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.
A New York-based developer who had planned to build a nine-story apartment tower on the site of a downtown Charlottesville shopping center has sold the property for $5.75 million.
Jeffrey Levien’s company Heirloom Development bought 218 W. Market St. in June 2020 for $4 million, but sold the property in mid-September to Cavalier Hospitality LLC. That entity is based out of Glen Allen, Virginia, and has not yet filed new plans for the property.
However, Levien says he will still be involved in the development of a hotel as a partner.
“I just couldn’t make the economics work for residential under the new zoning code,” Levien says.
Under the inclusionary zoning rules in the city’s new Development Code, one of every 10 units in any new development in non-residential areas must be guaranteed to be rented or sold to households below specific incomes. No such requirement would be necessary for a hotel, something that is an allowed use under the zoning that went into effect this past February.
Levien pursued the residential project at 218 W. Market under the older rules, which required a special use permit for additional height and density. City Council approved a permit in September 2020 despite concerns from former mayor Nikuyah Walker that the project did not address the need for affordable housing.
In August 2023, council agreed to a permit amendment to allow for a modification of the building’s massing. As part of that approval, Levien agreed to build a minimum of eight affordable units on-site or off-site with two units to be reserved for households making less than 50 percent of the area median income. That was above the minimum requirement but not enough to satisfy the concerns of City Councilor Michael Payne.
This spring, Levien brought a preliminary design to the Board of Architectural Review for a hotel with a design from Richmond-based NBJ Architecture. That body looked favorably on the concept, but it did not receive an official submission. No plans have been filed since.
So far there have only been a handful of new projects filed under the new zoning, which is intended to make it easier to build more housing units across the city and to eliminate the role of City Council in making decisions about what gets built.
One of these new projects, at 1609 Gordon Ave., would see an existing house razed to build a new structure with nine units. A 10th unit would need to be affordable.
Another new development at 2030 Barracks Rd. would see 12 affordable units built alongside 12 market-rate units.
Levien’s first development in Charlottesville was a luxury 56-unit apartment building that also redeveloped the buildings that contain Blue Moon Diner and a former convenience store. That project broke ground in 2018, nearly two years after council granted approval.
Another project that has not yet moved forward is the replacement of the University Tire building next door, at 612 W. Main, with another apartment building. Levien says he still plans to proceed with that project, which was approved by council on a 4-1 vote in October 2019. A final site plan has been approved but no building permit has been authorized.
If it proceeds, the new hotel would replace a shopping center that includes The Artful Lodger, The Livery Stable, and several other businesses. The BAR has approved a permit for demolition pending the issuance of a building permit.
Neighborhood Investments purchased this half acre lot in Fifeville for $2.24 million, the latest high-profile purchase in the Cherry Avenue area. Photo by Sean Tubbs.
As planning and negotiations continue over a grocery story at 501 Cherry Ave., major transactions continue to take place in the Fifeville neighborhood.
On September 9, the firm Neighborhood Investments paid $2.24 million for an undeveloped property between Roosevelt Brown Boulevard and Ninth Street SW. There have been several development projects associated with the land, owned by the Piedmont Housing Alliance, on two occasions.
The Piedmont Housing Alliance sold the 0.56-acre property in March 2016 for $1.19 million. The previous owner filed a site plan amendment in 2020 for 24 residential units and about 11,000 square feet of commercial space, which was never approved. Since then, Charlottesville City Council has adopted a small area plan for Cherry Avenue that discouraged tall buildings in order to preserve the character of surrounding neighborhoods.
As a result, the city’s new zoning code classified the undeveloped Ninth Street lot as Commercial Mixed Use 3, which sets a base height limit of three stories but an additional two stories are allowed if the project has affordable units that qualify it for bonus space. That is different from other corridors in Charlottesville, such as Barracks Road and Fifth Street Extended, which allow up to 10 stories to encourage shopping centers to redevelop at maximum density.
Richard Spurzem of Neighborhood Properties said in an email he was not sure if he would proceed with the existing site plan or start fresh.
This past March, Ronald McDonald House of Charlottesville bought a former auto repair business at 316 Ninth St. SW for $700,000. The nonprofit owns two nearby lots and has not yet decided how it will use its new property.
The city’s public housing agency is planning to purchase two properties several blocks away on Fifth Street SW to preserve them for affordable housing. There are multiple buildings at both locations, and the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority wants to buy them for $2.2 million.
“The acquisition of this portfolio will allow CRHA to preserve the naturally occurring affordable housing units while giving CRHA the ability to redevelop the property to provide additional housing units soon,” reads a resolution adopted by the CRHA Board of Commissioners on September 23.
The acquisition continues a trend of CRHA purchasing property, including several Fifeville properties that were part of a $10 million purchase from Woodard Properties in August 2023, to expand its portfolio.
Meanwhile, single-family homes still sell at a premium in Fifeville. On September 4, 2024, a two-bedroom house at 223 Fourth St. SW sold for $585,000, well above the 2024 assessment of $376,000. There’s also an accessory dwelling on the property.
On September 18, a single-family attached home in the Orangedale subdivision at 705 Prospect Ave. sold for $296,500. That’s over 39 percent above the 2024 assessment of $212,900.
