Two Thoughts on Downtown Charlottesville’s Now & Future

Two questions from this week’s C-Ville struck me as they highlight the sort of crossroads at which Charlottesville finds itself.

First, in commenting on the closure of one of my all-time favorite Charlottesville restaurants, Eppie’s (no longer available), which closed not from lack of business but from the owners wanting to do other things came this remark from the owner of the now-closed Cappellino’s Cupcakes:

“It got to the point where my business, along with others on the mall, aren’t what they used to be, and we are struggling,” he told C-VILLE at the time. Cappellino said shrinking foot traffic, the proposed meal tax hike and an increase in panhandling have made it harder to thrive on the mall.

And then this in discussing the temporary closure of Second Street (the one with Revolutionary Soup, the Alley Light, Christian’s Pizza) for the construction of the revamped movie theater:

With other massive construction projects looming around downtown including the Market Street Plaza on Water Street, Dunkle said she is particularly concerned that the city communicate more closely with area businesses likely to be affected before work is ever approved.

Charlottesville (City of) is at an interesting point in its history as West Main continues to grow and evolve, as does Downtown Charlottesville. Density increases, more pedestrian and bicycle demands

What does Charlottesville want to be in 20 years? 40? How will they interact with Albemarle?

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Also, are more chains in Charlottesville’s future?

This seems like poor planning. #Charlottesville

A photo posted by Jim Duncan (@jimduncan) on Jun 4, 2015 at 11:16am PDT