June 13, 2024: UVA Major Capital Plan to include update of study on how to go coal-free for heating Grounds
Plus: Another look at price drops in the real estate market
June 13 has arrived again, just as it will arrive again 365 days from now. What will have changed between now and then? Who will make the measurements?
Last time around, Charlottesville Community Engagement reported on campaign finance for local elections as well as the appointment of a new city attorney. The latter is currently on administrative leave. I’m Sean Tubbs and the purpose of the newsletter is to remind me what to ask next.
In today’s installment:
Charlottesville’s public housing body meets tonight for a work session and will create an entity to help bring about the redevelopment of Westhaven
There are five days left until the Congressional Primary election day and three days left to voter early
The James River Batteau Festival is set to launch this weekend with a stop next week in Scottsville
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors reviews a major capital plan which includes a billion dollars worth of construction already underway
A quick look at the real estate market with another review of recent price drops
First-shout: Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards taking applicants for next class
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: Have you ever wanted to become an expert in trees? A good way to do that is to learn to become a volunteer with the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards.
The group is currently taking applications for its tree steward training program which will run from August 6 to November 16 in a mixture of online and live classes. Those selected will learn about planting and pruning trees as well as removing invasive plants in local parks and woodlands. The training is open to residents of Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, Nelson, and Louisa and those who go through the program are asked to give 25 hours of their time each year.
Interested? Visit charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org to learn more including the class schedule and tuition information!
CRHA to create entity for redevelopment of Westhaven
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority spent many years planning for the adaptive reuse of the various communities it owns and operates throughout the city. Now the agency is on roll with residents now living in a renovated Crescent Hall and new units at South First Street.
Planning is well underway for the redevelopment of Westhaven, the oldest of CRHA’s communities. Tonight, the Board of Commissioners will adopt a resolution to create an entity that will technically own the finished product.
“The participation of the Authority in one or more transactions to support the Project necessitates the creation of such limited liability companies, limited partnerships and other entities as may be desirable to facilitate the participation of the Authority in the ownership structure for the Project,” reads a resolution authorizing Executive Director John Sales to sign the necessary paperwork. (read the resolution)
The new entity is also able to seek low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) as part of the project’s financing. The City Council has committed $3 million in funds in each of the next five years towards the project, with the first payment to come in FY2025. Sales made that request last September at a City Council worksession. (CRHA seeks $15 million in city funds for redevelopment of Westhaven as part of sustainability plan, October 1, 2023)
The projects at Crescent Halls and South First Street date back to a memorandum of understanding signed in January 2019 between the CRHA Board, Riverbend Development, the Virginia Community Development Corporation, and the Public Housing Association of Residents. (Riverbend and CRHA finalize contract for public housing redevelopment, Emily Hays, Charlottesville Tomorrow, January 7, 2019)
This meeting will be the first for new Commissioner Earl Hicks having recently been appointed by City Council. The CRHA list of who is on the Board has not been updated to reflect who he replaces.
CRHA Commissioners will also get a presentation on an eviction diversion program.
Five days left until Congressional primaries
There are five days left until June 18, the final day to vote in the party primaries to choose Congressional candidates in Virginia.
Early in-person voting can happen through Saturday for those who want to weigh in on the Fifth District where both the Republican and Democratic primaries are contested.
The Virginia Public Access Project tracks early voting and as of June 11, 89,246 people had voted in the Democratic Primary and 55,534 had voted in the Republican Primary.
The information is further broken down at the locality level. As of June 11, 968 Albemarle voters cast a ballot in the Republican Primary as had 172 in Charlottesville. That compares to 575 in Fluvanna, 382 in Greene, 726 in Louisa, and 215 in Nelson County.
On the Democratic side, 2,530 Albemarle voters have cast a ballot as have 875 in Charlottesville. In Fluvanna, 545 voters have participated, as have 414 in Greene, 498 in Louisa, and 257 in Nelson.
The statewide participation rate average for voting through June 11 is 15 votes per 1,000 registered voters.
Batteau Festival to land in Scottsville on June 17
An annual journey down the James River on wooden boats from the 19th century gets underway in Lynchburg this weekend and will arrive in southern Albemarle County sometime afterward.
“Scottsville is going to be celebrating Batteau Festival,” said Albemarle Supervisor Michael Pruitt. “This is a traveling festival that all goes up and down the James River.”
Pruitt said the season has been fairly rainy and so conditions are good for the fleet to arrive in Scottsville on June 17.
This is the 39th running of the James River Batteau Festival which is administered by the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society. The trip also makes stops at Bent Creek, Wingina, Howardsville, New Canton, Cartersville, and Malden’s Landing. Learn more about the festival on the society’s webpage.
