Author: Sean Tubbs

Categories
News Real Estate

Local land use in 2024, by the numbers

If the project proceeds, the hotel at 218 W. Market St. would replace a shopping center that includes The Artful Lodger, The Livery Stable, and several other businesses. Photo by Eze Amos.

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.

Categories
News Real Estate

UVA unveils preliminary design for new Center for the Arts

A rendering by the firm Diamond Schmitt shows the proposed Center for the Arts (right) fleshing out the Emmet/Ivy Corridor with the School of Data Science immediately to the south. Image via University of Virginia.

As the University of Virginia continues to expand onto Ivy Road, its new buildings are creating a new urban fabric for the public institution’s footprint in Charlottesville. On December 5, a committee of the Board of Visitors reviewed a preliminary design for the proposed Center for the Arts, and recommended a smaller building. 

“You’re dealing here with a welcoming site to the university,” said John Nau, chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee. 

The Center for the Arts would be located in the northeast corner of the Emmet/Ivy Corridor. As presented, the building would house the 1,200-seat Richard and Tessa Ader Performing Arts Center and serve as the new home of The Fralin Museum of Art and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. The Department of Music would also move to the site, freeing up space for other UVA uses at Old Cabell Hall. 

“The Center for the Arts will have an internal promenade on the ground floor that builds on the design guidelines of the previous buildings developed in the Emmet Ivy District,” said Gary McCluskie, an architect with the Toronto-based firm Diamond Schmitt, which has been hired to design the arts center. 

Those buildings are the School of Data Science, the Virginia Guesthouse hotel, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy. One rendering shown to the Buildings and Grounds Committee depicted the possibility of films being screened on media walls above the entrance to the theater. 

Nau expressed concern that those media screens might distract people at the busy intersection of Emmet Street, Ivy Road, and University Avenue. 

“I have seen traffic come to a halt around sporting venues around the country that use these screens,” Nau said. 

The project has an internal budget of $315 million. Nau and others questioned the scale and asked whether the center is something UVA really needs to build. Another committee member asked for updated financial projections to see if the center would provide revenue by attracting shows that currently don’t have an appropriate venue in the greater community. 

While part of the funding for the center comes from a $50 million donation by the Aders, the bulk of the project might depend on a $200 million capital funding request made to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the General Assembly. UVA’s Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government Relations Colette Sheehy said Richmond has already authorized pre-planning work as well as given the green light to proceed with design. 

“That is normally a signal from them that they are going to support the construction,” Sheehy said.

UVA President Jim Ryan said the project has been in the works for a long time. The building’s large size is comparable to what’s being built nearby, he said, and the structure would hide the Lewis Mountain parking garage. Ryan also noted that moving The Fralin would allow that building to serve as a new entrance for the School of Architecture, which is currently tucked away from public sight.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get to the architecture school but if we wanted to create a secret spot for architecture, we succeeded,” Ryan said. 

Earlier in the meeting, the committee also approved amending UVA’s Major Capital Plan to add $160 million for the construction of three residential buildings at the western end of the Emmet Ivy District. BOV member Bert Ellis was the lone vote against doing so because he said UVA needs to cut spending.

Categories
News Real Estate

UVA Foundation moving forward with North Fork residential development

Up to 1,400 units can be built at the North Fork Discovery Park, but this phase anticipates up to 600 new places to live. Image via UVA Foundation.

When the University of Virginia Foundation purchased hundreds of acres of land by the Charlottesville Regional Airport in 1986, the intent at the time was to create a research park to support business and commerce. 

Decades later, the foundation is prepared to turn a section of the 562-acre site into a place where hundreds of people can live, and has issued a request for interested developers to submit their qualifications. Earlier this year, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning allowing for homes to be built there.

“The residential program’s updated Master Plan will create housing for those working in North Fork, adjacent properties, and the broader community,” reads the request for qualifications.

In all, up to 1,400 homes can be built at North Fork, but this particular phase would involve up to 600 units. The RFQ calls for a mixture of market-rate, workforce housing, and affordable units, with the latter defined as being at prices at 80 percent of the area median income. 

“The goal is to offer mixed-income housing opportunities that support live/work/play environments at North Fork, while addressing the area’s housing needs,” says Fred Missel, the foundation’s director of development. 

