Keith O. Woodard Of Woodard Properties Has Canceled His West2nd Water Street Development

Keith O. Woodard of Woodard Properties has canceled his West2nd Water Street Development. The future home of the “The Charlottesville Farmer’s Market” is now in doubt.

Here’s my analysis:

(1). Keith has canceled this $50 million development because of clashes with City Hall. Keith has spent almost 5 years and a couple million dollars on this project already. He has “skin in the game,” but cannot find common ground with City Hall at this time.

(2). West2nd was the future home of the CVille City Market. In fact, The Farmer’s Market was the flagship tenant of this development.

(3). West2nd was planned as a mixed use building with retail on the first floor and condos for purchases on the upper floors. 10 floors were planned. Condo price points ranged from $400K – $1.2+ million for the penthouse level.

(4). The potential loss of West2nd, a $50 million project, which would have created hundreds of jobs in CVille, is a blow for The Charlottesville Downtown Mall. This news also comes on the heals of WillowTree, Inc.’s departure from the City of CVille to Albemarle County to build an 85,000+ square feet, $20+ million mobile app epicenter in the Woolen Mills factory. WillowTree is currently a 200 person company and plans to expand to 400-500 employees within five years.

(5). This news may open an opportunity for IX Art Park to host the Charlottesville City Market moving forward. I really like what Brian Wimer and Co. are doing at Ix Art Park. If the City Market makes Ix Art Park its permanent home, that will most certainly benefit Three Notch’d Brewing Company, Brazos Tacos, etc.

(6). As a Downtown Mall landlord, I am concerned about losing WillowTree and the West2nd project in the same week. That’s a fair statement. Questions must be asked of City officials entrusted with driving economic growth.

(7). I see this vision of The Downtown Mall in about 10 years: Eventually, we will live in a new Charlottesville, Va where The Downtown Mall is one large pedestrian corridor of shops, restaurants, music venues and office spaces. This corridor will extend from Court Square to The Ix Art Park. There will be different “districts” within this corridor (Court Square, Warehouse, Historic Main Street, Ix Art Park, etc.)

(8). If big businesses and big developers cannot work with City Hall, then we have a much larger issue.

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy Curtis Shaver, Hunter Harding 2018 Duel Chef Showdown Champions! and Hunter Harding Wins 2018 Duel Chef Showdown With Curtis Shaver

At I Love CVille, we feature the best of Charlottesville, Virginia. You’re going to love the I Love CVille network.