We're approaching the 10th anniversary of when construction ceased on the Landmark Hotel in January 2009.
Photo by Ashley Twiggs
Here’s what readers asked for:
Landmark Hotel…I would like to see someone address each City Council meeting with the question, “What have you done this week to move this project forward?”—Ida Simmons
Ah, the Dewberry Hotel. Somehow we knew there’d be inquiring minds, and while there’s not much new to report, we can tell you where it stands now.
This winter, we’re approaching the 10th anniversary of when construction ceased on the Landmark Hotel.
The last time we wrote about its Downtown Mall skeleton, we said the Board of Architectural Review had approved more height in March—for a total of 117-and-a-half feet, with an additional 16-foot rooftop structure —for Waynesboro-born and Atlanta-based developer John Dewberry, who bought the derelict Landmark in 2012 and promised to put it out of its misery. It has obviously taken longer than he (and the city) imagined.
City spokesperson Brian Wheeler had no updates to offer. Dewberry, who dodged multiple calls during our last report, again did not respond to an interview request.
The developer had originally said he’d start building the Charlottesville hotel after finishing one in Charleston, South Carolina. But that happened in the summer of 2016, and we still haven’t seen any progress. Dewberry, dubbed “Atlanta’s emperor of empty lots,” by Bloomberg Businessweek, also holds an extremely valuable piece of land in Atlanta.
But if you ask the multitudes—presumably locals—who have left gag Google reviews for the uninhabited hotel, the place clearly has its quirks.
“Located in the heart of the historic Downtown mall, the Dewberry Charlottesville offers a unique opportunity for the adventurous traveler,” writes reviewer Lindsey Fogle. “You can experience the fine cuisine, art, and shopping of this celebrated area while also getting that once-in-a-lifetime feel of falling nails. The attention to detail cannot be overstated, from the beautiful patina of rusted steel to the incredibly lifelike rodents scurrying through dilapidated plywood. My only advice to management is to offer complimentary tetanus shots in lieu of a pillow.”
Adds Fogle, “This fine establishment stands alone among Charlottesville’s amenities, and likely always will. It’s truly the crown jewel of the Dewberry line of hotels.”
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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The Autograph Hotel
1106 W. Main St.
Developer: Carr City Centers
Number of rooms: 150
Development status: Completed in fourth quarter of 2017.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
John Dewberry told City Council
Charlottesville will reap benefits far exceeding the incentives from having a five-star hotel on its Downtown Mall.
Photo Eze Amos
City Council approved 4-1 a financial assistance package estimated at $1.1 million over 10 years to assist John Dewberry in finishing the derelict hotel that’s loomed over downtown Charlottesville for the past eight years.
The folksy owner of the Landmark Hotel appeared before the council dais March 6. “I’m not used to people seeing my backside in a crowd,” said Dewberry, a former Georgia Tech quarterback, who noted he was born in Waynesboro.
John Dewberry waits for his moment to pitch City Council—about two hours into the meeting. Eze Amos
Dewberry apologized for the delay in movement on the Landmark, which he bought in 2012, and blamed the length of time it took to finish the Dewberry Hotel in Charleston. He promised Charlottesville, too, would have a deluxe hotel, but cautioned, “You can’t do five-star without some help.”
The help he wants from the city for the 110-room, $50 million hotel includes tax breaks on the increased real estate assessments that likely will occur once the project is completed. The city agreed to give Dewberry a 50 percent tax discount on the increased value of the building above its current $6.6 million assessment.
Dewberry also needs parking—75 spaces in the Water Street Garage, which currently has a waiting list for monthly spaces and is involved in litigation between its owners, the city and Mark Brown’s Charlottesville Parking Center.
According to the deal City Council approved, Dewberry will pay at least $40,000 for the first year, paying the city 25 percent of the revenue he generates and keeping 75 percent. Dewberry wants the spaces to be on the garage’s upper deck, and plans to “grow the pie” by cramming even more vehicles into the 75 spaces with valet parking.
Brown, who is suing the city, would only say about the incentives, “It’s certainly an interesting strategy on their part.”
Kristin Szakos was the nay vote against the incentive package. “I’m eager to see the project finished and I’m not against the project,” she says. “I couldn’t quite see the cost-benefit analysis working. It didn’t quite rise to the level of something that the city should invest taxpayer funds in.”
Kristin Szakos, center, cast the only vote against the city subsidizing John Dewberry’s hotel. Eze Amos
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy also asked why the city should give a tax break to a “multi-millionaire” when it hasn’t to other projects.
A five-star hotel is more labor intensive and capital intensive, answered Dewberry, who pointed out that two-star hotels don’t have doormen or valets waiting to park cars.
Bellamy also asked about how the low-income jobs will benefit the city. Dewberry said that while he may not make a huge profit on his five-star restaurant, the people working there “get tipped well.”
Councilor Bob Fenwick was concerned about the structural integrity of the building, which Dewberry said he’d had checked out by a friend who has a Ph.D. in engineering.
Mayor Mike Signer, who campaigned on getting the Landmark finished, said, “People are furious about this situation.” He told Dewberry he appreciated his “note of contrition,” and said he believes the negotiated assistance will be a good deal for the city in the long term.
About that point, Dewberry returned to the dais and asked if the city was being “rude” to him. “Will you spell my name right?” he asked. On-screen, where the meeting was being broadcast, he was identified as “Dewbury.”