North Fork is one of three locations where both UVA and the Foundation seek to provide income-restricted housing as part of an initiative called for by a committee UVA President Jim Ryan formed soon after he took office in 2018. 

An exact breakdown of income levels for the 600 units is not required in the RFQ, but the document does say “an optimal number of affordable units guided by best practices for successful mixed-income communities that support community and economic development initiatives.”

Missel says the Foundation hopes to identify a developer who would build something unique to Albemarle. 

“Qualified development teams will be expected to present a vision that incorporates elements of sustainability, resilience, superior community design, economic development, and affordability, tailored to create a unique community that stands out in the area,” Missel says. 

North Fork is in the Hollymead neighborhood as classified by Albemarle County, and the 1,400 units allowed under the recent rezoning are among the 5,221 approved but not yet built, according to the county’s development dashboard. Just over 1,000 units are under review in this area, including an additional 655 at North Pointe. 

While there is no date for construction in the RFQ, UVA’s website on the affordable housing initiative estimates it will happen in the spring of 2027.

Missel says there is no specific date at this time, but the zoning is now in place and the Foundation has made investments to prepare for the additional residents. To support the county’s infrastructure, the Foundation spent $6 million in 2020 to connect Lewis and Clark Drive to Airport Road. Eventually, that roadway will connect with Berkmar Drive, creating a parallel road to U.S. 29. That’s a core principle of the Places29 Master Plan adopted by county supervisors in February 2011. 

UVA has previously selected a nonprofit entity called Preservation of Affordable Housing to develop a two-acre site at 10th and Wertland streets, and that project is listed as going to construction in the summer of 2026. The Piedmont Housing Alliance was selected to develop a 12-acre Fontaine Avenue site, expected to move dirt sometime in 2027.

Categories
News Real Estate

Should a downtown movie theater be demolished to build new housing?

Heirloom Development is seeking BAR approval for demolition of a Downtown Mall movie theater so design can proceed for a 184-foot-tall building under the city’s new zoning code. Image via Kahler Slater Inc.

Crowds rarely attend meetings of the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review, but quite a few people showed up for a November 19 preliminary review of a potential 184-foot-tall building at the Downtown Mall site of the Violet Crown movie theater.

“I completely understand the magnitude of the importance of this property cannot be overstated,” said Jeffrey Levien of the firm Heirloom Development.

Levien has a contract to purchase the site, so he was allowed to ask the BAR for its initial thoughts on the height and massing of the proposed structure. He said the current building underutilizes a location that would be used to support the new Comprehensive Plan goal of providing more housing.

“It’s a very important first test of our code,” Levien said.  

The BAR will eventually be asked to approve a certificate of appropriateness to demolish the building because it is a contributing structure to the Downtown Architectural Design Control District. It would also have to approve plans for a new building. 

Jeff Werner, the city’s historic preservation planner, said little remains of the original building constructed on the site in the late 1800s. He said the BAR has approved projects with height before, such as the CODE Building, which rises to nine stories in some locations. What matters is context.

“BAR’s review is not just the building, but its relationship to the historic district as well,” Werner said.   

Under the city’s new development code, the building can be up to 10 stories or 142 feet by-right. There is also a bonus provision if additional affordable units are added above the 10 percent required by the code’s inclusionary zoning provision. If the city is satisfied, the building could be 184 feet or 13 stories. 

So far, Levien has not demonstrated how he would fulfill those requirements. The Office of Community Solutions would be responsible for ensuring compliance. 

“The Violet Crown is a jewel,” Levien said. “But it’s a jewel that’s just become outdated as far as a business model in the world of theaters. That’s my opinion based on a lot of fact.” 

In a statement released after The Daily Progress reported that closure was imminent, the company that operates Violet Crown said it is still in business and plans to continue operations as long as it has a lease. 

The president of the group Preservation Piedmont reminded those in attendance that the Downtown Mall is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“As the members of the BAR, in effect, you’re the curators of the Mall, which is our city’s special space,” said Genevieve Keller. 

Keller said any demolition of a property on the Downtown Mall must be considered very carefully. She said this location, as well as a proposed hotel at 218 W. Market Street, are in what used to be the Vinegar Hill neighborhood. Levien is the principal owner of that project, which he was previously planning to develop as a nine-story residential building. 

