The stairs that led to the top of the coal tower have been removed, but the base and surrounding dirt area are easily accessible. (Photo: Matt Weyrich)
Charlottesville’s C&O train station closed its doors in 1986, but that hasn’t kept the building and its adjacent coal tower out of headlines in the three decades since.
The site of both a double homicide and an apparent suicide, the abandoned tower became a popular hangout spot for drug users and the homeless in the early 2000s. Despite the structure’s checkered history, the land surrounding it on East Water Street was bought out and developed into C&O Row, a string of pricey townhomes that some residents have already moved into while construction for the rest of the buildings is underway.
While the luxury residences are being sold around $1 million apiece, conditions at the coal tower itself have deteriorated; graffiti and overgrown vines line the exterior walls of the base, and a hole on the side of the tower opens up to a crawl space littered with dirt, garbage, and chunks of concrete. A small construction fence separates the tower from the sidewalk, but it’s only a few feet tall and doesn’t wrap around the entire structure.
A proposal to turn the area underneath and around the tower into a pocket park complete with a covered patio, bocce court, and dog park was approved by the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review on August 21, 2018, but construction on that project—and the rehabilitation of the tower in general—has yet to begin, and no one seems to know why.
“The maintenance, improvements at the structure, they could’ve been doing those whenever,” says Jeff Werner, a city planner with Neighborhood Development Services. “As far as the [park], I don’t think you need a building permit for a bocce court.”
There was a holdup on the project in July 2018, when the BAR postponed the proposal over some original 1940s metal the developers wanted to remove. They came up with a resolution a month later, meaning the only thing standing in the way of property owner Choco-Cruz LLC, a Richmond-based company operated by local developer Alan Taylor, moving forward with the project is an application for building permits.
“The other elements like the vent stacks, the pulley on one side, those things that date from the original coal tower will be retained,” says Joseph “Jody” Lahendro, a historic preservation architect on the BAR.
Taylor, the president of Riverbend Development in Charlottesville, didn’t respond to requests for comment, and Riverbend’s Vice President Ashley Davies admits she isn’t up to speed on the project. She says it’s being overseen by project manager Joe Simpson, who Davies says recently celebrated the birth of his child (Simpson also didn’t respond to a request for comment).
Over at City Hall, urban designer Carrie Rainey says Choco-Cruz still needs approval for a light fixture design and historical landmark sign, but Werner insists that shouldn’t be holding up any progress on the rehabilitation of the coal tower. There were questions surrounding the design for a retaining wall and stormwater drainage as well, but those have since been resolved.
Werner has reached out to city building inspectors and asked that they examine the structure’s conditions to determine whether there are any safety hazards. He says there’s confusion among C&O Row residents over who’s responsible for the coal tower’s upkeep, and one has already contacted him to complain about the state of the structure.
For now, there’s no indication as to what the timeline will be for both the rehabilitation and park projects, but the Certificate of Appropriateness that allows for Choco-Cruz to apply for the building permits required for construction expires by March 2020. The company could request an extension if needed, but would have to appear before the BAR again in order to do so.
A man died during the construction of a C&O Row house, falling down an unsecured elevator shaft.
staff photo
Early July 25, Albemarle police responded to an industrial accident at Yancey Lumber in Crozet, where employee Floriberta Macedo-Diaz, 46, of Waynesboro, died of her injuries.
Macedo-Diaz isn’t the only workplace fatality in the region. In June, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry finished its investigation into a job-related death last fall, and fined two companies more than $18,000 for safety violations.
Carlos Alfaro was looking at the ceiling on the top floor of a C&O Row house and following the sprinkler lines to attach sprinkler heads when he opened the door to what appeared to be a closet and fell five floors down an elevator shaft to his death last October 17, according to a labor department report.
Alfaro, 31, was a North Chesterfield resident employed by Liberty Fire Solutions, which was installing sprinklers at the $1 million home at 1073 E. Water St.
The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry initially cited Salem-based Liberty Fire Solutions $4,560 for not having some- one trained in first aid at the site and $12,471for failure to provide adequate fall protection. Those penalties were reduced and Liberty paid $9,500. Its CEO, Randy Young, did not return a call from C-VILLE Weekly.
