Information Charlottesville

In the 26 months since I began writing up these summaries of property transactions in Charlottesville, this is one with the lowest volume to date and thus the shortest entry. I go through each sale in order to better understand what’s happening in land use and development. 

Sales volumes may be down, but my time capacity has also been down recently, so I’m a little late on getting this out. I’m also a little behind in writing about the Cville Plans Together initiative but I need to get this done before I can get to that. I hope to have a story on that out by Tuesday. Each parcel does list what the new zoning is currently expected for each property.

This is the 25th summary of property transactions that I have put together for paid subscribers of this newsletter to have a first look. Since the beginning, the idea is to track what is happening parcel by parcel as a way of understanding what is happening in a market where so many fundamental changes have been made in recent years. What kind of year will this be? 

Just before 2023 got underway, the City Council amended and reaffirmed a Comprehensive Plan that calls for additional density as one tool to bring down the cost of housing through increased supply. There’s also an affordable housing plan that calls in Council to spend $10 million a year in spending to subsidize units. 

For most of 2022, I listed the Future Land Use Map designation for each parcel. Now we have more specifics. At the end of January, the city released the first of three “modules” of the new zoning code that will establish the rules for what can happen and where. In this summary, each parcel now lists what the draft zoning code designates for each property as well as the acreage. 

How will the final month of 2022 turn out? As I write these words, I have not yet begun compiling this list. I do this work manually and it takes a lot of time to go through. In the early days of this publication, I had more time! Now I’m expanding to Fifth District Community Engagement. There’s a lot less real estate in that one. At least for now. 

I’ve produced these monthly property transaction summaries for two years now and I know I still have a lot to learn. I don’t yet understand all of the mechanisms by which properties trade hands, but I know it’s more important than ever to pay attention to what’s happening. For a community where housing is on the minds of many, I intend this list to be a way for people to know what’s happening.

Welcome to another anecdotal look at what is happening in the real estate market in Charlottesville. I’m coming up on two years of producing this transaction by transaction account as a way of keeping a close eye on what’s happening within city limits. Up until this point I’ve not automated this process and the goal is not to identify trends or make any claims. 

But I am here to ask questions to inform future stories as I continue to try to understand a community that has been changing as long as I’ve lived in it. I have this sense there has been an acceleration in the past few years as some players in the market know the rules much, much better than those of who don’t even know we’re in the game. 

I’ve written about land use in Charlottesville for a while and I am humbled by all I do not know. I have a lot to learn and try to be careful to not overstep my knowledge. I do this work to make my living, but I am not and never will be a developer. 

Welcome to another summary list of property transactions in Charlottesville. I have been doing these monthly lists for almost two years as a way of better understanding the city I’ve been documenting for a long while now. I still have a lot to learn.

I started this after I wrote a series of article about a rezoning request on Booker Street in the city’s Rose Hill neighborhood that required research into land use records. I kept it up, and thought this was work people might be interested in. 

Since resuming writing about land use applications and policy in 2020, one of the main stories has been the adoption of a Comprehensive Plan update which resulted in a new document adopted in November 2021. The central theme of the update is to increase the amount of residential units across the entire city, especially in single-family neighborhoods. You can find all of my stories on this in the Land Use – Charlottesville section of Information Charlottesville.

An entity associated with the Jefferson Scholars Foundation has spent $4.3 million to buy six properties near Scott Stadium that had been planned for construction of a 64 unit apartment complex on 1.59 acres. 

Maury Holdings LLC paid 253.8 percent over the 2022 assessment to buy the properties, five of which are undeveloped. A historic structure built in 1911 is on the fifth. 

The Jefferson Scholars Foundation is located across the street about a tenth of the mile from the site. Directly across Maury Avenue from this site is the Cavalier Court Apartment complex that was built in 1963. 

This is definitely a much slower month, anecdotally speaking. At some point, I am hoping something will click and I’ll be able to present the data in ways that can more clearly show trends. But that’s not the point of this monthly newsletter on property transactions in the city of Charlottesville.

The point is for me as a person who lives here and a longtime journalist to go through and know who is purchasing what properties. I only identify purchasers or sellers if they are corporate entities. I am not trying to point out patterns. I just find this to be a useful exercise that helps me better understand the city where I live and a beat for which people pay me to cover. 

The rewrite of the zoning ordinance is underway with sometimes heated conversations happening all over Charlottesville. This monthly summary of property transactions in the city is my way of checking out what’s happening as the rules of development change. There have been many claims that speak with certainty about what might happen, but I am a professional skeptic and I will continue this anecdotal look as long as I am able to do so. 

This time around I am including the total acreage for each parcel as well as the current Future Land Use Map designation. It’s possible the specifics for each parcel will change but the map is an adopted part of a Comprehensive Plan that assumes every parcel will have more development rights. The way those new development rights may be realized will depend on the size and shape of the plot. That’s where the zoning rewrite comes in.