Election November 4

Articles

• Final Letter of Campaign to The Daily Progress, published here Nov 2 2003 .
• "Write in urban renewal!", Oct 16 2003, The Hook.
• Hawkins' Issue Campaign for House of Delegates.
• "Authors Talk about Vinegar Hill" Mar 7, "War Rally at UVa Rotunda" Feb 24, "Peace Resolution" Feb 3.
• "Renewal Puts Republican on Council" Jan 20.
• Proposed Rezoning Ordinance 2-27-2003.
• "Drought Perspective" Sep. 18, 2002.
• "The Last Drought" Sep. 3, 2002.
• "Explicate, then renovate" in C-ville Weekly Aug 13, 2002
• "Housing Authority is controversial because of urban renewal's history" in Daily Progress Aug 20.
• "Sin City Older Than That" in The Hook Sep. 5 as "Magical History Tour".
• Urban Renewal South: The Best-known Secret in Charlottesville's History
• Marguerita Ville

Day after Hurricane Isabel

1. South Rivanna River at 29 North.  
2. Photo taken Sep 19 2003.

1. Looking upstream towards South Rivanna dam.  
2. Photo taken Sep 19 2003.

1. South Rivanna dam.  
2. Photo taken Sep 19 2003.

What was here before?

1967 street map and areas targeted for urban redevelopment in Charlottesville.

1. Paramount Theater since 1931.  
2. Photo taken Aug 25 2003.
3. McCroy's Department Store to the left covered all of central place and burned down in the '70s before the mall as a result of kitchen fire in the Shack restaurant.   Pollocks Branch ran full all night from water runoff of the fire fight.   The Paramount suffered smoke and water damage but reopened.

1. Miller & Rhoads Department Store.  
2. Photo taken Aug 25 2003.

1. Charlottesville National Bank and Trust 1914.   Wachovia Bank now.  
2. Photo taken Aug 25 2003.

1. People's National Bank 1875-1963 turned a profit during the Great Depression.   This main branch erected 1916.
2. Photo taken Aug 25 2003.
3. Virginia National Bank in 1963. Various banks in the '80s and '90s.   Bank of America now.  

1. Charlottesville Warehouse Corporation/Norcross spanning the 400 and 500 blocks of South Street East was built in 1924.  
2. Photo taken Aug 25 2003.
3. 80-year-old Buddy Thach, who bought the old warehouse in 1977, is selling it to developer Bill Dittmar who plans to "create 32 apartments in the 32,000 square-foot brick and timber building with occupancy slated for November.   Next, Dittmar says, a new building will begin rising on the Fourth Street side with 32 more apartments to come on line in the spring.   There are even plans for a third structure facing Garrett Street with another 24 units...The 1.5 acre complex, says Dittmar, will have a 'Georgetown-type feel with an internal courtyard with grass areas with verandas and trees- and parking for 106 cars'" ("Norcross property: From ho's to hoes to homes," Sep. 4, 2003, The Hook).   The article does not say whether any of the private development will occur on land taken under eminent domain.  
4. Marguerita's brothel operated 1922-1949 at 303 Fifth Street SE.
5. South and West sides 1632x1224 240k Sep 16 2003.
6. North and West sides 1632x1224 231k Sep 16 2003.
7. "The description calls to mind trendy urban renewal projects in San Francisco, New York and Boston..." ("Norcross building transformed", Jan 22 2004, The Daily Progress).   That a newspaper article about development in the Garrett Street urban renewal area would actually contain the phrase "urban renewal" in any context is a break-through for Charlottesville.   Slowly, it's becoming more acceptable to mention in passing that Garrett Street renewal is a fact of history.
8. "US Approves Funds for Garrett Street Renewal", Jun 30 1970, The Daily Progress.   Tuesday afternoon, front page, top story, banner headline.
9. www.norcrossstation.net, January 2004.

