In May 2008, the UVA Foundation bought the 60-room Econo Lodge at 400 Emmet St. and the adjacent restaurant, for $6 million as part of what Foundation CEO Tim Rose called a “long-term, land-banking acquisition, not one for immediate need.” This is a well-used strategy for the Foundation as evidenced by the purchase of properties well above market values around the University in the ongoing South Lawn development.
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The UVA Foundation, which manages the taxable real estate holdings and which ranked first in C-VILLE’s list of the largest area landowners ($342 million in assessed property value covering 4,766 acres), has purchased homes and apartment complexes on both Brandon Avenue and Valley Road for a possible future expansion.
The properties “have been purchased over time as a part of our land-banking activities,” wrote Rose in an e-mail last week, adding that some were purposefully purchased as a part of the South Lawn Project, the $105 million that is one of the University’s largest undertakings in years, which stretches from the soon-to-be-renovated New Cabell Hall and, by extension, the original Lawn. In fact, six homes on Valley Road were torn down to make space for the new Arts and Sciences building and a soon-to-be landscaped cul-de-sac. Some of the properties already belonged to UVA, but some were purchased for demolition.
On October 1, 2004, the Foundation purchased The Carolinas Apartments (411 Brandon Ave.), the Monroe Apartments (413-415 Brandon Ave.) and the Brandon Apartments (417-419 Brandon Ave.) for $5,250,000, nearly 14 percent above the combined assessed values of $4,616,500.
The most impressive transfer was recorded for 600 Brandon. The almost 2-acre lot, built in 1963, supports 44 two-bedroom units. In June 2006, the UVA Foundation purchased the property for a whopping $7,400,000. The city assessed it at $2,651,2000. That’s a 179 percent difference. What could be built there? An addition to the Med School or the Engineering School, adding to the new School of Nursing and Claude Moore Medical Education Building currently under construction or just an expansion of the South Lawn.
“Someday the 600 Brandon property will provide meaningful space for a future UVA use,” writes Rose. “We own land adjacent to it.” In fact, the Foundation owns other properties on Brandon Avenue, right next to 600 Brandon.
But keeping in line with its explicit land-banking strategy, the property was purchased for an eventual future expansion.
“There are no short term or long term plans for the property at this time,” says Rose. “As such, we will continue to operate it as an apartment complex.”
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