These are a few Charlottesville development stories on my radar that I will be referencing for the next few days and weeks in conversations with clients:

• Talks resume in downtown garage dispute
  • “Neither side appears willing to relent its hold in the public-private ownership of the Water Street Parking Garage, but new high-scale developments — such as the Charlottesville Technology Center, West2nd and the Dewberry Charlottesville hotel — are likely to affect property values and parking supply downtown.”

• Planned construction could cut parking availability, raise fees
  • “With a surge in construction and redevelopment anticipated in downtown Charlottesville, some of which could start as soon as this summer, it could become more difficult to find a place to park.”

• Design panel partially approves downtown building
  • “The Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review made a partial recommendation to approve the size and shape of a new downtown building Tuesday, but stopped short of full support after the acting city attorney noted a problem.”

• West Main Streetscape plans presented to design panel
  • “The design for a new look and feel for Charlottesville’s West Main Street is still being developed more than four years after the firm Rhodeside & Harwell began work on the plan. … “Generally speaking, there’s going to be two lanes of traffic, 11-foot-wide lanes in each direction,” said Jeff Fisher, a landscape designer with Rhodeside & Harwell. “There’s going to be a 5-foot-wide marked bikeway in each direction. And there will be the creation of turning lanes at the major intersections.””

• Vinegar Hill Park process to start this summer
  • “Construction will begin this summer to replace the Main Street Arena in downtown Charlottesville with the technology-focused Center of Developing Entrepreneurs. Some stakeholders hope to use the spotlight on CODE to put plans for the adjacent Vinegar Hill Park in motion.In late 2016, the City Council set aside $15,000 to create Vinegar Hill Park at the western end of the Downtown Mall between the arena and the Omni Charlottesville Hotel. The original proposal was to erect a sign with a paragraph on the history, but the plans are starting to look much larger than a plaque.”

• Restrictive zoning makes tight Charlottesville housing supply even tighter
  • “In high-demand areas within the city, it’s not uncommon for homes to go under contract without ever hitting the market — and still receive multiple offers.Unlike the real estate mania of the early 2000s, the current local frenzy is fueled less by loose credit and more by lack of inventory — a deficit made worse by restrictive zoning standards in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

• Rebranding of W. Main apartments reflects trend of outside ownership
  • “As completion nears of the massive Standard apartment building on Charlottesville’s West Main Street, another complex that opened two years ago recently was rebranded by the national firm that now owns it. …The Flats complex was sold to Madison Loft, a limited liability company, in November 2016 for $77.5 million. A search of the State Corporation Commission’s records ties Madison Loft to a company based in Singapore called Mapletree Investments.

    The Flats at West Village is now managed by Asset Campus Housing, a Houston-based company.”

• City Council approves bigger West2nd
  • “During yet another out-of-control City Council meeting on April 2, Mayor Nikuyah Walker cleared the chamber and councilors reconvened after a closed session to seek legal advice on how to maintain order. Nearly two hours into the meeting, councilors began to address the city’s business, and by 10pm approved by a 4-1 vote a special use permit for West2nd.”