No matter the development, the leadership of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association want all projects to align with the values enshrined in the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan.
“We encourage developers to come talk with residents directly at our monthly meetings so that we can work together on upcoming projects and make sure residents are informed,” read a statement sent in response to a question from C-VILLE.
Is there a more perfect food to suit all moods? Game’s on? Pizza. Heartbroken? Pizza. Celebrating a win? Pizza (but fancy and paired with prosecco). In this issue, we’re celebrating slices of all kinds—wood-fired, NY-style, and the kind you get at a local event out of the back of a food truck. Hope you’re hungry.
Photo: Eze Amos
MYSTIC PIZZA
Pi-Napo opens in former Fry’s Spring Station spot with a slice of secrecy
Four brothers opened Pi-Napo, a Neapolitan- style pizzeria on JPA in mid-August. The wood oven-fired pie parlor takes over the Fry’s Spring Station space, which has been vacant since last November.
Hunter Baseg, who received culinary training in Italy, fronts the venture for the four siblings, who originally hail from Turkey. Prior to opening, another Baseg brother spoke on the group’s behalf about the concept and what folks can expect.
“This is going to be a fully Italian, authentic pizzeria,” the brothers say. “We are importing the ingredients, including the flour and tomato sauce … from Italy.”
For pizza aficionados and Italophiles, alarm bells are likely going off. No, Pi-Napo is not a fully DOC-certified pizzeria, which requires techniques to be done in a specific way and all ingredients to follow strict guidelines per the Italian “denominazione di origine controllata,” or DOC. But the restaurant does offer 10 rotating pizza pies inspired by Neapolitan traditions, and imports Caputo double zero flour, mozzarella cheese, and tomato sauce approved by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.
According to the Basegs, Pi-Napo’s margherita pizza—a wood-fired crust topped simply with tomato sauce and dotted with mozzarella and basil—is a DOC pie; other fresh-from-the-oven offerings are white-based pizzas, pepperoni and sausage pizzas, veggie pizzas, and spicy diavola pizzas.
Pi-Napo has a streamlined menu to go along with its flatbreads, with salads to balance out meals and gelato to finish them off. Rounds pop out of the restaurant’s 1,100-degree oven in about 90 seconds, and the Basegs say diners can expect to wait no more than 10 minutes for their food—even during peak hours on weekends. Italian wine and beer, along with bottles and drafts from local craft breweries, join the usual selection of soft drinks on the beverage menu.
The Pi-Napo dining room, which the Basegs say is unrecognizable from the Fry’s Spring Station layout, seats around 100 people at the pizza bar and large picnic tables. Another 50 to 100 diners can enjoy their food on the restaurant’s large, highly-visible patio.
’Za zealots visiting Pi-Napo place their order at the counter, take a number, sit down, and enjoy a view of the kitchen and imported pizza oven as they wait for their meal. “This is a family-oriented concept,” the Basegs say. “People can sit in front of the open kitchen to see how our pizzaiolos make everything.”
One of the downsides to the former Fry’s site, the Basegs admit, is a lack of parking. That’s something they’re working on with other local businesses, but in the meantime, they hope patrons can find street spots.
One thing you won’t find at Pi-Napo is anything Turkish.
“We’ve always been in the food business, and we are foodies,” the Basegs say. “Being from Turkey, we know Mediterranean food. And Charlottesville already has some really nice Turkish restaurants, so we are not going to go there.”—Shea Gibbs
Photo: Tristan Williams
Perfect combo
As if there weren’t enough excellent pizza options in town already, Richmond sent over one of its favorites: Billy Pie, Neapolitan-style pizzas from RVA carb king Billy Fallen, can be found hot and ready out of Random Row Brewing Co.’s stone oven. Choose from classics like margherita and pepperoni, or eat outside the pizza box with Calabrian chili pepper or ricotta and mushroom. Whatever you do, don’t forget a pint of Mosaic to wash it down.—Caite Hamilton
Photo: Eze Amos
ROLL PIES
Three mobile operators lead the local traveling pizza brigade
There was a time when delivery pizza was king. But as access to in-home meals widened and consumer tastes changed, portable pizza had to roll with the punches. Enter the pizza trailer, high-heat ovens hitched to the back of trucks and toted wherever their owner may want. In Charlottesville, Blue Ridge Pizza Co. is rumbling into its 12th year anchoring the brewery, winery, and reception scene, while relative newcomers Crustworthy and Popitos are also on the streets with fresh-fired eats.
Blue Ridge Pizza Co.
Jay and Melissa Johnson bought the Blue Ridge Pizza Co. trailer from its previous owner in 2020, just before the culinary world flipped upside down. After struggling through their first year, the couple settled into a catering groove serving receptions and parties while maintaining a steady presence on the pop-up scene.
“The thing that drives us is bringing people together over food,” Melissa says. “What better way than with pizza?”
To expand its catering operation, Blue Ridge Pizza Co. began offering linens and tables along with its margheritas and pepperonis. And with pizzas coming out of the Italian-imported brick oven in 90 seconds and eight to 10 pies going in at a time, Jay, Melissa, and their team can serve as many as 200 people in an hour.