Also fined was builder Evergreen LLC for not having fall protection systems in place. The labor department originally issued a citation for $12,471. Evergreen—through Eggc LLC—paid a $8,730 penalty, according to Department of Labor and Industry documents. Evergreen president and owner Whit Graves did not return calls from C-VILLE.
However, in a labor department narrative of events, Graves told investigators that the sprinkler work was scheduled for October 23 and the Liberty Fire Solutions employees arrived almost a week early.
During an inspection of the site after the fatal 45-foot fall, investigators saw doors that had been installed on the elevator shaft with no hardware and could be opened by wind traveling up the shaft, according to the report.
The normal procedure was to nail boards across the opening of the shaft, but after Alfaro’s fall, the boards were not there and Graves told inspectors he didn’t know when they were removed, according to the state report.
The Department of Labor and Industry recommended a “serious fatality-related citation” for both companies.
After it closed in 2003, Western State was a magnet for ghost hunters and daring teens. Now it's going to be a deluxe inn.
Photo Daniel Stein
Seeking asylum
He’ll tell you it’s not haunted, but owner and developer Robin Miller acknowledges the twisted history of the new Blackburn Inn, his historic boutique hotel set to open in Staunton this spring.
Originally serving as the Western State Lunatic Asylum in the early 1800s, a hospital for the mentally ill—known for its electroshock therapy and lobotomies—the building became a medium-security men’s penitentiary in the late 1900s, until it was abandoned in 2003.
Where former residents wore straitjackets, inn guests will don complimentary bathrobes after a dip in the “luxurious soaking tubs” that will be available in four of the 49 rooms with 27 different floor plans.
“About 14 years ago was the first time I drove into downtown Staunton,” says Miller. “I looked over and saw the campus here and I fell in love with it.”
The Richmond-based developer with a second home in the same town as his new hotel has an assemblage of projects under his belt, including the recent redevelopment of Western State’s bindery, the building directly behind the Blackburn Inn, which he converted into 19 condos.
“It’s a combination of a beautiful, beautiful historic building with absolute top of the line, luxurious amenities and features,” Miller says about the inn, where he made use of the original wide corridors, hallway arches, vaulted ceilings and a wooden spiral stairwell that will allow guests to access the rooftop atrium. As for whether he expects a gaggle of ghost hunters to be his first customers: “That certainly wasn’t part of our marketing plan, but we don’t care why they want to stay here. We just want them to come and see it.”
Either way, we’re calling it a crazy good time.
Staunton’s former Western State Lunatic Asylum will reopen as a boutique hotel this spring. Among its features is the original wooden spiral stairwell (right), which has been refurbished and will allow access to a rooftop atrium. Courtesy blackburn inn, daniel stein
In brief
Kessler clockers continued
Four people charged with assaulting Jason Kessler the day after the deadly August 12 Unite the Right rally—Brandon Collins, Robert Litzenberger, Phoebe Stevens and Jeff Winder—had their cases moved to February 2—Groundhog Day—because the special prosecutor, Goochland Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Caudill, hadn’t seen video of Kessler being chased through the shrubbery. “These things keep coming up,” said Judge Bob Downer. “It’s like Groundhog Day.”
Another construction fatality
A construction worker died at the Linden Town Lofts site after a traumatic fall November 15, according to Charlottesville police. That was also the location of an early morning July 13 fire that engulfed a townhouse and four Jaunt buses. A worker also died from a fall October 21 at 1073 E. Water St., the C&O Row site owned by Evergreen Homebuilders.
Motion to unwrap
staff photo
Plaintiffs in the suit to prevent the city from removing Confederate statues of generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson now want Charlottesville to remove the black tarps that have covered the statues since shortly after the fatal August 12 rally—and for the city to pay hefty fines if it refuses.
Closing the door
The grocery subscription service that bought out Relay Foods last year announced November 17 that it would cease its operations, effective immediately. Door to Door Organics says refunds will be forthcoming for those who pre-ordered Thanksgiving turkeys.
“The only way you’re going to get sexism out of politics is to get more women into politics.”
