City Council declares 1000 Wertland Street as revitalization area to help secure tax credits

BAR seeks more revisions to the project’s design

There are a lot of steps to take if you want to build a new apartment building and want to restrict all of the units to households and individuals below a certain annual income.

The University of Virginia Foundation and the group Preservation of Affordable Housing want to build a six story building at 1000 Wertland Street and designate all 180 apartments as affordable.

One of those steps was before the Charlottesville City Council on March 4, 2025.

“UVA is providing the parcel of land which has essentially four parcels and is located at the southwest corner of 10th and Wertland,” said Alex Ikefuna, the director of Charlottesville’s Office of Community Solutions.

This is one of three locations where the University of Virginia announced before the pandemic that they would work with community partners to build affordable housing. The other two are the Piedmont section of the UVA Grounds off of Fontaine Avenue and the North Fork Discovery Park.

1000 Wertland is the first project to come forward and one step along the way is a request for Council to declare the area as a “revitalization area.” Doing so will help the project’s rankings when an application is made to a state agency for “low-income housing tax credits.” (read the resolution)

“The estimated cost of the project if the funding is in place is $66 million and it’s going to provide construction opportunities and administrative employment opportunities as well,” Ikefuna said.

City Councilor Michael Payne supported the designation but had an observation.

“My understanding is UVA has made a decision to not contribute any money towards the affordable housing that they pledged to build,” Payne said. “So if they submit a low income housing tax credit application, they’re going to need the city to spend that money for their application to be competitive.”

In response to a question, Ikefuna said Preservation of Affordable Housing has requested $3 million from the city to match the low-income housing tax credits. However, that funding is not reflected in the proposed capital improvement program for the next five years.

City Manager Sam Sanders said he is aware of the request but there’s no room in the budget for a city match at this time.

“I can also share that I’ve had conversations with University leadership indicating to them the concern that there might be resistance or reluctance by Council to engage in funding the project,” Sanders said.

In the budget for the current fiscal year, Council declined to fund the Fralin Art Museum’s request for $12,000 to support education programming. That’s a small detail from my report from April 6, 2024.

The application for low-income housing tax credits from Virginia Housing application is due on March 13. To meet that deadline, Council once again waived a second reading required by city code.

Meanwhile, two appointed bodies in Charlottesville saw the project in late February. On February 20, the Board of Zoning Appeals granted two variances from city code. They could have asked for a special exception but there was a concern that could not be accomplished in time.

“It would take up to 4 months for the Council to hear this request,” reads the staff report for that hearing. “The Applicant has chosen to seek a variance because it is a more streamlined process.”

Six days later, the Board of Architectural Review reviewed a certificate of appropriateness for the building after two preliminary discussions. Two previous stories:

• BAR gets first look at UVA affordable housing project at 10th and Wertland, June 2, 2024
• BAR members suggest changes to planned affordable housing building on Wertland Street, January 10, 2025

In December, members of the BAR encouraged opening up the design into something that would eliminate the appearance of this building as a fortress. They wanted members of the public to be able to see into the courtyard at the center of the square-shaped building.

Liz Chapman of the firm Grimm + Parker said they tried to accomplish that, but have taken an approach.

“We want to bring the inside and the courtyard through the lobby,” Chapman said. “And so we’re intending to do that through some biophilic material choices in our lobby spaces and also some artwork.”

That did not meet the favor of one BAR member who said he still wanted the public to be able to see into the courtyard.

“It’s a nice amenity for the lobby of the building itself, but it doesn’t really address the public walking down the street,” said James Zehmer.

BAR Member Carl Schwarz said he was still concerned about the way the building would appear on Wertland Street, repeating a concern that he doesn’t want another long building like the Standard on West Main Street. He suggested breaking it up halfway through with a notch, but acknowledged that might mean fewer units.

J.T. Engelhardt of the National Housing Trust said the tax credit application is for 180 units and it was too late to adjust that documentation.

The members of the BAR indicated they could not vote for the project at the February 26 meeting. Engelhardt said that BAR approval wasn’t necessary to apply for low income housing tax credits.

BAR member Ron Bailey said he was very frustrated by what he was seeing and wanted a new design.

“I actually don’t like this building whatsoever,” Bailey said. “Perhaps the breaking up of the Wertland street facade would make it a much more acceptable building. But it looks like a fortress. It just is not a very attractive building.”

Bailey said he was sympathetic to how the project’s financing introduced constraints, but he was concerned about damage being done to the historic district.

Engelhardt asked for a deferral.

“I think that deferral is the only move right now to keep us on track for the financing application,” Engelhardt said. “And I just need to sort of talk, talk some of our finance experts to find out about any change in the number of units whether, whether we’re locked in.”

The item will return to the Board of Architectural Review in the future. One question now is how much the additional design will add to the project’s bottom line. A second is whether Council knows of the BAR’s opposition to the designs so far, especially given that they can overrule the BAR on appeal.

On Monday, March 17, Council will hold first of two readings on projects to come out of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund. There were six applications and the only one not to be remembered for funding is 1000 Wertland.

The University of Virginia Foundation is part of that project, but the staff report lists several reasons why it is not a good fit for the committee.

“The POAH application is clear, however, that the development’s currently projected cost of just over $66 million will rely on a substantial funding contribution from the City of Charlottesville,” reads the staff report. “That contribution would include not only the entire $823,000 available in this CAHF cycle but also a $3 million contribution from the city’s Capital Improvement Plan. The development’s financing would also include a $3.5 million property tax rebate loan from Virginia Housing.”

Before you go: This story originally went out in the March 11, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. That email has over 3,500 subscribers, whereas the audience for this website is much lower. At some point, I’ll make a structural change but there’s so much to write about each week. No other information outlet seems capable of tracking the details, but I’m hopeful together we can make sense of the facts.