At Blue Ridge pop-ups, customers can order individual pies from the menu or customize to their liking. Favorites are the Sicilian Baller (tomato base, shredded mozzarella, shaved Parmesan, Italian style meatballs, roasted red peppers, parsley) and Cider Fest (tomato, shredded mozz and cheddar, smoked pork, seasonal apples, grilled onions, balsamic glaze).
“We make our own dough—there’s not really too big of a secret to it, but we add a little bit of wheat flour to give it more texture,” Jay says. “It’s a two-day process.”
The Johnsons post the Blue Ridge Pizza Co. pop-up schedule to Instagram, Facebook, and their website.
Crustworthy
Tom Kelly began making sourdough before most folks knew a starter from a SCOBY. He started classes at the San Francisco Baking Institute in 2019, punched down on his job in finance, and quickly rose to head baker of his own small business.
In 2022, Kelly decided to take his recipe to the pizza oven, bought a wood-fired oven from upstate New York, and rolled out Crustworthy.
Kelly tries to hew more or less traditionally Neapolitan, with his sourdough crust taking the offerings to what insiders now call neo-Neapolitan. “You don’t need a knife and fork,” Kelly says.
Crustworthy uses some local vendors for its flour, a Pennsylvania cheesemaker for its mozzarella, and local farms for as many veggies as possible. Stock Provisions provides the sausage.
Kelly says his bestseller is the reliable pepperoni pizza, with the classic margherita coming in second. Dig a little deeper on the menu and you’ll find outside-the-delivery-box offerings like the Butternut Blues with a squash base under mozzarella and caramelized onions.
The Crustworthy oven burns at 800 to 900 degrees, baking pies in about two minutes, and on a good night, the trailer pops out more than 150 12-inch rounds. Find out where Kelly and his seven employees will be next on Instagram or Facebook.
Popitos
Popitos graduated to a brick and mortar location in November 2022, but owners Lauren and Ray Zayas haven’t forgotten their mobile kitchen foundation.
The Zayas did their first pop-up in 2020 after a winery client of Ray’s heard about the couple’s backyard pizza parties. By the 2021 season, Ray had dropped his job with Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, and Popitos went full tilt, serving more than 1,500 pies at a music festival and booking more winery events. In 2022, the Zayas started serving at King Family Vineyards and scouting for their physical location, which would soon open at Rio Hill Shopping Center.
Today, Popitos is still on the pop-up scene and offering full catering services. While not a trailer-based operation per se, Popitos totes its oven in a refrigerated truck along with all the ingredients for fresh ’za. At pop-ups, the Zayas and their team serve five flagship pizzas—cheese, pepperoni, the classic margherita, the Meatza with pep, sausage, and bacon, and the Hot Pig with bacon, jalapenos, and hot honey—along with one rotating option.
“Our oven’s name is Bella,” Lauren says. “We have three Bellas—they’re all sisters—so we can pop up in a few different locations.”
Popitos is working on a menu update, so in-store diners can soon expect hot sandwiches along with new appetizers and salads.—SG
File photo.
Take and bake
So you wanna make a pizza? You’ll need to start with a strong foundation: the dough. And, while we applaud your ambition, some things are better left to the experts. In Charlottesville, find the cheat code (aka pre-made dough) from trusted bakers at Mona Lisa Pasta, where you can pick up a ball of fresh dough (or a ready-made pie, if you want to throw in the towel entirely) to fire up your home-bake, and Feast!. The local grocery stocks dough from just around the corner at the OG, Albemarle Baking Company.—CH
Photo: John Robinson
Not-so-secret sauce
One thing that might scuttle your grand at-home pizza experiment? You’ve got the wrong sauce. Let Nona help. Nona’s Italian Cucina tomato sauce—which you can find at a whole host of local retailers, like Market Street Wine, Foods of All Nations, and The Batesville Market—blends San Marzano tomatoes and Italian herbs and spices, filling your own cucina with an aroma that might transport you straight to Milan. Quick! The pizza’s burning!—CH
Photo: Stephen Barling
LET THEM EAT BREAD
Baker Ryan Lee is all in for healthy and gluten-free
“I’ve had this gluten-free sourdough obsession since about 2015,” says baker Ryan Lee. Luckily for the rest of us, he’s turned his obsession into his own small business, The Homestead Oven, and keeps the community supplied with delicious varieties of organic GF goodness.
Just taking a deep breath at the store/bakery on Rose Hill Drive delights the senses, lowers your blood pressure, and makes your stomach crave a slice with butter (or olive oil, or cream cheese, or almond butter, or turkey, avocado, and tomato with dill aioli). But then comes the hard part: making a decision. Five seed? Olive and rosemary? Jalapeño cheese? Varieties change by the day and the season.
Lee, a Chicago native, has been self-employed in various aspects of holistic health for two decades and has been eating gluten-free for most of that time. He was studying bee-keeping at a sanctuary in Floyd when he started to learn about sourdough baking. “I thought, ‘This is great,’” Lee recalls, “because most gluten-free sourdough is pretty awful. I started thinking how I could apply [what I was learning].” That led to five years of sourdough experimentation. “Finally, I got a loaf that my family and friends liked, and they all said I should start baking as a business.”