—Hillary Clinton in a speech at UVA during the Women’s Global Leadership Forum
Pay up
Florida man James O’Brien, an alleged League of the South member charged with concealed carrying on August 12, pleaded guilty November 20 and was sentenced to a suspended 60 days in jail and fined $500. He was arrested while breaking into his own car during the Unite the Right rally, and has since been fired from his roofing job for taking part in “extremist activities,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Switching hands
After 10 years of grooming, lodging and day care services, the owners of Best of C-VILLE Hall of Famer Pampered Pets have selected Pet Paradise Resort and Day Spa to take over operations, beginning November 16.
Dominion’s victory dance
The U.S. Forest Service approved plans for the the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline November 17, giving Dominion Energy permission to run its 42-inch natural gas pipeline through the George Washington and Monongahela national forests. Though Dominion still requires state water permits, spokesperson Aaron Ruby calls it a “key regulatory approval” in the company’s quest for final approval later this year.
By the numbers
Survey says
It costs a little bit more to gobble till you wobble this year, according to a recent survey conducted by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
On average, it will set you back about $50.56 to feed a family of 10 adults on Thanksgiving. This is up from $44.02 last year, with the average cost of everyone’s favorite holiday meal increasing by a total of $11.44 since the federation began conducting the survey in 2003.
What’s on the menu? Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, rolls, cranberries, a vegetable tray, milk and a good ol’ slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Eat up.
Bulldozers continue to change the Charlottesville landscape. Photo by Skyclad Aerial
By: Lisa Provence and Samantha Baars
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, and while we’re celebrating that, C-VILLE decided to take a look at construction projects underway that will change the way the city looks—and in some cases, inconvenience us mightily during the coming months.
These are projects visibly in the works. And they won’t come cheap. Among the upcoming residential efforts, “affordable housing” will not be a phrase used to describe them.
Other projects are lining up for the future, including the demolition of the Main Street Arena next summer to construct tech hub Taliaferro Junction. And you can say you learned it here first: It’s pronounced “tolliver.”
Get your hard hats and earplugs ready for the summer of mud. And snap those “before” pictures now, because by 2067, you won’t see the landscape we currently inhabit.
Downtown
Click to enlarge.
William Taylor Plaza
Fairfield Inn and Suites
Ridge Street and Cherry Avenue
Owner: Virginia Hotel Properties LP
Number of rooms: 119
Development status: Completed by second quarter of 2018.
Click to enlarge.
When the 2.9-acre parcel on the corner of Ridge Street and Cherry Avenue was rezoned for mixed use in 2009, neighbors didn’t necessarily foresee a hotel as the commercial component of the project. And when developer Charlie Armstrong pitched a Fairfield Inn and Suites sans residential portion in 2015, the project temporarily ground to a halt until Southern Development came back with a residential component.
Southern Development sold part of the property to Keystone Hotel Management, which is developing the hotel and will manage the property for Marriott. The construction of the 100-plus-room hotel, with underground parking, is well underway. Marriott VP Dave Medis says to look for its opening in the second quarter of 2018.
And there’s still a residential portion to come. Management Services Corporation has BAR approval for a 27-unit upscale apartment project.
Home2 Suites
201 Monticello Ave.
Developer: Baywood Hotels, Greenbelt, Maryland
Number of rooms: 113; four stories
Development status: Under construction.
Click to enlarge.
Baywood is a development company that does only hotels, senior VP Vik Patel told C-VILLE last year, and the Coran Capshaw-owned former Portico Church location’s “proximity to the Downtown Mall attracted us to this site,” Patel said. Home2 Suites by Hilton are extended-stay hotels with a “boutique-y feel,” according to Patel. Although the hotel will have a fitness center and indoor pool, it won’t have a restaurant or a bar.
West2nd
200 Second St. SW
Developer: Keith Woodard
Number of condos: 65; 10 stories
Development status: Ground-breaking scheduled for this summer.
Click to enlarge.
Formerly called Market Plaza, this $50 million project will be built on the metered parking lot that used to house City Market, and the space will still serve as the permanent home of the uber popular Saturday shopping destination. When the market is not in session, the half-acre lot will be used for other events.
