The historic Coca-Cola building on Preston Avenue has one more tenant lined up for its opening in 2015: Blue Ridge Cyclery, an award-winning bike shop that has been on Millmont Street for the past four years.
Owner Shawn Tevendale signed the lease for the space with Riverbend Development earlier this month. The store’s new location will be 5,100 square feet, nearly double the size of the store on Millmont.
“We’re aiming to try to grow our services as far as mechanical services, fitting services, and offering an expanded selection of bicycles and accessories,” Tevendale said. “A lot of our goals in the shop have been to grow cycling in the community. This new space will allow us to do that better.”
Blue Ridge Cyclery currently works with the Boys and Girls Club of Charlottesville, the Charlottesville Triathlon Racing Club, UVa Cycling and the UVa Triathlon, among other local organizations. Tevendale said other businesses interested in the building also will cater to young, active clientele who will bring more business to Blue Ridge Cyclery.
“The atmosphere looks like it’s going to be a high-energy one, which is a good crossover for the bike shop,” he said.
Both Tevendale and Riverbend’s president, Alan Taylor, said they hope the new location for Blue Ridge Cyclery will help create a more bike-friendly environment in the city.
“We believe that Blue Ridge Cyclery is a great fit for the space for a number of reasons,” Taylor said. “They’re good guys, local to Charlottesville, and promote a healthy lifestyle, which are all things that we believe in at Riverbend.”
Tevendale said Blue Ridge Cyclery will relocate sometime in March for the building’s grand opening, although he said he hopes to do a soft opening prior to that.
The other publicly announced tenant is Kardinal Beer Hall and Garden, which will be operated by Beer Run owners Joshua Hunt and John Woodriff.
“There is a tremendous amount of interest in the building,” Taylor said. “We are in negotiations with various businesses and anticipate to have the building fully leased prior to construction completion.”
Taylor added that the 38,000-square-foot building can host up to eight businesses, and that he hopes to have the site completely leased by the summer.
“We are really happy that we can be a part of the redevelopment of a Charlottesville landmark, all the while improving an important corridor to downtown,” he said.