By then Lee and his family had moved to Charlottesville. When the COVID shut-down ended his practice as a hands-on therapist and he was looking for both activity and income, Lee started baking loaves to bring to the open-air City Market—and kept selling out. That led to more sales, word of mouth, and distribution through local specialty groceries. Finally, Lee outgrew his home kitchen and, with a lot of community support, opened The Homestead Oven in a small bakery that he shares with Stacy Miller’s GF venture Good Phyte Foods.
Lee sees offering healthy food “as an extension of the work I was doing, a desire to support and nourish people and to heal them. And [as a massage therapist] I’ve always loved working with my hands. It’s very similar—being present with the dough, you get to know it well. A sourdough starter is a living, breathing culture that has its own rhythms.”
Homestead Oven products are available at the store Tuesdays through Fridays; baking day is Wednesday, but they always have some loaves put away in the freezer (they freeze well and keep for three to four months). The bakery’s main outlet is Ix Market on Saturdays, but loaves are also available at small and organic groceries around Charlottesville. And you can order online for shipping around the country.
The latest good news: “Pizza Night has made its triumphant return,” Lee says with a smile. Once he had his sourdough recipe perfected, he developed a new obsession—quality gluten-free pizza. Again Lee started experimenting, trying to develop a GF pizza dough that would hold up to the toppings and work as both thin- and thick-crust. But offering pizzas was hard to do as the bread business took off, and Lee was still a one-man operation. Now that he has help—“an amazing staff”—Friday pizza nights are back on the website.
The Oven offers three varieties of thick-crust pizza for pick-up; all are fresh, organic, gluten-free, and vegetarian (vegan cheese options are available) and use their homemade fire-roasted tomato sauce. To order, sign up on the Oven’s website for the weekly email with menu options; this is a small-batch operation, so order early—and then enjoy a healthy GF pizza. It might start your own obsession.—Carol Diggs
Home slices
In Charlottesville, you could eat pizza every day of the week for two weeks and still have more slices to try. Consider this a pizzucket list.
Belmont Pizza & Pub
221 Carlton Rd.
Pizzas named after streets in Belmont, plus TVs (and wings) for game days.
Christian’s Pizza
118 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 100 14th St. NW, 601 Fifth St. SW, 3440 Seminole Trl.
A classic choice for a quick bite, Christian’s offers slices from plain cheese to buffalo chicken.
Crozet Pizza
5794 Three Notched Rd., Crozet
National Geographic once said Crozet’s pies were the “best in the world.” Eat for yourself (any option is foolproof).
Crozet Pizza at Buddhist Biker Bar
20 Elliewood Ave.
Charlottesville outpost for Crozet’s famous pies.
Dino’s
946 Grady Ave. Suite F
Wood-oven artisan pizzas at Dairy Market. Build your own or try one of theirs (recommended: the Hello Sunshine).
Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie
4916 Plank Rd., North Garden
Order a specialty pizza—like the Annie Oakley or the Don Juan—but don’t forget the (housemade) ranch for dipping.
End Zone Pizza
1764 Timberwood Blvd.
Try the All-star at this spot up 29N: two layers of dough, pepperoni, sausage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and extra cheese.
Extreme Pizza
355 Merchant Walk Sq. Unit 200 (5th Street Station)
With names like The Mammoth, Mr. Pestato Head, and The Screamin’ Tomato, we’re ready to go to extremes.
Fabio’s NY Pizza
1551 E. High St.
A taste of the Big Apple (New York-style = hand-tossed, thin crust, wide slices) in Hooville.
Lampo
205 Monticello Rd.
Authentic Neapolitan slices from a pint-sized Belmont kitchen. Try the Hellboy (and don’t skip the zeppole for dessert).
Marco’s Pizza
930 Olympia Dr.
Thin crust pizza sliced Greek-style (crossways into rectangles) for easy grabbing.
Matchbox
2055 Bond St. (The Shops at Stonefield)
If you eschew the glu(ten), Matchbox has you covered with its gluten-sensitive cauliflower crusts on its 10-inch or 14-inch pies.
Mellow Mushroom
1321 W. Main St.
Here it’s the Kosmic Karma: the pizza chain’s take on a margherita, with unexpected additions like sheep’s milk feta and a swirl of pesto.
Pi-Napo
2115 Jefferson Park Ave.
Four brothers creating 10 rotating wood oven-fired pizza pies inspired by Neapolitan traditions. Mama mia!
Sal’s Pizza Crozet
5752 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet
A cult favorite for its NY-style pies.
Vita Nova
321 E. Main St., Downtown Mall
Grab a gourmet Italian slice to go and feel renewed (DYK Vita Nova means “new life”?).
Vocelli Pizza
1857 Seminole Trail #29
Here you’ll find a pie that combines two of life’s greatest comforts: pizza and mac ‘n’ cheese (among more traditional options).
Albemarle County has made at least $4.5 million in investments to help hundreds of units in Southwood remain affordable to households with income below 60 percent of the area median. Image: Atlantic Builders.
The recent purchase of the Cavalier Crossings apartment complex on Fifth Street Extended by an Alexandria-based investment company prompted one member of the Albemarle Planning Commission to tell his colleagues the county should be investing in “social” housing.
“If we can think about how we can put county resources toward public goods, which to me includes UVA Health wage workers being able to afford to live here, then that’s progress,” said Nathan Moore, representative of the county’s Rio District, at the August 27 commission meeting.
