Ellis continues to vote against any capital spending at UVA

The construction of new buildings and infrastructure at the University of Virginia is organized and financed through the adoption each year of a Major Capital Plan. At the winter semester meeting of the Board of Visitors, the Buildings and Grounds Committee reviews any additions or deletions. This usually happens before taking a vote in June. (meeting book)

“However, before we get to June, there are two projects that the Health System would like to move forward sooner than June,” said Colette Sheehy, the senior vice president for operations and state government relations at UVA.

Both projects are at the North Fork Discovery Park, which is owned by the University of Virginia Foundation. Both are capital projects to “fit out” existing buildings rather than construct a new one.

The first is an expansion of the mail order and specialty pharmacy which has grown past the 10,000 square feet in which it currently operates.

“One area of growth is in specialty and mail order pharmacy services, which serve a wide group of patients, providing convenient home delivery and increased access to specialty medications,” Sheehy said.

The request is for $6 million for a new location and the Health System would like to move forward.

Governor Glenn Youngkin appointed Bert Ellis to the Board of Visitors in the summer of 2022. He was an early critic of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at UVA. He’s also a critic of spending and at the December meeting of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, he was the lone vote against approval of a schematic design for the North Grounds Parking Garage.

On March 6, he was the lone vote against moving ahead with the pharmacy.

“Before the vote, I will make my stand once again to all my colleagues that I will be a no vote on any additional capital expenditures until I see a budget for 2025/2026 of at least 100 million less than what we’ve been spending,” Ellis said.

The second addition to the Major Capital Plan is $2 million for planning and design for a clinical lab facility within the Town Center 4 building.

“The Health System has a clinical lab on 11th Street and it’s just clearly outgrown the capacity,” Sheehy said. “We looked to see if we could find a space closer, close into the hospital to build another building, another clinical lab building, which we couldn’t really find one.”

The Finance Committee also discussed both projects at their meeting on March 7 as they are the body that considers whether to spend money. However, UVA Executive Vice President said both projects are intended to generate revenue.

“The team is looking at where there is growth margin,” said J.J. Davis, the UVA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “They are identifying locations where they can expand, where there’s profitability.”

Other committee members were skeptical about why North Fork was being considered. Davis responded that North Fork is within Albemarle County’s development area and has been recently rezoned to allow for housing. Sheehy told the committee that Cville Biohub just cut the ribbon on its biomedical accelerator space.

Ellis was once again the lone vote against adding the project.

Top photo: Bert Ellis (Credit: University of Virginia)

Before you go: This is the second of several stories to come out of the March 2025 meeting of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors. It was published in the March 8, 2025 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. There’s a big story that happened at the meeting, but Town Crier Productions seeks to be thorough and this time started at the beginning of the tape.