Developer Keith Woodard calls West2nd’s 65 condos, which will range from $400,000 to more than $1 million, “very deluxe” and says every room will have a spectacular view of the city.
The complex is scheduled to open by summer 2019. It will also include retail and office spaces, a restaurant and a bakery/café.
Landmark Hotel/The Dewberry
201 E. Water St.
Developer: John Dewberry
Number of rooms: 112
Development status: Board of Architectural Review meeting June 20; structural integrity report due July 1.
Click to enlarge.
Charlottesville’s most prominent eyesore is on the Downtown Mall, where it has been in skeletal disarray since construction ceased in 2009. But it has seen signs of life this year.
When developer John Dewberry purchased the Landmark Hotel for $6.25 million in 2012, his conversion of a Charleston, South Carolina, federal building into a five-star hotel was ahead of Charlottesville on his construction to-do list. The Dewberry Charleston opened last summer, he scored incentives from the city earlier this year, and the next hurdle is the Board of Architectural Review June 20.
Oh wait, there’s yet another hurdle—and we’re not talking about the 75 spaces the city promised Dewberry in the litigation-prone Water Street Parking Garage. A structural integrity report is due July 1 to determine whether the framework is still sound after years of being exposed to the elements.
Dewberry’s deluxe vision includes a spa, a rooftop bar on the 11th level with terraces on the north and south ends of the building, along with the 1,800-square-foot Founder’s Room.
Former Bank of America building
300 E. Main St.
Owner: Hunter Craig
Development status: Underway.
When Bank of America announced it was closing shop in its vintage 1916 building on the Downtown Mall last year, it left a banking void—for about five minutes. Another financial institute, Citizen & Farmers Bank, will occupy an 850-square-foot suite in the structure and is expected to open in July, but banking will be a minority activity in the historic
building. The 60,000-square-foot property spreads a couple of
doors down, and includes C-VILLE Weekly’s home.
The soaring bank lobby is slated to become a steakhouse. Pantheon Restaurants LLC, the people behind Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria, has leased 9,000 square feet for a restaurant, according to Loren Mendosa. Construction has not begun there, although Mendosa notes that Lampo was nominated for best steakhouse in Best of C-VILLE 2017.
Another 25,000 square feet have been leased by CVL Society. Partners in the development haven’t announced details publicly, but the project will include executive offices and other areas designed to support downtown Charlottesville’s start-up scene with co-working, business incubation and accelerator space.
550 Water Street
550 E. Water St.
Developer: Andrew Baldwin with Core Real Estate and Development
Number of units: Five residential, three commercial
Development status: Under construction; scheduled to open next spring.
Click to enlarge. Staff photo
In this six-story building, the first two floors feature commercial office space while the top four are full-floor condos, and a low-rise wing structure offers a fifth residence and another commercial office suite. Condos are priced “north of $2 million,” according to developer Andrew Baldwin, who says only two residential units are still available.
At approximately 3,500 square feet each, the condos also offer 500-square-foot outdoor terraces, large windows with sliding glass exterior doors, private parking and high-end security systems.
C&O Row
1065 E. Water St.
Developer: Riverbend Development
Number of homes: 23
Development status: The first phase is under construction, the second should begin next spring or early summer, and the third phase is to be determined.
Click to enlarge. Staff photo
Local builders Martin Horn Inc. and Evergreen Home Builders offer different floor plans and customized home interiors, including options for all-brick interiors, dramatic open stair systems from the first to third floors and steel bathtubs. Ten of 12 lots in the first phase have already sold, with six of the homes in phase two hitting the market in late summer or early fall. The three-plus-bedroom homes with two-car garages range from 3,200 square feet to more than 3,700 square feet depending on finished space and rooftop access. Phase one prices range from $899,000 to $1.1 million.
“There is no one buyer profile,” says Lindsay Milby, an associate broker with Loring Woodriff Real Estate Associates. “Young families, single professionals and empty nesters are attracted to the concept. They like the idea of a brand new, easy-to-maintain custom home walkable to downtown.”
West Main
Click to enlarge.
