January 2024 Charlottesville transactions: Two CX-5 properties in Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood sell for $970,000

Now that there are new rules for how things get built in Charlottesville, there’s perhaps a greater need to get these property transaction summaries out quicker to better understand how the Development Code might affect the market.

There’s also a need for me to now begin looking up each property in the city’s new development portal to see if any of the new owners have filed any plans. There are so many details available there, and the new system is a vast improvement over what I have been using the last few years.

One way I entice people to pay for a paid subscription is to send these summaries to paid subscribers first. Hundreds of you are paying for the work, and those hundreds are covering the cost to produce the regular newsletter for anyone who wants to read or listen. These summaries are the only posts that go behind a paywall for a few days. Then it will be posted to Information Charlottesville, just like the Albemarle transactions from early January were posted today.

This is what I do for a living. I see a viable business model for this work, and all of you, paid and unpaid, are helping to keep it going. There’s a lot of interest and I’m grateful for your readership.  

I don’t offer any analysis or trends or anything that can be construed as advice. This is simply an anecdotal look intended to offer a glimpse into several transactions. If you see any errors or have any other insight, please let me know. 

Each entry will contain the 2024 assessment and a second assessment from one or more of the past several years to indicate the growth in valuation. A lot has changed in five years. What’s going to change in the next five? 

I’ll be here to write as much of it up as I can.

January 3, 2024

• A two bedroom house in the 700 block of Lexington Avenue in the Martha Jefferson neighborhood sold for $700,000. That’s 0.55 percent above the 2024 assessment of $696,200 and 33 percent over the 2020 assessment of $525,000. According to the portal, a building permit was requested on February 15, 2024 to expand the deck and to add a new guest entry. (Residential-B, 0.289 acres)

January 4, 2024

• A four bedroom house built in 1930 on Evergreen Avenue in the North Downtown neighborhood sold for $1.5 million. That’s 27.28 percent above the 2024 assessment of $1,178,500 and 48.49 percent above the 2020 assessment of $1,010,200. (Residential-A, 0.229 acres)
• A three bedroom house built in 2019 in the Lochlyn Hill subdivision on Bennett Street in the Locust Grove neighborhood sold for $550,000. That’s 8.1 percent above the 2024 assessment of $508,800 and 32.02 percent above the 2020 assessment of $416,600. (Residential-A, 0.06 acres)

January 5, 2024

• A four bedroom house built in 1945 in the 700 block of Ridge Street sold for $420,000. That’s 8.87 percent below the 2024 assessment of $460,900 and 54.13 percent above the 2020 assessment of $272,500. (Residential-A, 0.258 acres)
• A four bedroom house in the 1000 block of St. Clair Avenue sold for $639,000. That’s 9.87 percent above the 2024 assessment of $581,600 and 133.21 percent above the 2020 assessment of $274,000. A search of the building portal shows the kitchen and bathroom were remodeled in 2022 and a new deck was added. (Residential-A, 0.171 acres)

January 8, 2024

• The Piedmont Housing Alliance transferred a property it previously purchased in the 700 block of Prospect Avenue to the Piedmont Community Land Trust. The next entry in the deed book is the $155,000 purchase of the structure by an individual. That’s 2.24 percent above the 2024 improvement assessment of $151,600. (Residential Neighborhood A, 0.083 acres)
• A 2,720 square foot commercial unit at 914 East Jefferson Street sold for $459,500 to an LLC of the same name. That’s 13.47 percent below the 2024 assessment of $531,000 and 9.15 percent above the 2020 assessment of $505,800. A search of the development portal shows that an existing medical office is being turned into a new dental clinic. (Node Mixed Use 8, N/A)

January 10, 2024

• A three bedroom single-family attached unit in the 900 block of Rock Creek Road in the Fifeville neighborhood sold for $180,000. The purchaser is an entity called Rock Creek Residences LLC. The purchase price is 17.96 percent below the 2024 assessment of $219,400. This property’s assessment increased sharply between 2021 and 2022 from $139,200 to $173,400. (Residential Neighborhood A, 0.105 acres)

January 12, 2024

• Jefferson Street Properties LLC has purchased the office building at 211 East High Street for $1,475,000. That’s 0.87 percent below the 2024 assessment of $1.47 million and 9.26 percent above the 2020 assessment of $1.35 million. (Commercial Mixed Use 3, 0.26 acres)
• Movement Church has purchased 309-315 Hillsdale Drive for $1 million. This is within the Seminole Square Shopping Center but is not within the section being redeveloped by Great Eastern Management Company. The transaction is 15.57 percent below the 2024 assessment of $1,163,200 and 8.9 percent above the 2020 assessment of $918,300. (Node Mixed Use 10, N/A) 

January 16, 2024

• A two bedroom house on Meriwether Street in the Little High neighborhood sold for $340,000. That’s 25.73 percent below the 2024 assessment of $457,800. The last time money changed hands on this property was in September 1953 for $11,000. (Residential-A, 0.17 acres)