‘When an application comes in for a demo there, just down from McGuffey School, that would be taking out the last fabric left of Vinegar Hill,” Keller said. 

The BAR took no action because the discussion was a pre-application conference. 

Categories
News Real Estate

Judge is ready to rule in Charlottesville zoning case, but opens door to more evidence

Judge Worrell, who has been on the bench since July 2013, issued the three-page ruling nearly five months after hearing arguments in the case. Supplied photo.

One month after City Council approved a new zoning code that allows more residential density across Charlottesville, a group of property owners filed a lawsuit arguing they would be harmed by the changes. 

Last week, Charlottesville Circuit Judge Claude Worrell dismissed two of the four counts in White v. Charlottesville but left room for further hearings on the other two. 

“Plaintiffs have provided a sufficient question of fact for the Court to hear evidence regarding the promulgation of the new zoning ordinance,” Worrell wrote in a three-page ruling dated November 12.

One of the open questions under Virginia law is whether the new development code was “drawn and applied with reasonable consideration for the existing use and character of property,” including a review of transportation requirements and other public services. 

So far, all of the legal proceedings have dealt with a motion from the city that states the plaintiffs have no merit and no standing to sue. Each owns a lot that now allows six or eight units rather than the one permitted under the old zoning. 

Worrell concluded the plaintiffs have the right to bring the case, and his invitation for evidence relates to the question of whether Charlottesville followed state regulations. 

In his ruling, Worrell also said if both parties are prepared to proceed without submitting new evidence, he would be ready to “rule as to the sufficiency of the suit as a matter of fact and law.”

The property owners want their day in court. 

“The plaintiffs expect to present evidence regarding the promulgation of the new zoning ordinance at a trial on this matter,” said Mike Derdeyn, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

When asked if it would submit anything new, Afton Schneider, Charlottesville’s director of communications and public engagement, said the city does not comment on pending litigation. 

In late September, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge David Schell ruled against a provision added to Arlington County’s land use regulations that had the same intent as Charlottesville’s development code—to increase the number of places people can live. Schell, a retired judge, was assigned to the case after Arlington judges recused themselves because they are homeowners. Worrell, a property owner in Charlottesville, did not recuse himself.

Part of Schell’s ruling against Arlington’s Expanded Housing Option program hinges on the same section of state code that has kept the Charlottesville case alive. Arlington County has indicated it will appeal the ruling. 

According to the website ARLNow.com, Schell’s ruling will permit several dozen units being built under the EHO program to proceed, but he warned they may one day need to be torn down depending on how the appeals process works out. 

A handful of “major development plans” have been filed with the City of Charlottesville, including the conversion of 303 Alderman Rd. from a single-family house to six townhomes and a by-right request to build 24 units at 2030 Barracks Rd.

Categories
News Real Estate

Neighbors oppose private school in Albemarle’s rural area

One of the arguments made by the Dudley Mountain Road Neighbors in the petition is that the proposed Forest School is too close to the roadway. Another is that the roadway can’t handle additional traffic. Image via Line and Grade.

The Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia projects that Albemarle’s population will grow from around 116,000 now to more than 155,000 people in 2050, generating the need for services in a county where growth and development is only allowed on 5 percent of the land mass. 

One service is day care, a function often provided by private schools. Congregation Beth Israel Forest School has recently filed an application for a special use permit to build a 25,000-square-foot facility on Dudley Mountain Road in Albemarle’s rural area. 

“The Forest School helps to serve a huge need for children in the Charlottesville and Albemarle area, especially for the 18-month to kindergarten age range,” reads a narrative written by Kendra Moon of the firm Line and Grade Civil Engineering. “The location of this property so close to the center of Albemarle is critical to its accessibility.” 

The undeveloped property, owned by Julie and Jeffrey Morrill since August 2023, is about a mile and a half away from the edge of Albemarle’s growth area. 

CBI started the Forest School in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools as a way of allowing children to continue gathering in an outdoor environment. Now it wants a permanent home.

The overall property is 156 acres and the permit proposes using 15 of them for the school, and putting the remaining land under conservation easement. The plans call for space for 140 students in what is described as a basecamp. This would include an 11,100-square-foot multipurpose building and three cabins no larger than 3,000 square feet each. 

However, an online petition has been created by a group called the Dudley Mountain Road Neighbors calling on the Planning Commission to recommend against the special use permit.