Second-shout out: Five Things ReLeaf Cville Has Done This Year
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: ReLeaf Cville seeks to help restore the amount of the city that’s covered by trees. This year they’ve done five things they want people to know about:
The Virginia Department of Forestry awarded a $190K grant to preserve mature trees in neighborhoods with low tree cover, targeting Fifeville
Another grant helped with the planting of almost 130 trees in the Rose Hill neighborhood
This summer will be the third in a row they’ll partner with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance to train young people to help with outreach efforts to plant trees in the Woolen Mills neighborhood
They partnered with the Van Yahres Tree Company to provide volunteer work on Arbor Day to check in with recently planted trees in the 10th and Page neighborhood
They’ll be appearing on VPM on June 25 to discuss their work to date
If you’d like to support their work, visit releafcville.org
UVA Buildings and Grounds panel approves Major Capital Plan, including planning studies for Fifeville properties
There has been a building boom at the University of Virginia in the past several years and on June 7, the University of Virginia’s Buildings and Grounds Committee got an update on the major capital plan.
“We started last year in June with a $2.7 billion capital program,” said Colette Sheehy, the Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government Relations at UVA and oversees creation of the plan each year. “Over the course of the last 12 months we’ve finished $577 million worth of projects.”
John Nau III is the chair of the Buildings and Grounds COmmittee and he shared details on projects that finished.
“Since we met last February, the Contemplative Commons and the School of Data Science projects have been completed,” Nau said.
Other completed projects are the football operations centers, the two new residence halls of Ramazani House and Gaston House in the Brandon Avenue corridor, and the renovation of Alderman Library into the Shannon Library.
The total plan for the next year is smaller at $2.06 billion with a quarter of that in planning and a quarter having not yet been started.
“We’re still over a billion dollars in construction right now, over 50 percent of the program,” Sheehy said.
That plan continues to have $7 million set aside for an initiative to increase housing to provide beds for second-year students, a key component of the UVA Strategic Plan. UVA is seeking third-party firms to enter into a public-private partnership to build new residence halls.
“And we will be working through that process over the course of the summer and will have further reports and bring things back for approval by this committee and the Finance Committee into the fall,” Sheehy said.
Sheehy said the developers chosen may end up owning and operating the building depending on how the project is structured, but UVA will continue to own the land. The two sites under consideration are the eastern side of Emmet Street across from Massie Drive and a portion of the Emmet-Ivy Corridor.
One project that will be removed from the plan is a $60 million project to renovate Old Cabell Hall which Sheehy said won’t likely happen until another initiative in the planning stages is complete.
“We really need to construct the Center for the Arts which will house the music department which is currently in Old Cabell Hall,” Sheehy said. “So we really can’t do much in Old Cabell until we can move the music department.”
The panel approved the conceptual plan for the Center of the Arts which would be located on Emmet Street at the eastern end of the Emmet-Ivy Corridor. The project is still in the planning phases.
“The building will occupy an important and highly visible site in the corridor perpendicular to the new School of Data Science, providing a public face along Emmet Street and fronting the 20-foot wide pedestrian promenade in front of the stormwater pond,” said Alice Raucher, the University of Virginia Architect.
The entire project has a cost estimate of $315 million according to J.J. Wagner, the executive vice president and chief operating officer at UVA. So far, $50 million has been raised and UVA is seeking funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia to assist in the effort.
The plan also includes strategic studies such as a new Center for Entrepreneurship to be part of the Emmet-Ivy Corridor as well as a refresh of a 2019 study that looked at converting the fuel type for how heat is provided on Grounds.
“We’d really like to get off of burning coal,” Sheehy said.
One reason is to reduce emissions and another is that UVA is having a hard time procuring the kind of coal it needs.
Another issue for UVA is that they also use natural gas purchased from the City of Charlottesville. However, Sheehy said there are often capacity issues
“On the coldest days of the winter, they will curtail the University and so we have to have a back-up fuel to produce the steam particularly that the hospital needs,” Sheehy said.
Other strategic studies include planning for the Grove Street properties and the Oak Lawn estate, two key areas of Fifeville.
Both the Buildings and Grounds Committee and the full Board of Visitors approved the updated Major Capital Plan, though Nau said he wants to see more information about how the Board can get more involved in the planning process.
The group also approved the schematic design for the North Grounds parking garage which will have 1,030 spaces to support events at the John Paul Jones Arena and competitions in the athletic precinct. This will be constructed in the northwest corner of the intersection of Massie Road and Copeley Road. The full design will come before them in September.
Another look at price drops:
What’s happening with the real estate market? This newsletter doesn’t claim to have any answers but there are frequent anecdotes. Today is no different with another review now of recent “price drop” emails. I do this to try to get a sense of what’s not selling in a market where inventories are already low.
What do you think? Weigh in in the comments.
