Charlottesville architect/developer Bill Atwood (archived: 2016) in Brandon Shulleeta’s story in today’s Daily Progress (no longer available):
Atwood said that in the retail world, “the longer you can get people to stay, the better the pay. In other words, if you have somebody who’s actually going to stay and eat at dinner and actually walk around, you’ll be viable faster. … Having people live there is the ultimate.”
Atwood said that young residents are “more apt to want to be in town and places where you can socialize, buy a dog and buy a cup of coffee. … I think that the idea of joining a village is going to be as important the next 10 years as joining a country club in the last 10 years.”
This is one of the most astute, succinct and accurate statements I have heard about where the Charlottesville and Albemarle region’s growth is moving.
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