Only two buildings left to be programmed at UVA’s Emmet-Ivy Corridor

The University of Virginia has been preparing for many years to expand along Ivy Road through the acquisition of properties by the University of Virginia Foundation. For instance, a subsidiary purchased the former Cavalier Inn at the intersection with Emmet Street for $5.6 million in July 1998.

The Board of Visitors adopted a framework plan in 2016 intended to guide the development of a 14.5 acre precinct. Four years later they would approve the School of Data Science as the first building in the Emmet – Ivy Corridor.

Since then the Board has authorized construction of an undergraduate residential complex with 780 beds, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and the Virginia Guesthouse. Planning is underway for the Center for the Arts.

On June 4, 2026, the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the UVA Board of Visitors was asked to approve the schematic design for a second building for the School of Data Science.

“The site directly adjacent to the School of Data Science will enable broad collaborative research and entrepreneurial endeavors both within school and across Grounds,” said Alice Raucher, University of Virginia Architect. “With the completion of this project and the center for the arts, only two sites, 2a and 2b, which are marked in this plan, remain unprogrammed.”

Raucher said all of the buildings in the precinct have been designed to face an internal courtyard that provides a pedestrian promenade to allow people to move east-west through the corridor. There will also be a bridge connecting the upper floors of the two Data Science buildings.

Michael Joy works in Raucher’s office as an Associate Architect of the University of Virginia. He is also a non-voting member of the Charlottesville Planning Commission and gave an update on June 9.

“The design sort of picks up on the palette of existing School of Data Science and has a couple references to the Guest House and the future center for the Arts,” Joy said.

Joy also told his colleagues that the Board of Visitors approved the demolition of the former UVA police headquarters on Ivy Road in Albemarle County.

“That’s that white brick single story building at 2302 Ivy Road,” Joy said. It’s kind of sort of notoriously served as like the visitor center and the 911 dispatch call center at the same desk. With the [University Police Department]’s recent relocation to Zehmer Hall and the Virginia Guesthouse having a Welcome Center, is sort of not currently occupied, so that will be demolished.”

Joy also told the Planning Commission about a new athletic field planned for just to the east of Copeley Road along the railroad tracks. But he did not brief the body on an item related to transportation connectivity.

The Buildings and Grounds Committee also approved a $100,000 addition to the Major Capital Plan to design a road connection that will link the Emmet-Ivy Corridor to Barracks Road via Millmont Street.

“The 2019 North Grounds Athletics plan recommended a road connection between Copley and the Milmont Arlington Boulevard intersection to relieve congestion during peak commute times and for patrons exiting after large JPJ arena events,” said Lois Stanley, Senior Vice President for Operations at UVA.

Last week I sent questions to the City of Charlottesville related to planning for this road and they have so far not been answered. The main one is how a new connector might affect Charlottesville Area Transit routes and whether they will be allowed to use the new road.

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