Grave matters: At Ridge and Cherry, new development plans and an old battle

On May 12, the Charlottesville Planning Commission will chew over the next chapter in a decades-old development story as Charlie Armstrong, vice president of Southern Development, pitches the latest zoning amendment request for the company’s property at the corner of Ridge Street and Cherry Avenue at a public hearing. Plans for the still-vacant corner, eventually […]

Historic lens: Gundars Osvalds rediscovers the Vinegar Hill neighborhood

Last summer, life-long photographer and Maryland-based software engineer Gundars Osvalds decided to hunt through his basement for old family pictures—and found a mystery. “In the last 12 years, I’ve taken more than 50,000 photos,” he said in a recent interview. “I have 10 terabytes of digital data. I don’t throw things away.” Amid the stacks […]

Trump to turn Albemarle House into luxe bed and breakfast

When Donald Trump and his son Eric bought former billionaire Patricia Kluge’s 45-room mansion in 2012, completing a $12.7 million takeover of her 776-acre county estate, the younger mogul hinted it could become a boutique inn for the adjacent Trump Winery. Now those plans are coming to fruition as the Trump Hotel Collection prepares to […]

Appraisals offer closer look at Mark Brown’s parking garage legal battle

Documents acquired from the city via a Freedom of Information Act request are shedding more light on the possible grounds for downtown developer Mark Brown’s lawsuit against property appraiser Ivo Romenesko. Last August, Brown bought the Charlottesville Parking Center, LLC (CPC), which owns the land under the Water Street parking garage and has a stake, […]

Downtown developer files suit over Water Street garage land appraisal

Developer and businessman Mark Brown’s takeover of the company that controls most of the public parking in downtown Charlottesville last August was the sale of the summer, but the saga of the Charlottesville Parking Center acquisition isn’t over. Last week, Brown filed suit against appraiser Ivo Romenesko, who valued one of the company’s key holdings—the […]

Proposed 13-cent tax on downtown properties is a no-go—for now

Plans for a downtown business district funded by a 13-cent tax on properties on and near the Downtown Mall have been put on hold after numerous property owners objected. But proponents of a Community Improvement District (CID), researched and proposed by a committee of Downtown Business Association (DBA) members, hope there’s still a future for […]

After a 48-year wait, what will be impact of John Warner Parkway?

When Charlottesville City Manager Maurice Jones began the ceremony to mark the opening of the final segment of the John W. Warner Parkway and the intersection that ties the road to the city’s downtown last Thursday, February 5, he couldn’t help driving home just how long locals had been waiting to cut the ribbon. The […]

The Airbnb question: City struggles to regulate short-term lodging industry

Unregulated short-term lodging is a booming business in Charlottesville, but as more and more locals rent out rooms and houses to guests on sites like Airbnb, city officials are increasingly anxious to get rules on the books and find a way to make hosts pony up for required taxes and fees. Charlottesville’s Department of Neighborhood […]

Meadow Creek Parkway, Bypass interchange to open Thursday

The last part of the Meadow Creek Parkway, a controversial road that’s been on the books for decades, will open to traffic on February 5. The interchange at the U.S. 250 bypass will connect with McIntire Road Extended, Charlottesville’s portion of the parkway, which was completed in August 2013. That section goes up to Melbourne […]