The Downtown Mall will be Bank of America-less, but will have another steakhouse.
Staff photo
When Bank of America closes its branch doors downtown in February, it leaves a grand 1916 building in its wake that will house a steakhouse, according to building owner Hunter Craig.
And while he declined to identify the grilled meat purveyor, he did say it would be locally owned, not a national chain.
Also inhabiting 300 E. Main St., which began as Peoples Bank and during its 100-year history has morphed into Virginia National Bank, Sovran Bank and NationsBank before Bank of America, will be… another bank.
“Not Virginia National Bank,” specified Craig, who sits on the VNB board of directors.
Other as-yet-undisclosed tenants will lease office space in the building.
Main Street Arena has sold for $5.7 million, but ice skating fans still have time to lace up their skates. Staff photo
Even before Mark Brown listed the Main Street Arena for sale for $6.5 million in September, the rumor mill was working overtime about possible buyers for the prime Downtown Mall location, including speculation back in the spring that a Japanese developer wanted to turn it into a hotel.
The current buzz? That Jaffray Woodriff, founder of Quantitative Investment Management, which manages a $3 billion hedge fund, is going to buy the arena and turn it into a tech incubator hub. Another part of the chatter is that the ice park will move to a less pricey neighborhood, such as the Albemarle urban ring.
A call to Woodriff was routed to attorney Valerie Long, who declined to comment.
“Nothing is settled yet,” says Brown. “A number of people are looking at it.”
In 2010, Brown bought the ice rink that Lee Danielson and Colin Rolph built in 1996 and which is credited with helping to turn the Downtown Mall into the success story it is today.
The ice park itself, however, was a major financial drain. When team Danielson and Rolph split up, it was sold to Roberta Williamson and Bruce Williamson, who bought it for $3.1 million in 2003. They sold it to Brown for $3 million seven years later.
Brown’s strategy was to melt the ice for part of the year and use the 17,000-square-foot-rink for other purposes, while saving on electricity and water bills.
Roger Voisinet is an investor in the 230 W. Main St. facility, and he points out that the property is for sale, not the business. Six or seven locals, two who have children who play hockey, joined majority owner Brown to keep it from becoming a boarded up shell like the Landmark Hotel.
“We had a 10-year note,” says Voisinet, and the group had to invest an additional $1 million to keep the Main Street Arena open, he says.
Since the buy, Brown’s enchantment with owning property downtown has dissipated, fueled largely by his legal battles over the Water Street Parking Garage, which he co-owns with the city.
So when will the fate of the ice park be revealed? Says Brown, “When the for sale sign comes down.
Recovered and reconstructed Virginia slave dwellings are featured on the Downtown Mall as part of an installation by Encyclopedia Virginia.
Throughout the month of September, an audio-visual exhibition called “Landscapes of Slavery and Segregation” provides historical context to Charlottesville in three different locations: the Downtown Mall, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center and UVA Grounds.
Curated by Encyclopedia Virginia, a branch of The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, each site is paired with multimedia components of text, images and audio (accessible at http://landscapes360.oncell.com/) that inform the viewer about the local history of slavery and segregation and encourage critical thinking about our treatment of the past and how it is presented currently.
Emma Lewis (pictured as a child) is a team lead at UVA Medical Center and former resident of Vinegar Hill neighborhood. Image: Gundars Osvalds
On the Downtown Mall across from the free speech wall, large photographs showcase recovered and reconstructed Virginia slave dwellings, with audio information about how these structures are preserved. At the Jefferson School, an exhibit of vintage photographs from 1963 taken in the historic African-American neighborhood of Vinegar Hill provides insight into residents’ lives there before the area was razed and redeveloped following a city vote in which a poll tax prevented many of the residents from voting. And on UVA Grounds, a walking tour includes audio information about the role of slaves who lived and worked at the university, based on ongoing historical research by UVA’s President’s Commission on Slavery and the university.