The Autograph Hotel
1106 W. Main St.
Developer: Carr City Centers
Number of rooms: 150
Development status: Completed in fourth quarter of 2017.
Click to enlarge.
We feel like we’re getting into that pattern of “remember where Studio Arts used to be?” That’s where the latest luxury boutique hotel is going, another Marriott venture—the hotel chain’s third on West Main. The 10-story Autograph got underway after SunTrust Bank signed off on a $25.8 million loan to Carr City Centers last summer, according to Virginia Business. Whether it will be finished by the end of the year, well, we’re still waiting to hear from Carr City Centers.
The Standard
853 W. Main St.
Developer: Landmark Properties
Number of units: 189 apartments; 499-space parking garage
Development status: Targeted completion before school starts in 2018.
Click to enlarge.
The site of the former Republic Plaza, which was demolished over the winter, is mostly red dirt now, but when it’s complete, it will rise 70′ with six stories. The high-end student apartments—the third such project on West Main—has some calling the street West Grounds. Athens, Georgia-based Landmark Properties specializes in deluxe student housing, and it suffered a delay in completing a complex at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville last fall, leaving about 600 students homeless at the beginning of the semester, according to the UT Daily Beacon.
Six Hundred West Main
600 W. Main St.
Developer: Jeff Levien
Number of units: 53 apartments; six stories
Development status: Set for construction this summer.
Click to enlarge.
This 65,000-square-foot apartment complex will house a mix of studio and one- and two-bedroom units with parking underneath the building.
Design-wise, developer Jeff Levien looks to Oakhart Social, a restaurant across the street from his site, which used the building’s historic character in its design aesthetic by featuring the space’s original exposed brick walls and showcasing both “old and new,” he says. Architect Jeff Dreyfus is also on the job.
The building will incorporate two historic structures: the Hartnagle-Witt House and the Hawkins-Perry House, which are more easily recognizable as Blue Moon Diner and a small convenience store.
Quirk Hotel
501 W. Main St.
Developer: Bank Street Advisors
Number of rooms: 78-80; four floors off West Main Street and five off Commerce Street
Development status: Groundbreaking in early 2018; opening in mid-2019.
Click to enlarge.
This new hotel will be modeled after the original 75-room, four-floor Quirk Hotel and art gallery in Richmond. It will incorporate two historic structures, including Paxton Place, a home built in 1824, on a site where architect Bill Atwood was unable to get his six-story office building off the ground.
Owners Katie and Ted Ukrop—members of the family that operated the Ukrop’s Food Group and upscale grocery chain in Richmond—“will combine inspiration and passion from the Richmond location with the culture and creativity of the new Charlottesville home for a unique and welcoming concept,” according to a press release.
Urban ring
Sunset Overlook
Corner of Sunset Avenue Extended and Old Lynchburg Road
Developer: Andrew Baldwin
Number of homes: 27 townhomes, 14 detached homes
Development status: Construction completed within the next two months.
Developer Andrew Baldwin says these homes will be available within the next 30 to 45 days, with prices ranging in the $200,000s for townhomes and mid-$300,000s and up for single family houses.
The development is one mile away from Interstate 64, two miles away from 5th Street Station and 3.5 miles from the Downtown Mall.
Oak Hill
1132 Sunset Ave. Extended
Developer: Stanley Martin
Number of homes: 49 single family homes approved (83 proposed)
Development status: Under construction.
Sunset Overlook’s neighbor is Oak Hill, another subdivision in the works on the sleepier side of town. Developer Stanley Martin did not respond to requests for more information.
Beacon on 5th
100 Dalton Ln.
Developer: Castle Development Partners
Number of homes: 207 apartments, two carriage-style apartments and 32 townhouses
Development status: Completed by September.
More than 100 dwellings are already leased at this complex, which has a deluxe gym and pool, a cyber café, and is situated close to 5th Street Station, UVA and downtown.
“The views are outstanding,” says representative Debbie Joiner. “Some are almost like tree house homes.”
Homes in the pet-friendly community range from $1,200 to $2,129 per month.
Hillsdale Drive Extended
Click to enlarge.
