiting to hear back from four; she has been accepted to Rhodes College and UVA.

The busy Hartwig says “getting to do everything I love is a great blessing,” but her advice to other teens is to not try to do it all.

“I just honed in on what I did feel like was fulfilling in my day-to-day life and I really pursued it,” she says. “You really have to follow through and not give up when you hit roadblocks.”

Categories
Living

Students light up over JUULing

Even if you don’t recognize the JUUL itself, which resembles a USB thumb drive, its litter is becoming increasingly common. A walk around the Corner will put you within eyeshot of hundreds of the small plastic JUUL pod containers. Photo by Mylesclark96

By Sam Padgett

living@c-ville.com

There’s a new verb hanging in the Charlottesville air: JUULing. If you have heard it, most likely from a high school- or college-aged kid, rest assured it isn’t some odd youth mining craze. A JUUL, pronounced “jewel,” is a small vaping device that can be found in nearly any local convenience store. The device itself is nearly indistinguishable from a USB thumb drive, with no visible buttons or dials, which appeals to teens who want to hide it from parents and teachers.

A quick Google search on JUUL pulls up hundreds of headlines that point out the JUUL’s higher than normal average nicotine content for an e-cigarette and the candy-like flavors it comes in. The base device, which costs around $50, relies on replaceable pods that come in a variety of flavors, such as mango, mint, Virginia tobacco, fruit medley and crême brulée. Each individual JUUL pod, a slim translucent box about the size of a mahjong tile, is roughly equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes. (The JUUL uses nicotine salts found in the tobacco leaf.)

Portable and refillable vapes such as the JUUL aren’t a new technology. Similar devices such as blu and Vuse have occupied shelf space behind gas station counters for several years. PAX Labs, the small California-based company that produces the JUUL, didn’t anticipate such success and has been struggling to keep stores stocked. Teagan Lefey, a cashier at the Cohn’s on The Corner, says the convenience store sells roughly 20 packs of pods a night and usually runs out of stock every three or four days (customers must be 18 or older to purchase nicotine products). “Once we started carrying them,” he says, “we could barely keep them in stock.”

Since JUULs are a significantly more discrete method of getting a nicotine buzz than cigarettes, they have exploded in schools across the country (vaping and JUULing top the “risky behaviors” list from two area high school newspaper editors on page 15). Teens interviewed for this article said although they JUUL, they didn’t want to talk on the record about the product. A local high school teacher told C-VILLE she has seen a fair amount of JUULs confiscated in the classroom and describes the JUUL phenomenon like a meme of sorts, a popular in-joke among students.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes clear on its website that “youth use of tobacco in any form is unsafe,” and while cigarette use among teens has dropped, e-cigarette use—vaping—is rising. According to data released by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that e-cigarette use among teens tripled between 2013 and 2014, while teen tobacco use has significantly decreased, dropping from 15.8 percent of high school students in 2011 to 8 percent in 2016.

Categories
Living

What’s in my backpack

Like most of his classmates, Jack Keaveny carries his neon green and black UnderArmor backpack around all day—nobody really uses the few lockers left at Charlottesville High School. Staff photo

Take a look inside a backpack and you’ll get a glimpse inside its owner’s life: perhaps notebooks and pens show evidence of his favorite color, or what he likes to do in his free time. There are folders full of assignments that indicate her potential career path, a book she reads for fun and keys that show the car she drives. It’s a peek into that person’s world and what absorbs her at the moment.

We asked two local high schoolers to give us a look at the things they carry, and we talked to a local chiropractor about that age-old parental concern: My kid’s backpack is way too heavy.

Jack Keaveny

Jack Keaveny

Charlottesville High School freshman

Jack Keaveny gets to CHS by 8am every day; his mom (C-VILLE Arts editor Tami Keaveny) drives him to school. This semester, he’s taking Spanish, English, engineering, history of sports, geometry, biology and, his favorite, world history, where he’s enjoyed learning about ancient Rome. Like most of his classmates, Keaveny carries his neon green-and-black Under Armour backpack around all day—nobody really uses the few lockers left at CHS. And, he carries his phone in his pocket—they’re not allowed at school, he says, but everyone uses them anyway. When school ends at 3:50pm, Keaveny does some combination of homework, hanging out with friends or working out at the Y. His evenings usually include music, which is really important to him: He plays guitar and makes beats.

