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Charlottesville Town Center

vdogg

By vdogg
in Virginia

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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onarch-albemarleplace.jpg

Looks to be a pretty decent size project for a city their size.

Story

If all goes according to plan, ground-breaking for this self-proclaimed "town center" could start this summer. If approved, the project will include a Main Street, a 14-screen theater, a 120-room hotel, a potential10-story residential building, and a host of big-name retailers and restaurants.

The development is to be called "Albemarle Place" and they have a website here.

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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I love it! Charlottesville deserves this kind of development in theory. BUT I worry for the long term health of Charlottesville Fashion Square if and when this is built.

I don't worry as much for the Downtown Mall or Barracks Road Shopping Center because they're more independent retailer-based.

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erdogs Burg

erdogs

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Charlottsville is one of the most attractive cities I've been to. This seems in keeping with there architecture and style. There's alot of upper income families that visit throughout the year, so this should do pretty well. GO HOOS!

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  • 1 month later...
eandslee City

eandslee

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Looks like a great place to live. I need to get to Cville and check it out sometime.

I lived in Charlottesville for 3 years while I was attending the University of Virginia and has to be one of the best places I've ever lived! It is a little, big city. It has a lot to offer for a city its size and for someone who loves the Univeristy like I do, it's heaven on earth!

Do not leave Charlottesville out of the "Virginia talk" around here because there is a lot in Charlottesville. Right now it has the largest football stadium in the state, the largest multipurpose arena in the state (the JPJ Arena), and is experiencing a lot of growth (especially north of the city). Please do visit if you haven't been there. The place is very classy in my opinion. It's my second "home". Go Hoos!

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sugoiben Whistle-Stop

sugoiben

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Do not leave Charlottesville out of the "Virginia talk" around here because there is a lot in Charlottesville. Right now it has the largest football stadium in the state...

I feel obligated to point out that Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium has a greater seating capacity than UVA's Scott Stadium.

65,115 for Lane Stadium

61,500 for Scott Stadium

:thumbsup:

Go Hokies!!

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lammius Burg

lammius

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I like Charlottesville, but I am not convinced this will be good for the city. It already has a downtown, does it need a new fake one?

Could someone find maps of where this project would sit in relationship to the rest of the city?

I took the liberty using Google Earth. Identified on this map are Downtown CHO, UVA, and this development site.

154390797.jpg

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lammius Burg

lammius

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okay, so that distance they are more or less pulling a virginia beach. giving the area a second downtown. I am still not sure I like this idea, seems like they are trying to take away the focus from the current downtown, but then it could be much worse.

I'm with you, urbanlife. I'd much rather see the investment in Downtown Cho or on some infill between downtown and the Corner district. The "Town Center" as planned will be more development on the sprawly Route 29 strip. Unlike Va Beach's Town Center, which is in the middle of suburbia, this one is bordered to the west by hills, forests, and farms. I'd hate to see this thing enable adjacent land development that will destroy those areas.

This thing won't be a second downtown for Charlottesville. It'll be Downtown Albemarle County. The county will benefit from the tax rateables.

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lammius Burg

lammius

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What is comes down to is that the local mall is 25 years old and landlocked while the retail demand for the area is increasing. If it wasn't a Town Center, it'd be another mall.

And what we get is just another "town center" out in exurbia. Wouldn't it be nice if suburbanites weren't so afraid of their urban cores?

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urbanlife Town

urbanlife

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no you have a good point Steven, seeing we all have complained about the suburbs and how can we make suburbs more of an urban center rather than another sprawling mall.

I really don't want to go into too much negative talk about this seeing, I am very unfamiliar with the area other than I have been through it once or twice back in the late 90's.

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hoobo Burg

hoobo

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And what we get is just another "town center" out in exurbia. Wouldn't it be nice if suburbanites weren't so afraid of their urban cores?

This isn't in exurbia: it's on the most trafficked intersection in Cville (29 and Hydraulic). A Best Buy just opened up across Hydraulic. There's an old Kmart and a Giant across 29. This property is the old Sperry Marine facility. This project was talked about starting my last year at UVa back in 2003. I don't think it will take away from downtown Cville (Downtown Mall) because they're limiting building heights there and trying to keep to certain "historical" design standard. Also, downtown Cville has county and city offices as well as Martha-Jefferson Hospital so there's already a thriving business, law, and medical community there. Besides, all the best restaurants are there. As posters have mentioned, downtown Cville is eclectic. The only national retailers are CVS, Foot Locker and Regal Cinemas. Albemarle Place will suck retailers from Barracks (will Jos. A Bank and BR leave?) and Fashion Square (J. Crew, Abercrombie, etc.).

But back to its location. The Pantops area is exurbia as are Target, Sam's Club, and Wal-mart. Albemarle Place is surrounded by subdivisions and is just as close if not closer to UVa than the Downtown Mall. The bad thing about this project is that it will increase traffic in an area that is already overburdened.

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lexicon506 Unincorporated Area

lexicon506

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What more can you expect along 29, especially that far north. That area's pretty much already ruined. But as much as I hate these "just add water" downtown areas, this looks better than anything I've seen along that strip. At least they're trying, and it won't be like that horrible, horrible Hollymead TC farther north. I see it as a more upscale Barracks Rd. The real potential on 29 lies where it turns into Emmet St. With the new streetcar proposal, this area could change drastically....

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