Like most public road projects around here, the Hillsdale Connector has been talked about for decades—since the late 1980s, as far as we can tell. That’s why it’s somewhat shocking to learn that a completion date—October 30—is in sight.
The finished Hillsdale Drive will join East Rio Road with Hydraulic Road at Whole Foods, and provide a parallel way to head north without having to venture onto Route 29.
The last, southern section of Hillsdale already wends behind Homewood Suites, circles a roundabout at Zan Road and has torn through the north wing of Seminole Square Shopping Center, where it took out 6,700 square feet of commercial real estate and about 60 parking spaces, according to Great Eastern Management’s David Mitchell.
Great Eastern, which owns the shopping center, is trying to get permission to build retaining walls behind the north wing to add employee parking and delivery access, as well as reorient “the look of the building and the flow,” says Mitchell.
“We’re going to build walkways and bike paths behind and around the shopping center,” he says. “We’re not just sitting there looking at our building cut in half.”
Besides the construction that’s hit Seminole Square since late last year, the center does have another gaping hole, figuratively speaking: the vacant store that once housed Giant and has been leased by Kroger, which heralded a 100,000-square-foot, $28 million store, its “largest west of Richmond,” in an August 2016 press release.
“The project is on hold,” says Kroger real estate manager Fenton Childers. “Kroger is re-evaluating multiple projects across Virginia.” He declined to elaborate on the reason for putting on the brakes.
With Kmart closing in July, another empty big box looms. That site has been leased by Coran Capshaw and Hunter Craig and is looking for high-end tenants.
“We are actively negotiating with multiple great tenants that could be part of the future of the property,” writes John Pritzlaff, vice president of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, in an email. “Plans have not been finalized as of yet, so we do not have any defined commencement date for construction.”
Seminole Square still has Marshalls, and Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery will be opening in the former Office Depot space.
“It’s a great location,” says Mitchell. And once Hillsdale is complete, he predicts more people will turn north at Whole Foods, opening new opportunities for commercial real estate.
Andrea Wieder, who uses the bus as her primary source of transportation, says it should be more of a priority for city officials. Eze Amos
Andrea Wieder relies on the bus.
Bus No. 4, which stops at the bottom of Highland Avenue, is the one the Fry’s Spring resident takes to Food Lion and CVS. For Harris Teeter’s Senior Discount Day every Thursday, she takes the same route, transfers to the No. 7 bus and checks out the offerings at Barracks Road Shopping Center. The free trolley shuttles her downtown, and she’ll also take that to the doctor at UVA if she doesn’t walk or ride the No. 10 bus line.
“Timing can be tricky, but that’s life,” Wieder says, and adds it doesn’t take long to memorize a route. Some concerns with the bus, however, are out of her control. “There are frequent delays on the buses. It seems not a problem of the buses or the bus drivers, but the fact that around this town, there is so much construction going on, you can hardly turn a corner without running into cranes and extra congestion.”
On a recent morning, Wieder invited Democratic City Council candidate Heather Hill to ride the No. 7 bus with her.
“I wanted her to sit on the bus with me, see who was on the bus with me and see where the buses go,” she says. “I wanted her to hear that the system seems to have very low priority within the city. I don’t understand that, since it’s a tremendous link and a resource for many, many people.”
On that day, the bus was so late Wieder called the Downtown Transit Station to inquire about the holdup. The person who answered the phone told her that construction equipment at the site across from C&O Restaurant—a slew of detached brownstones known as C&O Row—was causing a traffic jam.
“Why don’t they coordinate things like this?” Weider asks. “Why is it that every single bus in the city of Charlottesville—with the exception of [buses] 5 and 9—passes through the transit center on the same street at the same time?”
Wieder met Hill when the candidate was canvassing the city for her campaign. By the end of May, Hill will have knocked on about 2,300 doors and spoken with at least 1,600 individuals.
“While I am grateful for our public transportation infrastructure, there are clearly ways it can be improved, and I strongly feel evaluating the future state of this system needs to be done in partnership with the county and the university,” Hill says, adding that riding the bus with Weider reinforced some of the transit system’s hurdles that she had heard about from other residents. She notes that CAT has recently installed data collecting fareboxes, which will produce ridership and bus timeliness numbers.
