Financial hurdles fail to stop Crozet development plan

A plan that would refurbish business buildings in the heart of Crozet — connected to or within walking distance of new apartments — might begin within several months, despite major financial stumbles.

The project, covering territory between Crozet Great Valu and Dairy Queen on Crozet Avenue, is being called Crozet Station, and aims to revamp old business buildings and develop nearby homes, without destroying Crozet’s small-town atmosphere.
“We and Albemarle County and the United States need to learn how to redo old villages with good bones,” said local architect Bill Atwood. “We’ve been on hold a year because of the economy, and that comes strictly from the malfunctioning of the banking [and] financial system.”
But Atwood says developers hope to begin construction in the spring.

Buildings in the area are owned by a local couple and rented to business owners. Though the project is designed to be three phases, only Phase I has been approved by the county and includes the remodeling and construction of about 20,000 square feet of retail space and 32 residential units.
The plans call for some apartments to be built on top of businesses — and Atwood said the apartments would likely be sold as condominiums in five to 10 years — and all of the units would be built to sell for $300,000 or less.
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.”
Michael Marshall, chairman of the Crozet Community Advisory Council and editor of the Crozet Gazette, said that most Crozet residents think the area “needs to be refurbished. … I think everybody wants to see the older stores spruced up, even if they don’t build the apartment part.”

Trying to refurbish landmarks

Crozet Pizza and surrounding buildings in the shopping center are old but have become local landmarks. Atwood is trying to juggle the wishes of those to maintain the historic look of the buildings with the desire to liven up and refurbish them.
Though some workers at the businesses don’t mind the idea of their buildings receiving makeovers, they fear they might be temporarily displaced when construction begins and that rent could ultimately be too high for them to afford.
Kevin Waggett, owner of Aquafit U.S.A., which sells ceramic tile, granite, marble and slate, fears the developments could create traffic congestion and that there wouldn’t be enough room for parking.
Sheila Freeman, a volunteer for Green Olive Tree, which collects clothes and other donations and gives sales profits to local charities, says there have been so many delays for Crozet Station that “it’s hard to think it’s real.”

‘No changes have been made’

Marshall added: “People are sort of wondering, ‘What is going to happen now?’ because the Crozet Station idea first came up about three years ago, and really even though there’s been various ideas talked about, nothing has actually taken off. No changes have been made.”
Atwood said he’s confident that the Crozet Station plans will be fulfilled, and that he’s hoping for Phase I work to begin in the next several months.