This is the 25th summary of property transactions that I have put together for paid subscribers of this newsletter to have a first look. Since the beginning, the idea is to track what is happening parcel by parcel as a way of understanding what is happening in a market where so many fundamental changes have been made in recent years. What kind of year will this be?
Just before 2023 got underway, the City Council amended and reaffirmed a Comprehensive Plan that calls for additional density as one tool to bring down the cost of housing through increased supply. There’s also an affordable housing plan that calls in Council to spend $10 million a year in spending to subsidize units.
For most of 2022, I listed the Future Land Use Map designation for each parcel. Now we have more specifics. At the end of January, the city released the first of three “modules” of the new zoning code that will establish the rules for what can happen and where. In this summary, each parcel now lists what the draft zoning code designates for each property as well as the acreage.
We also have the 2023 assessments, which appear to reflect much of what has been reported in these property transaction summaries for the past year. In cases where a property owner is not stressed, buyers are still willing to pay over the assessment to get access to land.
We also appear to have a slowdown as well as an increase in homes available for sale. Mortgage rates appear as they are headed to further increases, making it much more expensive to borrow money to finance land use projects. So, what kind of a year will it be? Let’s take it one month at a time.
In this summary, I’ll frequently list the 2020 assessment for comparison to see how they have fared for each property. This time around, I’ll list the new zoning category for each parcel as well as the acreage.
The point is not necessarily to identify trends, but to understand what’s happening. If you have any additional information or questions, please let me know via email or in the comments.
January 3, 2023
- A 431 square foot one bedroom unit on the fifth floor of the former Monticello Hotel sold for $220,000. That’s 12.24 percent over the 2023 assessment of $196,000. The 2020 assessment was $161,600. (Downtown Mixed Use, N/A)
January 5, 2023
- A three bedroom house on Minor Road in the Lewis Mountain Road neighborhood sold for $575,000. That’s 7.56 percent over the 2022 assessment of $534,600 but 4.63 percent below the 2023 assessment of $602,900. (Residential-A, 0.1555 acres)
January 6, 2023
- A 0.14 acre lot on Woodfolk Drive in the Ridge Street neighborhood sold for $80,500 to LMD Properties, an entity registered in Nevada. The seller was LBQ Properties LLC. The sales price is 98.77 percent over the 2023 assessment of $40,500. (Residential-A, 0.14 acres)
January 9, 2023
- A firm called GH Charlottesville VA purchased the former Greyhound station on West Main Street for $2.42 million. That’s 17.48 percent below the assessment. In December, Twenty Lakes Management LLC acquired similar properties all across the country for $140 million from a British transportation company. I first reported this transaction in an article in C-Ville Weekly earlier this month.
The zoning at this location is Commercial Mixed-Use 8 which will allow 114 feet tall buildings by-right (eight stories) or 142 feet with bonus units (ten stories). (CX-8, 0.5 acres) - A company called Quick Fix Real Estate purchased a two-bedroom house at 1213 Little High Street for $208,000. The firm is based in Roanoke. The 2023 assessment for the property is $448,800 making the transaction 53.65 percent below the 2023 assessment. The assessment in 2020 was $363,100. (Residential-A, 0.172 acres)
- A small lot on Montrose Avenue at the intersection with Rialto Street in the Belmont neighborhood sold for $108,000, or 2.86 percent over the assessment of $105,000. (Residential-A, 0.139 acres)
January 10, 2023
- A three bedroom house in the 800 block of Elliot Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood that includes a separate apartment sold for $565,000. That’s 35.07 percent over the 2023 assessment of $418,300. The assessment in 2020 was $343,200. (Residential-B, 0.139 acres)
- A four bedroom house on Kerry Lane in the Greenbrier neighborhood sold for $650,000. That’s 3.06 percent over the 2023 assessment of $630,700. In 2020, the assessment was $501,700. (Residential-A, 0.38 acres)
January 11, 2023
- A two bedroom house in the 2300 block of Fontaine Avenue in the Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood sold for $355,000. The sales price was right in between the 2022 assessment of $332,100 and 2023 assessment of $373,100. This transaction took place before the first module of the zoning was released.
