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News

Future fuel

Eye of the Tiger

When attorney David Sutton purchased a small Charlottesville oil supplier on the verge of going out of business in 1982, the company had just two trucks to its name—and one had dry-rotted tires. But over the past four decades, Tiger Fuel Company has grown to become one of the largest petroleum distributors in the state. In addition to selling fuel to businesses and homeowners in Virginia and neighboring states, the company runs nearly a dozen gas stations, convenience stores, and car washes across central Virginia.

Last year, the family-owned business made a surprising pivot: It acquired Charlottesville-based solar company Altenergy.

“I’d been wanting to do solar at some of our facilities for a really long time, and had some good friends in the industry who were advising me on that,” says Tiger Fuel President Gordon Sutton. “For years and years, they [said] you could do it just for the feel-good reasons, but it doesn’t make a ton of financial sense. But about three or four years ago, they let me know that had absolutely changed.”

In 2018, Tiger Fuel hired Altenergy to install solar panels at its Preston Avenue and Ruckersville stores. Because the two companies had worked well together, Sutton decided to pursue a partnership, creating the petroleum distributor’s newest branch, Tiger Solar.

Tiger Fuel is now working to bring solar power to the rest of its convenience stores and bulk plants, and will use it for all future real estate projects. It’s also installed electric vehicle charging stations at its Mill Creek store, and plans to add them to more locations.

By transitioning to solar power, the company ultimately aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2025.

“It’s no question that the fossil fuel landscape is changing,” says Sutton. “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”—Brielle Entzminger

‘What’s going on in there?’

Strolling along the Downtown Mall these days will lead you past the quaint restaurants and boutiques that have long been associated with the pedestrian drag. But in some corners, that small business entrepreneurial spirit has taken on a more cutting-edge sheen. Icarus sells custom-made knee braces from its sleek office space near the corner of First and East Main streets. Closer to the mall’s east end Skooma opened last year, promising a “boutique” dispensary experience as full marijuana legalization approaches. Its Apple Store-esque decor strikes an entirely different note than the head shops of yore.

Dave Johnson, founder of Icarus, holds one of the company’s knee braces outside his downtown office. Photo: Eze Amos

Meanwhile, though plenty of traditional office space still occupies the mall’s nooks and crannies, multiple companies have set up trendy co-working spaces, where individuals or small groups can purchase more flexible access to office space. In addition to hosting larger tenants, the CODE Building houses the Codebase co-working space, which could support as many as 200 workers. Vault Virginia, also downtown, rents conference rooms, suites, and a la carte access to individuals and companies alike. And Common House, on West Market Street, offers membership-based entry to its coffee-shop-vibe multipurpose rooms. The times they are a-changin’.—Ben Hitchcock

If you build it…

Charlottesville’s innovators have had an effect on the city’s skyline in recent years. As the area becomes more and more of a hub for entrepreneurship and the tech industry, all those new employees need workspace, and that’s led to major new developments geared toward office space.

WillowTree has been in to its facility in the old Woolen Mills warehouse since last year. The Charlottesville-based software development firm has worked on digital products for big companies like HBO and McDonald’s, and also put together UVA’s COVIDwise app last year. The corp is very much in the process of pitching Charlottesville as a destination for entrepreneurship: “The future of tech innovation? It’s not where you think,” reads WillowTree’s website, above a picture of its new Woolen Mills campus. Checkmate, Palo Alto.

Closer to downtown, Apex Clean Energy has recently moved in to new digs, too. Apex is a renewable energy company, which organizes and operates solar and wind farms across the country. It has projects close to home, as well: last year, then-Governor Ralph Northam announced that the state would buy the output from Virginia’s first onshore wind turbine farm, operated by Apex and located in Botetourt County. The company’s shiny eight-story Garrett Street office building is made of sustainably harvested massed timber, a construction method that limits carbon emissions. Apex says it’s the tallest timber building on the East Coast.

Then, of course, there’s the CODE Building, which now looms at the Downtown Mall’s west end. The state-of-the-art tech tower opened late last year. The building’s upper floors will be rented to large companies—Jaffray Woodriff’s Quantitative Investment Management has already claimed one, and local wealth management firm Investure has moved in to another. In total, the building could bring as many as 600 workers to the mall.—Ben Hitchcock

Mission driven

Charity Malia Dinko has always had a passion for helping people. After immigrating to the United States from Ghana in 2010, she started sending money back to her hometown village of Worikambo as soon as she landed her first jobs at Walmart and McDonald’s. Making minimum wage, Dinko began to feel like she was not making much of a difference, but soon had a shift in perspective.

Charity Malia Dinko has created opportunities for women in Ghana through her shea butter business. Photo: John Robinson

“One day I was driving to work, and at the stoplight there was a homeless man begging for money. I only had 25 cents in my car…but God just spoke to me and told me you should give that money to him because that money could add up,” says Dinko. “It got me thinking…whatever it is I can save up and send to my mom, it will help something. It’s better than nothing.”