The exhibition is part of Human/Ties, the 50th anniversary celebration of the National Endowment for the Humanities that will take place in Charlottesville from September 14-17 and includes other events that examine our local history.
Tony LaBua, who owns Chaps Ice Cream on the Downtown Mall, says further restrictions should be imposed on street vendors to help level the playing field. Photo by Eze Amos
In a progressive town like Charlottesville, the owner of a 31-year-old business on the Downtown Mall says it’s time that equivalent rules and regulations are imposed on downtown storefronts and street vendors alike. His request comes in the form of a petition.
“We’re a fast city, man,” says Tony LaBua, the owner of Chaps Ice Cream. “Let’s make it fair.”
While it varies widely, depending on the building and its use, downtown brick-and-mortar business owners can expect to pay between $18 and $22 per square foot a year in rent, along with fees for electricity, water, sewer and other accommodations, according to Chris Engel, the city’s director of economic development.
That adds up to quite a bit more than the $250 per quarter that most street vendors are required to pay, says LaBua. An extra, say, $200 per month from the vendors, might level out the playing field, he suggests.
Even though he says he “love[s] having vendors on the mall,” the “one-man band,” LaBua, plans to start knocking on Downtown Mall doors in the coming weeks to gather signatures for his petition, which says vendor fees should be increased. He has already gathered a few from people walking by his restaurant.
LaBua will then present the petition to City Council, under the guidance of Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville Co-Chair George Benford, who says his organization is not taking a stance on the matter.
Hearing of the petition for the first time, several downtown vendors refused to comment, but mentioned that business has declined over the years and tighter restrictions on their operations have already been imposed.
“I couldn’t afford to do this if I had to pay more,” says Nym Pedersen, who sells original artwork in a shared assigned space in front of the fountain on the Downtown Mall.
While there are currently 17 assigned locations for vendors paying $250 per quarter, only 11 are actively rented, according to Engel. And 19 unassigned locations are filled by 10 nonprofit organizations, which pay $25 per year, and nine other vendors who pay $50 less per quarter than those who set up shop in an assigned location.
The city’s Commissioner of Revenue’s Office collects a $125 peddler’s license from vendors and says they should be collecting and remitting sales and use tax to the state, just like storefronts. The two food vendors, who declined to comment, must also pay the same monthly meals tax—5 percent of gross receipts—to the commissioner.
“For a lot of the vendors, this is their livelihood,” says Pedersen.
While Pedersen has largely sold his art on the weekends for the past three years, those walking down the mall on any given day will notice a scad of vendors offering colorful scarves, knit hats, sunglasses, jewelry and incense from morning until night.
Vendors don’t pay for amenities like water or electric because they don’t have the luxury of using their own restrooms—or even setting up in a dry space when the weather is bad, Pedersen says. Because the mall already caters to “big businesses that can stomach a lot of fees,” like chains such as CVS and Kilwins, Pedersen adds that Charlottesville is gradually losing its small-town feel.
“My own personal mission is to promote my work and to sell art that is affordable,” he says. “We provide a lot of flavor to the mall.”
The fire started at Ike's Underground and black smoke spread to the surrounding businesses.
Staff photo
It was nearing lunchtime on the Downtown Mall when smoke began pouring out of the building that houses Ike’s Underground Vintage Clothing and Strange Cargo, Miso Sweet and Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar.
Next door at OpenQ, CEO Otavio Freire was in his office, which “filled up very quickly with smoke,” he says. “The smoke was coming in through the brick wall.”
The Charlottesville Fire Department received a call around 11:45am to 414 E. Main St., says Captain Joe Phillips. “A crew arrived to find a basement fire” that was quickly put out, he says.
Even after eight fire trucks and vehicles pulled onto the mall, black smoke was seen coming out of Twisted Branch’s second-floor windows.
Everyone in those buildings and in buildings on the south side of the 400 block of the mall was evacuated, and no one was injured, says Phillips.
The cause is under investigation, but firefighters were overheard saying an electrical fire started in the basement at Ike’s.
