Posts tagged Albemarle

See Albemarle County’s Trails – without Leaving your House

in Albemarle Green on

Albemarle County’s parks are a tremendous asset to all – from the disc golf course at Walnut Creek to swimming and fishing at Mint Springs to mountain biking and horseback riding at Preddy Creek.

And now this, via press release:

Have you ever wondered what a trail was like before you hiked it? The Albemarle County Parks and Recreation department has partnered with Terrain360.com to offer a new tool that will solve that dilemma. By visiting www.albemarle.org/trails, hikers can take a 360 degree panoramic tour of the trails at Darden Towe, Preddy Creek, Byrom, Mint Springs, Ivy Creek Natural Area and Walnut Creek from their computers or smart phones.
 

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More Restaurants Coming to Stonefield

in Albemarle Charlottesville on

“Curated” …

via press release: (links added by me)

… announced the opening of several restaurants at The Shops at Stonefield including: Black & Orange, Parallel 38, and Cyclone Anaya’s.  These restaurants will join Jason Alley’s Pasture, Travinia Italian Kitchen and Burtons Grill to create a unique culinary destination in Charlottesville.  The Shops at Stonefield will open in November 2012.

So … Burgers, Mediterranean, Mexican. No big chains. Good.

Curious – Charlottesville prides itself on its local food, local restaurants, its general local-ness …

1) Will any of these restaurants source their food locally?
2) When was the last time you ate at a chain restaurant? (personally, I avoid them as Charlottesville has so many outstanding local restaurants)
3) What chain would you like to see? (if Olive Garden, please try these local options: Tavola, Bella’s, Vivace, Sal’s, Carmello’s …)
4) Anyone have early reviews/opinions on the soon-to-open restaurants?

Update: Interesting conversation on Facebook about this question. While I’ll never move the comments here to Facebook, I definitely want to link to the conversation so that I’ll be able to find it one day …

Update 2: Looks like Noodles & Company is coming to Charlottesville/Stonefield as well. Thanks to @Hunter for the tip!

Update: Courteney Stuart at The Hook has a nice story on the coming restaurants at Stonefield.

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Photo courtesy - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/273212143/

Pumpkin Patches in Charlottesville

in Albemarle Charlottesville Off-topic on

In search of pumpkin patches in the Charlottesville area –

1) I love my clients who still come to me after closing …

2) This message the other day got me thinking – (My son’s) birthday is coming up and I would like to take him to a pumpkin patch.  Do you know of a real fun one in the area?  I am currently planning to go to the Plains where the living earth folks
seem to have a really nice one with corn maze, slides, animals etc.

I haven’t been to a pumpkin patch with a maze in years. We usually go to Chiles Orchard in Crozet. Graves Mountain Lodge has hay bales to jump on and such when they have their Apple Harvest Festival (this is the last weekend for it).

So … when researching something, I went to Twitter and Facebook and got some great responses:

– Charlottesville and Albemarle region of Virginia’s Pumpkin Patches, Corn Mazes, Hay Rides and More
– Liberty Mills Farm

From my Facebook:

– Pumpkin Patches and More
– Liberty Mills Farm was the clear winner.
– Silver Creek and Seamans’ Orchards, Inc. – “Bonus: near Crabtree falls, which is especially beautiful now”

From the RealCrozetVA Facebook page:

– Back Home on the Farm in the Shenandoah Valley.
– Get Lost in the Corn – a corn maze at Bridgemont Farm – 600 Wissler Rd, Quicksburg, VA 22847

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A Tip: Check Cell Phone Coverage Before you Buy

in Albemarle on

To those moving to Charlottesville from other areas, the ubiquity of cell phone coverage you may have experienced there might not be found here. The mobile providers and the County of Albemarle are working to get more towers, but these things take time.

Another tip: if you choose to live in an area that doesn’t have mobile service (or hard-wired internet or public water for that matter), that’s one of the beauties of living in a rural area. It’s rural.

I have had clients not purchase a home they liked because they couldn’t get service from their provider (I’m looking at you At & T). Check these things before you buy a home.

Looking through my search terms this morning, a visitor arrived looking for “when will us cellular get 4g in charlottesville va” leading to this musing from last year.

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3rd Quarter Nest Report – What’s the Charlottesville Real Estate Market Doing Now?

in Albemarle Charlottesville Market statistics on

A few highlights (there are more in the report) –

1 – Inventory is down across the Charlottesville MSA. Quality inventory is seemingly non-existent, depending on your market segment.

2 – Buyers are smart, savvy and patient. Prices go down, sales volume goes up.

3 – New construction costs are up across the board.

4 – Distressed sales continue to drop; they still comprise a significant volume, but less now.

5 – Shadow inventory remains an unknown and thus, a concern.

Click through to read the entire report.


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Condo Conversion Market Hits Bottom in Charlottesville

in Albemarle Charlottesville on

I say “bottom” because investors typically don’t make such moves unless they’re reasonably confident that bottom is upon us on near. (one hopes)

There is opportunity everywhere …

The Goldstar Group of Bethesda, MD has acquired 265 rental condominium flats and townhomes at Barracks West in Charlottesville, VA for $13.3 million ($50,000 per unit) in an off-market short sale. Located just a half mile from the University of Virginia’s business and law schools, the Barracks West units were placed in receivership by Suntrust Bank in late 2011 after the previous owner defaulted on a $22 million loan. The new ownership plans to invest an additional $4.5 million in capital improvements.

…

This acquisition marks the fifth “fractured condo” acquisition that The Goldstar Group has closed in the last three years.

That’s the first time I’ve heard the term “fractured condo” …

At the height of the bubbly/speculative market, some of these units were selling for between $100k and $180k … (PDF)

Some background on condo conversions in Charlottesville –

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