If you want Charlottesville to have its own version of the Flatiron building, sometimes you just have to do it yourself. Developer Neal Sansovich, employing local architecture firm Daggett & Grigg, has submitted a preliminary siteplan for a mixed-use, nine-story building on a small, triangular lot at 600 E. Water St., currently a parking lot across from the C&O restaurant. The building packs 25 residential units into the space, along with 7,500 square feet of retail on the ground floor. At first glance, city staff believe it is by-right, meaning it wouldn’t require special approvals by City Council.
Sansovich had tried to sell the lot, with an asking price of $2.4 million for the quarter acre. Bob Kahn, whose realty firm represented the property, told C-VILLE in November that it could be Charlottesville’s version of the Flatiron Building in Manhattan. "It could have just wonderful architectural features," Kahn said. His real estate website still lists the property, with a reduced asking price of $1.95 million.
It’s still unclear whether the exterior of the building would indeed resemble the Flatiron Building. Daggett & Grigg didn’t submit any elevations, though those will be needed in order to gain approval from the Board of Architectural Review. Calls to Jim Grigg and Neal Sansovich weren’t returned by press time.
If approvals go through for the 600 E. Water St. building, it would join four other nine-story buildings already approved—though all have yet to be built.
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