Charlottesville’s new Development Code is less than a year old and each project that comes through the process tests another aspect of a novel system. That includes one of the University of Virginia’s planned affordable housing initiatives.
“A development team consisting of Preservation of Affordable Housing, National Housing Trust and Wickliffe Development Consulting was chosen by the UVA Foundation to be the developer of affordable housing on this two-acre site,” said J.T. Engelhardt of the National Housing Trust.
The project is within one of the city’s Architectural Design Control Districts which means the Board of Architectural Review needs to grant a certificate of appropriateness. The project also has to be approved by staff in the Department of Neighborhood Development Services based on the requirements of the new zoning code.
To help cover the cost of the project, the development team will pursue low-income housing tax credits from the government agency known as Virginia Housing. They’re on a tight deadline and Engelhardt said they must have an approved site plan by March 20 to be considered in the 2025 cycle, though the BAR’s approval is not needed for that purpose.
NDS staff have twice recommended denial of the site plan with the most recent coming on December 20. The denial letter is not included in the city’s development portal, nor is the site plan itself.
The BAR last saw the project in May and did so again on December 17.
The project could be as high as eleven stories under the new zoning of Corridor Mixed Use 8, but the developers are only proposing six and that top floor would be stepped back ten feet.
“From the perspective of someone standing on the street on either Wertland or 10th, it should feel like a four or five story building depending on where you are,” said Liz Chapman, an architect with the firm Grimm + Parker.
There will be an 83-space underground parking garage below a central courtyard. There will also be 16,000 square feet of non-residential space including an early childhood center.
To be approved as designed, there will need to be several waivers or exemptions.
For instance, Chapman said the project will be seeking a deviation from the streetscape requirements.
“We have a pretty big issue with some very substantial utilities in the street and under the sidewalk in this area,” Chapman said. “So we’re again proposing to leave the sidewalk where it’s currently located and move the street trees to an area with no encumbrances.”
Chapman said there have also been conversations with both the city and Dominion about undergrounding some of the utilities in the area.
Chapman said the terms of the low income housing tax credits require that the materials be brick and concrete. Both she and Engelhardt said going higher than six stories would push the project cost out of range.
“We couldn’t do 100 percent affordable housing in steel and concrete in this region or pool for Virginia Housing,” Chapman said “There’s simply not enough tax credits. Our ask would be too high. It’s not financeable.”
“We’re trying to stick with wood construction because that’s what the tax credits will bear,” Chapman said.
All 180 units would be income-restricted with a range between 30 percent of the area median income to 80 percent of the area median income. The exact mix has not yet been determined.
BAR member David Timmerman said he thought the design had improved but it still needed work. He wanted to be able to see into the courtyard at least at some point in order to break up what he described as a donut.
“I think just due to the size of it and the amount of kind of repetition, it starts to feel more relentless than it feels calling some attention to particularly important corners or particularly important locations,” Timmerman said.
Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz said he was concerned about the length of the building on Wertland Street, saying it feels too much like the Standard on West Main Street.
“I think we all can recognize that the standard is pretty unsuccessful as a streetscape experience,” Schwarz said.
Chapman said the length of the building on Wertland Street is 326 feet long.
“It is approximately five percent longer than what we are permitted by the current zoning code,” Chapman said “So we will be asking for an amendment to get to that length.”
Schwarz said the way it is currently presented is repetitive and he encouraged Chapman to make it look like there are two buildings on Wertland Street.
“Make it less monotonous, less of a big wall on Wertland Street, because that’s what my worry is,” Schwarz said.
Engelhardt said he and Chapman will take all of the feedback into account and they will return with an actual application in the future despite the constraints.
“We’re trying to manage a multi-family apartment building, double load a corridor, parking, topography, the utilities underground, the new zoning requirements and trying, I mean trying to have a good long-lasting deciduous tree,” Engelhardt said.
The other two UVA affordable housing projects are located in Albemarle County. Piedmont Housing Alliance is developing a 12 acre site off of Fontaine Avenue and the other site will be at the North Fork Discovery Park. For more information, take a look at the President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships.
Or, read previous stories:
- University of Virginia resumes housing initiative for up to 1,500 units, April 30, 2021
- UVA announces three sites for affordable housing projects, December 14, 2021
- University of Virginia issues first request for qualifications for affordable housing developer, June 10, 2022
- Regional Housing Partnership endorses Piedmont Housing Alliance’s application to build affordable housing at two UVA sites,
- Nonprofits have been asked to work on UVA housing projects, February 15, 2023
- UVA has picked two groups to move forward with affordable housing projects, August 25, 2023
- UVA Foundation seeks firms to build 600 units of mixed-income housing at North Fork, November 26, 2024
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