City Council About To Approve $5.9 Million To Kill 245 Apartments On High Street By Rivanna River

Charlottesville City Council may be on the brink of allocating more than $5,900,000 in tax payer resources to acquire 23.81 acres off High Street to prevent a 245-unit apartment complex from being developed on the banks of the Rivanna River, multiple sources confirmed with The I Love CVille Network on Thursday morning.

The 23.81 acres are owned by United Land Company. Seven Development has a contract in place to purchase the 23.81 acres from United Land Company. Seven Development has plans prepared to develop the 23.81 acres into 245 apartments, but the project (called 0 East High Street) has drawn the ire of housing watchdogs, environmentalists and the neighborhoods around High Street because of density, infrastructure and floodplain concerns.

City Council could vote as early as Monday to approve this acquisition. If approved, the City will convert the 23.81 acres into a “passive recreation area,” otherwise known as a park.

Seven Development will receive an assignment fee in exchange for relinquishing the right to acquire the property for development. The total compensation is $5,900,000 plus closing costs. As part of the transaction, the City, the developer and its successor will insure that there is no litigation or claims following the acquisition of the property.

Wendell Wood is the president and chairman of United Land Company. Wood had developed projects in Albemarle County since the early 1960s. He has owned and sold land that would later become Fashion Square Mall, Barracks Road Shopping Center, Hollymead Town Center, U.S. Army’s National Ground Intelligence, Wal-Mart and many other projects. United Land Company is the largest land owner in Albemarle County.

Housing activists may have now successfully influenced and/or killed two significant housing projects in the last six months within Charlottesville City limits. During the summer, housing activists banned together to stall phase three of Dairy Market. Phase three would have created 400 apartments or housing for roughly 600 Charlottesvillians along Preston Avenue. The 400 apartments would have been built on asphalt parking lots and in place of antiquated buildings. The development project would not have displaced a single person. Learn more about this project here: “Dairy Market Phase 3 Stalled”

Here is one thing for everyone to consider:

Why would any developer with common sense invest their money into new housing in the City of Charlottesville, Virginia when many activists within the community make developers’ professional lives a living hell? Offering feedback to developers is welcomed, but kiboshing projects will only drive up the cost of housing and gentrify the City.