For many years, aspirational plans adopted by elected officials have called for Route 29 to become more than just a shopping destination or a way for travelers to pass through the city.
“The Hydraulic Small Area Plan seeks to identify opportunities for a more sustainable mixed-use development pattern that departs from the historic, suburban patterns that dominate the area today,” reads a document endorsed in the summer of 2018 by the Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.
Since then, property owners have responded by building, or planning to build, new units in close proximity to an eight-lane highway classified by the Virginia Department of Transportation as a “corridor of statewide significance.”
According to Albemarle’s development dashboard, there are 227 apartments under construction in one building at Stonefield, and a site plan for another 112 units approved in another building. Across Route 29, in Charlottesville, the Great Eastern Management Company has filed a site plan for 352 units in a redeveloped Seminole Square Shopping Center.
Less than half a mile to the north are two suburban uses that may soon be converted to a more urban form. Plans have been filed in the City of Charlottesville to redevelop the Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet at 1185 Seminole Trl. as a four-story apartment building with 250 apartments. That project will be accessible from both Route 29 and Hillsdale Drive, and will be one of the last developments reviewed under the city’s old zoning.
RMD Properties has filed a rezoning for 1193 Seminole Trl., just across the line in Albemarle. The original proposal submitted last February sought a range between 200 and 290 units, but the number of places to live was reduced to between 50 and 165.
There’s also another 80 units slated to be built by Virginia Supportive Housing at the site of the former Red Carpet Inn, with the Piedmont Housing Alliance expected to build another 60. VSH is hoping to get that project under construction this summer.
At the same time, concerns about whether Route 29 is a safe area for pedestrians are mounting after a 59-year-old-man was struck and killed on February 20. The driver stopped to cooperate with police, but several people took to social media to express concern about a lack of infrastructure.
Some items are on the way, including a pedestrian bridge that will span Route 29 at Zan Road. The final design is still being put together, but the project is fully funded and should be constructed by the fall of 2025, around the same time the VSH project should be complete.
The eight-lane highway won’t be going anywhere any time soon. Other infrastructure in the area built in the last decade, including a grade-separated intersection at Rio Road, were paid for when a 6.2-mile bypass around Albemarle County’s growth area was canceled soon after former governor Terry McAuliffe took office.