At their January meeting, the Pantops Community Advisory Committee learned more about a proposal to build a four-story hotel next to the Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center. Andy Reitelbach is the lead reviewer for the 125-room Pantops Overlook Hotel, which requires an amendment to the existing zoning.
“Sometimes the zoning that designates what can be developed by-right and the future land uses identified in the master plan do not always line up,” Reitelbach said. “That is way a rezoning may have to come in.”
In this case, the zoning states this land should be for office use and that a tree conservation area should be on the property. The Pantops Master Plan calls for most of the land to be community mixed-use and a small portion part of it be parks and recreation. Access would be right-in, right-out onto U.S. 250. One CAC member asked what the business viability would be for another hotel.
“In this immediate area we have going up very soon if not already finished and operating, a Holiday Inn Express, a Hilton Garden Inn, a Comfort Inn and on the plans a Hampton Inn,” said Sara Robinson. “What justification did the owners that we needed another hotel?”
Doug Ellis is with WS4 LLC, the company that owns the property.
“We see Albemarle County as a great market for a well-developed and designed hotel that meets a different need than those what you listed off but we’re very aware that they are in the general area as well and hope to develop a product that is very different from those,” Ellis said.
The new hotel would be all suites and would offer extended stays. The same company owns an adjacent parcel under the company Happy Boxes Pantops LLC. Ellis said there are no plans to develop that land. There is no date yet for public hearings at the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors.
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