“This would be the first non-residential/agricultural use along this scenic roadway, setting a precedent for future development,” reads the petition. “The narrow, winding roadway would be subject to twice-daily traffic surges—causing further decay of the already worn roadway and making it unsafe for existing residential traffic and bikes.”

Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan sets aside 5 percent of the county’s 726 square miles for development, but allows for new uses that support the rural area. One criteria is that a proposed use should “relate directly to the rural area and need a rural area location in order to be successful.” However, another requirement is that they “be suitable for existing rural roads and result in little discernible difference in traffic patterns.” 

The application states that there will be 109 vehicle trips to the location during peak periods. An engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation has looked at the plans and found them “generally acceptable.” 

Scott Clark, a rural area planner for Albemarle, has reviewed the application and offered this interpretation in an October 31 letter: “While limiting the extent of development on the property is helpful, the creation of a school use in the Rural Area is not directly supportive of the Rural Area goals established in the 2015 plan,” Clark wrote. 

The final decision will be made by the Board of Supervisors after a recommendation from the Planning Commission. There’s no date yet for public hearings, but the first opportunity to hear about the development from the applicant will come at a November 19 community meeting at Walton Middle School at 6pm. 

Albemarle is continuing work on a Comprehensive Plan update and soon the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors will take up sections of the AC44 draft that may revisit those criteria.

On November 12, the Albemarle Planning Commission was scheduled to hold a public hearing on whether to grant a special use permit for an automotive repair facility on Route 20 in Keene. While there’s no petition, dozens of people provided written comments in advance.

“There are only 149 residents of Keene and only another 591 in close by Esmont,” wrote Paula and Jerome Beazley. “These residents are not in need of these services.”

Categories
News Real Estate

Upfitting a West Main building for new kind of donut shop

A company is renovating 917 W. Main St. to be a franchise called Mochinut, which sells Japanese and Korean food. Photo by Sean Tubbs.

While the city may have recently abandoned an expensive plan to upgrade West Main Street to be more of a destination, those who want to take a risk on business continue to make investments. 

At least that’s what a Chesterfield-based firm did when it purchased 917 W. Main St. for $1.3 million in August 2022. 

The city’s Neighborhood Development Services office issued a commercial building permit on July 30 for a tenant upfit. The cost of construction is at least $400,000, according to various permits. Los Angeles-based company Mochinut is listed as one of the contacts. 

According to Mochinut’s website, it offers a unique product.

“Mochi donut is a donut that originated from Hawaii which is a combination of American doughnuts and Japanese mochi,” reads a description. 

Mochi is a Japanese sweet rice cake; a mochi donut appears to be eight balls of this substance arranged in a circle. 

So far, the company has no outlets in Virginia where one can buy the donuts. It also serves Korean-style hot dogs, which are breaded with a variety of different materials.

A request for confirmation and a timeline for opening was not answered at press time. At the moment, the site is still under construction and the sidewalk is blocked. 

Such a store could benefit from the foot traffic of University of Virginia students who live in the apartment buildings in the neighborhood. 

That’s also a reason there is now a 7 Day Junior franchise right across 10th Street on the lower floor of 1001 W. Main St. In the last 15 years, that entire building has been transformed from an auto repair shop into one that has served as multiple restaurants.  

The building at 917 W. Main St. was constructed in 1950, and the current renovation of the facade unveiled an old sign for Charlottesville Office Machine Company. At one point, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville had an office at the location but it has been vacant for at least three years since the nonprofit relocated in 2021.

Both buildings, as well as five others, are within the West Main Architectural Design Control District and any future demolition would have to be approved by the Board of Architectural Review. City Council added that protection in December 2013, when the construction of several large buildings in the neighborhood were proposed. 

In the years that followed, council approved The Flats at West Village, The Standard, and Lark on Main. Special use permits for those mixed-use projects came with conditions that retail space be included on the ground floor, but all three of them have spaces that have never been utilized. 

At the same time, the city had begun work on a project to widen sidewalks, add bike lanes, and add other amenities to West Main Street to improve the urban fabric of what was planned as one of the city’s most dense corridors. In 2022, council agreed to transfer the millions that had been committed to the project to instead expand Buford Middle School. 