January 17, 2024

• An office building constructed in 1930 at 810 East High Street sold for $795,000. That’s 4.3 percent below the 2024 assessment of $830,700 and 12.53 percent above the 2020 assessment of $706,500. The new owner is Gadshill Enterprises LLC. (Node Mixed Use 10, 0.09 acres)
• A three bedroom house on Huntley Avenue built in 2014 sold for $537,000. That’s 1.72 percent above the 2024 assessment of $527,900 and 51.1 percent above the 2020 assessment of $355,400. A permit for an electric charger was issued on January 31. (Residential-A, 0.071 acres)

January 19, 2024

• A single-family detached house built in 1951 in the 1000 block of Avon Street in the Belmont neighborhood sold for $660,000. That’s 9.85 percent below the 2024 assessment of $732,100. That’s 23.39 percent above the 2020 assessment of $534,900. (Residential-C, 0.139 acres)
• An 893 square foot condominium in a building at 1307 Wertland Street sold for $255,000. That’s 11.65 percent above the 2024 assessment of $228,00 and 51.88 percent above the 2020 assessment of $167,900. (Residential Mixed Use 5, N/A)
• A single-family attached house in the 1200 block of Holmes Avenue sold for $280,000. This property jumped sharply in assessment from 2023 to 2024. The transaction is 1.67 percent above the 2024 assessment of $275,400 and 40.77 percent above the 2023 assessment of $198,900. The foundation was repaired last year, according to the city’s building permit portal. (Residential-A, 0.086 acres)

January 23, 2024

• A 405 square foot one-bedroom apartment in the Cedars sold for $126,500. That’s 9.66 percent above the 2024 assessment of $114,900 and 66.67 percent above the 2020 assessment of $75,600. (Node Mixed Use 5, N/A)

January 25, 2024

• A unit in the Maclin Building at 408 East Market sold for $235,000 but the details for Unit 208B does not appear to be visible in the records so I can’t obtain the 2024 assessment. According to deeds, it appears that Unit 208B was created from Unit208A when the entity Jerry Miller Real Estate 4 LLC split it into a separate property and sold it to Leo Properties. (Downtown Mixed Use, N/A)

January 26, 2024

• A three bedroom house built in 1971 on Hartman’s Mill Road sold for $384,000. That’s 39.53 percent above the 2024 assessment of $275,200 and 114.41 percent above the 2020 assessment of $179,100. (Residential-A, 0.12 acres)

January 29, 2024

• A 946 square foot one bedroom apartment on the fifth floor of the Lewis and Clark Building at 250 West Main Street sold for $375,000. That’s 11.12 percent below the 2024 assessment of $421,900 and 18.07 percent above the 2020 assessment of $317,600. (Downtown Mixed Use, N/A

January 30, 2024

• A recently built four bedroom townhouse on Pen Park Lane in the Lochlyn Hill neighborhood sold for $807,421. There’s no 2024 assessment. The estimated cost of construction is $490,000 according to the building permit. (Residential-A, 0.045 acres)
• The unit next door sold for $763,475 and has the same estimated cost of construction listed. That’s $490,000. (Residential-A, 0.045 acres)

January 31, 2024

• ISHT LLC is now the owner of a three bedroom house on Henry Avenue in the Rose Hill neighborhood built in 1920 for $140,000. The property had been owned by a Lawrence Brown who died in 2022 and ownership passed to his family. The purchase is 39.42 percent below the 2024 assessment of $231,100. (Residential Neighborhood A, 0.166 acres) 
• A firm called MMB Stadium paid $970,000 for two properties at 105 Washington Avenue and 112 Harmon Street. 105 Washington Street is a four bedroom house built in 1930. 112 Harmon was built in 1973 and has multiple units. The transaction is 1.73 percent below the combined 2024 assessment of $987,100 and 30.39 percent above the 2020 combined assessment of $743,900. Nothing has been submitted yet through the development portal. (Corridor Mixed Use 5, 0.277 acres)
• A three bedroom house on Park Lane in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood sold for $600,000. That’s 21.53 percent above the 2024 assessment of $493,700. (Residential-A, 0.251 acres)
• A four bedroom house on Lankford Avenue built in 2004 as part of the first phase of Burnet Commons sold for $480,000. That’s 7.62 percent below the 2024 assessment of $519,600 and 16.25 percent above the 2020 assessment of $412,900. (Residential-A, 0.097 acres)

Concluding thoughts

So, what do you think? My own thought is that none of us know for sure what is going to happen. I do this work because I’m very curious about the granular and I really am very glad that I have the opportunity to get to look through all of this and share it with a growing audience.

The rules were changed for a variety of different reasons. I’ve documented much of that in the past three and half years or so, and my previous time at Charlottesville Tomorrow can be described as eleven years of learning how to do what I’m doing now.

You seeing this are the paid subscribers and the people whom those paid subscribers have forwarded it on to, with my permission. My aim with this is to inform people about how things work, a mission borne of my being a first generation American who chose a career trying to figure out why things are the way are.

Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment went out to people who have paid through Substack five days before being posted here to Information Charlottesville.

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