In 2021, both Albemarle and Charlottesville adopted new housing strategies to increase the number of affordable units. While the city’s plan for affordability calls for spending $10 million a year on construction or maintenance of housing, the Housing Albemarle plan does not set a specific target. Still, county supervisors have authorized several investments.
“Since 2020, the county has invested $17.7 million into projects which have served around 3,000 households in one form or another,” says Stacy Pethia, Albemarle’s assistant director of housing.
Last week, Pethia told a citizen advisory panel that while the county prioritizes housing funds for those on the lower end of the income spectrum, there’s a need for housing for all levels in a community where the federally defined annual median income is $124,000.
“There’s a range of people that qualify for affordable housing and most of those people are the ones [whom] we rely on every day,” Pethia says.
In fiscal year 2024, Albemarle contributed $3 million toward the construction of Southwood Apartments by Piedmont Housing Alliance, $1.5 million to Habitat for Humanity for their Cardinal Hill apartments at Southwood, and $700,000 to the Premier Circle project underway by Virginia Supportive Housing. Another $311,655 went to the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program to help rehabilitate existing homes.
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors agreed to contribute another $2 million to the housing investment fund in the current fiscal year. A decision about where that money should go will be made in the future.
On Wednesday, September 18, the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the county’s intention to apply for $6.5 million in federal funds, including $5 million to establish a revolving fund for loans to developers who build affordable housing units. The supervisors will also ask for $1 million for a fund to entice property owners to rent out units to people with housing vouchers to overcome any stigma that a tenant receiving assistance might face.
Albemarle administers 345 federal housing vouchers.
“It can be difficult sometimes for families to find a landlord that will accept their voucher,” Pethia says.
Albemarle is also seeking $435,000 in funds for construction of a future multifamily development, but it is currently unclear where that project might be.
As for Cavalier Crossings, The Bonaventure Multifamily Trust paid $20.5 million for the 144-unit complex and plans to renovate units to charge higher rents at market rate. Some leases have not been renewed as work gets underway.
The purchase did not require any legal notice, as none of the units were built with public money and no public funds are being requested by the new owner.
Is it a gourmet shop? A neighborhood grocery? A stop-by convenience store? A deli? A gift store? A coffee shop? A lunch spot? Foods of All Nations is all these things—and a Charlottesville institution that’s has been serving local customers for almost 70 years.
Stroll through Foods and you’ll find a range of quality produce and birthday cards, fresh sushi and baby gifts, a bottle of wine and dish soap, handmade chocolates and pet food, MarieBette baked goods and Caspari paper products. The store covers all these categories because its customer base runs the gamut, heavily influenced by its location next to UVA and on the west side’s main route in and out of town.
“We see lots of UVA athletes and students, faculty on their way home from UVA, parents picking up their kids from St. Anne’s-Belfield, and then there’s the Farmington/Bellair/Boars Head crowd,” says Butch Brown, Foods’ interim store manager. The outdoor seating is mobbed during nice weather, especially on UVA football game days. And, he adds, “This is a food town.”
Foods caters to foodies. Jams, jellies, and condiments from mustard to harissa fill one side of Aisle 4; Aisle 5 features foods from Greece, Indonesia, Asia, Spain and Mexico, the Middle East, India, and Africa. Toma, the sushi chef, draws a devoted clientele. The selection of wines, cheeses, and chocolate is amazing—many of them local (Foods stocks products from dozens of local businesses and “the widest selection of Virginia-made food and products” in town, says its website). Many customers come in every Sunday for their New York Times or Washington Post.
Foods was launched in 1955 by local businessmen Don King and Watt Jones; their first store, on Preston Avenue in Rose Hill, was called the Seven Day Shopping Center. A few years later, the store moved to Meadowbrook Shopping Center, and by 1970 it had settled at its current location in Ivy Square, with a new name. There was a metal sign on the roof, Brown recalls, proclaiming “Foods of All Nations: An Asset in Any Community,” although he doesn’t recall where that name or slogan came from.
A company associated with the UVA Foundation bought the Ivy Square Shopping Center in 2021, but Brown is confident that Foods will be around for a while yet. “The Foundation has been very supportive,” he says, including of the breakfast-and-lunch spot Foods operates at UVA’s North Fork Discovery Park.
That eatery is one of several adaptations that Foods has made over the years. A 1994 renovation expanded the back office and bakery space and turned the store’s original entry into a café offering tea, coffee, and pastries. The new entry and the space next to it became the flower and gift shop. In a nod to promoting local, that space is shared between Caspari products (the company is based here and its president is a Foods customer) and Alight Flower Farm in Keswick, which stocks the fresh flowers, indoor plants, and gifts.
“Foods was our main market when we started the farm in 2016,” says Alight’s owner Liz Nabi, “so when their florist left in 2020, Foods asked us to take over.” When it comes to the gift selection, she says, “I pick things that I like and am drawn to—colorful, often nature-themed.” Shoppers find it convenient to pick up hostess gifts, Christmas stocking stuffers, baby gifts, and birthday presents. “Because Foods has such consistent repeat customers, we always want to offer something new,” Nabi says.