While the overall streetscape is desolate, the city is aware of the need to make improvements at a cost much lower than the defunct project’s $50 million estimate. 

“The city does not presently have plans developed for this intersection, but will be kicking off a project looking at the West Main Street corridor [next year] and opportunities to improve safety through low-cost interventions and restriping,” says Afton Schneider, the city’s director of communications and public engagement.

Categories
News Real Estate

Another mixed-use project hopes to build more homes, less space for business 

The area highlighted in purple is where the additional 300 units would be built in Albemarle County’s Brookhill development. Photo via Riverbend Development.

When Albemarle supervisors approved a rezoning of 277 acres north of Polo Grounds Road in November 2016, Riverbend Development got the green light to build up to 1,550 residential units and develop 130,000 square feet of commercial space.  

Eight years later, Riverbend has asked Albemarle for permission to build 300 more homes as part of a plan that will likely result in significantly less non-residential space. 

“This request is made in recognition of the ongoing housing crisis in our region and the need to construct more units at a variety of price points and especially more units that are affordable to households in the area,” reads a narrative filed earlier this month. 

This application follows another one made last year by Great Eastern Management Company to allow for an increase in the number of units there from 893 to 1,548. Public hearings for that change have not yet been scheduled. The developers of the Albemarle Business Campus on Fifth Street Extended are also seeking to trade out commercial space for more residential. 

All are responses to a housing policy Albemarle supervisors approved in July 2021 that calls for ways to “increase the supply of housing to meet the diverse housing needs of current and future Albemarle County residents.” 

The amendment to Brookhill’s previous rezoning requires a new traffic study, which describes the changes to the commercial space. According to that document, the new plan halves the proposed amount of retail to 50,000 square feet and office space is no longer proposed. 

So far, Riverbend has completed 595 of the 1,550 units allowed according to Abbey Stumpf, the county’s director of communications and public engagement. 

The new units will be built in what had been billed as a town center during the rezoning. At one point there was a proposal to build an ice rink but that project never materialized, despite an active fundraising effort. 

The binding “code of development” for the project requires a minimum of 50,000 square feet of non-residential to be constructed in the town center. The new study indicates a 20,000 square feet brewery tap room is planned. 

The study indicates the mix of residential units will be changing as well. The original rezoning anticipated 550 single family homes but the new study only anticipates 120. There would be 700 townhomes instead of 200 and 960 apartments instead of 600. The new study reflects that a congregate care facility has already been built.  

At some point, Riverbend will be required to hold a community meeting for the public to learn about the plan before it goes to the Planning Commission. That has not yet been scheduled. 

The amendments also come at a time when work has resumed on a Comprehensive Plan that is being updated to guide the county to accommodate projections from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service that Albemarle will have over 155,000 people living there by 2050. 

Many residents of the Village of Rivanna growth area have protested the idea that residential density be more than one acre per unit, prompting some members of the Board of Supervisors to explore swapping out the land with other places in the county.

Categories
News Real Estate

Albemarle supes resume Comprehensive Plan review with discussion of growth area 

Many residents of the Village of Rivanna growth area have protested the idea that residential density be more than one acre per unit, prompting some members of the Board of Supervisors to explore swapping out the land with other places in the county. Supplied photo.

A delay in the completion of a new comprehensive plan for Albemarle County means adoption won’t happen until at least summer 2025, a time when half of the Board of Supervisors may be up for re-election. 

Among other things, the update, known as AC44, will reaffirm rules about what can be built in Albemarle and where. 

“Currently, the development areas are approximately 37 square miles, or 5 percent of county land, and the rural area is 95 percent of county land,” says Tonya Swartzendruber, a planning manager in Albemarle. 

Virginia code requires localities to update their comp plans every five years and Albemarle’s document was adopted in the summer of 2015. The county began what was to have been a two-year review in late 2021, but staff put the project on hold earlier this year to make the document easier to read. 

The Board of Supervisors has decided the current boundaries will remain in place for now, but staff inquired earlier this month as to whether the update should direct them to review conditions every two years to see if there’s enough land to support additional people expected to move here over the next 20 years. 

Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District, the youngest and newest member of the board, said he supports monitoring land use trends but is open to expanding the growth area. He was elected last year with no opposition. 

