Plans call for converting the former Holiday Inn on Emmet Street into 191 apartments, including 19 affordable units.
In the very near future, new residential units will come online near the University of Virginia, including 463 units at the 12-story Verve and 550 units on Old Ivy Road in an area Greystar Development and Construction has dubbed Spring Valley.
There is also new life planned for existing buildings such as the Holiday Inn at 1901 Emmet St. that dates back to 1972. The City of Charlottesville’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services has approved a final site plan for an adaptive reuse of the seven-story building into a 191-unit residential complex.
Now NDS is reviewing a building permit application from Emmet Hotel LLC that puts the renovation cost at $15.62 million. The company has also filed a new site plan for the project with minor changes.
The property is zoned Node Mixed Use 8, which means that no further permission is needed from City Council for the residential use. A new building could be as tall as 114 feet. Emmet Hotel LLC paid nearly $9.3 million for the four-acre property in May 2018.
Under the new zoning, 10 percent of new units must comply with the city’s affordability requirements. An application filed in January states that 19 of the units will be studio apartments with one-bathrooms rented at $1,145 a month.
Those same 325-square-foot units would be rented alongside 161 market-rate studios at $1,475 a month.
“Affordable units will be spread throughout the building amongst market-rate units and are indistinguishable relative to market-rate units in terms of unit plans and finishes,” reads that application.
Another 20 units will be slightly larger at 525 square feet, which will go for $1,650 a month. There will be 10 one-bedroom units at 791 square feet with one bedroom and one den rented at $2,175 a month. The inventory is rounded out with one-bedroom units rented for $1,725.
The city’s acting housing program manager signed off on the affordability certification on March 9.
Last fall, a company called Brick Lane Better Communities LLC responded to a request from the City of Charlottesville for companies seeking funding to build affordable units with a $1.75 million ask. This was not granted in the most recent round and for now the project is proceeding without subsidy.
The property is within one of the city’s entrance corridors but will not go before the Board of Architectural Review. Jeff Werner, the city’s preservation planner, approved a Certificate of Appropriateness after advising the developer to drop one potential design element.
“We discussed your recommendations with the Owners and have agreed to eliminate the painting of the brick for now,” wrote Kevin Schafer of the firm Design Develop in a February 4 email.
According to city documents, Werner also advised against the addition of a mural, which would require BAR review.
Last fall, another company also filed a plan to convert Sonesta ES Suites Charlottesville at 1111 Millmont St. into an apartment complex but it has not proceeded past the initial denial of a site plan last December. The most recent document is a notice from a city building inspector that the city needs to see conversion plans signed off by an architect.