On May 23, the asking price of a three bedroom townhouse on Fowler Circle in Belvedere was dropped $14,000 to $574,900. The structure was built in 2022 and has a 2024 assessment of $513,000. (review the listing)
On May 23, the asking price of a three bedroom house at 1722 Yorktown Drive had its asking price dropped $20,000 to $795,000. Since then, the price was dropped again by $100,000 to $695,000 and a sale is pending according to the listing. The house was assessed in 2024 at $561,800. (see the listing)
On May 23, the asking price of a three bedroom house at 4517 Briarwood Drive in the Briarwood neighborhood in northern Albemarle dropped $10,000 to $560,000. The 2024 assessment is $424,600. (touch the listing)
On May 24, the asking price of a four bedroom house at 1340 Mosby’s Reach in the Dunlora neighborhood was reduced $25,000 to $824,000. The 2024 assessment is $594,900. (understand the listing)
On May 24, the listed price for 1004 Whispering Pines was reduced $45,000 to $875,000. The 2024 assessment is $684,600. (view the listing)
On May 28, the asking price for 421 9th Street NW dropped $100,000 to $599,000. The five bedroom house is assessed at $437,000. Mallard Marsh Properties paid $747,862 for the structure in March 2023. (wonder about the listing?)
On May 29, the asking price for 210 Georgetown Road was lowered $20,000 to $579,000. The three bedroom was assessed in 2024 at $356,900. (xerox the listing)
On May 30, the asking price for 1036 Locust Avenue dropped $75,000 to $1.025 million. On June 7, the asking price was further reduced to $995,000 for the four bedroom house. (yearn for the listing)
On May 30, the asking price for a four bedroom house at 1825 Wickham Place dropped $12,000 to $557,000. That’s only just above the 2024 assessment of $561,200. A sale is listing as pending. (zoom to the listing)
On June 3, the asking price for a four bedroom house at 1400 River Road was reduced $25,000 to $449,000. That’s below the 2024 assessment of $517,500. This sale is also listed as pending. (amble on over on to the listing)
On June 3, the asking price for a three bedroom townhouse at 1279 Laconia Lane dropped $10,430 to $619,740. This is new construction off of Polo Grounds Road without a 2024 assessment. This sale is pending. (believe the listing)
On June 4, the asking price for a four bedroom house at 1005 Whispering Pines Lane was lowered $45,000 to $1.25 million. The 2024 assessment is $676,100. (chase the listing)
On June 5, the asking price for a four bedroom townhouse built in 2019 at 3217 Bergen Street in the Avinity community was reduced by $15,100 to $469,900. That’s just above the 2024 assessment of $460,600. (drop by the listing)
On June 6, the asking price of a three bedroom house built on Greenbrier Terrace was lowered $5,000 to $420,000. The 2024 assessment is $396,700. (eavesdrop on the listing)
On June 7, the asking price for a three bedroom house at 424 Carrsbrook Drive was dropped $10,000 to $540,000. The 2024 assessment is $454,200. (follow the listing)
On June 7, the asking price for a four bedroom house at 1567 Sawgrass Court was reduced by $50,100 to $599,900. The 2024 assessment is $604,400. (glean the listing)
On June 11, the asking price for a three bedroom townhouse at Glennwood Station was reduced $20,000 to $359,000. The 2024 assessment is $311,000. (head over to the listing)
On June 11, the asking price for a six bedroom house at 101 S. Indian Spring Road went down $50,000 to $699,000. The 2024 assessment is $669,600. (inspect the listing)
Reading material:
29Investigates: Charlottesville & Albemarle brought in more than $100k from plastic bag tax, Keagan Hughes, 29NBC, June 11, 2024
Work may impact drivers near Biscuit Run Park, CBS19, June 11, 2024
Virginia NAACP sues Shenandoah school board after district restored Confederate names, Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury, June 12, 2024
Virginia joins request to American Bar Association to drop its DEI standards, Alixel Cabrera, Virginia Mercury, June 12, 2024
What will we do without #688?
I’m now back in Charlottesville and trying out this new schedule of getting the newsletter out in the morning. This may not stick but I thought I would try to do something different now that I have energy from traveling to other places.
The entire time I wasn’t physically here, I continued to have this place as my focus as I continued to write as much as I could. Now I hope to spend this month refining some of the systems and for me the biggest change I want to make is to post these in the morning. That may allow me to reconnect the podcast. I’m not quite ready to do that yet, but I am hopeful to get a podcast version of the trip to Champaign-Urbana out tomorrow or Saturday.
So, another edition gone but there will be another one in the future. All of this has been adding up since the very first article I wrote for a long-gone publication at Virginia Tech. I don’t know what the final fate will be of this publication, but the goal is to keep producing them.
Your paid subscription makes it possible to imagine this continuing for a while. This is the work I want to do, whether I be in Champaign-Urbana, Charleston, West Virginia, Chicago, Illinois, or Chambersburg, Virginia. I’ll keep reporting if you all keep paying me.
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I did not complete the headline for Price Drops. I wanted to get this out by 8:30 a.m. and I came close. I really like the idea of moving this to something that goes out in the morning rather than the afternoon.