The building was the scene of a small fire in 2006 shortly after Eppie’s opened in the space where Miso Sweet is now located. “We were doing our own laundry to save money, and some clean rags—in a laundry bag, but still hot from the dryer—spontaneously combusted,” says Eppie’s owner Dan Epstein.
“We were lucky,” he says, because the bag was dropped at the front door on a Sunday and put out within about 10 minutes. If it had been anywhere else in the building, it would have been a different story, he says.
—with additional reporting by Jessica Luck and Melissa Angell
Our annual look at Charlottesville's movers and shakers.
Discussions for this year’s list of the most powerful in Charlottesville turned not toward one particular person but an entity that truly affects Charlottesvillians’ daily lives—the Virginia Department of Transportation. Don’t worry, you’ll still see some familiar faces (last year’s power-topper Mark Brown remains embroiled in a battle with the city over the Water Street Parking Garage), as well as newcomers, such as craft beer giant Devils Backbone and Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy. And don’t forget impactful changes, such as the Landmark Hotel finally being transformed into a thing of beauty—hey, one has the power to dream, right?
The LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph takes place June 13-19 at various city locations, and includes free community events, exhibitions and outdoor projections, talks by professional photographers and opportunities for aspiring photographers to share their work not only with each other but with the pros as well. We highlight some of this year’s featured photographers, followed by a Q&A about photos on display in their homes, joyful and harrowing experiences capturing images and what they’ve shot recently. C-VILLE Weekly writer Sarah Lawson chats with LOOK3’s director about a slate of free community events, such as a print share, a panel discussion on emerging photographers, a pop-up book fair and Family Photo Day.And don’t miss the winners of our photo contest! This year we received approximately 200 entries showing slices of life in Charlottesville and the surrounding area.
Philippe Garrel’s In the Shadow of Women,the Virginia Film Festival’s third installment of its year-round series, portrays work, home and love lives colliding. The veteran French new wave film director uses stark black-and-white cinematography to contrast a male versus female perspective on the dissolution of a marriage wrecked by mutual infidelity. Exploring the gray areas, Garrel eeks out nuances of emotional devastation in his main characters while remaining unbiased.
Tuesday 5/24. VFF at Violet Crown Cinema, 200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 529-3000.
Between the Corner and downtown Charlottesville, five hotel projects are in the works—and that doesn’t include the recently opened Residence Inn on the corner of West Main Street and Ridge-McIntire Road, nor Graduate Charlottesville, which opened last year.
City and tourism officials say this hotel-building frenzy is an economic windfall for the area and provides much-needed supply. Despite that, some are skeptical the area can support so many hotels, particularly during the week, and they are concerned the local landscape will be haunted by more skeletal projects like the still-incomplete Landmark.
“In general, I think that’s too many to succeed in a part of town already chock-a-block with hotels,” says close-to-downtown resident Antoinette Roades, citing the Omni, Hampton Inn, Courtyard Marriott and Graduate.
“We’re very happy about the additional inventory coming into the market,” says Bri Warner, director of marketing and sales at the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau. “During certain times of the year, it’s impossible to provide proposals to clients looking for a block of rooms.”
Thanks to the Charlottesville area becoming a wedding destination, during the prime marrying months of May or October couples can find themselves out of luck and looking at having to stay in Waynesboro, Staunton or Richmond. “We want them to be able to stay in Charlottesville,” says Warner.
But it’s not just the wedding biz that’s filling Charlottesville and Albemarle’s 3,700 rooms. The University of Virginia is a major driver with education, sports and medical visitors. “We’ve got a lot of niche markets,” says visitors bureau Executive Director Kurt Burkhart.
Add in conferences—despite the area’s lack of a convention center—corporate and leisure travel, and the area boasts an astounding 70 to 71 percent occupancy rate, says Burkhart.
Compare that with the statewide average of 47 percent occupancy and $85 a night. Here in 2016, even during the traditionally slow first quarter, upscale hotels between Boars Head and downtown were 65 percent occupied with an average nightly rate of $145, according to STR Global, which tracks the hotel industry.