“At some point, if our growth patterns do not change, I think the whole board recognizes that the development area will have to change,” Pruitt said at the October 16 BOS meeting. He suggested the county identify a new place where dense development could occur rather than “nibbling at the edges.” 

Supervisor Ned Gallaway’s Rio District seat is one of the three up for election next year. He pointed out that the county’s growth area around Glenmore in eastern Albemarle is developing at about one unit per acre because of opposition from people who live in the area.

“If we’re not getting the density out of a Village of Rivanna, can we get that density back somewhere else that’s reasonable without necessarily changing the 5 percent?” Gallaway asked. 

First elected in 2017, Gallaway has never faced an opponent on the ballot. 

Diantha McKeel’s third term as supervisor for the Jack Jouett District expires at the end of 2025. She supports Gallaway’s idea. 

“If we can look at somehow … trading land without expanding but looking at where there are possibilities to do some trade where it’s actually going to happen,” McKeel said. 

The final seat up for election is that of Jim Andrews, who was unopposed in his 2021 race for the Samuel Miller District. He cautioned anyone against thinking expansion is inevitable. 

“It may be that a shift of development areas may be the more appropriate way in which we handle this initially,” Andrews said. 

Supervisors Ann Mallek and Bea LaPisto-Kirtley were both re-elected in 2023 and both faced opposition. LaPisto-Kirtley said she doesn’t think the boundaries need to be adjusted for decades.

“I think we need to make use of what we have,” she told her colleagues. 

Mallek said she was willing to have as many meetings as possible to complete the Comprehensive Plan. 

“We’re going to have to keep stirring the pot until we get it just right,” Mallek said. 

The county’s growth advisory committees will get the new information on AC44 at a joint meeting on October 30 in Lane Auditorium.

Categories
News Real Estate

Five-unit Venable apartment building to be replaced with nine-dwelling structure 

The proposed apartment building at 1609 Gordon Ave. will include nine units. Image via Design Develop.

The future of land use in Charlottesville will be determined parcel by parcel as property owners make decisions about whether they will build units that are required to be sold or rented at levels below the market value. 

The relatively new owners of 1609 Gordon Ave., an LLC who bought the property in December 2021 for $600,000, have decided not to pursue affordability when replacing a two-story 1963 apartment building with a three-story structure with nine units. 

That is one unit less than would trigger the city’s mandate that 10 percent of units in non-residential neighborhoods comply with affordability requirements. This is known as inclusionary zoning. 

“Rents for affordable homes are set relative to the Area Median Income (AMI), the household income for the median household in a region,” reads a portion of the Affordable Housing Plan adopted by Charlottesville City Council in March 2021. 

The maximum monthly rents are established in the city’s affordable dwelling unit manual and must be reserved for households with incomes below 60 percent of AMI. At that level, the current monthly caps are $1,416 for a two-bedroom, $1,582 for a three-bedroom, and $1,732 for a four-bedroom. Developers must submit a form showing how they will comply with the rules, but the Gordon Avenue project is exempt and does not have to provide any information about projected rents. 

Located in the Venable neighborhood, 1609 Gordon Ave. has the RX-5 designation that allows for as much density as can fit within a seven-story structure, as long as 10 percent of units are affordable or the developer contributes to a city fund. The new rules increased these amounts substantially to $368,303 for a two-bedroom unit and $547,339 for a three-bedroom unit. 

The new zoning eliminates the role City Council plays in such developments, but the Board of Architectural Review still has to sign off on the design. It had an initial review on Tuesday, October 15, a discussion that had nothing to do with affordability but everything to do with how the new structure will fit in with the surrounding architectural design control district.  

That district has been changing with certificates of appropriateness, having recently been approved for a new four-story apartment building at 1532 Virginia Ave., a three-story sorority house at 503 Rugby Rd., and a three-story apartment building at 605 Preston Ave.

But one remaining question is whether anyone will take advantage of the higher densities allowed and submit to the inclusionary zoning. Charlottesville’s Housing Advisory Committee will discuss potential proposals on Wednesday, October 16. These include measures to provide tax rebates to subsidize the cost to the developer. 

Meanwhile, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority continues to proceed with a plan to purchase more units across the city and use federal housing vouchers to subsidize their cost. In September, the CRHA Board agreed to spend $2.8 million to purchase three more properties, comprising more than a dozen units, around the city.