Backpack weight: 18 pounds

Backpack contents:

• School-issued Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook

• Green homework folder

• Unused red spiral-bound notebook

• Unused blue spiral-bound notebook

• Black-and-white composition book for English class

• PSAT practice test

• Green binder for graded assignments

• Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, current reading for English class

• Lunch box

• Green patterned pencil case

• Colored pencils, black pens, yellow highlighters

• Retainer case

• Axe spray deodorant

• Chromebook charger

• Tissues

• School-issued student ID card

• Green spiral keychain with house key and a pass for Brooks Family YMCA

• No. 2 pencils

• Broken pencils and pieces of a broken ruler

• Peanut butter cup wrapper

• Stack of blank index cards (he’s carried these around for about three years)

Rachel Wang

Rachel Wang

Albemarle High School senior

As Albemarle High School swim team captain, Rachel Wang’s day starts early. She wakes at 4:40am, drives herself to the pool for a 5:30-7:30am practice, then showers at the pool, eats breakfast and gets to school before it begins at 8:55am. After school, she eats dinner, does homework (usually between one and two hours a night, rarely more than three hours) and goes to bed early. She also teaches piano to younger kids three days a week. There are no lockers at AHS, so she carries her black-and-gray Patagonia backpack around all day. Wang, who’s thinking about becoming an engineer, takes a full course load, including government, physics, macroeconomics, literature, issues of the modern world, vector calculus and an engineering class. She’s currently waiting to hear back from colleges, though she’s already been accepted to UVA.

Backpack weight: 12.4 pounds

Backpack contents:

• MacBook Air (a hand-me-down from her mom, Wang says this is why her backpack is lighter than her friends’: It’s a fraction of the weight of the school-issued Lenovo Thinkpad)

• Black physics notebook

• Folders for literature, government and physics classes

• Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father, which she’s reading for fun

• Gray fabric pencil case

• Pens, pencils, Sharpies, highlighters

• Texas Instruments graphing calculator (math class requirement)

• Car and house keys

• Planner notebook (“I’m a very on-paper person,” she says about her choice to have a planner notebook instead of relying on her phone calendar)

• Glasses

• Headphones

• Tide stick

• Hand sanitizer

• Wallet

• Senior lunch pass, which allows Wang to leave campus for the long lunch period each Wednesday

Pack defense

Though long-term injuries from backpacks do occur, they’re somewhat rare, says Dr. Sam Spillman of Balance Chiropractic. And while backpacks seem
to be getting lighter, due to the fact that more schoolwork is being done using tablets and laptops instead of heavy textbooks, it’s important to keep an eye on what’s being carried, why and how.

Spillman suggests a few rules of thumb to make sure it’s done safely:

• A kid’s backpack shouldn’t weigh more than 10 to 20 percent of his body weight.

• Make sure a backpack is the right size for its carrier: The pack should not be longer than the carrier’s torso.

• Pick a pack with wide straps, a chest strap and a waist belt to better distribute the weight.

• There’s also the rolling backpack…though it’s not the coolest look.

• Kids: Speak up! If your backpack feels too heavy, tell your parents. Parents: When your kids tell you their backpack feels too heavy, listen to them and see if a different backpack is in order.

In fact, safely lugging a little extra weight around isn’t the worst thing a young person can do, says Spillman. Kids and teens today are more sedentary than previous generations, and carrying a backpack from class to class can actually help strengthen their spines and back muscles.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: WinterSongs brings together women in song

The fourth annual WinterSongs brings together hundreds of local female vocalists using their voices as a weapon to fight violence against women in our community. After a day of “joyful empowerment” where they “mix, share, support, cheer and sing for each other,” student ensembles from Charlottesville, Albemarle and the University of Virginia will perform a celebratory public concert organized by Craig Jennings, choral director at Burley Middle School. All funds raised go to the Shelter for Help in Emergency.