Tourism spending brings in an eye-popping half-billion dollars a year, reports the Virginia Tourism Corporation for 2014. And that’s just Charlottesville and Albemarle. The industry supports 5,400 jobs in the area and a $105 million payroll.
“All numbers point to a healthy economy,” says Burkhart. “We’ve been on an upward trajectory, and 2015 was better than 2014.”
Photo: Carr City Centers, Matteus Frankovich, Southern Development
The nice thing about visitors is that they leave their money, pay the lodging tax and go home, say those in the business. “Tourism is clean,” says Burkhart. “You don’t have to build schools. Local residents become the beneficiaries of tourism.”
Some have knocked hospitality jobs for being lower paid, but Hollie Lee, chief of workforce development strategies in the city’s economic development office, says hotel jobs are not in the same category as fast-food employment.
“We’re seeing competitive rates,” she says. For instance, while housekeeping may normally be an $8-an-hour job, she’s seeing them in the $9-, $10- and $11-an-hour range.
“I think that’s pretty reasonable for someone who doesn’t have a lot of education and skills,” she says. For someone with a GED, “You can start at a lower level, get on-the-job training and move up,” which is the path some hotel general managers have taken, she says. The industry offers a lot of cross-training, which “makes you more valuable,” she says.
In the past two years, three new area hotels each have hired between 40 and 60 employees, says Lee.
But not everyone is buying into the boosterism of the hospitality industry. City Councilor Bob Fenwick is concerned about how quickly hotel projects are lining up in the downtown area and worries they could cause the 70 percent occupancy rate to plummet.
He cites the example of an Elton John concert that packed the town, and hotel rooms couldn’t be found. “That situation was publicized as an indication we need more hotel rooms—as if we have an Elton John concert or other big name every week,” says Fenwick.
Once the new projects come on board, he fears oversupply and downtown becoming a “hotel alley,” with the Landmark as a grim reminder of what happens when financing dries up.
For Charlottesville’s director of economic development, the current building boom is part of a cycle. “Eight years ago, no one was building anything,” says Chris Engel. And while the current cycle will slow, “I think we’ll see older properties improve or convert, like the old Quality Inn that’s now the Country Inn and Suites.”
One reason for the downtown area boom: Visitors want to be within walking distance of the Downtown Mall. That’s what Vik Patel with Baywood Hotels, a development company out of Greenbelt, Maryland, that is working on two of the hotel projects, discovered in his company’s research.
Another trend with several of the new hostelries like the Residence Inn is to skip including restaurants because of the abundance of dining options downtown.
Here’s who’s not freaked out by the new hotels—and competition: the Omni, which a couple of sources say boasts a 91 percent occupancy rate. Sales and Marketing Director Jennifer Mayo would not confirm that number, allowing only that the west-end-of-the-mall hotel’s occupancy was “very high.”
Says Mayo, “Worried is not in our vocabulary.”
The projects
Autograph Hotel
1106 W. Main St.
Developer: Carr City Centers, Washington, D.C.
Number of rooms: 150
Development status: Okayed by Board of Architectural Review March 25; groundbreaking by early summer.
Carr owns the Willard Hotel in Washington, and recently closed on the former Studio Art Shop property for $4 million, says its former owner John Bartelt. The Autograph will have a “signature restaurant” on the ground floor, 2.5 levels of parking, hidden by “an attractive architectural” screen, fourth floor meeting rooms and guest rooms above that in a 101-foot, 10-story tower, says Mike Wilson, Carr senior VP. “We want to provide a gateway between the university and downtown,” he says, one that is a luxurious, upscale boutique.
For years, Bartelt refused to sell his property at 11th Street to UVA for fear West Main would be pedestrian unfriendly, with deserted office buildings after 5pm. “Having a hotel there is better than what it could have been,” he says.
