Tag: josh rogers

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In Brief: Members only, additional candidates emerge and more

Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer announced a run for City Council February 27. Staff photo

More candidates emerge

Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer announced a run for City Council February 27, and former Albemarle School Board chair Ned Gallaway wants the Democratic nomination for Albemarle’s Rio seat. BOS Chair Diantha McKeel seeks a second term representing the Jack Jouett District. And Angela Lynn again will challenge Weyers Cave Delegate Steve Landes for the 25th District seat.

Kitchen tragedy

Local chef Allie Redshaw was involved in a tragic accident the morning of March 1 when her right hand was caught in a meat grinder at Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria. She was rushed to the UVA Medical Center, where her hand was amputated at the wrist. At press time, more than $100,000 had been raised for her and her family via a GoFundMe campaign.

“America isn’t a democracy.”

—U.S. Representative Tom Garrett on Twitter responding to complaints about his March 31 town hall lottery.

With prejudice

A charge against James Justin Taylor for allegedly assaulting white heritage defender Jason Kessler was dismissed March 3 at the prosecution’s request because video footage did not support Kessler’s complaint. Kessler, who has filed a petition to remove Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy from City Council, faces an assault charge April 6.

Membership has its privileges

The Derek Sieg/Josh Rogers/Ben Pfinsgraff private social club targeting the creative community nearly collapsed—literally—when the former Mentor Lodge roof caved in a year ago. Common House is back on track and  plans to open this spring. For a $600 initiation fee and $150/month dues (couples get a price break), members have their own brass keys for a home away from home that includes coffee, cocktails and Chickapig.

The current size of the Main Street Arena is 20,211 square feet. The size of the tech incubator to be built in its place will be 100,000 square feet.
The current size of the Main Street Arena is 20,211 square feet. The size of the tech incubator to be built in its place will be 100,000 square feet. Staff photo

An icy farewell

The sale of Mark Brown’s Main Street Arena to Jaffray Woodriff’s Taliaferro Junction LLC, which plans to build a technology incubator with retail in its place, means big changes for the Downtown Mall—and to all the people who like to strap on ice skates. Skating will continue at the ice park through the fall, and then something will need to freeze fast or local hockey teams and figure skaters will be left on thin ice (the new owner says it’ll donate equipment to a business venture that wants to open an ice rink in a new location). Construction on the incubator is planned for spring 2018.

PROPERTY HISTORY

Built: 1996
Brown paid $3 million in 2010
Woodriff paid $5.7 million in 2017

What does 100K square feet look like?

SquareFootImages_SS-MikeIngalisforTheSabrecom_WH-DanielSchwen_KC-PublicDomain

As a comparison to the size of the incoming tech incubator, a football field is 57,600 square feet, the White House is 67,000 square feet, and the Kennedy Center is 180,000 square feet.

But wait, there’s more

Last week we wrote about 10 groups that have sprung up since the election, only to learn we omitted Progressive Democrats of America—Central Virginia Chapter.

Inspired by: The 2004 election results, with a mission to transform the Democratic Party. Local chapter formed after 2016 election.

Issues: Health care, climate change, SuperPACs, voter access and election integrity, social and economic justice

Strategy: Grassroots PAC operating inside the Democratic Party and outside in movements for peace and justice. Participates in letter drops to legislators, rallies and supporting democratic progressive candidates.

Event: Sponsored documentary GerryRIGGED, airing at 6:30pm March 22 on WCVE

Supporters: 36 at the group’s first public meeting January 4; 90 on e-mail list

Info: facebook.com/groups/198937913888031/

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Partial demolition underway on West Market

A partial demolition is underway at 206 W Market St. after a January 25 roof collapse. Staff photo

An owner of the two-story brick building on West Market Street says a partial demolition is currently underway after a January 25 roof collapse.

“It would’ve happened one way or another,” owner Josh Rogers says. He and his partners had plans to renovate the 206 W Market St. building for their proposed private club, called Common House. He doesn’t think the roof collapse will significantly interfere with the club’s construction because it was previously ahead of schedule.

“It accelerated our production schedule,” he says, though he hasn’t made any permanent plans for after the demolition.

The building’s roof also collapsed in 2010 when snow cracked one of the trusses supporting the rafters, according to the city’s building code official, Tom Elliott.

While Rogers says he was aware of the initial collapse, the back right corner truss that failed this time was not the one repaired six years ago. He and his partners are paying for the selective demolition, he says, which will require removing loose bricks and wood from the roof and second floor of the building.