1. Levy Avenue clearance circa 1972.  
2. Photo taken Aug 16 2002.  
3. "City has plan for Levy site: Mixed-income idea novel for housing," Jun 19 2003, The Daily Progress.  
4. "Levy Avenue Design Workshop," Belmont-Carlton Neighborhood Association Newsletter, Summer 2003.
   - "This spring, neighborhood residents and city leaders, including Mayor Maurice Cox, gathered for a design workshop sponsored by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to explore options for development of the Housing Authority property at 405 Levy Avenue, next to Walker's Auto Repair... On the ground level at the Avon Street and 6th Street corners of the property, participants recommended higher density buildings, housing apartments above, and uses like cafe, video store, laundromat for the spaces at sidewalk level.   At the center of the block, participants recommended construction of rowhouses, like those in Richmond's Fan District, with a shared private park/garden behind, and garages with 'Granny-flat'studio apartments."
5. Upon further investigation, the Levy site is not on Levy Avenue.   It is on Garrett Street according to the street signs.   The 405 address makes no sense because the surviving block is in the 700s and even on that side of the street.   Levy Avenue is part of the grid for Belmont, not the older area adjacent known as Garrett.   Across the street from this property is a business park addressed as the 300 block of Avon.
6. The Levy development will showcase the third phase in the urban renewal process: government takes the property, holds it, then sells it.   Who are the previous owners of this property?   Do you have any pictures or stories to tell?  

1. Frank Ix & Sons Silk Mill opened circa 1929.  
2. Photo taken Oct 5 2002.
3. "The fix for Ix," Jan 4 2000, C-ville Weekly, reprinted "JUST THE FACTS: A 14-year look back at the best of investigative reporter Ace Atkins," Sep 9 2003.
   -     "...your poor sleuth can only marvel at rich developers like Bill Dittmar, the Albemarle County businessman who bought the 17-acre Frank Ix & Sons property last month for an unbelievable $5.3 million.   Dittmar, owner of Enterprise Travel, is no stranger to the redevelopment game.   A few years ago, he started turning the former United Way building on Market Street into upscale office space called, oddly enough, the Enterprise Center.  
         "...Frank Ix & Sons, once a large textile company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last spring [1999] after years of fierce competition with Asian imports.   Yet even as Charlottesville's oldest business was slowly dying, heavyweight developers were drooling at the thought of purchasing the Ware Street property just around the block from the Downtown Mall.   Heavyweight developers Lee Danielson and Charles Hurt were among those who sniffed around the site during the last few months.   But it was Dittmar who signed a $4.1 million preliminary contract to purchase the choice chunk of land last month.
         "The deal, however, wasn't done.   Five other bidders had a chance to make higher offers until December 20 [1999], so the final price soared well beyond the initial offer.   Last month, Danielson--the man who brought you the Regal Cinema and the Ice Park--bid $5.3 million, a Santa-sized sum that wowed local real estate types.   But Dittmar's contract entitled him to match any offer, and match it he did.
         "...take a look at the property's value and compare it to the final price.   Earlier this year, the City assessed the Ix & Sons property at $4.1 million, abouth 30 percent less than Dittmar will shell out thanks to Danielson's competitive bid."  
4. Update:   The Ix property is no longer on Ware Street.   Originally 4th Street SE, Ware Street in front of the property was renamed 2nd Street in 2002.   Ware Street survives as one block south of Elliott Avenue and once connected Elliott to Garrett Street.   Fourth Street was developed on Oak Hill farm in the late 1800s after the death of Alexander Garrett, first rector of UVA, and rechristened Ware in the '30s or '40s.  

If you know what was here before, please take a minute to help us fill in the details of Charlottesville's history.   You can also post your docu-photo to this database.

Photo Gallery 2.   Jefferson School, Blind Factory, Tastee Freeze, Water St. Train Station, and more.

HealingCharlottesville@yahoo.com

This website is always under construction.   To Top of Page     Healing Charlottesville

Originial   Time Machine to Heal the Wounds of Urban Renewal.

INDEX   discussions, news stories, photos, essays, letters to local papers, and more.

HealingCharlottesville@yahoo.com