The tension between Charlottesville’s permissive new zoning code and public housing advocates continued to be on display when the Board of Architectural Review took a preliminary look at a revised proposal for another student housing building on West Main Street during its May 19 meeting.
“Ultimately something’s going to get built here,” said BAR Chairman James Zehmer. “I think the goal is to try and all work together to try and find something that the city and various communities within the city can be proud of.”
The firm LV Collective submitted plans in the summer of 2025 for an 11-story building to be constructed on a parking lot at 843 W. Main St., just up the hill from Westhaven. This sparked the Public Housing Association of Residents to launch a campaign for City Council to change the zoning to allow more community input and requirements for developers.
Council has so far declined to do so, and voted 3 to 2 on May 4 to approve a certificate of appropriateness to allow a seven-story student housing building in Fifeville. That project’s future depends on meeting only technical requirements.
LV Collective is working on a new version for its West Main project, and reduced the maximum height to eight stories. It’s also cleared more room for a walkway listed in the conceptual plans as a “Celebrated Gateway and Connection to West Main.”
“There are still ongoing conversations with the community,” said Brittani Sanders, vice president of entitlements and development strategy for LV Collective. “Not everybody’s concerns have been met, nor do I think they will be met, but LV is at the table and I think we’ve made some productive progress.”
Earl Hicks, a Westhaven resident and member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners, said the building was still too tall at eight stories.
“Without a significant reduction in height, there would still be a negative impact on our neighborhood,” Hicks said.
Brandon Collins, the redevelopment director for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, told the BAR that residents who have worked on the plans to redevelop Westhaven in size had expected to see the new drawings before they got to the BAR.
“I think it’s really important for the BAR to understand that at eight stories, the height and scale and mass of this building still [has] an adverse impact on the neighborhood,” Collins said. “Part of that’s because they’re set down on a hill, and it was done on purpose to separate the community.”
Collins demanded a community benefits agreement be made before the building is allowed to be built, but acknowledged that’s beyond the scope of the BAR.
Sanders said such a document is in the works.
“I don’t want to get into the specifics of the community benefits agreement because I respect the community and I want to have those conversations offline,” Sanders said.
Sanders said her team will work with the Westhaven planners as the formal application is put together.
The building would be next to what’s now known as the Yugo Crestline and across the street from The Flats at West Village. Both buildings were constructed in the mid-2010s under the old zoning, when City Council had to grant special use permits for additional height and density. Since 2015, The Flats has brought in more than $8.3 million in real-property tax revenue.
LV Collective is working on a new version of its building at 843 W. Main St., the height of which has been reduced to eight stories, with only six on the Westhaven side.