While the store has adapted over the decades, one of its consistent features is its long-term staff. Brown has worked there for 35 years, Cindy Barker, the grocery manager, for 30 years, and deli section employees know customers by name—or by their favorite prepared food, specialty cheese, or cut of meat.
One long-time customer says he and his wife have been shopping at Foods for 50 years plus. “They carry real specialty European stuff,” he says. “It’s the place to go in Charlottesville for that. And it’s like a coffee house or café in Paris, or an English pub—you see students, grad students, faculty, elderly people, all the locals.”
Grocery manager Barker says she’s always looking for new products that her customers might be interested in: “I like to carry local products—our customers like to buy local—but I also try to get products from other countries.” Customers often ask her for specific products, and she does her best to oblige because she appreciates their loyalty. “We have the best customers ever,” she says.
And Foods’ clientele seems to reciprocate. The long-time customer we spoke with recalls picking a German hot chocolate mix off the shelf, but he couldn’t tell how much sugar was in it. “One of the staff came over and checked the German label ingredients for me—not many stores where that could happen,” he says.
Ready for an afternoon catch-up over a glass of wine, but not up for a bar? Looking for a quiet place to meet your friends downtown, but they like wine and you don’t drink alcohol? Feeling like a pot of tea and a good book on a rainy afternoon, but need to get out of the house?
Welcome to Ethos Wine and Tea.
This new spot on West Main, in the space that Guajiros Miami Eatery just vacated for its new joint on 10th Street, is a lovely mixture of congenial and Zen. As you walk in, you can look over the bookcase of wines and snacks for sale, as well as some used books for sampling. You can step up to the small curved wine bar, or find your table along the window or out on the patio—two-tops for intimate conversations, moveable for grouping. There’s a small menu of snacks, sandwiches, and sweets to help your energy match your conversation.
Ethos Wine and Tea is the joint venture of two people with different backgrounds but like minds. Kylie Britt turned her degree in chemistry into a career in wine (which fits, if you think of winemaking as a chemical experiment) via the lab at Michael Shaps Wineworks and a stint as wine director at The Wool Factory. Tiffany Nguyen, who came to Charlottesville 16 years ago, juggled work in event-planning with raising four children (another form of event-planning, actually).
From different directions, Britt and Nguyen had developed an interest in building community through offering a gathering place. Britt says her growing desire to educate people about wines “got me dreaming of creating something more wine- and beverage-focused.” Nguyen discovered that her event skills were based on “wanting to gather people in a welcoming space—but I wasn’t ready to start a venture all on my own.” Then fate, in the shape of Charlottesville’s small-town network, stepped in.
At last year’s Two Up, Wine Down Festival celebrating Virginia wines and winemakers, self-confessed foodie Nguyen was chatting with friends who happened to know Britt and her dreams of starting a wine-focused café. The two started talking, one idea led to another, and by January 2024 the concept for Ethos was born. Through July and August, co-owners Britt and Nguyen eased into operation—opening a few days a week while they recruited staff and refined their offerings. By late summer, the spot was fully launched.
Britt, as wine and operations director, handles wine and staffing. The wine menu covers the full range (sparkling, white, rosé, red) and Britt plans to rotate the offerings about every six weeks. “I go for local, natural, and innovative wines,” she says. “I’m not super strict about organic, but I need the wine to be both good and good for the Earth.” She’s a fan of Virginia wines, obviously, but also particularly devoted to wines from the Shenandoah Valley … “or southwest France. I’m up for any wine with a good story.” (And to be inclusive, Ethos does carry a selection of draft and canned beers and sake).
The Ethos website describes Nguyen as “wearer of all hats.” While she enjoys wine, “I never knew that much about it,” she admits, but when she and Britt got talking about creating a gathering place, “I thought, ‘Why not tea?’ It’s a high-quality product, it’s complex, and [enjoying it] is a communal experience—something you can share.” Her tea menu will not rotate as often as Britt’s wines—tea is less seasonal than wine—but she will always offer a mix of black, green, herbal, and iced. “I’m keeping an eye out for local teas, which would mostly be herbal,” Nguyen says, but she will also offer locally produced kombuchas and sodas. There’s also brined plum soda from Vietnamese culture (“my family loves it,” she says)—refreshing, but definitely for those who have a taste for salty.
The foods menu offers snacks (nuts, olives, bread and butter) for noshing with your beverage, sweets from Splendora’s, and a mix of sandwiches for heartier appetites. Britt wants to feature local suppliers where possible, and she also plans to offer their kitchen for pop-ups from local chefs (“a kind of incubator”). Eventually, she says, they want to offer the upstairs rooms as a space for private events.
Both owners keep coming back to their vision of Ethos as a community space. “This is a place for coming together,” says Britt, “whether it’s two friends or a date or a family, before dinner or after a movie or just an afternoon together.” Nguyen says it another way: “I’ve always wanted to gather people. When you walk in here, I want you to feel welcome.”
Who says that living among the beautiful mountains means you can’t enjoy all the culinary delights of the sea: fresh shrimp, lobster, halibut, salmon, and tuna? Certainly not Jayson Johnson, and he opened Crozet Seafood Supply to prove it.
