Information Charlottesville

Some people know much more about how real estate works than others. I disclaim I own one house within Charlottesville but otherwise have no interest in using additional property to advance my material wealth. For others, this is their career. I write these because as the community seeks solutions to the high cost of housing, I feel it is crucial to have a sense of what’s happening even if I’m still learning all of the mechanics.

I will also disclaim I do make a living writing about the place around me. I’ve spent nearly fifteen years paying close attention to land use issues and I’m making a living off of it in that manner. This summary goes first to paid Substack subscribers but will be posted to Information Charlottesville on Wednesday. Thank you to the hundreds of subscribers for helping Town Crier Productions get off the ground!

This is the 13th of these reports. For this first one for this year, I’ll be posting the assessment increases for both 2021 and 2022. For some transactions, I’ll throw in sales prices over the 2020 assessment for a sense of scale. Assessments increased an average of 10.77 percent this year. 

The sales prices here are tied to contracts signed in late November or in December, so the use of the 2022 assessment is meant for illustrative purposes. This report is an exercise for all of us to review in the hopes of better understanding the forces at work.  

Some guidelines for this report. The purchasers are individuals or families unless specifically named. In that case, the purchaser is a corporate entity. For this month, I am not looking up to see whether there is a recent building permit that would explain a sudden increase in value.

The biggest transaction here is clearly the sale of Midway Manor, and the plans for a public hearing at the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to issue up to $23 million in bonds to support its renovation and continued existence as an affordable housing complex for seniors. That public hearing is on February 28. 

January 4, 2022

• One half of a duplex in the 900 block of Rock Creek Road sold for $205,000. This is in the Orangedale section of the Fifeville neighborhood. The sales price is 54.02 percent over the 2021 assessment and 23.57 percent over the 2022 assessment and. This is one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods within Charlottesville. Almost all of the units are duplexes built around 1980. 

January 5, 2022

• A four bedroom house built in 1955 on Crestmont Avenue in Fry’s Spring sold for $368,000. That’s 2.51 percent over the 2021 assessment and 7.79 percent below the 2022 assessment. 
• A four bedroom house built in 2007 on Huntley Avenue in Fry’s Spring sold for $580,000. That’s 19.34 percent over the 2021 assessment and 9.56 percent over the 2022 assessment. 

January 6, 2022

• A four bedroom house built in 2005 in the 1300 block of Kenwood Lane in the Greenbrier neighborhood sold for $805,916. That’s 3.3 percent above the 2021 assessment and 0.5 percent below the 2022 assessment. 

January 7, 2022

• A three bedroom house built in 1925 on West Street in the Tenth and Page neighborhood sold for $250,000. That’s 5.55 percent below the 2021 assessment and 16.05 percent below the 2022 assessment. 
• Black Cat Holdings LLC purchased a two bedroom house in the 1200 block of Grove Road for $200,000. That’s 14.24 percent below the 2021 assessment and 21.26 percent below the 2022 assessment. 
• A four bedroom house on Price Avenue in the Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood sold for $455,000, which is 4.37 percent below the 2021 assessment and 2.62 percent above the 2022 assessment. This is one of those rare properties that declined in assessment this year. 
• A 0.341 vacant lot off of Highland Avenue as well as a home on Broad Avenue in Fry’s Spring sold for $395,000. That’s 63.16 percent over the combined 2021 assessment for both parcels and 40.52 percent over the combined 2022 assessment. The two parcels together total 0.728 acres. The land is designated as General Residential under the new Future Land Use Map which allows “for additional housing choices within existing residential neighborhoods throughout the city.” 

January 10, 2022

• A five bedroom house on Crestmont Avenue in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood sold for $370,000 which is 2.99 percent below the 2021 assessment and 12.74 percent below the 2022 assessment. 

January 11, 2022

• Land along the railroad tracks that used to be owned by C&O Railway is now owned by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. This was a title transfer with no exchange of funds. 
• A three bedroom house in the 2000 block of Meadowbrook Road in the Barracks / Rugby neighborhood sold for $585,000. That’s 18.28 percent over the 2021 assessment and 2.6 percent below the 2022 assessment. 

January 12, 2022

• A two bedroom house in the 800 block of King Street in the Fifeville neighborhood sold for $305,000. That’s 27.56 percent over the 2021 assessment of $239,100, 25.98 percent over the 2022 assessment of $242,100, and 62.49 percent over the 2020 assessment of $187,700.
  
  In the new Future Land Use Map, this property is within the General Residential (Sensitive Community Areas) which allows “for additional housing choice and tools to mitigate displacement, within existing residential neighborhoods that have high proportions of populations that may be sensitive to displacement pressures.” Those boundaries could change during the update of the zoning code. 
• The Hestia Property Group purchased a three bedroom house on David Terrace in the Greenbrier neighborhood sold for $380,000. That’s 24.84 percent over the 2021 assessment and 13.13 percent over the 2022 assessment.

