The future of West Main

Looking ahead to the next decade

Club Drive

RESORT STYLE LIVING Enjoy Resort Style Living in Keswick Estate with newly remodeled Keswick Hall and Country Club. French Normandy style home set on a 2.7 acre corner, wooded lot in Keswick Estate. Elegant and gracious custom designed residence, built by Baird Snyder. Light filled, comfortable rooms, thoughtfully planned. Interior archways, arched windows and doors. A 20’ high sweeping entry with curved staircase sets the tone for this exciting home created for entertaining and daily living. Custom door design and carved white statuary marble fireplace mantel. Cast stone work on the exterior and solid mahogany arched, leaded beveled glass front doors lead to the limestone foyer. Extensive gardens and terraces.

Westwood Road

ONE LEVEL LIVING! The Water view dominates the interior spaces from most rooms in this fabulous, new, waterfront residence. Expansive views from two full length decks promise hours or days of relaxation. The front door opens to the great room with a wood burning fireplace and hardwood floors that flow through the first floor.

A bright open kitchen with gorgeous countertops and appliances. Complete one floor living with master suite featuring a walk-in shower and double vanities. 2 additional bedrooms with a full bath, stack unit washer and dryer hookups. The terrace level offers more water views, even from the laundry room! A large family room, an additional bedroom and full bath round out the finished rooms. Large unfinished room can serve as storage, studio, or workshop. Includes a one-year builder warranty. $500,000

While a multi-million dollar streetscape will not be built on West Main, the scrapped project did result in rezoning that lowered maximum building heights.

By Sean Tubbs

Twenty years ago, Charlottesville City Council upzoned West Main Street to clear the way for taller buildings that would allow for more people to live close to the Downtown Mall and the University of Virginia

That vision began to be realized 10 years later with the construction of the Flats at West Village, a development that prompted council to spend millions to develop streetscape guidelines for West Main Street to make it a more enticing place.

The price tag to implement the project grew to over $50 million, and was discarded by City Council last year in favor of spending local infrastructure dollars to renovate Buford Middle School.

The Flats was followed by two other luxury apartments targeted at students, as well as two hotels. Another developer transformed the vacant property behind the Blue Moon Diner into another highend residence. The former University Tire next door will also soon be developed.

While the multimillion dollar streetscape won’t be built, that exercise did result in a rezoning that lowered maximum building heights. The maximum east of the bridge is now 52 feet tall and 75 feet to the west. But that’s about to change.

Last week the city released the first module of the draft zoning code, and the draft map would restore the ability of developers to build high. The roadway east of the Drewary Brown Bridge would be zoned as the futuristic sounding CX-8, which stands for Corridor Mixed-Use 8.

That would allow 114 foot-tall buildings with an option to go as high as 142 feet if there are enough units reserved for households making less than 60 percent of the area median income. The details will be further fleshed out this spring, but in the new zoning, developers will have to designate one unit in 10 as affordable.

That changes the perspective on properties that sell along the street. Earlier this month, a firm called GH Charlottesville VA purchased the former Greyhound station on West Main Street for $2.42 million. In December, Twenty Lakes Management LLC acquired similar properties all across the country for $140 million from a British transportation company. In the same city block, a former church built in 1867 that has housed the Music Resource Center remains up for sale.

But not all properties that are purchased are torn down for redevelopment. In February 2020, an individual bought 320 West Main St. for $750,000 from the Pregnancy Centers of Central Virginia, and the twostory building was converted to office use.

Most of the properties to the west of the Drewary Brown Bridge are zoned for CX5, which would very closely retain the existing height limits. That would technically make the Flats and the Standard non-conforming structures that could not be built in the future unless they had affordable units on site.

One area real estate broker said he’s hopeful more people will be able to live on West Main or elsewhere throughout the city. “The growing companies that are currently based in Charlottesville have a difficult time recruiting and retaining talent, in large part because there are not enough housing options,” said John Pritzlaff of Thalhimer | Cushman Wakefield.