Former Charlottesville mayor Maurice Cox, now Detroit’s director of planning and development, talks about managing growth, recovering from a crisis, and the power of telling the right story. There was a time when Maurice Cox couldn’t escape being recognized in Charlottesville. In August 2012, almost a decade after he served as mayor, he sat with […]
The door, kitchen, and taps are open at Wild Wolf Brewing Company’s downtown location, hard by the railroad tracks on Second Street. The brewery and restaurant’s soft opening in the former Augustiner Hall and Garden space precedes an “official” debut on June 2. But there’s a hitch: Due to federal regulatory snags, the Wolf can’t […]
There’s an air of mystery about the renovated third-floor apartment on the Downtown Mall. A wall of rough-sawn reclaimed white oak treated with bleaching oil runs nearly the entire length of the main room, interrupted only by the rectangular opening that accommodates the black-glass stovetop, kitchen sink, and counter space for food prep. It’s a […]
The Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, now under construction on the west end of the Downtown Mall, will provide office space for more than 600 workers. But it will include only 74 parking spaces. That drew the ire of a couple members of the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, [...]
Here’s what readers asked for: Landmark Hotel…I would like to see someone address each City Council meeting with the question, “What have you done this week to move this project forward?”—Ida Simmons Ah, the Dewberry Hotel. Somehow we knew there’d be inquiring minds, and while [...]
We’re No. 49 Virginia ranks as one of the worst states in the country when it comes to ease of voting, according to a recent study from Northern Illinois University. Our state has slipped in the “cost of voting index” since 1996, when we ranked No. 42, to the “second most difficult” place to [...]
As the Hallmark greeting card and gift store morphs into a Bank of America, and the lights have gone dark over Read It Again, Sam’s shelves of used books, some are asking what types of businesses now prosper on the Downtown Mall—and who can afford to try. Gwen Berthy, who’s been selling records [...]
Prime 109, the much-anticipated local-farm-centered steakhouse located in the former Bank of America building on the Downtown Mall, opens this month after nearly two years of planning and design. The restaurant is the brainchild of the Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria team of Ian Redshaw, Loren [...]
A year after white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched with torches through UVA and violent clashes in the streets left one woman dead and dozens injured, it was with some trepidation that locals commemorated August 11 and 12. The weekend ended without serious injury and with a handful of [...]
John Miska frequently shops on the Downtown Mall, especially when CVS has two-for-one sales on cases of Arizona iced tea. Today, he ran afoul of the city’s list of prohibited items after he made his purchases, and was arrested for possessing the single edge blades he bought for his ice scraper. [...]
At the August 6 City Council meeting, public safety officials outlined precautions for the upcoming August 12 anniversary, including street closures and the shutdown of public pools. It wasn’t until two days later that the city announced pedestrian access to the eight-block or so Downtown Mall [...]
Serge Torres and Brian Helleberg are joining forces to bring a taste of Provence to the Downtown Mall. The Fleurie pastry chef (Torres) and owner (Helleberg) have opened Patisserie Torres on Third Street NE, directly across from Fleurie Restaurant, in the space once occupied by Cappellino’s [...]
By now you might know his name. You’ve seen it before in these very pages. Maybe you’ve started to put a face to the name. You see him on the Downtown Mall, holding a camera, watching. He is freelance photographer Eze Amos, whose first photography exhibition, “Cville People Everyday,” opens [...]
If you’ve been on the Downtown Mall this summer, you’ve likely seen four young musicians set up in front of Kilwin’s, beside a white board that reads “Help Us Pay For College” propped in a guitar case with a shallow sea of coins and crumpled bills pooling at its base. The Rainey Day Quartet [...]
For many of us, the relationship we have with our pet is the best one we’ve ever had. He never gets moody, he listens when you talk and he’s still interested in cuddles despite having seen you naked so many thousands of times. This issue takes into account the good, bad and furry side of […]
Disco Risqué’s mission? “To take over the world one sweaty, borderline-psychotic-music lover at a time.” Their method? Creating and performing some of the most high-energy, hard-to-categorize music in Charlottesville. Imagine George Clinton on his angriest day, combined with Santana-esque riffs [...]
While strolling the Downtown Mall this summer, you may encounter an enormous bass drum with “FREE CONCERT TONIGHT” emblazoned across the head. This refers to the Charlottesville Municipal Band, a group whose performances are as impressive and larger-than-life as its advertisement. Now in its [...]
By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare Food cart Order Up!—not to be confused with Grubhub’s predecessor, OrderUp—recently set up shop in the former Catch the Chef spot on the Downtown Mall at the Third Street SE intersection, next to Virginia National Bank. Owners Max and Troy Robinson, who have [...]
At the start of last summer, the local visitors bureau ran a TV commercial aimed at driving tourism to the Charlottesville area, but pulled the campaign, which showed a happy, lively and beautifully landscaped town to the tune of a Dave Matthews song, weeks before the Unite the Right rally. [...]
This week, New York-based artist Ed Woodham brings his Art in Odd Places festival to Charlottesville in a two-day, intensely collaborative event with the theme of “matter.” Sponsored by the UVA Studio Arts Board, the mission of AiOP, Woodham writes in the program guide, “is to engage and [...]
The Downtown Mall is not faring well, at least according to the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, which wants the city to pump up the maintenance and provide DBAC with $250,000 for advertising, staff, rent and holiday lighting. Business in the entire city of Charlottesville [...]
New Dominion Bookshop owner Carol Troxell’s sudden death in January sent shock waves through Charlottesville’s literary community—and left some wondering what would become of the downtown institution. Established in 1924, one of the oldest businesses on the mall is now in the hands of a new [...]
The already difficult downtown parking landscape is about to become more challenging in the next couple of years. Major construction projects like West2nd, the Dewberry Hotel and Belmont Bridge promise to further clog streets and decimate an already dwindling parking supply. And then [...]