After earning her associate’s degree, Dinko transferred to the University of Virginia in 2016. She created a micro-loans program to help people in Ghana start their own businesses, but faced challenges keeping it running. While taking classes for her minor in social entrepreneurship, Dinko realized she could start her own business, selling what millions of exploited Ghanian women were already making: shea butter. In 2018, Dinko officially launched Northshea, which pays women in Worikambo a living wage to produce shea butter. Since then, the company has lifted many out of poverty, as well as built a library in the village and sent school supplies to children there.

“The northern part of Ghana is one of the poorest areas…Many [women] don’t have jobs at all, and they’re migrating to the south and [most] end up being abused,” says Dinko. “What we’re doing here is allowing the people to stay home by creating jobs right there.”

In addition to selling raw shea butter from her facility in Ghana, Dinko uses the raw butter to make a variety of whipped body butters with essential oils. Northshea’s products are currently sold at Darling, Rebecca’s Natural Foods, and The Elderberry, as well as on the company’s website.

As her company grows, Dinko plans to improve the schools and health care in Worikambo. And soon, she hopes to get her shea butter on shelves in big-name stores, like Target—the bigger the business gets, the more she’ll be able to give back.—Brielle Entzminger

Categories
News

In brief: News news, cow mural draws ire, Common House’s new house

Stop spreading the news

Billionaire Warren Buffett has thrown in the towel on his newspaper empire. Last Wednesday, Buffett’s multi- national conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, announced it was selling all of its newspapers to Lee Enterprises Inc. for $140 million.

Lee will acquire BH Media Group, which owns more than 100 weekly publications and 30 daily newspapers—including The Daily Progress. The company has been managing BH’s papers since 2018.

Warren Buffett no longer owns the Daily Progress.

Last October, Progress staff formed a union, The Blue Ridge NewsGuild, in part because of concern about Lee’s history of layoffs, outsourcing, and pay cuts at the papers it manages. And now that Lee officially owns the Progress, the union has expressed greater concern about the future of the paper. 

In a statement on its website, the union says it found “some hope” when Lee executives emphasized “their mission to deliver high-quality local news, information, and advertising” during a recent conference call. “We look forward to hearing more about Lee’s strategies for ensuring the sustainability of the Progress and other newspapers around the country,” the union said.

Buffett’s announcement did not come as a surprise. Though he has long been a staunch supporter of the newspaper business (his first job was a newspaper delivery boy for The Washington Post), he’s expressed concern over the serious decline in newspaper advertising revenue over the past two decades, with internet giants like Google and Facebook sucking up most advertising sales.

Excluding The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, Buffet ultimately believes all newspapers are “going to disappear,” he told Yahoo Finance last April. 

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Quote of the Week

“We need to pay attention to the tech crunch that’s coming in Charlottesville. These high-paying jobs are going to bring people with high salaries, and they’re going to push people out of the city.”

­—Local resident and activist Tanesha Hudson, addressing City Council about the construction of the CODE building downtown

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In brief

Don’t have a cow

City Council voted 3-2 on Monday to approve a signage plan for the new Dairy Central development, including the installation of a mural on a wall facing 10th Street NW. The Board of Architectural Review approved the 61-foot-long design, an apparent homage to a cow statue that used to stand in front of the former Monticello Dairy building. Councilor Michael Payne and Mayor Nikuyah Walker voted against the plan, citing comments by residents of the historically black 10th and Page neighborhood nearby, who asked for a design that might better “represent the history of the neighborhood.”

 

Common themes

Charlottesville-based social club Common House has announced plans for a third location, this time in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A former YMCA will now house a podcast studio, bocce court, and steam room for members paying $1,800 per year, plus a $300 initiation fee. Fortune magazine reports that once-rugged Chattanooga, where one out of every 4.8 residents lives in poverty, is “transforming into a tech hub,” while local activists have organized to combat a “crisis of housing.” Sound familiar?

Too much smoke

The American Lung Association gave Virginia four Fs and a D in its annual State of Tobacco Control report, released this week. As youth vaping continues to spark panic around the country, the Old Dominion was chastised for feeble tobacco taxes and prevention programs, and weak smoke-free workplace laws. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Moving on

After five years on the job, Charlene Green is stepping down from her position as manager of the Office of Human Rights, and joining the Piedmont Housing Alliance, where she will serve as deputy director, reports The Daily Progress. Green first joined city staff in 2010, when she became program coordinator for the city’s Dialogue on Race, leading to the creation of OHR. She is now the eighth high-profile city official to call it quits since Tarron Richardson became city manager last May.

 

Categories
Living

Liquid gold: Local cidery and coffee roaster garner national awards

On Friday, January 17, Albemarle CiderWorks and Mudhouse Coffee Roasters scored top honors in the 2020 Good Food Awards in San Francisco. Among more than 2,000 entrants, the cidery and coffee producer were regional (South) winners in their respective categories—ACW for its Harrison cider, and Mudhouse for its Geisha Moras Negras roast. Bestowed annually by the creators of Slow Food Nations, the awards recognize “players in the food system who are driving towards tasty, authentic, and responsible food in order to humanize and reform our American food culture.”