According to the Neighborhood Development Services website, specific design criteria for Charlottesville requires buildings to be designed to withstand temperatures of 16 degrees with a ground snow load of 25 inches per square foot. According to principal planner Brian Haluska, that doesn’t translate exactly to number of inches of snowfall.

Rogers says the demolition could take between two and three days and the strip of West Market between Old Preston and 2nd Street NW is projected to stay closed during that time. City inspectors want to be sure engineers have confirmed that falling debris will not be a threat, he says.

Even though the damage is on the backside of the building, city spokesperson Miriam Dickler says, “We want to know the structure is stable and sound before the road opens,” adding that it could stay closed until Saturday.

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Streets closed due to roof collapse

The Charlottesville Fire Department sent officials from Neighborhood Development Services up in their truck's bucket lift to evaluate the possible roof collapse. Staff photo

Around 2pm Monday, the Charlottesville Fire Department responded to a call about a possible roof collapse at 206 W. Market St—the site of a proposed private club.

Battalion Chief Richard Jones says the department arrived, checked the power inside the building and sent officials from Neighborhood Development Services up in the fire truck’s bucket lift to view the top of the building and evaluate whether or not the roof will collapse.

NDS will take over from there, with the help of the building contractor, according to Jones. But to an excited young boy who stopped to see the fire truck in action, he didn’t mince words.

“We’re going to go up there on top of that building and make sure it doesn’t fall down,” he said.

Josh Rogers and his business partners talked to C-VILLE about the club, Common House, earlier this month.

“The roof is completely caved in now,” Rogers says, adding that he and his team are currently meeting to discuss possible remedies. His focus is to prevent any further damage and to make sure surrounding people and businesses are protected, but in light of things, he says, “We’re obviously going to move forward after this setback.”

Charlottesville police are currently directing traffic around what the city has called an “unstable structure” and have closed Market Street from Old Preston to First Street. Second Street is being closed from High Street to Water Street.

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Welcome to the club: Common House takes over former Mentor Lodge space

The space at 206 W. Market St., which was home to a former social club called Mentor Lodge, will now house Common House. Staff photo

The space for a 7,000-square-foot private club on West Market Street was purchased in 2013, and what plans call a “brick and mortar establishment” may be one step closer to becoming a reality.

A joint public hearing between Charlottesville City Council and the City Planning Commission was held Tuesday night after C-VILLE went to press, to discuss a special use permit for the space, which the city requires for private club-type dwellings. Beforehand, Brian Haluska, the principal planner with Neighborhood Development Services who was scheduled to present the report, said he didn’t think he’d see much public concern at the meeting.

Derek Sieg, Josh Rogers and Ben Pfinsgraff are the men behind the club at 206 W. Market St., called Common House in their application submitted to the city November 24. The application states it will be social in nature and “where individual members can meet to dine together or simply for personal connection sometimes lost in the days of online social media.”

Common House will go into the building that was constructed for Mentor Lodge in 1913, a social club intended for the then largely African-American neighborhood of Vinegar Hill, and for which the building provided “a venue for dances, political meetings and music for more than six decades,” the men cite in their application. The space has housed different businesses over the years, including Studio 206, a fitness studio.

Amenities planned for Common House include a banquet hall, lounge, tea room, library, bridge room, billiards room, bars, kitchen, office and rooftop terrace.

An introduction letter from the club to prospective members of both sexes describes a contemporary social club “built to meet the substantial and growing desire in our culture for true, meaningful connection with likeminded people.” There’s mention of bridge and chess leagues and all-day “well-crafted” food and drink, too.

Sieg says the club won’t be invite only, but he and his partners initially sent out fewer than 100 invitations.

“We’re trying to build a place that’s going to be very inclusive,” he says, adding that there will probably be a limit to the number of people who can join.

“We want it to be a place that’s lively,” Sieg says, “but one where you can count on getting a table when you go in.”

Membership to the club will also include special programming, such as a Common Knowledge Series, an ongoing series of seminars by local craftsmen ranging from home craft brewing to “whole hog butchery,” as noted in the application. The owners declined to disclose how much a membership will cost.

According to Planning Commission meeting minutes, city staff says the proposed private club would not be out of character for the downtown area and would complement nearby businesses, but they do have concerns about the potential for a new owner to change the club’s business model in the future. For that reason, staff imposed the condition that there should be no noise, vibration or odor beyond the confines of the building between 1 and 8am.

In a December 15 meeting, the Board of Architectural Review recommended approval of the special use permit in a 7-0 vote.