Saturday, February 24. Donations accepted at the door, 5pm. Monticello High School, 1400 Independence Way. 244-3100.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Spit it out at Hip-Hop Karaoke

Can’t get Drake’s “God’s Plan” out of your head? Think you’ve got the pipes to take on Rhianna or ya feel some old school Jay-Z comin’ through? Spit it out at Hip-Hop Karaoke where SGtheDJ calls the role as the line for the stage fills with local MCs and wannabes, cued to drop rhymes from their headphone heroes. Contact bookwithsg@gmail.com with song info to sign up in advance.

Thursday, February 22. $5, 8pm. All ages. The Ante Room, 219 Water St. W. 284-8561.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Luke Bryan puts a new spin on country

Country superstar Luke Bryan’s hit songs put a contemporary spin on broken hearts and driving trucks, allowing him to shift from mainstream to the hip-hop, rock world of bro-country. Publicity photo

Country superstar Luke Bryan’s hit songs put a contemporary spin on broken hearts and driving trucks, allowing him to shift from mainstream to the hip-hop, rock world of bro-country—a term he rejects, but it seems appropriate for a guy who’s been named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association, and has released songs titled “Country Man” and “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” as well as “Huntin,’ Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day.” He’s on the road, playing tracks from What Makes You Country, released in December.

Saturday, February 24. $53.75-93, 7pm. John Paul Jones Arena, 295 Massie Rd. 575-8497.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Ruckzuck hurtles through space rock

Psychedelic, space-rock band Ruckzuck finds its unique sound through pulsing synths, fuzzy riffs and, at times, dark but entrancing lyrics that drive the three-piece’s soundscapes. Publicity photo

Psychedelic, space-rock band Ruckzuck finds its unique sound through pulsing synths, fuzzy riffs and, at times, dark but entrancing lyrics that drive the three-piece’s soundscapes. Hailing from the mountains of Pennsylvania, the group’s name has numerous meanings, all of them having to do with moving forward and moving fast—a perfect title for this progressive, futuristic band that writes, produces and records its own music.

Saturday, February 24. Free, 9pm. All ages. Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, 414 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 293-9947.

Categories
Arts Uncategorized

Arts Pick: MerleFest on the Road

Barefoot Movement performs on February 22 at the Southern. Photo: Catherine Truman Photography

Thursday 2/22

MerleFest on the Road gives added exposure to the players at (the late) Doc Watson’s popular Americana music festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Chicago’s soulful five-piece The Way Down Wanderers, laidback Nashville bluegrass act The Barefoot Movement, and seasoned folk musician Andy May, carry the torch in an ensemble show that previews the April event’s 30th anniversary offerings. $18-20, 6pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.

Categories
Arts

Teen playwright Joshua St. Hill discusses A King’s Story

Monticello High School student Joshua St. Hill was motivated by the stories of black men who have died as a result of police violence to write (and perform in) his drama, A King’s Story. “The power of storytelling is legacy. Even if the story that you’re telling is tragic, even if the story that you’re telling is [that] of somebody who isn’t with us, you can always keep them alive in that,” says St. Hill. Photo by Amy Jackson

In April 2017, Monticello High School student Joshua St. Hill began writing a play. He had been bitten by the theater bug during the school’s production of In the Heights, and his drama teacher, Madeline Michel, asked if he’d like to write something for the stage.

He did. Black men who have died as a result of police violence had been on his mind, and St. Hill wrote a script about James King, a fictional Charlottesville teenager who, while reaching into his pocket for his phone, is shot and killed by a police officer.

St. Hill is quick to note that the 30-minute, one-act play, A King’s Story, wasn’t a solo effort—he had input from Michel and classmates, especially the show’s director, Amaya Wallace.

The play takes place after King’s death and focuses on King’s best friend, Elijah, played by St. Hill, and how his reactions compare to those of others. Many have applauded the play’s content and message while some have criticized it as being too violent and anti-police (St. Hill suspects those folks haven’t taken the time to watch the play). St. Hill discusses some of the themes and issues explored in A King’s Story.

C-VILLE: Why did you write A King’s Story?

Joshua St. Hill: It needed to be told. When we started the early drafts, people questioned me, “Why are you guys always telling stories about race? What’s so big about it?” And the [answer] is, because it’s still relevant, it’s still happening; it’s still a problem that needs to be addressed. People like to say it’s not happening in our town; it’s not happening around here. It was a horrible coincidence that July 8 and August 12 [the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi/white nationalist rallies in Charlottesville] happened [while I was writing this]. I think that opened up a lot of people’s eyes to what happens. The less you talk about it, the more willing people are to still do you wrong. If you’re not making any noise, people are going to still do what they’re doing without any change. A closed mouth does not get fed.