Albemarle CiderWorks’ Harrison cider took top regional (South) honors at the annual Good Foods Awards in San Francisco. Photo: Courtesy Albemarle CiderWorks

As the name suggests, the ACW cider is made from the Harrison apple, an 18th-century variety that fell out of use and was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in the late 1970s. Years later, ACW’s Thomas Burford became the first contemporary orchardist to cultivate the yellow, black-speckled Harrison, and today it is widely grown and popular among cider makers (but too ugly for supermarket sales).

The story of Mudhouse’s award winner begins in 1960, when the Geisha coffee variety was introduced in Panama. Mudhouse sources its beans from a third-generation family farm there. Grown at an altitude of about 5,400 feet, the fruit is hand-picked by migrant laborers from the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous region, and it is quite precious. Eight ounces of Mudhouse’s Moras Negras will set you back $75. That’s more than most of us would be willing to pay. But at the 2006 Best of Panama event, an executive from Vermont’s Green Mountain Coffee remarked, “I am the least religious person here and when I tasted this coffee I saw the face of God in a cup.”

If you’re into that sort of thing, you can buy the stuff at mudhouse.com.

Speaking of awards…

Five local vineyards wowed the judges at the 2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, securing prestigious awards and doing the Monticello American Viticultural Area proud. Jefferson and Barboursville vineyards, Veritas Vineyard & Winery, and Trump Winery earned Double Gold designations for five wines, and newcomer Hark Vineyards was the only Best in Class winner from Virginia, singled out in the classic packaging category for its 2017 chardonnay label design. The Chronicle’s annual event is the largest in North America, drawing 6,700 entries from 1,000 wineries this year. Judges dole out Double Gold medals sparingly but found worthy recipients in the Jefferson Vineyards 2018 viognier, Barboursville’s 2018 vermentino, and Trump Winery’s 2016 meritage (a red blend consisting primarily of cabernet franc). Veritas nabbed two double-golds for cabernet franc bottlings, the 2017 reserve and 2017 standard in the $40-and-over and under-$30 categories, respectively.

This is nuts!

Sorry, fans of dairy alternatives like soy and almond milk, you may have to adapt to new terminology. A bill just cleared the Virginia House Agriculture Subcommittee defining milk as “the lacteal secretion, practically free of colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of a healthy hooved mammal.” The measure is intended to protect the commonwealth’s dairy industry from the surge in popularity of plant-based “milk” products. The legislation is moooving up the lawmaking food chain for further consideration.

Munch madness

C-VILLE’s Restaurant Week 2020 kicks off Friday, January 24, with 40 restaurants offering three-course meals for $29 or $39 (plus tax and a huge tip, please)—and presenting some tantalizing dishes. We’ve got our hungry little eyes on a few, including: Little Star’s seared rockfish with escarole, chipotle, manchego, and pimento fundito; Fleurie’s pan-roasted Polyface Farm chicken with braised cabbage and bacon; Kama’s grilled Virginia oysters with uni butter; 1799 at The Clifton’s rainbow trout with sweet potato, kale, and orange emulsion; Three Notch’d’s truffled mushroom ragout with potato gnocchi, vegetarian bordelaise, baked kale, and pecorino; and to top things off, Common House (aka Vinegar Hall)’s buttermilk panna cotta with persimmon jam. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, so eat up!

Bird is the word

Bowerbird Bakeshop, that is. The team behind the City Market stalwart recently announced a brick-and-mortar location at the Tenth Street Warehouses this spring. On Monday, co-owners Earl Vallery and Maria Niechwiadowicz surpassed their $5,555 GoFundMe target (by about $500) to defray part of the $70,000 start-up costs. Ten percent of all donations above the goal benefit City of Promise, the nonprofit working to empower underserved populations in Charlottesville.

Movin’ on up

It’s last call at Ace Biscuit & BBQ’s Henry Street location. The charming storefront next to Vitae Spirits will close on January 26 as the kings of carbo-loading move to bigger digs at 600 Concord Ave., just a couple of blocks away. No opening date at the new location has been announced.

Plus ça change

Less than a year after taking the helm at Gordonsville’s Rochambeau, Michelin-starred chef Bernard Guillot has returned to France, citing personal reasons. But the restaurant won’t miss a beat, as Jean-Louis and Karen Dumonet step in to fill the void in early February. The couple met long ago at cooking school in Paris and have been collaborating on restaurants all over the world for 35-plus years. Their latest project, Dumonet, was a popular French bistro in Brooklyn.

It’s mai-tai o’clock somewhere

Now that it’s actually cold outside, Brasserie Saison is hosting a Tropical Tiki Getaway so you can mind-trip to a warm, sandy beach. The intimate downstairs Coat Room will be decorated like a luau (we see a fake palm tree in our future) and paper-umbrella cocktails will be served. Wear your Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops. 6-10pm, Thursday, January 30. 111 E. Main St., Downtown Mall, 202-7027, brasseriesaison.net.

