On February 26, Whitney French, 33, was the victim of a domestic-related homicide at the hands of her husband, Rafal Kalemba, who killed himself after murdering her in their Monticello Road home. Whitney’s parents and friends remember her as a strong, powerful woman, and in looking back on her life, her parents say there were […]
By Celeste M. Smucker – When it comes to home and garden, you can count on one thing. The new year brings changes in everything from floor plans and style updates to interior and exterior color preferences and cutting-edge technologies. Home buyers and those thinking about remodeling an existing house can look online for trends and […]
By Celeste M. Smucker – When home owners are ready to sell their house, they usually have a good idea about what they think it’s worth. Similarly, buyer prospects have a strong opinion about what they are willing to pay for it. Sometimes these numbers are far apart. So what determines what a home is worth […]
Feed lot Earlier this month, we reported in our Small Bites column about a new food hall concept opening at 5th Street Station. Now we have the rendering to prove it. The Yard, modeled after the Krog Street Market in Atlanta, will be a 10,000-square-foot mixed-use space next to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema with five […]
No one likes paying taxes. And Charlottesville property owners who saw their commercial assessments go up 65 percent, 90 percent or 100 percent really don’t like it—and they’re letting the city know with a record number of appeals. “Totally outrageous,” says Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville president Joan Fenton, who owns a “little bitty” parcel […]
The already difficult downtown parking landscape is about to become more challenging in the next couple of years. Major construction projects like West2nd, the Dewberry Hotel and Belmont Bridge promise to further clog streets and decimate an already dwindling parking supply. And then there’s the pilot meter program coming in August. Hardest hit will […]
Before Bank of America closed the doors of its 1916 building on the Downtown Mall in February, we reported that a steakhouse and at least one other bank would take its place. Loud construction noises coming from the spot last week caused us to check on its status. Citizen & Farmers Bank will occupy an […]
Last week a federal judge in Maryland ruled that Chartis Property Casualty Company does not have to cover convicted murderer George Huguely in a wrongful death lawsuit against him in Charlottesville. His mother and stepfather, Marta and Andrew Murphy, are insured for $6 million with that company. In 2010, the UVA lacrosse player had a […]
Following a March 22 hearing in U.S. District Court, the County of Culpeper and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to mediation in the suit the DOJ filed alleging county discrimination against the Islamic Center of Culpeper when it requested a sewage permit for a mosque that was normally granted to churches. The Islamic Center, which […]
By Ken Wilson – Jack Horn loves to build and he loves to travel. A couple of weeks after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated much of Haiti in January of 2010, Horn, the CEO of the Charlottesville contracting firm Martin Horn, Inc., found himself on a mountainside overlooking Port-au-Prince. He was in the country with Building […]