‘White hot:’ Building still booming—but not for everyone

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, the housing bubble had burst, the hottest area in real estate was foreclosures, and the Downtown Mall was littered with vacancies. Today, the county development scene is “white hot,” according to Albemarle Director of Community Development Mark Graham, and in the city, Director of Economic Development […]

Brookhill base: Ice park planned at new subdivision

When an angel investor bought the Main Street Arena for nearly $6 million in March 2017 with the intent to turn it into a technology incubator, folks who frequented the 23-year-old ice park—the only one within an hour’s drive from Charlottesville—began to panic. But now it looks like hockey players, figure skaters and curlers could […]

Boom town: Long-dormant county developments get second wind

The Great Recession is officially over. The evidence? Building permits in 2016 were the highest since 2007 housing-bubble levels. Construction is going on all over the area, from 5th Street Station to West Main to U.S. 29 north. And a recent Weldon Cooper Center population study pegs the Charlottesville area as booming.