The right angle?

This rendering, a view of the northern side of West Main Street, show early plans for a nine-story building on the corner of McIntire Road and West Main Street, with retail on the ground floors and condos above. Architecture firm Morrison Seifert Murphy presented preliminary designs last month to the city’s Board of Architectural Review. […]

Woolen Mills on path to local historic district

On June 2, North Carolina resident Janet Leitch stood before Charlottesville’s City Council to speak about the historic seven-acre estate on East Market Street in the Woolen Mills neighborhood where she grew up. “I was going to write a letter but then just decided to come up,” she says. During the public comment period, Leitch […]

NGIC “contractor tail” still undefined

Northern Albemarle County is getting at least 1,000 new jobs in the coming years—and probably a lot more. Army Colonel Mark Moffatt gave the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors an update June 4 about the expansion at the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), almost doubling the number of employees who work at the facility on […]

Red dirt alert!

Pantops has some fertile soil for development. Preparation work is underway for Richard Spurzem’s Gazebo Plaza shopping center, which historically has been a lightening rod for controversy. Spurzem took the county to circuit court to get the go ahead for the project. Now, Gazebo Plaza makes for a conflict between two surrounding neighborhoods: Spurzem has […]

Virginia: the scorecard

There are lots of things we Virginians think we are (e.g. better than West Virginia) and lots of things we think we aren’t (e.g. a bunch of gun-toting, tobacco-chewing, suburban-sprawl-loving hicks). Also, lots of things we wish we were (e.g. home to a major professional sports team), and lots of things we wish we weren’t […]

Summer construction round-up

Ah, summer. With the undergrads out saving the rest of the world, Grounds is abandoned to us townies—well, us and several battalions of construction workers. UVA’s campus is abuzz with builders this offseason, the clatter of cranes and belches of backhoes burgeoning from Fontaine Research Park to Rugby Road. Here’s a list of major projects […]

Another early NCAA exit for baseball squad

Despite going through what some might consider an offseason by UVA’s standards, baseball Head Coach Brian O’Connor and his team fought inexperience to make it to the ACC tournament finals and to the NCAA regional tournament. Overall, O’Connor was happy with his team’s play. “I thought it was a good season,” says O’Connor. “There were […]

What’s in your backpack?

Giselle Childs Age: 21 Year: Rising senior Major: French and foreign affairs Hometown: Great Falls, Virginia What’s in your backpack? The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon, notepad, mints, Trident gum, lots of chapstick, plastic knife, Purell, Sex and the City movie stub, Band-aids, camera, sunglasses case, headband, iTouch, headphones, Blackberry, green tea.

Next big water question: Why dredge?

When county Supervisor Sally Thomas met with dredging consultants Gahagan & Bryant Associates last month about the possibilities of dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, they said the first question to answer was, Why are you dredging?

Council picks interchange for MCP

As growth extends throughout the city and county, the roads around and through Charlottesville have become ever more crowded. To alleviate some of the congestion, area officials have moved forward with two controversial projects, the Meadowcreek Parkway (MCP) and Eastern Connector. Both would pass through a city park—McIntire and Pen parks, respectively. City Council held […]