Councilor Kathy Galvin wanted a bond to assure Dewberry completes the project and doesn’t let it sit unfinished another 10 years. He said that would be too expensive, but agreed to sell the property if he doesn’t have a certificate of occupancy by 2021. “It’s critical this project move forward,” she said.
Latest victim of the 14th Street bridge.
Photo Fiona Dale
Welcome to the Sprint Pavilion
With Sprint affiliate Shentel’s $640 million acquisition of nTelos complete, look for a new moniker for the Coran Capshaw-leased downtown facility as soon as City Council approves a new name, according to Shentel.
So we take away your driver’s license because you can’t pay court costs
In 2015, 900,000 Virginians had suspended driver’s licenses because of unpaid court costs, which makes it harder for low-income citizens to get to work and pay off those costs and fines, says a Legal Aid Justice Center report. Most Virginia general district courts ignore Judicial Council of Virginia recommendations to consider an individual’s financial circumstances before setting payment plans.
First woman, youngest councilor elected in Scottsville
Of the town on the James’ 369 registered voters, 122 of them came out to elect Nancy Gill mayor and six town councilors, including 19-year-old Joshua Peck, who may be the youngest to sit on council, according to Scottsville Weekly.
Evangelical endorsement
Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson endorsed Republican 5th District congressional candidate Michael Del Rosso because he “understands the threat from Islamic terrorism” and “secular political culture.” The 5th District GOP convention is May 14.
Climb every mountain —or hotel
Three teens aged 14, 15 and 16 were spotted on top of the Landmark Hotel on the Downtown Mall around 2:15pm May 7. Police, with the help of the Charlottesville Fire Department, escorted them to the police department for parental pickup, and the girls face trespassing charges. “They were taking photos and listening to music,” says police spokesman Steve Upman, who declined to say how they scaled the structure.
Quote of the week
“To tell you the honest truth, I was sure this was such a compelling narrative and I thought this would be easy to find one or two funders interested in telling the other narratives that are about our history.” Elizabeth Breeden on raising only $20,000 in four years for the $300,000 sculpture to honor Vinegar Hill, according to the Daily Progress.
The Downtown Mall around the Landmark was blocked off January 14 so firefighters could clear debris. Staff photo
The skeletal Landmark Hotel officially went from eyesore to public safety hazard last week when a beam went through the roof of next-door CVS. “Debris blew off the building and could have killed someone,” said Mayor Mike Signer on “Wake-Up Call” January 17.
The city closed the area around the hotel January 14, and the fire department went in to secure a metal door frame that was swinging in the wind as the structure became an “active and ongoing public safety threat,” says Signer. The city now is exploring legal options that include condemnation, he says.
Ground broke on the Downtown Mall’s unwelcome landmark in 2008 for what was supposed to be a boutique hotel. Construction stopped in 2009, and owner Halsey Minor filed for bankruptcy a year later.
Atlanta developer John Dewberry picked up the property in 2012 for $6.25 million, and said he’d start work as soon as he finished a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. That project didn’t begin until November 2014.
Signer is out of patience with Dewberry’s timetable and promises the issue will be resolved this year. City Council will discuss options to address blighted or unoccupied commercial properties in a closed session with legal counsel January 19. Says Signer, “The cheapest and most expedient thing is for the current owner to finish the damn thing.”
With the blighted Landmark Hotel in the background, City Council candidate Mike Signer, joined by ticket-mate Kathy Galvin, left, proposes a one-year deadline for a resolution plan.
City Council candidate Mike Signer stood before the skeletal Landmark Hotel, an unwelcome landmark on the Downtown Mall since 2009, and quoted the graffiti scrawled on its boarded up side: “We’re fed up.” And he promised to explore all legal actions for resolving the situation, including eminent domain.
Flanked by fellow Dem candidates Kathy Galvin and Wes Bellamy, Signer denounced the structure owned by Atlanta developer John Dewberry as an “eyesore,” and said, “The status quo is unacceptable. Having a derelict, dangerous and ugly abandoned building looming in the heart of our major commercial and civic area sector impacts our community’s quality of life and is an embarrassing symbol of inaction in the city.”
Dewberry did not return a call for comment. The Waynesboro-born former football star bought the Landmark for $6.25 million in 2012 after CNET founder Halsey Minor’s plans for a luxury hotel derailed. Dewberry said he would begin work on what will become the Hotel Dewberry when he finished the development of a Hurricane Floyd-damaged federal post office building he bought in downtown Charleston in 2008. Work on that project began last November, according to the Post and Courier in Charleston.
Signer has run out of patience with Dewberry’s timetable, and says the developer “has already broken several deadlines and promises” and there has been “silence” on the Dewberry front. “That’s unacceptable,” said the candidate, who added that citizen complaints about the would-be hotel are a frequent refrain on the campaign trail.
He proposes a six-point project resolution framework to avoid such messes in the future and outlines its application to the Landmark. That would include working with Dewberry Capital, assessing the state of the exposed infrastructure and whether it’s even buildable at this point, exploring all practical and legal options, and within a year, executing a plan that either completes the hotel or uses the property for something else.
In the past, the city has accepted Dewberry’s timetable for completion of the mall property, contingent on finishing the Charleston hotel, a “vague” scenario, said Signer. “I think the consideration of legal action is part of the plan.” Even eminent domain? Said Signer, “That’s one of the tools I want to examine.”
