New hotel planned for Emmet Street does not pass design review

Albemarle County:

“Midlothian-based company has filed plans to build a new 87-room Country Inn and Suites hotel on Emmet Street, but their design failed to gain initial approval Tuesday by the Charlottesville Planning Commission. The developer asked for a deferral when it appeared commissioners, acting as the Entrance Corridor Review Board, would not grant a certificate of appropriateness for the design…

Charlottesville Hotel LLC is seeking to build a four-story 52,000 square foot building on land currently occupied by a Days Inn. That business would continue to operate on a smaller scale on the northern section of the property. The adjacent Quality Inn would also continue to operate.

The proposed site plan would remove one existing entrance onto U.S. 29. Staff said that would improve vehicular circulation throughout the entire site. The property is just to the north of the U.S. 250 bypass and is located in one of the city’s entrance corridors. That means the Planning Commission must issue a certificate of appropriateness for new buildings.”

~Writes Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville Tomorrow

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Wegmans gets nod from Architectural Review Board

Albemarle County

“Wegmans Food Markets plans to break ground on a new store in Albemarle County this fall. As shoppers on the south side of Charlottesville and southern Albemarle wait for the grocery store’s expected 2015 opening, the county’s Architectural Review Board has worked to minimize its visibility… The board is limited to design issues visible in county’s entrance corridors. ‘There was an attorney present [at the last meeting],’ said board member Marcia Joseph. ‘The attorney made sure that we discussed only things that were visible.’

The store is the first phase of the Fifth Street Station development, which includes a connector road joining Avon Street Extended in the county and Fifth Street Southwest near Charlottesville’s Willoughby neighborhood. Wardell and the other board members worked within their purview to ensure the store will be largely hidden from drivers on Interstate 64. The area and neighboring roads are designated entrance corridors where buildings receive greater design review.”

~Writes Effie Nicholaou of Charlottesville Tomorrow

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New Pantops Construction to Feature Drive-thru Coffee

Albemarle County

“Coffee drinkers may not be hard-pressed to find a fast option to get some caffeine by the end of the year. New construction on Pantops Mountain in Albemarle County will house a drive-thru Starbucks Coffee shop. The construction site is next to the Rivanna Ridge Shopping center, home to the Giant supermarket and current Starbucks store, at the intersection of Rolkin and Abbey roads.

Sources say the drive-thru coffee shop is part of the plans for that complex, which is currently a pile of dirt. Starbucks will move across the street to its new location, but there is no word on what will take the place of the coffee shop in the existing shopping center. Sketches show a few other businesses are planned for the space, but there's no official word on what they may be.

Signs posted in the area say the center will be done by the end of the year. Over the past few years, Pantops has seen a lot of development, most notably the addition of the new Martha Jefferson Hospital in 2011.”

~Writes Chris Stover of the Charlottesville Newsplex

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New Northside Library Passes Design Review

Albemarle County

“Plans for a new library on West Rio Road received the conditional approval of the Albemarle County Architectural Review Board on Monday. The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library elected to renovate the former warehouse for an expanded Northside Library. In April, supervisors authorized $3 million to buy the building.”

~Writes Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville Tomorrow

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