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 […]

Second Street closure irks restaurant owners

About 20 years ago, the plan to open Second Street and have traffic cross the Downtown Mall brought dire predictions the pedestrian mall would be ruined. Two weeks ago, the street closed with virtually no notice, and restaurant owners are making dire predictions that they’ll be ruined. Martin Horn Construction got a permit to close […]

Bell budget amendment aims to put Route 29 projects on hold

Albemarle Delegate Rob Bell has proposed a state budget amendment that would put plans for a major overhaul of Route 29’s Rio Road intersection on hold and subject them to further scrutiny. The $80 million stoplight-eliminating, grade-separated interchange is part of a package of improvements planned for the highway’s congested Albemarle stretch. The updates, which […]

To drip or not to drip: Old-school advice in new-construction apartments?

Anton Largiader lives down the road from Treesdale Apartments on East Rio Road. He watched the 88-unit affordable housing being built in 2009, and when he saw a “freeze warning” sign in December—before temperatures plunged in January—advising tenants to leave their faucets dripping, “I was astonished,” he said. “This is like out of the ’70s.” […]

Tall order: Market Plaza plans move forward

The decision to grant permits for a nine-story Water Street office and apartment building that will be home to the City Market is now in the hands of the City Council. Developers Gregory Powe and Keith Woodard’s Market Plaza concept was selected by Council in June, one of multiple proposals for the redevelopment of the […]

Mind the gap: Vandals frustrate Corner fence project

The city built it, and still they come. A 7-foot metal fence now stretches along more than 1,000 feet of railroad track from the 14th Street train trestle on the Corner north beyond the end of Elliewood Avenue, a barrier built with $385,000 in Federal Highway Administration funds. That is, it would stretch that length, […]