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Knife & Fork Magazines

Plenty good: Della Bennett wants you to enjoy eating—and she delivers

You grow up in Fluvanna County, graduate from the local high school, and you’re wondering, what am I going to do with my life? College is the next step—at least, it is for many people—so you attend Christopher Newport University, in Newport News. You study sociology and anthropology, and there’s one class, the anthropology of food, that you find really interesting. This is the first clue to your future: You enjoy learning about what people eat, how they produce and prepare it, the everyday rituals and customs of nutrition. In high school you worked in a couple of kitchens, including the one at Wild Wings Café. There might be a thread here but you don’t realize it yet.

Not up for cooking? Della Bennett of Plenty (plentycville.com) has what you’re hankering for: healthy, fresh, home cooking. She turned her experience as a private chef into a thriving business. Photo: John Robinson

You decide to leave college. You move to Charleston, South Carolina, living there for three years with a friend. In Charleston the food is amazing—so many good restaurants! But you feel the pull of home, and you’ve started dating someone in Charlottesville, so you move back, even though you’re still not sure what kind of work you want to do. You need to support yourself, so you take a nanny job you saw on Craigslist. You like the people you work for. They take you in, sort of like family. They have a personal chef but that doesn’t work out, so they ask if you would like to cook for them, too.

One thing leads to another, and you end up taking on a couple more nannying jobs. You also pick up more kitchen work, at Edible Arrangements. The food preparation there is like clockwork, precise, well-composed. Also, one of the families you nanny for has a beautiful kitchen, and you cook for them, too. On Tuesdays you go to Whole Foods, buy ingredients—healthy stuff, like whole grains and fresh veggies—and you cook in that kitchen all day. You make the same thing over and over again, a Mediterranean quinoa salad with a bunch of toppings. Someone else might find this monotonous, but not you. You’re learning knife skills, bulk preparation, and how to balance flavors, like the tangy lemon and rich acidity of the balsamic vinegar in the dressing.

While you’re helping this family to eat well, you decide you ought to do that, too. You discover the Whole30 program—it’s like paleo but even more strict. You eliminate certain things from your diet—sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, soy, dairy—and you begin to feel…different. Better. You get into a routine, preparing food for the whole week, placing portions in containers and stocking your refrigerator.

Now you’re feeling really, really good. Boom! It hits you. Before, you were Della Bennett, a nanny and a cook. You were looking after others. But now you’re Della Bennett, looking after yourself.

Business is personal

“I prepared all of my food in advance, and it was always waiting in the fridge for me,” Bennett says. “That changed the game—changed my entire life, actually. Not even just the food and stopping eating certain things, but just having meals there in the fridge. It sparked this feeling in me: I want this for everyone. I want people to feel nourished and taken care of, even if they don’t like to cook or don’t have the time. I want everybody to feel this way when they open the fridge.”

Today, Bennett, 33, owns and runs the personal chef service Plenty, preparing and delivering food to as many as 30 clients a week. Since launching the business in January 2017, she has reached a point where she needs a bigger kitchen, and two delivery vehicles aren’t quite cutting it, so she’ll have to get a third, and eventually a refrigerated truck.

Of the many things that helped her achieve this, four really stand out:

1.  Six months in the kitchen at Common House, working on the line for chef Antoine Brinson. From Brinson she learned that everyone in the kitchen is part of a single organism—they all work together, doing their own part, to create good food. Brinson also taught Bennett that as a cook, you have the opportunity to improve other people’s lives. “Working with chef Brinson was a great experience.” she says. “It propelled me and reassured me that I was going in the right direction, and that I had something positive to offer the community.”

2. Bennett’s partner, Kt Ehrlich, who is somewhat famous in Charlottesville food and art circles. Ehrlich gained a following as a bartender at Mono Loco and the Downtown Grille, and she’s now a glass artist, creating colorful, whimsical pieces as the owner/operator of Torchress Glass. She always has Bennett’s back, and helped her muster the confidence to start Plenty.

3. Instagram. Foodies love it, and it connects Bennett to clients and fellow cooks. “I really enjoy interacting with people there, and a lot of my clients follow me,” she says. “They send their requests and feedback, and tell me how they heard about me. I just really like that intimate interaction that I get. It’s the antithesis of having that jar of tomato sauce sitting on a shelf in the store, and you don’t get to interact with the maker.”

4. The families she nannied and cooked for upon arriving in Charlottesville—they got her started.

Here’s how the business works: Clients sign up on plentycville.com, and pay a one-time $50 fee to cover the serving dishes and an insulated bag. Bennett uses Pyrex and fills Mason jars with salads. On Wednesday, she emails the weekly menu to clients. It includes a quiche of the week, a couple of jarred salads, four entrées (chicken, beef, fish, and a vegetarian dish), and a dessert. “My menu is free of a lot of added sugars and preservatives,” she says. “It’s made from fresh vegetables and sustainably sourced meats. I’d like to move more in that direction, and do more farm-to-table cooking. I guess my meals are very veggie-friendly. There are some grains in there but no heavy pasta—I’m sure that’s what my clients are eating when they don’t order from me!”

The deadline to order is 9pm Friday—$50 minimum, and entrée offerings for two, four, or six people, with side dishes, ranging from $25 to $45.When all of the meals are ready, she parses them into individual orders, and then places them in the bags with ice packs. Monday morning she makes the rounds, delivering nourishment to people’s doorstep.

