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C-VILLE recently noticed the Cherry Avenue IGA for sale on an online property listings website. "Central to everything going on," reads the ad. Perhaps… as long as everything includes prostitution. The ad claims that the site can house 80 units per acre, when in fact zoning only allows up to 43 units per acre by-right—anything more requires a special-use permit. The ad further misrepresents when it says that six stories is allowed and nine with a special-use permit—four is the actual limit.
Sure that the errors and omissions weren’t meant to mislead, we offer this alternative listing, confident the site will now sell like hot cakes.
Property: Deteriorating neighborhood grocery store and surrounding parking lots
Price: $5.9 million for land assessed at $730,800
Lot size: 1.5 acre
Location: Within walking distance to UVA, the historic Downtown Mall and University Hospital, the property is also located across the street from Tonsler Park, where prostitutes were arrested just last year. A now defunct chicken restaurant sits idly by. A mere block away, an Exxon was robbed only a few weeks ago.
Zoning: Part of the Cherry Avenue Mixed-Use Corridor. Be among the first to take advantage of 2003 rezoning. The mixed-use requirement has proved a hindrance to some developers looking to pack in condos and apartments, but 850 Estes got by offering a mere 1.9 percent office space (and a lawsuit against the city), while Walker Square built only a private gym. The city has tried to close the loopholes, but surely you can find a new one to exploit.
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