Martha Jefferson Hospital is moving. The 98-year-old hospital has been a downtown landmark on Locust since 1928, and have simply run out of space. So they’re constructing a replacement hospital of the same size (400,000 sq. ft.) at Peter Jefferson Place on Pantops Mountain, plus another 400,000 sq. ft. in additional buildings. They’ll be moving from their relatively-compact 9 acres to 84 acres that they purchased in April. The new hospital won’t be finished until 2008, at the earliest. It’s not yet known what will happen to the existing building, or what the effect will be of moving such a large business from the City to the County. The Progress has a story about this in today’s issue.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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I can see that there was lots of evidence that this was coming (like, say, their land purchase :), but I didn’t see it. Much like the skating rink, the hospital seems like the sort of structure that isn’t easily reused for anything but a hospital. I guess the oldest portion of the structure could probably be reused, but the bulk of the building (based on my few medical visits) appears to be pretty, well, hospital-like. It’s also somewhat of a bummer for them to be leaving. They’ve been such a part of downtown for so long that I can’t really guess what the effects might be of their departure. I imagine that a good number of their employees (like at the NGIC) probably purchase from downtown stores, maybe walk to the Mall for lunch, so I expect that we’ll see an impact in that regard. I wonder what other results that we’ll see?