In A King’s Story, you play Elijah, a high school student who’s just lost his best friend to police violence. How much of Elijah is you?

Fifty percent of Elijah is me and 50 percent is a character. The part that’s me is the intelligent kid with historic knowledge, with a little bit of fire. The part that’s not me, the part that is the character, is the way he went about it. The thing about Elijah is, he has the best heart, and he has his head in the right place at the wrong time. But he has to understand that one person can’t tackle the world, or the whole town, by himself. James King being killed by a police officer wasn’t just one incident; it’s not as simple a problem as “it was wrong that the officer shot him.” It’s a complex problem that’s been going on for longer than Elijah’s even been alive. And he gets that, but he doesn’t get that.

In the last line of the play, your character, Elijah, says: “James, rest in power. I’ll forever tell your story.” What is the power of storytelling?

The power of storytelling is legacy. Even if the story that you’re telling is tragic, even if the story that you’re telling is [that] of somebody who isn’t with us, you can always keep them alive in that. History resonates a lot in this play, and the thing about history is, if you misconceive it and teach it the wrong way, it can do a lot of damage.

How much of the play is based on things that have happened in your own life—the conversations with parents about wearing hoodies at night, teachers saying “passing” instead of “murder,” heated conversations with classmates about racism and police violence?

Never the classroom scene to me, personally, but it’s happened to other people, but definitely the hoodie discussion….and the sugarcoating! Oh my gosh, too much of the sugarcoating. Sometimes, adults think that children don’t fully understand what they’re talking about, or they try to overprotect children without realizing that we can notice that. We’re underestimated. That overprotection, sometimes it’s put in the wrong place. For instance, the question isn’t whether or not you should be wearing the hoodie at night, but, why are you judged for wearing the hoodie at night?

What are the things that you wish adults knew that you could handle?

Situations such as racism, situations such as somebody passing away. Sometimes we actually want to know, What is your thought process on this? We want to know what we can do to make this better. Ignorance is not bliss. We are not able to fight a situation we don’t know about.

What’s behind Elijah’s line, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired?”

Most of the minorities in America who suffer from oppression, we don’t just find out about this oppression when we’re the right age…we always know about this oppression, it can be the subtlest thing as walking into a gas station and feeling the cashier eyeing you every single aisle you walk down. Or, you can see that your teacher automatically assumes you don’t understand most of the curriculum and talks to you softly in the corner about it. Since before 1776, oppression—racism—has been going on; it’s one of the pillars [of American society], sadly, which is why it’s so hard for me when people try to say racism doesn’t exist anymore.

What can art do to address these issues?

Art is so important, because it’s the safest way to do this. With art, people open up a new thought process to creativity, to how the art is being depicted. I can’t change a person’s mind for them; that comes down to the person himself. But if [my art] can do something to help that person alter, or make themselves want to alter, that’s the beauty of art. That’s the beauty in arguments, talking, lessons—to spark somebody’s thought process. And I think that’s what this play did.

What’s next for you?

[The play has] gotten bigger than I expected, and of course there’s that nervousness of, How do you follow that up? But when you’re thinking, “How do I follow this up?,” it really alters your creativity from just making a piece of art to, making, you know, a best-seller. The thing about A King’s Story is, when I made it, I was trying to address a problem. There are millions of problems to address, so it’s just about what problem do I want to address next, and how do I want to address it?

Categories
Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate Continues Its Impressive Expansion

By Celeste M. Smucker –

The commercial real estate market continues its remarkable growth, and local agents expect another profitable year in 2018. This assessment is consistent with findings in a recent report from the National Association of REALTORS®, Situs RERC and Deloitte predicting trends in the national market.

The Report cites factors such as low unemployment and low inflation at the end of 2017, economic growth of 3 percent and an active stock market as just some of the factors contributing to optimism about commercial market prospects this year. 

Another important variable is nationwide inventory shortages in the residential market that push up prices and squeeze out potential buyers at the low end of the spectrum bolstering demand for more apartments.

