At Monday’s meeting, the Charlottesville City Council unanimously approved the purchase of 2000 Holiday Drive, a 27,000-square-foot office building that the city plans to turn into a low-barrier shelter as part of its homelessness intervention plan.
Officials agreed to buy the 3.8-acre property — which sits close to the Albemarle County line off of the US-250 bypass in the northwest quadrant of the city — for $6.2 million.
Mayor Juandiego Wade thanked his fellow councilors, city staff and community partners, as well as the public, for helping the city take what he called a “tremendous step.”
“This is a community problem that’s going to take many steps to address,” Wade said. “This will allow us to potentially bring our services together and assist those that are most in need in our community.”
Councilor Lloyd Snook said the city is getting a “pretty good deal on the land” since the property sits across multiple parcels with a combined assessed value of $8.8 million.
This week, the city will proceed with a third-party assessment of the 61-year-old building. Director of Economic Development Chris Engel said it was vacated two years ago by the most recent tenant, but has been kept in great shape since then.
“It has some known issues, such as the original elevator, and there are other things, as I mentioned, in terms of transitioning use from office to living quarters and space that will have to be addressed. Those will cost real dollars,” said Engel.
During public comment, Christopher Hall, an unhoused Charlottesville resident, said he has been speaking to other unhoused residents about their thoughts on the new shelter. He said a lot of people feel like they are being segregated with the proposed location.
“It’s a sensitive issue and it needs to be solved, but putting this out there — out of sight, out of mind — I don’t feel is the solution,” said Hall. “If it does [get] done, I hope there are resources put in place and implemented that would be the best way to do it, because I know you guys are actually trying to find a solution and fix this problem.”
Councilor Michael Payne said “a lot of reactions are totally fair,” since “this is a brand new idea that a lot of the community is hearing.”
“Is it the most centrally located place in the city possible? It’s true, it’s not, but it is still near a bus line. It’s walkable to grocery stores. A shuttle could get people to anywhere in Charlottesville pretty quickly. It is within city limits,” he said.
Payne said this was the very first step towards a large low-barrier shelter with service providers who can help people get an ID and sign up for Medicaid, Social Security or other programs.
For months, City Manager Sam Sanders said, a low-barrier shelter work group has focused on a proposed location on Cherry Avenue, but conversations shifted last week when the Holiday Drive property became available, which he called a “very big opportunity.”
“The Cherry Avenue location is not dead. This is where we’re focusing at this time, because the scope of the problem is so big and there’s so much more that needs to be done,” he said.
Payne added that the Holiday Drive location provides space for a 200-bed shelter — four times the capacity of the planned Cherry Avenue location.
“I don’t want to jinx anything with what the inspection might find, but it’s going to be more of a floor plan renovation than any rehab, and hopefully we’ll be able to get it online and the size will hopefully make a big impact on the need in the community,” said Councilor Natalie Oschrin.
Engel said officials will take final action on contingency funding at the next city council meeting, scheduled for Oct. 20. Officials plan to close the real estate deal on Nov. 20.
