When an investment firm purchased the former Cavalier Crossing apartment complex on Fifth Street Extended last year, affordable housing advocates were horrified that the intent was to convert the 144 existing units to market rate.
Now Bonaventure has filed plans with Albemarle to rezone the property to allow construction of 165 new units and comply with the county’s requirements for affordable housing.
“While the applicant purchased the property with the intention of renovating the units, they also saw an opportunity for additional units to be provided in unused parking areas as infill redevelopment in a convenient and desirable location,” reads a narrative submitted with the application.
The site is now known as Attain on 5th, and the application is being filed under the name Wahoo Way Investments LLC. The existing units were built in 2003 and originally marketed to students. The project was not specifically built to serve people with low incomes, but rents were within reach of many as time progressed.
“When the applicant purchased the property, the maintenance and living conditions of the units were well below market standard,” the narrative continues.
The rezoning means the company has to comply with Albemarle’s requirement that 20 percent of units be reserved for individuals or households with incomes below the area median income (AMI).
Bonaventure will offer a choice to Albemarle in order to let the Board of Supervisors decide the best way to address the county’s needs. It will either contribute $1.8 million to the county’s housing fund or reserve 33 units on site, with 17 apartments guaranteed to households below 60 percent of the AMI.
The new units will be in five buildings: two four-story structures and three with two floors.
The narrative points out that the first objective of Albemarle’s affordable housing plan is to increase the number of places to live in the county.
During this year’s budget process, a coalition of groups pushed Albemarle supervisors to commit to spending $10 million. Supervisors eventually agreed to allocate $5.2 million to housing in the fiscal year 2025 budget, which is expected to be adopted on May 7.
Many asking for the dedicated funding argued that the county needs to have money on hand to purchase properties like Cavalier Crossing to keep them affordable. They point to Charlottesville City’s Council’s decision last August to give $8.7 million to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville and Piedmont Housing Alliance to cover the costs of purchasing the Carlton Mobile Home Park.
“If we had had this fund that we’ve been asking for for years, the county would have been able to purchase that property,” said Denise Zito at a public hearing on August 23, 2024.
Bonaventure paid $20.5 million for the 14.5-acre property. That’s around the same amount that Albemarle is legally bound to pay Charlottesville in 2025 as part of a revenue-sharing agreement signed in 1982.
The next step for the project will be a community meeting that has not yet been scheduled.
Attain on 5th is across the street from Albemarle County’s southern office building and next to a mixed-use development that had been known as Albemarle Business Campus but is now known as 5th Street Forest. Supplied photo.
