Category Archives: Neighborhoods

I am partial to this part of Charlottesville for a variety of reasons, first and foremost being that I grew in this general vicinity.The hub of this part of Charlottesville is the Barracks Road Shopping Center, home the only two stores I personally need – Greenberry’s coffee shop and a Barnes and Noble.The Charlottesville Community Design Center defines the area thusly: (again, check out their great maps!)The Barracks Road, Rugby, Greenleaf, Kellytown area is a combination of many neighborhoods located in the north central portion of the city.  This 386.44 acre area of the city is bordered by Barracks Road Commercial Corridor to the south and the 250 bypass to the north.  This area was annexed into the city during the 1916, 1938 and 1963 annexations.  The majority of the neighborhood is owner occupied single family dwellings.My description of the area expands a little bit to the West, just beyond City limits.
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The Martha Jefferson neighborhood, bordered by North Downtown, Woolen Mills and Belmont, is facing a significant transition – Martha Jefferson is leaving the neighborhood.  This neighborhood is a prime example of how quickly a neighborhood can change, and also why it is important for a buyer to do his or her own due diligence when shopping for a home.From the C’Ville Design Center’s excellent site:The Martha Jefferson Hospital is the major center of activity and employment in the plan area, which generates some related uses in the neighborhood, including a number of doctor’s offices….  Fairfax Taylor and his family lived in the neighborhood during the mid 19th Century.Homes’ ages range from the early 1900′s to the 1970′s with the odd new, in-fill home here and there.Garages/Basements: Finding a garage would be rare.  Finding a functional (clean, dry) basement – not so difficult, but your definition of functional may change from “livable” to “I could do laundry here.”Home prices and Architecture: the gamut.
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The City’s “In our Backyard – Newsletter for our Neighborhoods” (PDF) has just been released, and it features Fry’s Spring, located very close to the University of Virginia, in the South/South West part of the City of Charlottesville….  From its springs to its streetcars, the neighborhood has contributed greatly to the character and integrity of our city….  While most properties contain single-family units, some homes have been converted to rental properties for students, due to the neighborhood’s proximity to the University.Centered around the Fry’s Spring Beach Club, the neighborhood is mature with something that is all-too rare in this day and age – trees.  Much of the Fry’s Spring area is in the Jackson Via elementary school district, which can be highlighted at the City’s decent school district map.Follow the Fry’s Spring neighborhood google group here.Read about some of the Fry’s Spring news at Charlottesville Tomorrow.You can read about all of the neighborhoods in the Neighborhood Series here.
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Just until next week.  I have been out of town for the past several days (still am) and the other postings have been posted auto-magically.  The series will resume on Monday.  In the meantime, these are the other ones that have been covered so far.
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I sold a couple houses (two of them) in this neighborhood several years ago – one of them twice – and met many of the neighbors along 6th Street NW – all of whom were good folks….  This is one of those areas that thrives on neighborhood.When marketing the houses along this street, which range from colorful stuccos to brick to aluminum siding, my marketing tag-line was “Sell the car!”…  A primer from the Charlottesville Community Design Center – (excellent maps here)The City Yard occupies most of the property between residential Brown Street and Preston Avenue….  During the first half of the 20th Century the Union Station property on West Main Street was the transportation hub of the Charlottesville community.One minor irritation – it has taken me this long in the Neighborhood Series to discover the comprehensive maps offered by the Design Center!?Read about all the neighborhoods I have covered here.
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Willoughby – located in the southern part of the City is the only development that I am immediately aware of that straddles the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle.  This unique aspect necessitates a decidedly more deliberate verification of school districts, as many families are want for their children to be located in either City or County schools….  Individually, each is a fine product, but combined they are far better and more marketable.Architecture – traditional that one would expect of homes built in the mid-1980s and 1990s, all well-kept three- to four- bedrooms with average to large yards.Garages/Basements – about 20% of the homes here have garages, and/or basements.  More have basements than garages.Home prices – generally range from ~$250k-$350k for single-family and $190-$230k for attached homesTopography – gently rolling hills with more trees than one will find in a new development that has been clear-cut and the landscape leveled.Location – for those who are seeking proximity to the Downtown Mall area (~1 mile) or any of the University of Virginia schools – UVA Medical Center, UVA Grounds, etc – (on average ~1-2 miles) this neighborhood offers an exceptional location for those who don’t mind a relatively short bike ride, with very few hills!From a current resident (not Resident as far as I am aware):In the 3-1/2 years we’ve been there, I’ve personally known at least two UVA-affiliated doctors who’ve bought and moved in. We’ve also had our law student move in this past summer.
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One realtor tried to market the area north and south of West Main Street as “midtown,” though it hasn’t really caught on.The city calls the area south of West Main “Fifeville” after the Fife family, who once owned a farm in this area….  According to a UVA oral history of the area, Castle Hill was home to prominent African Americans and whites at the turn of the 20th century, until, in 1912, the city resolved that it should be illegal for whites and blacks to live next to each other and “the whites moved away.”This law was struck down by the Supreme Court a few years later….  Joe Mallory, an African American man who grew up nearby, had been buying and renovating houses near the intersection with the help of the Piedmont Housing Alliance in 2002.Mallory’s efforts, along with a police crackdown on prostitution, the success of the Downtown Mall, the growth of the University, low interest rates, etc. drew investors, speculators, and homebuyers in search of value to Castle Hill….  The neighborhood association has succeeded in stopping (for now) two proposed condo projects, one on Estes Street, near Walker Square and the other at the corner of Ridge and Cherry.Proximity to the Downtown Mall and the UVA Medical Center (for those of us who work there) is the main attraction of Castle Hill.
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Contract today’s image of Belmont as a hot bed of urban hipsters living in gentrified Victorians walking and riding bikes to the Downtown Mall with this fascinating paper written in 1980 by James H….  Mr. Buck’s prediction came true:Belmont has, in the past, somewhat of a bad reputation, but critics need to take a new and closer look at this promising neighborhood of the future.Its proximity to the Downtown Mall is one of the driving forces behind its growth.  When selling a house on Hinton Avenue a couple of years ago, I was astonished to find that the tenant had no idea where my office is – on the busiest corridor in the area – because he never left the Belmont/Downtown Mall area….  Condos are the latest trend, with (LEED certified) green condos on the way, and new construction condos generally have not suffered the same drop off that condo conversions have.
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