Bennett says she’s preparing to move into a bigger kitchen, a shared commercial space. She’s considering a couple of places, but she’s agreed not to mention them by name. Wherever she lands, we’re betting on her continued success.

Categories
Abode Magazines

Room to grow: Common House opens annex as business expands

Before it opened in 2017, Common House—the co-working, networking, meeting, dining, and events club on Market Street—sent membership invitations to 100 people, giving the impression that it would be an exclusive place. But not long after it launched, 500 people had joined. Today, with more than 1,000 members and plans to open locations in Richmond and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Common House has clearly become a thing, attracting coverage by national publications including Vogue and the Robb Report.

Common House co-founder Derek Sieg says Little House, the new space on West Market Street that will serve as CH’s administrative offices, is “an older place with some soul and character.” Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

Just as its popularity and membership have grown, so too has its management team. Co-founders Derek Sieg and Ben Pfinsgraff now count 12 people in various leadership roles, working to keep the Charlottesville location running smoothly and prep for the out-of-town chapters to come online.

Twelve people where there used to be three or four? The office at 206 W. Market St. was getting mighty crowded.

The solution comes in the form of a new space, called Little House, across the street from the mothership. Like Common House, the annex is an older structure, built circa 1910, and it’s got the same artsy, rustic, DIY, antique-furnished vibe.

“We wanted a space that fit with Common House,” Sieg says. “We were looking for an older place with some soul and character.”

What he and his partners found, bought, and refurbished is a stucco house with a porch and plenty of room inside for a conference room, shared office space, kitchen, and lounge-y living room.

As a bonus, Sieg discovered, Little House was once owned and occupied by the family of a current server—one of 50 employees—at Common House. “His grandfather was born and died in that house, and his mother lived there for years,” Sieg says. “It’s nice to have that personal connection.”

Little House has the lived-in feel of Common House, which is intentional and comfortable. The primary feature in the main room is a long conference table that Sieg himself built out of reclaimed barn lumber, with help from a Piedmont Virginia Community College carpentry instructor. “He has a shop out in the county and rents it out for $20 an hour and helps people with their projects,” Sieg says.

The table cuts a wide swath through conference room, which connects to the shared office and living room on the west side, and the kitchen and mudroom to the south.

Sieg says that while the building will mainly be used as Common House’s administrative offices, it has already been rented out by a local business for an off-site meeting and might eventually become an event space.

“We’re just glad that we found such a cool old building that meets our needs as we grow,” Sieg says.

Next stop, Richmond.

Categories
C-BIZ

The future of work: Shared spaces abound in C’ville

Throughout modern history, certain movements have changed how we work—the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the personal computer, and more recently, the arrival of social media. These transformations have also changed where we work (and even when we want to work).

Are you an anti-9-to-5-er who likes working for yourself? An entrepreneur who isn’t ready to commit to an office lease? Or maybe you’re a side hustler, freelancer, or teleworker who likes the flexibility of working wherever you want, but still craves connection and collaboration?

Then coworking has probably crossed your mind. And Charlottesville—as small of a city as it is—is replete with shared work environments and options to suit various work needs and styles.

Studio IX, co-founded in 2014 by Natalie and James Barton in a former textile factory on Second Street, was one of the first co-working spaces to hit the scene.

“In the modern digital renaissance, information technology has created new industries and new options for organizing ourselves,” James Barton says. Out were factories and corporate offices, he adds, and in were home offices and coffee shops. Then coworking spaces came along to fill in the gaps, “allowing people to share resources and, more importantly, experience connection as well as personal and professional growth through daily engagement with communities of peers.”

At Studio IX, you can grab a $30 day pass, or choose from a menu of four different memberships, including $800 to $1,500 monthly private office options. Workers gain access to such amenities as high-speed internet, soundproof booths for private calls, conference rooms available for booking, all the freshly roasted coffee you can guzzle, and a light-infused industrial work space.

Five years later, recognizing the trend was still on the rise, Barton founded his second coworking endeavor, Vault Virginia, in a former bank building on the Downtown Mall. At the multi-floor, 25,000 square foot Vault, day passes are $50, while on the high end, private office memberships run up to $700 to $2,500 per month, with various options in between.

“Studio IX and Vault Virginia are both focused on creating ideal work experiences for our members,” Barton says. “Beyond the essential furnished, open workspaces and private offices, there are shared kitchens, meeting rooms, multi-purposed gallery spaces, event spaces—and in development, functional ‘labs’ for various kinds of creative production.”

Barton says Studio IX and Vault Virginia members tend to be freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small teams, or those who work remotely for larger organizations.

While it doesn’t bill itself as a coworking space, Common House, a Downtown Mall social club and gathering space, is also a place where members can break out their laptops and work communally.

“Often freelancers and entrepreneurs [and so on] are working from home or hopping anonymously between coffee shops,” says Derek Sieg, Common House co-founder. “Membership to Common House compliments the freedom you get from a freelancing [or] self-employed job with a full slate of curated programming and social opportunities that can lead to a friendship or collaborator or some well-timed inspiration,” he says.