As soon as you walk into the store in the Clover Lawn Shopping Center across from Harris Teeter, that clean briny smell lets you know this is the real thing. On your left is the glass case of filets, laid out on ice surrounded by fresh kale. Next to that is the display of raw and cooked shellfish and the freshly prepared seafood salads, with a smiling staffer ready to offer you an Old Bay-infused Ritz cracker and a sample; try a favorite, the lobster pasta salad with sun-dried tomato and dill. And among the shelves of seafood paraphernalia—sauces, spices, rubs, marinades, crackers, pasta, rice—Johnson is strolling, ready with information and advice.
Johnson moved to Crozet 12 years ago to work as a neonatal respiratory therapist at UVA. After the stressful times going through COVID at the hospital, he says, “I thought about what I’d want to do for the next 15 years—it seemed a good time to make a change.”
A childhood friend, Joe Skinner, owns Bon Air Seafood in Richmond, and Johnson, a self-described foodie who had owned several small businesses in the past, decided to dive in with Skinner as partner. “I wanted [to start] something local, so I could live and work here, and I wanted to offer the community something sustainable.”
Crozet Seafood Supply was launched in March 2024, and Johnson says the response has been strong. On the Wednesday morning that I visit (“usually a slow time”), traffic is steady. Several customers are clearly regulars. A new customer has stopped by because he’s looking for calamari—“If we don’t have what you’re looking for, let us know—we’ll try to get it for you,” says Johnson. Then a couple comes in, first-timers taking a look. It helps that Johnson is active on social media, promoting the arrival of seasonal delicacies like softshell crabs, as well as the specials on goodies ranging from homemade Andalusian gazpacho to the ever-popular Bon Air cheese balls featuring shrimp or crab.
Both freshness and environmental impact are key for Johnson. “Our prices are a little higher,” he says, “but that’s because we want to offer the best quality and the most sustainable varieties.” Everything is delivered by refrigerated truck straight from the docks at Hampton or in Maryland; that way, Johnson says, he can offer fresh catch from an area ranging from Iceland to Florida. The fresh Scottish salmon is flown into Hampton—it’s farm-raised, he says, but the “farm” is in a loch open to the ocean, so the fish are eating what they would in the wild. There are also frozen options: the Chilean sea bass, for example, is flash-frozen as soon as it’s caught.
Johnson has also developed local partnerships. The store’s lobster rolls (“it’s our most popular offering, hot or cold”) and other sandwiches are served on bread from Praha Bohemian Bakery & Cafe in Crozet, and the supplemental foods, sauces, and rubs are from small specialty companies like Stonewall Kitchen, Firehook Bakery, and Lynchburg’s Scratch Pasta. And since the store just got its ABC license, Johnson will be offering a range of local beverages as well.
An added asset for the cooking-challenged: Right by the door is a display case of recipe cards for the fish and shellfish on offer, including complete instructions and a list of ingredients, all of which are available right there in the store. Johnson says their market research shows “people like seafood, but they are worried about cooking it properly.” So, one less thing to worry about!
Donuts have been on a certain trajectory for the last two decades: bigger, more toppings, more creativity—an arms race of candy, cookies, and fried pork.
After several years working with semi-traditionalists Jason Becton and Patrick Evans at MarieBette Café & Bakery, Melissa Sbrocco is going in a different direction. When she opens her namesake donut shop the second week of September (hopefully), dough nuts can expect to find a rotating lineup of classics: glazed, jelly-filled, chocolate iced, plain cake, chocolate iced cake.
“Jason is from New Jersey, and I grew up going to the Jersey Shore,” Sbrocco says. “We’re used to strip mall donut shops where you grab and go, kind of similar to a Dunkin’. That’s the concept.”
Sbrocco’s relationship with Becton and Evans began in 2020, when her temporary move to Charlottesville stretched long-term. A real estate agent before the move, Sbrocco’s plan was to stay until the pandemic ended, then go back to her life. But she and her husband fell in love with the town, and she found her way into baking, a passion project she’d always wanted to cultivate, via a job at MarieBette.
After four years together, Sbrocco, Becton, and Evans will partner up for Sbrocco’s Donuts & Espresso. Sbrocco will lean on her former bosses for consulting, she says, as well as for the brioche recipe they’ve developed at MarieBette. “We sometimes take the basic brioche dough scraps and fry them up,” Sbrocco says. “You can call any fried dough in a circle a donut.”
As the three partners prepare the new Sbrocco’s space on Maury Avenue in the former Anna’s Pizza spot, they’re also heavily involved in recipe development. Sbrocco’s favorite so far? Another traditional offering, the apple fritter. For that crispy hunk of nooks and crannies, Sbrocco uses a sturdier dough than the standard brioche base—kind of like a milk bread, she says.
A baker at heart, Sbrocco typically favors cake over yeast donuts; she says her 1,500-square-foot, eight- to 10-seat breakfast counter will always have two non-leavened crullers on hand. She and her partners have also experimented with a potato donut, a nod to Charlottesville’s spuddy pastry past.
As for coffee, Sbrocco hopes folks enjoy it the way she does. “We’ll have full espresso drinks,” she says. “But the classic is you have a donut and you have your drip.”
The 12-story Verve is one of two large student apartment buildings planned for construction within close proximity to the University of Virginia.
