Sold!

A look through real estate sales in Charlottesville for the first month of the year shows a market with signs of a cooler 2023, while also revealing hints that there is money to be made in the future. Sales volumes are down from January 2022, while inventories are beginning to increase.   “January saw fewer transactions […]

Zoning in

The draft zoning map for Charlottesville points the way to a dense future for the city, all in the name of providing affordable housing. But the existing zoning still provides opportunities for additional residential density for those who can pay for it. Sometimes that means removing houses.   For example, a house built in 1893 […]

The future of West Main

Twenty years ago, Charlottesville City Council upzoned West Main Street to clear the way for taller buildings that would allow for more people to live close to the Downtown Mall and the University of Virginia.  That vision began to be realized 10 years later with the construction of the Flats at West Village, a development […]

Rising values

For the second year in a row, the average real estate assessment has increased by double digits.  Residential parcels increased by an average of 11.52 percent, based on 15,148 taxable properties. Commercial properties went up an average of 12.16 percent, and that includes apartment complexes, retail, and office space. When you throw in new construction, […]

Low, high

Charlottesville is completely surrounded by Albemarle County, which means there are bound to be several areas where land-use decisions made in one place affect the other—or vice versa.  One of the places in the new Future Land Use Map where this comes into play is the conversion of around three dozen parcels in the city’s […]

For a price

There’s a long way to go until the end of 2023, but key metrics are coming in on how the real estate market fared in the last 12 months. But what impact will this new information have on transactions between now and December?   “Assessed values are a number that people look at, and while […]

A denser city

Of all the streets in a changing Charlottesville, Cherry Avenue may be one to watch closely to see how the new Comprehensive Plan might translate into a denser Charlottesville.   While the stretch from Ridge Street to Roosevelt Brown has always seemed ripe for eventual redevelopment, all of the properties from the 1000 block to […]

Building up the city

It’s often said at land use public hearings that there should be more places to live in Albemarle and Charlottesville. Both communities have adopted policies that seek to build thousands of units, and they’re challenged by housing advocates to spend millions a year to help keep them within financial reach of those with lower incomes.  […]

New Reality

With interest rates much higher than they were a year ago, you might think that residential properties in the area would be selling at lower prices. However in Charlottesville, many realtors are marketing their properties to reflect the new realities created by the Comprehensive Plan, which both allows and encourages more density throughout the entire […]

Money for nothing?

It’s a process that happens over and over again in Charlottesville and other localities. A big project is proposed, but before any money is spent on construction, the city hires a consulting firm, often to the tune of six or seven figures. Projects like the Belmont Bridge, the West Main Streetscape, and Cville Plans Together […]