If you are looking for something a tad homey-er, The Farm House in the 10th and Page neighborhood offers co-working studio space to artists, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.

Next on the horizon: hedge fund CEO Jaffray Woodriff’s tech incubator, the Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, now under construction at the west end of the Downtown Mall. CODE will have co-working space on two floors of its multi-story structure. “It will have it’s own little sanctuary [and] it’s own entrance,” says Andrew Boninti, president of CSH Development, which is building CODE for Woodriff. But you’ll have to wait a bit longer to get in there—construction of CODE is estimated to be completed in spring 2021.

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C-BIZ Magazines Uncategorized

Cross-pollination: C’ville to RVA and back

Is love in the air? It appears so–at least between the cities of Richmond and Charlottesville, as witnessed by the number of businesses that have decided to open locations in both cities. Charlottesville, with its beautiful setting and college town vibe, has long made lists of best places to live and work. And in the past few years, Richmond has experienced a renaissance of sorts, with praise seemingly pouring in weekly for its long-underrated, still burgeoning arts, dining, and entrepreneurial scene. So it’s not surprising that a mutual admiration society has developed between the two cities.

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and Sugar Shack donuts, both born in the River City, added Charlottesville locations on West Main Street–Hardywood in February 2017 and Sugar Shack in June 2018 (bringing with it sister business Luther Burger not long after).

Also coming to Charlottesville in early 2020: Quirk Hotel, which first debuted in Richmond in 2015. Why are they interested in C’ville? “First and foremost, the numbers indicate that Charlottesville is a stronger hospitality market than Richmond,” says Quirk Hotel co-owner Ted Ukrop. “Second, UVA is a major and sustainable economic and cultural engine. Having said that, there are also plenty of innovative companies, organizations, and people that align with Quirk’s brand.” The proximity to Hooville–just an hour away–also made a second Quirk location appealing, Ukrop adds.

Meanwhile, Richmond has already experienced an influx of Charlottesville-based businesses, like Roots Natural Kitchen (opened July 2018 in the VCU area), Three Notch’d Brewing Company (opened in 2016 in Scott’s Addition as the RVA Collab House), and Citizen Burger Bar (also opened in 2016, in Carytown). The city’s developing reputation as a supportive, destination craft beer scene was a big draw for Hunter Smith, who founded Champion Brewing in Charlottesville and opened a Richmond location in January 2017 on Grace Street downtown.

“The two cities and their respective governments operate quite differently, which was informative from a business perspective, and has helped me to evaluate additional locations,” says Smith. “I appreciate [chef] Jason Alley from Pasture and Comfort for introducing me to the beautiful former bank space we’re now lucky enough to occupy.”

Up next? Starr Hill Brewery, which is opening Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition this summer. Also coming soon: Common House, the “contemporary social club” that opened in C’ville in 2017, will make the RVA’s Arts District its home sometime in 2019. You’ll be able to find the newest Common House at 305 W. Broad St., just steps away from the original Quirk Hotel.

“Richmond feels like it’s in the midst of a cultural revolution that we are anxious to participate in,” says Common House co-founder Derek Sieg. “The food is world-class, the art scene is electric, and the energy in the entrepreneur community rivals that of any city its size.” While Sieg says his team has been looking at other creative markets in the Southeast in anticipation of growth, the proximity to Charlottesville helped clinch the second location.

“We have a lot of Richmond-based members who use Common House as a landing spot when they’re in Charlottesville, and vice versa, so we see this cross-pollination firsthand and look forward to being a fruit of that pollination ourselves,” he says.

Categories
Living

Mudhouse to open third stand-alone location

By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare
eatdrink@c-ville.com

A third full-size Mudhouse will soon open on 10th Street NW, in the former Cville Classic Cars space. The local roastery and coffee shop’s new location will offer the usual Mudhouse coffee and atmosphere, plus an extended array of bakery items. Mudhouse co-owner Lynelle Lawrence is excited to add yet another java option to the already robust caffeine community in Charlottesville. For Lawrence, community is most important to the archetypal coffee shop environment where people can bring their laptops and business partners to a welcoming (and fragrant) place.

Lawrence plans to extend the community aspect of the new Mudhouse by making the brewing and roasting process more transparent.

“The thing about coffee is, we can’t grow it in our backyard,” says Lawrence. “This means we have to connect to other communities in Central America and Africa.”

There are plenty of quality coffee joints all over town, and Mudhouse’s new building of brew is intended to be accessible to a new group of people. “We want to serve that part of the community who knows about us, but can’t get to us as easily,” says Lawrence.

Smokehouse closed

According to a message posted to the restaurant’s website, The Local Smokehouse closed its doors at 816 Hinton Ave. in Belmont on March 30. Fans of Matthew Hart’s barbecue can still get it via The Local Catering.

Common vision

Matt Greene, the chef who consulted on Common House’s food and beverage program before the membership-driven social club at 206 W. Market St. opened last May, is back in the club’s kitchen as executive chef and culinary director. Greene, who worked at Marlow & Sons in New York, takes over for executive chef Antwon Brinson, who left to work with the City of Charlottesville to start a program teaching life skills through what can be learned in the kitchen (see our most recent issue of Knife & Fork magazine for more on that).

