The three-story building at 1928 Arlington Blvd. that’s slated to be demolished has been unoccupied since January 2025.
If people from 2016 Charlottesville time traveled to Ivy Road, they would probably be incredibly shocked that an entire city block has been replaced with a new generation of buildings built for the University of Virginia.
A similar sensation might be felt by one of us if we suddenly found ourselves on Arlington Boulevard 10 years or so from now. The University of Virginia’s real estate foundation has spent $20.5 million in the past five and a half years to purchase six properties on the southern side of the roadway.
In June, the UVA Foundation applied for a demolition permit to remove 1928 Arlington Blvd., a three-story commercial office building that has been unoccupied since January 2025.
“The properties were acquired because of their strategic adjacency to University property, particularly near North Grounds,” said Katie Murphy, the Foundation’s senior marketing coordinator and communications manager, in an email. “As with much of the Foundation’s real estate portfolio, this reflects our long-term planning for the University’s growth.”
Murphy said the Foundation will continue to serve as landlord for what she described as a “vibrant mixed-use property.” The land is zoned Node Mixed Use 10, which would allow for the tallest buildings in Charlottesville.
Some of the properties owned by the Foundation are in the pathway of an extension of Copeley Road to Millmont Street that is currently in the design phase. When completed, vehicles will be able to travel directly through North Grounds from Ivy Road all the way to Barracks Road.
Other major real estate players have also claimed a stake in the future of the roadway. On March 17, Heirloom Development paid $19.725 million for Jefferson Apartments at 2401 Arlington Blvd., a complex first built in 1969.
The Foundation’s purchase pattern on Arlington Boulevard is similar to that on Ivy Road, where city properties were slowly acquired over time for amounts well over the property assessment even if uses had not been identified.
For instance, a subsidiary of the UVA Foundation paid $5.6 million in June 1998 for the former Cavalier Inn at the corner of Emmet Street and Ivy Road. At the time, the property was assessed at $3.16 million. The structure was demolished in 2018 to prepare infrastructure for buildings such as the School of Data Science, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and the Virginia Guesthouse Hotel.
Properties owned by the UVA Foundation pay the city’s real property tax but those owned by the UVA Rector and Board of Visitors do not. The property where the Virginia Guesthouse currently stands was originally acquired by the Foundation and then transferred to UVA.
However, on April 6, UVA transferred about an acre back to a subsidiary of the Foundation. That means that not only will Charlottesville get paid the lodging tax on the hotel and conference center, but the Foundation will also pay real property tax. The assessment for 2026 is $50,551,500 taxable at 99 cents per $100 of assessed value.
