Keep it low

The cost of housing continues to rise, but there is a large desire in the community for steps to be taken to preserve housing for those with lower incomes. That is translating into several large capital expenses throughout the area.    This week, Charlottesville City Council held the first reading of a plan to award […]

Zoning can wait

There has been a slight delay in the release of further details about how Charlottesville’s new zoning code will work, but at least two major projects are making their way through the system.    Earlier this month, City Council signaled it will likely allow a technical change to the existing zoning to consider a nine-story […]

Straddling borders

Population growth and the impact of a more congested community is not limited to one political jurisdiction. But how well is this place set up to build transportation infrastructure that straddles borders between Albemarle, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia? A recent letter from the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association asked the City of Charlottesville to […]

More, more, more

This week, Charlottesville is expected to release the second of three sections of a new zoning code that is intended to increase residential density across the entire city and make it easier for developers to build with fewer government hurdles.    The first section established the basic rules for what can be built where. At […]

Once and future

As the third month of the third year of the third decade gets underway, Charlottesville is poised for a new future. All over the city, landowners will have more space to build under the adopted Comprehensive Plan and the new zoning rules that are being written this spring.   Some of the places where more […]

Building boom

Many of the development firms that build new spaces to live in the Charlottesville area are homegrown with a close-up view of this dynamic market. Names like Southern Development, Riverbend Development, Stony Point Development Group, and Great Eastern Management Company come up a lot when new projects become public.   But in the last several […]

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, […]