The City Council hopeful likes data, and by surveying neighborhoods door-to-door, she has deduced the top five concerns of the residents with whom she interacted.
Overall, she says affordable housing is the No. 1 worry. Development, zoning and planning come next, with the viewpoint that current projects don’t address the community’s needs, erase green spaces and lack a long-term vision. The third concern was schools and education, followed by infrastructure and supporting multi-modal transportation. Voters are also worried about the allocation of the city’s resources.
“My time speaking with neighbors throughout the city has highlighted the extent to which we are united on many priorities,” Hill says. “It has also made me aware that the issues we hear about in public settings are not always reflective of the things that matter most to the broader community.”
Owner John Dewberry plans to turn the Landmark into a 5-star hotel.
Photo Matteus Frankovich/Skyclad AP
Eyesore optimism
The skeletal Landmark could morph into the deluxe Dewberry Hotel in 2018, the Daily Progress reports, but some details still need to be worked out. For instance, the city is offering 75 parking spaces in the Water Street Garage, despite litigation with management company Charlottesville Parking Center, which says there are no spaces to spare.
Take that, Charlottesville
Congressman Tom Garrett’s first bill is to designate the U.S. District Court on West Main as the “Justice Antonin G. Scalia Federal Building and United States Courthouse” in honor of the conservative jurist, who taught at UVA law from 1967 to 1974. In response, an online petition favors naming the building for someone who stood up for the rights of the African-American Vinegar Hill community on that site, which was razed for urban renewal.
Colonel Dana Rucinski, left, takes command of the spy center. photo courtesy NGIC
Change of command
Former National Ground Intelligence Center commander Colonel Ketti Davison passed her torch to Colonel Dana Rucinski—another female leader—at a February 16 ceremony at the spy center. The outgoing colonel warned her successor that it’s a challenging time to take over the brains of the U.S. Army: “Our enemies no longer fear us,” she said.
Gender pay lawsuit
Assistant Vice Provost Betsy Ackerson is suing UVA, claiming she was paid less than her male peers while doing more work, and that her bosses retaliated against her when she complained and when she needed medical leave and accommodation.
Lee statue solution?
Scottsville Weekly’s Bebe Williams suggests moving it to River City, where Van Clief Nature Area could be a home for all sorts of old or homeless sculptures.
Courtesy Scottsville Weekly
The high life
The first foundations have been poured for C&O Row, a deluxe brownstone-like development—actual building material will be brick—with 23 single-family homes on Water Street. Prices start at $869,000 and can top $1 million, depending on how customized you want to get. (While the cost of housing is a big issue in town—Coran Capshaw’s Riverbend Development contributed $100,000 to the city’s affordable housing fund for this project—apparently there are plenty of people who can pony up big bucks to be within walking distance of C&O the restaurant.) The 11 houses in the first phase have already been reserved, says Lindsay Milby with Loring Woodruff. The coal tower on the property is going to be spruced up as a private park for the enjoyment of residents.
3,200 to 3,600 square feet
Sub-Zero fridge and Wolf range come standard
Elevator to rooftop terrace optional
Two-car garages
Builders are Martin Horn and Evergreen Home Builders First homes available late summer-fall 2017
Richmond rundown
Gerrymandering survives Republicans in a House committee, including Delegate Steve Landes, voted February 17 to kill Senate redistricting reform bills for this session.
Challenges nonetheless State Democrats plan to contest 45 seats in the heavily GOP-controlled House of Delegates, including the 17 districts held by Republicans that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. All House seats are up for re-election this year.
Top vacancy House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, says after 29 years in office and 14 as speaker, he will not seek re-election.
VetoedGovernor Terry McAuliffe nixes Delegate Rob Bell’s Tebow bill that allows homeschooled kids to play in public school sports—again—as well as legislation allowing concealed carry of switchblades and one that expands handgun concealed carry for those who’ve been in the military.
Quote of the week
“We urge all forms of media to resist normalizing racist ideas that in any other age would be identified as precisely what they are: white nationalism.”—Pam Starsia, Showing Up for Racial Justice