The current zoning is R-2U but the future zoning is Commercial Mixed Use 5 (CX-5), which will allow a 72 foot tall building by-right and a 100’ building with bonus heights. Those rules will come out in the second module in mid-March. (CX-5, 0.235 acres) - An 1,150 square foot two bedroom unit in the Queen Charlotte building on East Jefferson Street sold for $630,000. That’s right in between the 2022 assessment of $613,400 and the 2023 assessment of $640,000. (CX-8, N/A)
- A two bedroom house in the 400 block of Valley Road Extended in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood sold for $269,000. That’s 14.76 percent over the 2023 assessment of $234,000. (Residential-A, 0.083 acres)
- A new three bedroom house built in the Lochlyn Hill neighborhood sold for $814,500. Arcadia Builders purchased the 0.0790 acre lot on Nicholson Lane last year for $143,325. The 2023 assessment for the unfinished property is $175,000. (Residential-A, 0.079 acres)
January 13, 2023
- A four bedroom house on Perry Drive in the North Downtown neighborhood sold for $410,000. That’s below the 2022 assessment of $437,300 and 13.65 percent below the 2023 assessment of $474,800. (Residential A, 0.211 acres)
- A commercial property at 970 Rives Street sold for $600,000 to an entity called 970 Rives LLC. That’s 1.42 percent over the 2022 assessment of $591,600, but 22.45 percent below the 2023 assessment of $773,700. This is our first example of a Neighborhood Mixed-Use property selling this month. For more information on what can be done in these areas, view page 28 of the draft zoning rules. (NX-3, 0.53 acres)
- An entity called Harris Street LLC purchased 1100 Harris Street for $2.1 million. That’s 40.54 percent above the 2023 assessment of $1,494,200. This is our first industrial mixed use project of this month. This has historically been a Southern States store. Learn more about this in the draft zoning on page 40. The seller of both this property and 970 Rives is a subsidiary of the former Virginia Oil Company. (IX-5, 1.14 acres)
January 17, 2023
- A two bedroom house in the 1000 block of Sheridan Avenue in the Locust Grove neighborhood sold for $375,000. That is 17.85 percent over the 2023 assessment of $318,200. The 2020 assessment was $228,200. (Residential-A, 0.16 acres)
- Four properties in the 1100 block of East Market Street have sold for $1.44 million to 11th Street Partners. That’s 15.21 percent over the 2023 assessment of nearly $1.25 million for the four properties. Last April, a development team including a former University of Virginia men’s basketball star appeared at a site plan conference for a project consisting of 11 townhomes. Take a look at my story. (CX-5, 0.584 acres)
January 18, 2023
- A three bedroom house built in 1939 in the 1700 block of Rugby Avenue sold for $590,000. That’s 6.21 percent over the 2022 assessment of $555,500 and 6.66 percent below the 2023 assessment of $632,100. (Residential-C, 0.249 acres)
- A three bedroom house on Baker Street in the Fifeville neighborhood sold for $335,000. That’s 7.44 percent above the 2023 assessment of $311,800. (Residential-A, 0.166 acres)
January 19, 2023
- Evergreen Home Builders LLC purchased six lots in the Lochlyn Hill Development on Pen Park Lane for $800,415. That’s 7.58 percent over the 2023 combined assessment of $744,000 for the six lots. (Residential-A, 0.319 acres)
January 20, 2023
- A three bedroom house on 12th Street in the Venable neighborhood built in 1924 sold for $305,000 to an entity called Hogar Hispano Inc. That transaction is below both the 2022 assessment of $317,900 and the 2023 assessment of $357,900. The assessment in 2020 was $263,500. Hogar Hispano Inc. is an affordable housing group based in Puerto Rico. (Residential-A, 0.149 acres)
- A vacant property on Leonard Street that also has frontage on Carlton Road sold for $15,000. That’s 84.18 percent below the 2023 assessment. (Residential-A, 0.14 acres)
January 23, 2023
- A 936 square foot three bedroom apartment in the Linden Town Lofts on Linden Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood sold for $295,000. That’s 5.81 percent over the 2023 assessment of $278,800. The 2020 assessment was $205,300. (Residential-C, N/A)