Home2 Suites by Hilton
201 Monticello Ave.
Developer: Baywood Hotels, Greenbelt, Maryland
Number of rooms: 113 rooms, four stories
Development status: Site plan under review; groundbreaking later this year.
Baywood is a development company that does only hotels, says senior VP Vik Patel, and the Coran Capshaw-owned former Portico Church location’s “proximity to the Downtown Mall attracted us to this site,” he says. Home2 Suites by Hilton are extended-stay hotels with a “boutique-y feel,” says Patel. While this one will have a fitness center and indoor pool, it won’t have a restaurant or a bar. And it will compete with Residence Inn for corporate clients, those in town because of UVA Medical Center and wedding parties. “I think we’ll be a great addition to that street corner,” he says.
Glass Building site
Garrett and Fourth streets
Owner: Oliver Kuttner
Number of rooms: 120-150
Development status: Kuttner expects site plan approval by August; city planner Brian Haluska said it could be months if not years.
Oliver Kuttner wants to put a hotel on top of a parking deck on his Garrett Street property. Photo: Elli Williams
Kuttner is one of the most visionary builders around, with projects like the Tree House on the Glass Building site, but his innovations often are not embraced by the city, which gave his plan to put micro apartments in an affordable housing-strapped town a cold reception. He’s in talks with Baywood Hotels, and Patel confirms that, but says it’s premature to comment further. Kuttner says he can do by-right development, and envisions a 350-space parking structure with a hotel on top, along with an office and residential component on the site that’s “essentially two city blocks,” he says. “The demand for hotels is there for downtown.” So is the demand for parking with the Water Street Garage at capacity. “A hotel with parking that’s open to the public during the day has its advantages,” says Kuttner.
Fairfield Inn & Suites
Ridge Street and Cherry Avenue
Developer: Southern Development
Number of rooms: 100-plus
Development status: City approvals complete; groundbreaking this summer.
Of all the current hotel projects, none has been more actively opposed than this one. Southern Development’s Charlie Armstrong has worked on the William Taylor Plaza for more than a decade. Neighbors resisted the planned unit development on the corner of the historic African-American neighborhood amid concerns a 19th-century cemetery is on the site, and submitted a petition with more than 500 signatures objecting to the Fairfield Inn last summer. Now that approvals are in place, Armstrong is selling the corner to Marriott, which owns the Fairfield chain, and he is getting ready to work on the commercial and residential phase 2 of the plaza.
The Dewberry
201 E. Water St.
Developer: John Dewberry
Number of rooms: Approximately 100
Development status: Depends on when the Dewberry Charleston is completed.
Atlanta’s John Dewberry bought the Landmark in 2012. Four years later, he may be getting around to putting a hotel there. Photo: Courtesy subject
If the Fairfield is the most controversial hotel project, the skeletal structure of the Landmark Hotel looming over the Downtown Mall for more than seven years is the most ridiculed. The glowing collaboration between CNET founder Halsey Minor and Ice Park/Regal Cinema developer Lee Danielson to build a nine-story luxury hotel in 2008 quickly deteriorated and construction stopped in January 2009. Dewberry picked up the blighted property in 2012 and said he’d start on it as soon as he finished his hotel in Charleston. Four years later, in January, City Council approved a resolution to take action that included getting an appraisal in the event of public acquisition through condemnation. Camp Dewberry is upbeat that won’t happen because the Charleston hotel finally is supposed to open in mid-June. “We’re excited,” says Dewberry representative Eliza Heyward. “We met with the mayor and city officials. We’re getting the ball rolling.” One other problem facing the project and possibly its financing is that the downtown hotel no longer has access to parking in the Water Street Garage. “I’m sure it’s something John is working on,” says Heyward.
