There has not been an uneventful year in Charlottesville real estate for a long time, and no amount of column inches can capture all that happened in 2024. Here’s one way to take the pulse of this year.
0: The number of places there will be to live at 218 W. Market St. The developer opted to build a hotel.
184 feet: The height of a structure developer Jeffrey Levien seeks to build on the Downtown Mall where Violet Crown Theater currently sits.
1: The number of new City Council members, as Natalie Oschrin began serving a four-year term in January.
2: The number of names for an 80-unit Seminole Trail housing project that finally broke ground this year after construction pricing caused delays. What started this year as Premier Circle ended as Vista29. The principal nonprofit involved also changed its name from Virginia Supportive Housing to Support Works Virginia.
11: The number of “Major Development Plans” filed with the City of Charlottesville after a new zoning code went into effect in late February, though one is actually a duplicate. Two of these have been approved, one of which was for the BEACON commercial kitchen project at 221 Carlton Rd., and the other was for a deck expansion at ABC Preschool.
6: The number of units that will be built at 303 Alderman Rd., currently a single-family home slated for demolition. City staff have to sign off on a major development plan for this by-right development and none of the units are required to be income-restricted.
12: One major plan for undeveloped land on Hillcrest Road calls for 12 units to be constructed along the U.S. 250 Bypass. None are required to be affordable.
24: Another major plan seeks to build 24 units at 2030 Barracks Rd., directly to the east of the Meadowbrook Shopping Center. Half of these would be income restricted.
51: The number of residential properties in Charlottesville that sold for more than $1 million by the first week of December.
$2,575,000: The highest price paid in the City of Charlottesville in 2024 for a single-family home at 1824 Winston Rd. on October 29.
$8.7 million: Charlottesville City Council agreed to a five-year, $8.7 million loan to Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Housing Alliance to purchase the Carlton Mobile Home Park for eventual redevelopment. The terms of the agreement prohibit construction until mid-2027, though planning can get started.
$10.5 million: The University of Virginia Foundation purchased three commercial buildings on Arlington Boulevard for this price, possibly for a future road connection between Copeley Road and Millmont Street.
$24 million: The amount paid by Blue Suede Charlottesville LLC to buy the Quirk Hotel on West Main Street. The relatively new building is now known as The Doyle Hotel.
5 percent: The average assessment increase for all property in the City of Charlottesville. It’s a lower figure than 12.33 percent in 2023 and 10.77 percent in 2022. The higher assessments means more tax revenue. City Council intends to spend any surplus.
4.07 percent: Albemarle County’s average assessment also went up by a smaller amount in 2024 than in previous years.