Photo via ESG Architecture and Design.
The governing body of the area’s largest landowner will meet this week with five new members, at least one of whom has significant experience in real estate. Governor Glenn Youngkin’s latest appointees to the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors begin their terms at a time when two private, recently approved student developments are moving toward construction and while UVA seeks to provide more housing for students.
“UVA has committed to expanding its current first-year residency requirement to require all first- and second-year students to live on-Grounds while enrolled at UVA to better support students in their transition to University life, and as residents of the broader Charlottesville community,” reads a May 2024 solicitation for firms to partner to build the housing.
At the same time, two large private developments near UVA continue to make their way through the finer details of the city’s permitting process.
On Tuesday, the Charlottesville Planning Commission formally approved a site plan for the Verve, a 12-story student apartment building to be constructed in the heart of central Grounds. Several dozen apartments at the intersection of Jefferson Park Avenue and Emmet Street will soon be demolished to make way for the new building, which will have 442 units, according to the site plan.
City Council approved a rezoning in January for the Verve despite opposition from UVA officials, who argued the tall building would diminish UVA’s architectural character. The plans were submitted in time to qualify under the city’s old zoning rules, which required significantly fewer units to be designated as affordable. In this case, the developer will contribute $6.8 million to the city’s affordable housing fund rather than build units that are price-controlled.
Earlier this month, the Charlottesville City Council granted approval of another technical step for a 10-story student apartment building at 2117 Ivy Rd. that was approved under the old rules. That project comes with a $3.25 million contribution to the city’s affordable housing fund and required council action to waive a requirement to build sidewalks on all road fronts.
“The waiver request is only for the easternmost portion of the property’s frontage on Copeley Road,” said Dannan O’Connell, a city planner. He added that they will build sidewalks on Ivy Road and a portion of Copeley Road.
Meanwhile, UVA is planning to build up to 2,000 bedrooms for undergraduate students at both the former University Gardens as well as on Ivy Road. The Afghan Kabob restaurant will be demolished to make way for what UVA calls the Emmet North site.
Because UVA owns those parcels of land, the city will not collect property tax revenue but they will for both the Verve and 2117 Ivy Rd. UVA officials want the first units to come online for the fall of 2027.
One of the new members of the Board of Visitors is David F. Webb of Virginia Beach, whose day job is vice chair of development firm CBRE’s Capital Markets Group. Webb is now a member of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, which will meet on Thursday. One item on their agenda is a discussion of student housing.
The developer of 303 Alderman Rd. will be among the first to take advantage of the new
zoning, if and when this single family house is demolished to make way for six townhomes. Photo by Sean Tubbs.
The waiting game continues for a lawsuit filed earlier this year that seeks to nullify Charlottesville’s new zoning code.
A group of residents filed suit against Charlottesville in January alleging that city officials failed to follow state guidelines to study the impacts higher residential density allowed in the Development Code would have on transportation infrastructure. The land-use rules were rewritten shortly after City Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan on November 21 that called for more housing across the entire city.
“A comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance must be submitted to [the Virginia Department of Transportation] for review when [they] will ‘substantially affect’ transportation on state-controlled highways,” wrote attorneys with the firm Flora Pettit in a filing with Charlottesville Circuit Court in late August.
This spring, Charlottesville responded with a motion seeking to dismiss the case arguing that the plaintiffs do not have the right to sue, and added they cannot prove they will be harmed by the new rules.
After a 90-minute hearing in late June, both sides filed written closing statements to inform Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell’s eventual opinion. Lawyers with the firm Gentry Locke argue the suit should not proceed to trial.
“Plaintiffs do not like the policy choices in the new zoning ordinance,” the Gentry Locke attorneys wrote in their recent filing. “The City followed the process in enacting the NZO. The Plaintiffs, therefore, rely on strained legal theories and ignore facts in their effort.”
Attorneys for the city also argue that Charlottesville followed the rules when submitting the mobility chapter of the Comprehensive Plan to VDOT, a key claim made by the defendants.
“Plaintiffs cannot now—more than two years after the fact—fault the City for failing to double-check VDOT’s work product,” the closing argument continues.
Flora Pettit attorney Michael Derdeyn represents those plaintiffs, as well an anonymous group that previously sought to overturn the Comprehensive Plan based on many of the same arguments. He argues that VDOT review should have been based on the theoretical maximum of new housing units that could be built under the new code.
“There can be no question that the City failed to comply with its obligation,” Derdeyn wrote.
That will be up to Judge Worrell to decide, and a ruling will be issued at some point in the near future.
Meanwhile, developers have slowly begun taking advantage of the provisions in the new code that allow more density without asking City Council for permission. That includes six units planned to be built at 303 Alderman Rd., a property that had been zoned for single-family residential but is now in the Residential B district.
Another plan, submitted for land behind the Meadowbrook Shopping Center, will be the first to take advantage of bonus rules if units meet the city’s affordability guidelines.
A firm called Greenshire Holdings has filed a major development plan to build 24 units on what is now an 0.83-acre lot at 2030 Barracks Rd. The materials sent to the city include a request to subdivide the property into two lots with 12 units to be built on each.
No traffic management plan would be required because the total amount of construction is under the 50,000 square-foot threshold that would trigger one.