January 24, 2023
- A house on Cherry Avenue that changed hands between several LLCs in the second half of 2022 is now owned by an individual again. 1505 Cherry Avenue sold for $425,000, which is 43.1 percent above the 2023 assessment of $297,000. (Residential-B, 0.3 acres)
- A firm called Cardinal Ventures, Inc. is the new owner of a three bedroom house in the 1200 block of King Street. The structure was built in 1914 and the last cash sale for the property was in 1969 when it sold for $4,250 to Wilbert and Margaret Wingfield. The sale price according to the city’s sales records is $175,000, making this transaction 36.29 percent below the assessment. (Residential-A, 0.165 acres)
January 25, 2023
- A three bedroom house built in 2017 on Nassau Street in the Belmont neighborhood sold for $485,000. That’s 13.37 percent over the 2022 assessment of $427,800 and 3.73 percent below the 2023 assessment of $503,800. (Residential-A, 0.172 acres)
- A 1,119 square foot two bedroom apartment in the Walker Square condominium complex sold for $375,000. That’s 19.24 percent over the 2022 assessment of $314,500 and 3.25 percent above the 2023 assessment of $363,200. (RX-5, N/A)
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville sold a new home on Montpelier Street in the Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood for $281,900. As its new construction, there is no 2023 assessment. The terms of the deed prohibit the purchaser from renting the property out without Habitat’s permission. Habitat also has the right of first refusal for forty years, but that doesn’t apply to transfers of the title to spouses or descendants. (CX-5, 0.079 acres)
January 26, 2023
- A three bedroom townhouse on Quarry Road sold for $382,500. That’s 13.2 percent over the 2022 assessment of $337,900 and 3.52 percent over the 2023 assessment of $369,500. (Residential-C, 0.038)
- Habitat sold another home on Piedmont Avenue South in the Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood, this time for $284,900. The same conditions apply as in the above example. (CX-5, 0.128 acres)
- A four bedroom house on Harrow Road in the Barracks / Rugby neighborhood sold for $1,132,480. This one demonstrates the increase in assessments since 2020, when the assessment was $811,800. The transaction is 39.5 percent above that figure and 13.46 percent over the 2022 assessment of $998,100. The 2023 assessment climbed to $1,1180,000 of 1.3 percent over. (Residential-B, 0.62 acres)
January 30, 2023
- This blurb originally ran as part of a larger article in C-Ville Weekly. Go read it!
A house at 615 Bolling Ave. sold on January 30 for $760,000, after extensive renovations, for $180,000 over the 2023 assessed value. That’s 30.1 percent. The original house was built in 1920 and last purchased in January 2021 for $165,000, or about $50,000 under the assessed value that year. That purchaser began work, but was told to stop because the asbestos certificate had not been turned in. Only then did the owner apply for building permits for renovations of the existing house, as well as construction of a one-bedroom accessory dwelling unit. (Residential-A, 0.139 acres) - A two bedroom house in the 1400 block of Cherry Avenue sold for $361,400. That’s 3.08 percent above the 2023 assessment of $350,600. The house was assessed at $275,100 in 2020. (Residential-B, 0.189 acres)
January 31, 2023
- A four bedroom house on Monte Vista Avenue in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood sold for $430,000. That’s 37.07 percent over the 2023 assessment. The assessment for 2020 was $228,300. (Residential-A, 0.142 acres)
What do you think will happen in 2023? If you’re a property owner, do you have immediate plans to take advantage of the new zoning when it comes into play? What do you want to know that you don’t know now?
Any news in regard to the sale/closing of the Hampton Inn & Suites downtown? Set for closing in the fall. To be converted to ‘student housing’. UVA involved?
I’ll keep an eye for that, but haven’t heard anything. Vacancy rates are still fairly high, so a conversion at this time for a different use would be with risk. The hotel isn’t that old. Still, I’ll keep an eye out.