The Albemarle County
Architectural Review Board
(ARB) met today continuing its review of the
Albemarle Place
development approving Block F which is a portion of the development between Sperry Marine and the old Comdial facility. Block G on US 29 between Sperry and Comdial still requires approval from the ARB and, while it was discussed heavily at today’s meeting, the volume of changes led Board members to request the plans for this section be resubmitted at a future meeting. Block G is the location of the future Whole Foods grocery store and, according to developer Frank Cox, they are currently the only signed tenant in Albemarle Place.
With expectations for 700-800 residential units, the new Whole Foods store, a movie theater, a hotel, and 616,000 sq.ft.of retail (about 2x what is already built at Hollymead Town Center; more than the 540,000 sq.ft. of retail proposed for North Pointe), all within 64 acres,
Albemarle Place will equal roughly the size of two Downtown Malls.
In this site plan image (click to enlarge), you can see the location of the Whole Foods store which will be accessed via a new traffic signal and intersection near the current US Postal Service (USPS) facility. Block D (top left on site plan) is still on hold but will also require review by the ARB.
A new version of the Albemarle Place preliminary site plan is currently under review by planning staff. Unlike North Pointe and Biscuit Run which are
rezoning requests
before the County, Albemarle Place was rezoned for this type of development in 2003.
Brian Wheeler
