Twenty years ago, Charlottesville City Council upzoned West Main Street to clear the way for taller buildings that would allow for more people to live close to the Downtown Mall and the University of Virginia.
That vision began to be realized 10 years later with the construction of the Flats at West Village, a development that prompted council to spend millions to develop streetscape guidelines for West Main Street to make it a more enticing place.
The price tag to implement the project grew to over $50 million, and was discarded by City Council last year in favor of spending local infrastructure dollars to renovate Buford Middle School.
The Flats was followed by two other luxury apartments targeted at students, as well as two hotels. Another developer transformed the vacant property behind the Blue Moon Diner into another high-end residence. The former University Tire next door will also soon be developed.
While the multimillion dollar streetscape won’t be built, that exercise did result in a rezoning that lowered maximum building heights. The maximum east of the bridge is now 52 feet tall and 75 feet to the west. But that’s about to change.
Last week the city released the first module of the draft zoning code, and the draft map would restore the ability of developers to build high. The roadway east of the Drewary Brown Bridge would be zoned as the futuristic sounding CX-8, which stands for Corridor Mixed-Use 8.
That would allow 114 foot-tall buildings with an option to go as high as 142 feet if there are enough units reserved for households making less than 60 percent of the area median income. The details will be further fleshed out this spring, but in the new zoning, developers will have to designate one unit in 10 as affordable.
That changes the perspective on properties that sell along the street. Earlier this month, a firm called GH Charlottesville VA purchased the former Greyhound station on West Main Street for $2.42 million. In December, Twenty Lakes Management LLC acquired similar properties all across the country for $140 million from a British transportation company. In the same city block, a former church built in 1867 that has housed the Music Resource Center remains up for sale.
But not all properties that are purchased are torn down for redevelopment. In February 2020, an individual bought 320 West Main St. for $750,000 from the Pregnancy Centers of Central Virginia, and the two-story building was converted to office use.
Most of the properties to the west of the Drewary Brown Bridge are zoned for CX-5, which would very closely retain the existing height limits. That would technically make the Flats and the Standard non-conforming structures that could not be built in the future unless they had affordable units on site.
One area real estate broker said he’s hopeful more people will be able to live on West Main or elsewhere throughout the city. “The growing companies that are currently based in Charlottesville have a difficult time recruiting and retaining talent, in large part because there are not enough housing options,” said John Pritzlaff of Thalhimer | Cushman Wakefield.