Residential Growth Spurs Commercial Sales
A robust commercial market always reflects strength in the residential market, and there are several factors at work in our area that keep it that way. 

UVA  and the Med Center in Charlottesville, Mary Baldwin University in Staunton and James Madison and Eastern Mennonite Universities in Harrisonburg add stability to our housing markets regardless of the economy.

And of course,  the gorgeous scenery and quality of life variables on both sides of Afton Mountain make living here very desirable, inspiring prospective home buyers to stay for good.

Employers recognize the value of locating in a spot that attracts high quality employees.  Especially noteworthy is Charlottesville’s  growing high tech sector that attracts its share of Millennials who love the active entertainment and restaurant scene and are also great buyer prospects.  Similarly, a strong manufacturing sector is a powerful force at work in the Valley.

Boomers retiring to Charlottesville or the Valley are also a significant part of what makes our real estate market strong.  Some have ties to the area and others come out of curiosity after seeing Charlottesville and Staunton both show up on so many of “The Best ” lists

CAAR’s (Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS®) recently released 2017 4th Quarter and Year End Market Report offers further proof of an active residential market.  It shows a year-over-year 4 percent increase in home sales while  pending sales (sold but not closed) were up 7.5 percent, signaling the start of a profitable 2018.

Commercial Market Continues to Expand
Agents are optimistic about the commercial market and expect 2018 to continue to be a time of expansion.

“On the sales side the market has definitely tightened up and has flipped to a sellers’ market,” said Benton Downer, Owner and Principal Broker at Downer and Associates.  He added that while money is reasonable, there is not a lot of product and that makes buying property a challenge. 

The market has also tightened up significantly on the rental side as well with no new product other than what is slated for downtown “putting landlords squarely in the driver’s seat,”  Downer continued.

“The commercial market is as strong as it has ever been,” said Nathan Wickline, Group Manager Sales and Marketing at Charlottesville’s BMC.  He added that the market struggles to keep up with demand from “new businesses looking at Charlottesville and existing businesses that are looking to expand their space.” 

Robin Amato with Real Estate III Commercial Properties called the market  “extremely active” keeping  agents in her office very busy on both the leasing and sales sides. Office and warehouse space is particularly in demand she offered.

The market has been “very strong and very healthy,” said Bill Howard, Broker and President of  Real Estate III, Commercial Properties, indicating that much of previously vacant office space is now leased, a real shift. 

Things are also jumping in the Valley, said Keith May with Cottonwood Commercial adding that a lot of hotels are going up.  Part of the hotel boom is increased business travel as the economy expands, but now that we are out of the recession, there is also growing vacation travel as people come to relax and enjoy the natural beauty, outdoor recreation and cultural amenities of the Shenandoah Valley.

The Charlottesville market is “crazy” said John Pritzlaff, Vice President at Cushman & Wakefield, Thalhimer, adding that it is “super active with no real vacancies.”  He cited activity on West Main, Preston Avenue and Barracks Road as some of many current commercial market hot spots.

Here are a few highlights of our very active commercial market.

Pantops
A  number of factors drive Pantops’ popularity  including residential growth, easy access to the interstate,  and the presence of Martha Jefferson Hospital that attracts other businesses associated with the health care industry.

A good example is the Class A office space at Peter Jefferson Place that includes full service amenities such as janitorial service and utilities—benefits that are especially attractive to national companies with multiple locations, said Lisa Jones, Owner of Pavilion Properties.  While many medical offices choose it for its proximity to the hospital, fully 75 percent of Jones’ tenants are non-medical indicating the area has a lot to offer other kinds of companies as well.

The Pantops area’s growth is reflected in a recent decision by the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to update the region’s master plan thanks to a goodly number of new subdivisions, apartment complexes and senior living options as reported by Charlottesville Tomorrow.

A good example of this trend is the soon-to-happen groundbreaking for a commercial addition to  Riverside Village, a mixed use community of homes, townhomes, villas and condos located at the intersection of Routes 20 and 250.  The commercial addition will feature 12 thousand square feet of retail space plus apartments, Pritzlaff said.

A big plus for Pantops area businesses is free parking that appeals to customers and employees alike.  Jones relayed that even downtown companies that don’t pay for employee parking may incur costs in the form of turnover as workers choose to go elsewhere to avoid the expense and frustration of parking near where they work.