Recently opened
Residence Inn
315 W. Main St.
Number of rooms: 124 suites
The Marriott property opened its doors March 28, and in its first month has had a 65 percent occupancy, compared to the usual 30 percent for new hotels, says Regina Dodd, director of sales. The $189-and-up rooms are all suites, including studios (around $349 on weekends), one and two bedrooms, all with kitchens that cater toward the extended-stay visitor. “There’s not another hotel in the city like this one,” says Dodd. Unlike most Residence Inns, this one has a bar, along with a fitness center, pool and three meeting rooms. Dodd is not worried about midweek occupancy because of UVA academic and medical visitors, corporate and government travelers, new technology companies and vineyard and wedding tourism. Even with the competition targeting the Residence Inn, she sees demand “continuing to grow.”
The Townsman
211 W. Main St.
Number of rooms: 4
The Townsman is not your typical hotel, says manager Jeremy Fields, and he describes it as a hybrid. “People want to live like a local when they come to town and get out of the hotel,” he says. With Mudhouse next door and lots of restaurants nearby, visitors can walk to everything they need. The hotel is ideal for groups that want to book all four rooms, but individual rooms are available, too. Guests reserve on the website, receive an e-mail with a personal access code, arrive in town and head directly to their deluxe, Kenny Ball-designed rooms with no interactions with staff, he says. The Townsman had a soft, word-of-mouth opening in April. Fields says its rates will be competitive and in the $150-$170 range during the week.
Graduate Charlottesville
1309 W. Main St.
Number of rooms: 134
When Graduate Charlottesville opened last year on the site of the Red Roof Inn, it didn’t really add to the hotel inventory. And with its primo location on the Corner across from UVA, some of the weekend rates for the end of May and early June are in the $389-$399 range, according to its website. “At the end of the day, the increase in upscale hotels in Charlottesville is positive progress because it means tourism is up and people are looking for much more of an experiential stay,” says Graduate GM Yolunda Harrell. “I think that’s where Graduate Charlottesville shines.” For locals seeking to soak in the ambience once the students clear out, check out its rooftop restaurant and bar, which are scheduled to open mid-June.
City Councilor Bob Fenwick is concerned about how quickly hotel projects are lining up in the downtown area and he worries they could cause the 70 percent occupancy rate to plummet. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto
Correction: The original story and map misplaced Oliver Kuttner’s planned hotel, which would be on the corner of Garrett and Fourth streets.
The Downtown Mall will be Bank of America-less, but will have another steakhouse.
Staff photo
Bank of America is closing its location on the Downtown Mall February 17, branch customers learned by letter April 20. “What, we’re closing?” a teller there asked this morning when she heard a colleague inform a customer on the phone.
Built in 1916, the structure was originally Peoples National Bank and has housed Virginia National Bank, Sovran Bank and NationsBank before Bank of America became the latest occupant, according to Margaret O’Bryant at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.
Hunter Craig’s East Main Investments LLC bought the building at 300 E. Main St. in 2008 for $6,975,000, according to city property records. Craig did not immediately return a call from C-VILLE, nor did his attorney, Steve Blaine.
“Banking has changed,” says Tim Hulbert, executive director of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. “People are doing most or all of their transactions electronically and rarely go into a bank.” Bank of America still will have nine branches in the area. “From the bank’s perspective, it’s efficiency,” he says.
“We’re looking for ways to consolidate,” says Bank of America spokesman Matthew Daily. He points out that there’s another branch about a mile away on Long Street, and one about 2 miles away at Barracks Road.
And while the bank does not disclose how many employees it has, it will try to find them other opportunities nearby, says Daily.
The big question is what will happen to the building, which is more than 22,000 square feet, according to city property records, and its soaring, two-story lobby.
Back in 1916, lobbies were grander. Staff photo
“It’ll open up space downtown,” says Hulbert. “It’s a pretty dramatic space. I suspect some smart entrepreneur will see the opportunity and seize it.”
As for BofA customers wondering about where they’ll pick up cash downtown, a bank employee who was not authorized to speak to the press said the bank is looking for space for a couple of ATMs.
Updated 3:54pm with comments from Bank of America, and with corrected square footage numbers from city property records for 300 E. Main St.