January 13, 2022

• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville repurchased one of its homes in Burnet Commons for $345,000, or 22.3 percent over the 2021 assessment. That’s also 6.25 percent over the 2022 assessment. A Habitat family had purchased the home in July 2016.

• A new company has purchased Midway Manor at 100 Ridge Street for $16.5 million. That’s 115.65 percent over the 2021 assessment of around $7.65 million. The purchaser is Standard Midway Manor Venture LP, which has an office address on the Avenue of the Stars in Los Angeles, California. According to a legally-required advertisement in the Daily Progress, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will hold a public hearing on February 28, 2022 on a proposal to issue up to $23 million in “exempt facility bonds” bonds on “acquiring, constructing, renovating, rehabilitating, and equipping an age restricted affordable housing development to be known as Midway Manor Apartments, to consist of 94 one-bedroom and two four-bedroom units.” 
  An annual plan adopted by the CRHA Board of Commissioners in January does not have a mention of this possibility.
  
  ”The Project will be owned by the Applicant or an entity affiliated with and controlled by or under common ownership with the Applicant,” reads the advertisement.

January 14, 2022

• A three bedroom house in the 1100 block of Locust Avenue sold for $404,000. That’s 32.98 percent over the 2021 assessment and 15.2 percent over the 2022 assessment.
• A three bedroom house on McElroy Drive in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood sold for $345,000. That’s 11.15 percent over the 2021 assessment and 2.65 percent over the 2022 assessment. 
• Neighborhood Investments purchased an apartment complex at 1709 Jefferson Park Avenue for $1.3 million. That’s 5.74 percent below the 2021 assessment and 9.37 percent below the 2022 assessment. 

January 18, 2022

• A four bedroom in the 1200 block of Holmes Avenue in the Locust Grove neighborhood sold for $367,500. That’s 24.7 percent over the 2021 assessment and 2.8 percent over the 2022 assessment. 

January 19, 2022

• A three bedroom house in the 700 block of Elizabeth Avenue sold for $349,000, which is 45.42 percent over the 2021 assessment and 19.23 percent over the 2022 assessment.

January 20, 2022

• A two bedroom house in the 800 block of Druid Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood sold for $250,000. That’s 30.07 percent over the 2021 assessment and 16.28 percent over the 2022 assessment. 
• A 937 square foot unit in an apartment building in the 600 block of Cabell Avenue in the Venable neighborhood sold for $295,000. That’s 33.67 percent over the 2021 assessment and 24.53 percent over the 2022 assessment. 

January 24, 2022

• A 690 foot square unit in the Cedars Court complex sold for $145,000. That’s 29.35 percent over the 2021 assessment and 13.28 percent over the 2022 assessment. 
• A three bedroom house on 7 1/12 Street in Fifeville within the Sensitive Communities area sold for $522,000, but this one needs more explanation to provide some context for that price being 57.47 percent over the 2021 assessment and 191.46 percent above the 2020 assessment.
  
  The last transaction for this property was in March 2016 when the property was purchased for $155,000. The new owner constructed an addition, upgraded the electrical, replaced the sewer laterals, replaced the gas furnace, and replaced the plumbing. 

January 25, 2022

• A 937 square foot unit in the Carter Gilmer condominium complex sold for $372,000, which is 15.96 percent over the 2021 assessment and 12.49 percent over the 2022 assessment.

January 27, 2022

• The vacant land on which the first phase of the Friendship Court redevelopment will be built has been transferred to an entity called FC Phase 1 LLC under a new parcel. The address traces back to Piedmont Housing Alliance, the nonprofit developer of the property. There is no assessment on the land available through GIS.
• A two bedroom townhouse in the Druid Hill complex in Belmont sold for $320,000. That’s 21.72 percent over the 2021 assessment and 10.65 percent over the 2022 assessment. 
• New construction of a four-bedroom house in the Charlottesville side of the Lochlyn Hill neighborhood sold for $685,436. The assessment for 2021 was $637,600, making this transaction 7.5 percent over that amount.

January 28, 2022

• A five bedroom house on Shelby Drive in the Meadows neighborhood sold for $422,500. That’s 25.33 percent over the 2021 assessment of $337,100 and 34.85 percent over the 2020 assessment of $313,300. The transaction is 9.18 percent below the 2022 assessment of $465,200. 

January 31, 2022

• An empty lot in the Woolen Mills neighborhood on Caroline Avenue sold for $120,000 or 9.09 percent over the 2022 assessment. A structure on the 0.20 acre property had been standing until sometime in the last year but has been demolished. Part of the land is in the one percent annual exceedance area as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• A commercial building in the 500 block of Meade Avenue sold for $365,000, which is 20.9 percent over the 2021 assessment.