In 2019, City Council rezoned a church site in Belmont to allow for subsidized apartments to replace parking on the three-quarter acre lot. The project never materialized, and four and a half years later, a new faith-based institution has purchased 750 Hinton Ave.
The Church of the Good Shepherd currently rents space at the Music Resource Center for its Anglican fellowship and services. On December 21, the entity paid $1.5 million for the Belmont property, which had been owned by the Hinton Avenue Methodist Church since 1909. The city assessed the lot and its structure at just over $3 million.
“As a church, whether as renters or owners, we aspire to have a humble and gentle presence wherever we are,” says Robert Cunningham, a priest at Good Shepherd. “Part of what that means for us is the recognition that we are stepping into a history that predates us—in this case, the fruitful and wonderful legacy of Hinton Avenue United Methodist Church. And as we do so, we are seeking to be attentive to all that has come before us, and seeking to gently step into and participate in what is already happening around us.” The Hinton Avenue congregation has now consolidated with the First United Methodist Church, and they worship together as the Charlottesville City Cooperative Parish at 101 E. Jefferson St. in downtown Charlottesville.
“We also look forward to working with the new congregation in the Hinton Avenue building as a partner in ministries to downtown Charlottesville and Belmont,” says Alex Joyner, pastor at FUMC.
The 2019 rezoning granted approval to build up to 15 units for a project called Rachel’s Haven. Some of the units were to have been for adults with developmental disabilities. A group of neighbors in Belmont sued to overturn the rezoning, but the case was dismissed according to Circuit Court records.
The Piedmont Housing Alliance got involved with the project, but the city denied a site plan for the project in August 2022.
“We are in active conversation with Rachel’s Haven about partnering to shift the program to a different site,” says Sunshine Mathon, executive director of Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Joyner says the Hinton Avenue congregation remains committed to Rachel’s Haven, and is excited that the project may now be able to have more units than originally envisioned.
If the owner of 750 Hinton Ave. wanted to proceed with a housing project, the new zoning for it would allow much more than 15 units. The 0.76 acre lot has the Residential Mixed Use 3 designation, which allows unlimited residential density and three stories by-right and two additional levels if the city’s affordable housing requirements are met. This property is the only one in the immediate vicinity that has that designation.
PHA is also working with the Park Street Christian Church on a project to build affordable units on its property at 1200 Park St. Council approved that rezoning in early 2022. The city is contributing $1.125 million to the project in the current fiscal year, and the same amount again for the next. A final site plan is under review, but the project requires additional financing.
“We continue to actively work with the Park Street Christian Church to find funding for an affordable housing development on the site,” Mathon says.
PHA is not involved with a project at Mount View Baptist Church in the Locust Grove neighborhood that would see as many as 72 units on undeveloped land under the 2022 rezoning. The entity that owns the land, Mount View Properties LLC, recently purchased an adjacent single-family home on River Vista Avenue to expand its geographic footprint.