In advance of its first birthday, Common House has launched two new food initiatives that open the club’s ground floor to the public. One of those is Street Food Sundays, where local chefs cook street food-inspired menus served out of the social club’s chef’s counter on the ground floor Vinegar Hall room. Frank Paris of Heirloom at the Graduate Charlottesville hotel (and formerly of Miso Sweet) cooked ramen for the first Street Food Sunday last month. Ryan Collins is up next, on Sunday, April 15.

Collins, who previously cooked at Early Mountain Vineyards and some of José Andrés’ Washington, D.C., establishments, will offer a menu of Mexican-inspired cuisine similar to the food that will be served at Little Star, his forthcoming restaurant that will open sometime this year in the former Threepenny Café space at 420 W. Main St.

Proceeds from this week’s Street Food Sundays will benefit Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, which aims to create solutions for ending hunger and poverty around the world. Service starts at 4pm, and will go until they run out.

Also on April 15, Common House begins a community brunch series open to the public, each meal benefiting a different local community organization. The Virginia Institute of Autism is the beneficiary of the first brunch’s proceeds.

Winning whiskies

Virginia Distillery Co.’s whiskies continue to rack up the accolades. Its Cider Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky was named best of class in the certified blended spirits category at this year’s American Distilling Institute Judging of Craft Spirits, where craft spirits from small, independently owned distillers are tasted blind and evaluated by a panel of dozens of spirits experts. Additionally, the Lovingston-based distillery’s Port Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky was named America’s Best Blended Malt at Whisky Magazine’s 2018 World Whiskies Awards.

Dining royalty

The Castle, UVA’s former late-night snack bar nestled deep within the old dorms, is making a comeback (and getting a facelift in preparation) as part of the Bonnycastle dormitory remodeling project. Since the spot is primarily frequented by students (it’s literally attached to a dorm), student input directed the remodel. The most significant change to The Castle is that it will no longer serve any meat, pushing UVA’s food provider Aramark to figure out a customizable series of bowls, salads and sandwiches. Additionally, The Castle’s new seating arrangement is described as “mindful,” focusing on soft chairs and open spaces, surely a welcome upgrade from cafeteria tables and bean bags. The Castle is expected to open in time for classes in the fall.

Categories
Living

The best local bars for each drinking decade

By Pen + Knife bloggers
eatdrink@c-ville.com

For generations, authorities have buried the lede when warning us about alcohol killing brain cells. Omitted from the tired mantra is the truth that some of our deepest seeds of wisdom are sewn at watering holes and colored by booze. Bars are like classrooms, just more practical, and the life lessons enduring. No matter our demographic, we’re still learning in our 20s, 30s and 40s from a barstool perch. Thankfully, the local scene is abundant with venues for every age bracket. Let’s bar crawl through a few of our favorite decade-appropriate spots.         

Your 20s: Parallel 38

Get your first round at Parallel 38 on West Main Street—a reasonable distance from the Corner and college days (because you’re an #adult now), while still close enough for security blanket purposes. Your new booze cravings are thoughtful cocktails with carefully selected ingredients that your mom’s herb garden would approve of. The downstairs bar at Parallel is perfectly low-lit, has an intimate, sophisticated NYC vibe and is ideal for drinks with the gals or a first post-grad Bumble date. Chat up owner Justin Ross if he’s buzzing around for rich stories of his past life in Washington, D.C., training under internationally acclaimed restaurateur José Andres and the renovation work that went into the recently relocated P38 space. If temps are in your favor, head to the back porch for some open-air imbibing, Mediterranean small plates and to people-watch Amtrak passengers below.

“Um, a cranberry vodka?”: Stop that. You’re past cranberry vodka and ending your drink orders with question marks. Try instead the Akrotiri Heat (Espolòn blanco tequila, piri piri syrup cinnamon berry, hibiscus soda, citrus), a multi-layered cocktail we’ve come to crave, and a P38 staple.

Grape expectations: Wine it up here. Ross, a certified advanced level sommelier, has assembled one of the most extensive and unique by-the-glass wine lists in town, which will allow you to explore your emerging adult palate without breaking the bank.

Alternatives: The Whiskey Jar, Oakhart Social

Your 30s: The Alley Light

This is the decade when you should enrich your cocktail game with sophistication and nuance. Duck into The Alley Light, a clandestine speakeasy nestled in an alley off the Downtown Mall, designated only by a lantern over the door. Dig the mysterious vibe as you ascend stairs to the cozy dark space and behold a wonder wall of obscure spirits. Nervous? Don’t sweat it, because affable AF barman Micah LeMon has mastered the art of baptizing newcomers to the craft. (This cat literally wrote the book on it—The Imbible.) Trouble can’t find you here, so sit back and submit to the spellbinding white noise of booze and ice dancing in the shaker and know that whatever he’s pouring will spike your night with intrigue.

Prime time: Show up pre-dinner rush (5ish) to score a stool and charming conversation with LeMon—it’s basically a TedX talk on mixology.   

Nosh away: Some of the best food in town is right here, and LeMon excels with pairings. Our go-to is foie gras brûlée with The Doctor’s Orders.

