Fifeville residents living along King and Grove streets had better get used to the idea of even heavier traffic on their one way roads during rush hour. The city Planning Commission gave preliminary approval at its regular January meeting to a 101′-tall, 928-space parking garage and 113,500-square-foot office building along the railroad tracks across from the UVA hospital.
The planning commissioners were not enthused at the prospect. “I find it incredibly ironic that in a city that’s all about walkability and sustainability that a parking garage of more than 900 spaces can be built by right anywhere, particularly when it’s on a narrow street and faces residential two-story structures,” said Commissioner Genevieve Keller. “…I don’t believe that any of us would want to live looking at a massive parking garage.”
 This area of Fifeville will see a 928-space parking garage, a 113,500-square-foot office building, a mixed-use project and a residential one. |
But they had little choice. The site is zoned industrial, and the parking garage/office building is by-right, meaning it needs only administrative approvals. Valerie Long, the attorney representing the developer, Richard Hewitt, tried to put lipstick on the project by discussing the improvements to lighting and stormwater. The development team has held a couple of neighborhood meetings.
The 101′ building is but the first of three phases of development that Hewitt and Co. are planning. A mixed-use building is in the works for the corner of Roosevelt Brown Boulevard and Grove Street, and across from the just approved project, developers are planning a residential project that would probably require a rezoning to allow for increased density.
At least the latter phase could have been slowed or halted had Fifeville been under local architectural design control. C-VILLE reported in May that Hewitt was rushing out tenants in several houses he owned under the name Grove Street Properties LLC. Some of those properties were more than 100 years old, but they have since had a date with the Grim Bulldozer, with almost the entire block now cleared to make room for future development.
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