Preston Avenue

Preston Avenue with its downtown “vibe” is another rapidly expanding area.   Wickline reports that its “proximity to downtown  without the parking nightmare,” is a big reason it is so attractive to both businesses and their customers. 

Coming soon to Preston Avenue is Stony Point Design Build’s redevelopment of the former Monticello Dairy Building that recently received a certificate of appropriateness from the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review.  The new site will include 30 thousand square feet of retail office space and 50 thousand square feet of Class A office space, Pritzlaff said.  Included in the design is a Food Hall that will be home to a variety of food vendors and artisans.

One of the big challenges of our current commercial market in Charlottesville is the lack of warehouse space.  Redevelopment of sites such as the Monticello Dairy or the former Coca Cola Building have put pressure on this market, Amato said, because they displace existing warehouse tenants. 

While all of this means more clients for commercial agents, finding space for the displaced tenants (especially if they require small spaces in the two to five thousand square foot range) is especially difficult, she said.

One building where space is available is the former Eck Lighting Building on Rose Hill Drive.  Amato reports that the owners have recently reduced the price and are now willing to divide the 25 thousand square foot building into two spaces.

Emmet Street and North
Always a busy area, the 29 North corridor continues to grow.

While big box operations are struggling, “small shop space retail is doing well,” Pritzlaff said. This phenomenon is playing out in the former K-Mart building now being redeveloped as Hydraulic Station, where leasing is going “incredibly well. ” He added that the developer will be reshaping the parcel soon.

In the Barracks Road area south of the 250 Bypass, a new retail strip at Barracks and Emmet will be opening soon.  Lessees that move into the remaining 25 thousand square feet of space will join Verizon, Mod Pizza and CAVA,  a restaurant featuring Mediterranean-style food opening its first Charlottesville area location.

Individuals who have family members in need of assisted living or memory care may find the help they need with the opening of The Blake, a 106+ thousand square foot facility located on Rio Road West.  This project offers a resort lifestyle  that includes a coffee shop, bar, spa, putting greens and other amenities.  Independent living apartments will be available as well as increasing levels of care for residents as they require them.

Further north in Greene County Bill Gentry, Principal Broker and Owner of Jefferson Land and Realty, reports that what was once a Burger King in Ruckersville will soon be home to a market and deli store similar to one that Tiger Fuels operates on Ivy Road.  The location will also offer fuel and a car wash.

Gentry explained that he is “very optimistic,” about the market in Greene County.  An example of future development there is three acres at the entrance to Deer Lake Estates that will attract commercial retail development to serve residents of the neighborhood.

Shenandoah Valley
Retail is hot in the Valley, May said, describing it as a mainstay of his business for the last several years.  He is also seeing rising rents in prime locations. The Valley has a “very diversified economy with a stable agrarian base,” he said adding that  manufacturing is very strong there  with a work force that is “reliable and highly productive.”

It’s not just urban locations that are experiencing retail activity, May explained.  General Dollar and Family Dollar are both expanding and opening in small towns.  This trend is happening in other parts of our area as well including the recent opening of Family Dollar in Madison County and a new General Dollar store in Nelson County on Route 151 on the way to Wintergreen.

May is also pleased with industrial growth in the Valley, most of it from the expansion of existing companies.  Examples include WhiteWave Foods in Mount Crawford and Draftco in Stuarts Draft. 

For businesses willing to relocate to the Valley warehouse space is plentiful there.  Downer explained that Waynesboro space can be obtained at a savings of nearly 50 percent of what you could expect to pay in Charlottesville.

Like other parts of our area, the Valley is experiencing inventory shortages in residential real estate that are pushing up prices, May said.  Until recently home prices there have been too low to encourage much in the way of new construction.  He believes, however, that rising prices will stimulate subdivision development and give buyers the option of building a new home when what they want in the way of resale is not available.

Both sides of Afton Mountain are experiencing impressive growth in commercial real estate of all kinds   and the outlook is good for its continued expansion.  Residents can look forward to concurrent changes in the landscape that bring more and varied places to work, as well as to shop, eat, live and enjoy a night out on the town.

Celeste Smucker is a writer and blogger who lives near Charlottesville.