Alternatives: Lost Saint, Brasserie Saison, Mas

Your 40s: C&O

By your 40s, if you’re doing it right, you know what you like and don’t bother much with trends. This lands you in the cozy confines of the C&O’s bistro bar. Down a set of creaky stairs, this rustic barnwood-paneled room has harbored sophisticated imbibers for 42 years with a soulful charm achieved through slow, honest evolution. Permeating the scene is a secret society vibe that grips you immediately as you settle in. Behind the stick, clad in dope vintage gear, you’ll find some of the most thoughtful, kind booze-slingers in the business, who will happily guide you through a treasure trove wall of spirit options or their spot-on list of house cocktail creations. We are partial to the Jota Jota, a jolting riff on a drink near and dear to us, the Boulevardier. Whatever your poison, raise that glass to the next 40—yours and theirs—alongside friendly ghosts of patrons past in this landmark watering hole.

Discovery zone: Barman Anthony Restivo curates an eclectic playlist you’ll want to poach from.

Sneaky legit: Hiding out on the late-night menu (after 10pm) is one of the best burgers around for only $6.

Alternatives: Tavola’s Cicchetti Bar, Common House, The Coat Room

Pen+Knife is a blog that celebrates the bounty of food, drink and life in Charlottesville.

Categories
News

In brief: Curated club, ‘miscreant lefties’ and more

Common sense

Things looked dire for Common House last year, when the roof of the previous social club that occupied 206 W. Market St., the 1913 Mentor Lodge, collapsed. But like the “movers and doers” Common House hopes will call the club their home away from home, founders Ben Pfinsgraff, Derek Sieg and Josh Rogers dusted off the crumbled bricks, cleaned them up and put them back into the walls. So far, 220 members have signed on before the club officially opens in May. If you want to be one of them, here’s some of what you have to look forward to.

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Social hall. Courtesy Common House

Defined benefits

  • Skeleton key lets members in a side door, where they’re greeted by the concierge
  • Imported San Fran chef for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between
  • Coffee curated by Mudhouse in a black-and-white Tea Room, with the exception of one lemon tree, fruits of which will be used in hand-crafted cocktails
  • Hand-chipped ice will cool those cocktails, we hear
  • Electronics are discouraged, but real-life social networking: yes!
  • Secret “but not too secret” panel located in Bridge Room to pass bartender a drink order
  • Acoustic miniconcerts in Bridge Room
  • An old-fashioned library with floor-to-ceiling book shelves
  • Common Knowledge interactive series teaches members the tricks of some trades (hog butchering, anyone?)
  • Rooftop terrace offers a bar with 360-degree views
  • Exclusive access to the Blue Ridge Swim Club on Saturdays
  • Initiation is $600 for singles/$1,000 per couple; monthly dues $150 per person/$225 per couple
  • Initiation waived for teachers and Big Brother Big Sister mentors, 20 percent discount on monthly dues

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Vinegar Hall can be rented. Courtesy Common House

Our video of the exclusive hard hat tour was our top tweet last week. See more photos and video on Twitter @cvillenews_desk


In brief

Traffic tragedy

Two 5- and 6-year-old cousins, Tori Green and Jaiden Bartee, were killed in Buckingham County March 30 as they ran in front of a tractor-trailer coming down a hill, while their school bus was approaching on the opposite side of the road. The truck driver slammed on his brakes, but couldn’t stop. Their funerals will be held at 1pm on April 8 at Buckingham County High School.

Money talks

For nearly a decade, UVA’s fundraising team has internally flagged applications from the kids of wealthy alumni and donors and, in some cases, assisted them through the admissions process, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. A school spokesperson said this practice is not unique to UVA.

DaShad "Sage" Smith. Photo: Virginia State PoliceSage Smith’s case reclassified

Charlottesville police now say the disappearance of the transgender teen, who was last seen in 2012, is a homicide.

Natural area biking

Despite objections from Albemarle County, where the Ragged Mountain Natural Area is located, City Council approved 3-2 new bike trails April 3, but current walking trails will remain pedestrian only.

“When I am governor, folks, over my dead body will any of these miscreant lefties remove a statue of Robert E. Lee.”
—Gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart outside the Tom Garrett town hall

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Corey Stewart. Photo Eze Amos

Uninvited

GOP guv candidate Corey Stewart, who has made Charlottesville’s Lee statue issue a cornerstone of his campaign [see above], did not hold an anti-illegal immigration rally April 1 at Dave’s Taverna in Harrisonburg after it was bombarded by calls from “George Soros-funded liberal activists known as Indivisible,” according to his campaign. New venue Wood Grill Buffet canceled a few hours later, and the rally was held at Court Square.

Beer drinker’s delight

The Nelson County Board of Supervisors approved on March 29 a $10.5 million expansion at Devils Backbone Brewing Company that will include the construction of a 250-person event hall, a 25-unit lodge, 10 cabins and a campground with 50 RV sites and 26 tent sites, according to the Nelson County Times. Brewery owners agreed to limit their operation’s major events to four per year, with none on Memorial Day or Labor Day weekends.