The Three Party Agreement between the University of Virginia, Albemarle, and Charlottesville requires that both “include a representative of the University as a non-voting member of their planning commissions.”
Michael Joy, an associate architect at UVA, holds that position on the Charlottesville Planning Commission. He provided a series of updates on construction underway around Grounds at their December 9 meeting.
“The first one is going to be the Virginia Guesthouse, which is the hotel and conference center, the flagship property at the university for our guests,” Joy said. “That will be substantially complete in early 2026, which is exciting and it’ll have a big grand opening in April.”
Operations of the Virginia Guesthouse will be handled by the University of Virginia Foundation, UVA’s separate real estate arm. Under the terms of a transfer agreement endorsed by the Board of Visitors in March 2025, UVA will continue to own the land and will have a long-term lease with the foundation.
The next project to be completed is the Karsh Institute of Democracy, also in the Emmet / Ivy precinct. Joy said construction will wrap up in the fall of 2026.
There is also a complex of buildings that will have 780 student housing beds adjacent to both Karsh and the Virginia Guesthouse. Joy said that will be completed in the fall of 2027. That’s the same time frame for completion of a project that will see the first housing built for students at the Darden School of Business.
A new parking garage has opened at the Fontaine Research Park and a new one at North Grounds will open in the fall of 2026.
Joy concluded his report by stating that the ground lease for the city to take over the Oak Lawn property is being reviewed by the city.
In Albemarle County, two top UVA-related officials have served as voting members of the Planning Commission since 2022. Luis Carrazana is the at-large member and works as associate in the office of the University of Virginia Architect. Fred Missel represents the Scottsville District but will be joining the Board of Supervisors as the Samuel Miller representative in January.
Before you go: Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the December 12, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack, make a monthly contribution through Patreon, or consider becoming a sponsor. The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things.
Discover more from Information Charlottesville
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
