Coran Capshaw plans to create a pretty sizeable development on the land immediately surrounding the coal tower on Water Street, Lisa Provence reports in this week’s Hook. He intends to keep the coal tower standing, but to surround it with 64 townhouses, 118 condos, restaurants, retail, and 506 parking spaces both under and above ground. One building is slated to soar nine stories, quite high by Charlottesville standards.
No story about the coal tower can avoid recounting the 2001 coal tower shootings, in which 20-year-old Craig Nordenson murdered 16-year-old Katie Johnson and 20-year-old Marcus Griffin, followed by a tense standoff between Nordenson and police [1, 2, 3, 4] that ended with him being taken into custody and, ultimately, pleading guilty and being sent to prison.
hey, is that ‘smart’ growth??? I am having a hard time telling nowadays.