Thanks for 12 Years, Greenhouse

Greenhouse Coffee has been a place to meet my wife, daughters, and grandson, where my younger daughter had her first job, and the place where the Crozet Cycling Club would meet for early morning post ride coffee.

Simply, Greenhouse was just an important part of life in Crozet.

Thanks Camille for all of your hard work and sacrifice.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Prepping for 2017 Crozet Christmas Parade

Crozet Christmas Parade (from 2014)

via email:

The Crozet VFD Christmas Parade will be held on Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 3PM. Lineup is at 2PM on Wayland Drive in Crozet. No registration is required, just show up.
Lineup instructions: Turn east on St. George Avenue, then right onto Wayland Drive. The first parade entry will be located at the intersection of Wayland and Crozet Ave.

Western Park Survey

There is a meeting on 18 October at 7pm at Crozet Elementary to discuss the new Albemarle County Park that is supposed to be developed within the Old Trail neighborhood.

From the linked google form: (line breaks & bolding  added by me)

Western Park is envisioned to be a community park for the greater-Crozet area. The land for the future County park is 36-acres located within the Old Trail development in Crozet. In 2008, a Master Plan was developed for the park, which outlined a vision for future programming.

However, a fuller understanding of the environmental constraints on the site make implementing that vision a challenge – 18.50 acres are in the floodplain/floodway, 3.80 acres are in wetlands, 4.46 acres in critical slopes and 1.83 acres in storm water facilities, leaving 7.54 acres as buildable. Albemarle County Parks and Recreation is beginning the process of creating a new Master Plan for Western Park to better reflect today’s community priorities, as well as any new environmental constraints on the site.

On October 18, project consultant Anhold Associates and County Staff will hold a community input session at Crozet Elementary School at 7 pm. Using that input, a few design concepts will be brought back to the community for consideration in early 2018. Please consider joining us on Oct. 18, or weigh-in now by answering the questions below. This input form will be open through October 14.

Where is the Crozet Express?

The demand is seemingly there for the Crozet Express (bus service between Crozet & Charlottesville), but there’s no where to park?

Thank you to all those who completed the survey. In a nutshell, the delay in implementing JAUNT’s Crozet commuter route is due to planning a safe and convenient park and ride location in your community. We’re looking forward to giving Crozetians a smooth, carefree journey to work as soon as those details can be worked out with Albemarle County, VDOT, and other parties.

Parking is a problem for Crozet, and one that will have to get addressed at some point.

I wonder what percentage of users would be able to/open to riding bikes to park and ride.

Perrone Robotics Expanding, More Jobs in Crozet

1 – This is fantastic.

2 – We need more of this in Crozet. (skip to the end)

3 – Here’s hoping Perrone stays in Crozet.

Full coverage at NBC29

“Today’s announcement marks another huge win for Virginia’s nationally recognized and expanding autonomous and unmanned vehicle industries,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore. “Perrone is a true Virginia entrepreneurial success story. The company, which began 14 years ago as a small business, is growing its team significantly. I’m confident it will continue to attract a strong pipeline of talent, and Albemarle County will greatly benefit from these new, 21st century jobs.”

“Having fallen in love with the area during my college years, I relocated back to Charlottesville in 2003 to establish a robotics company,” said Perrone Robotics Chief Executive Officer Paul Perrone. “For me, this region offered the perfect blend of high tech energy and a cultured university town with arts, high quality of living, and natural beauty that is unmatched in the U.S. As a pioneering high-tech robotics and autonomous vehicle company, we’ve been able to establish a development center here with a private driverless vehicle test track, large robot maker space and workshop, and flexible office space. All this complete with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop and proximity to the emerging Crozet downtown mall. These facilities and work environment give us not only a tremendous competitive edge to create autonomous vehicles and robotics, but also attract high tech staff who want to be part of the historic gold rush in robotic vehicles while embracing the rich and diverse lifestyle in the heart of Virginia.”

And the Daily Progress

Gov. Terry McAuliffe estimates that by 2025, self-driving cars will “all over the streets.” To hit the gas on that projection, a Crozet-based technology company will invest $3.8 million to expand its research and development operation in Albemarle County.

McAuliffe was joined by local politicians from both sides of the aisle on Friday at Perrone Robotics, a developer of autonomous car software that has operated in Crozet since 2003, to announce the expansion and take a test drive in one of Perrone’s self-driving sedans.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership will support the company’s expansion through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides consultative services and funding to companies creating jobs. Virginia competed against California, Michigan and Pennsylvania to keep the expansion project in-state, which is projected to create 171 jobs over the next three years, according to founder Paul Perrone.

“These kinds of subsidies and incentives are tremendously helpful,” Perrone said. “Especially a small company like ours that is trying to cross the chasm from a small company to a large company — anything like that can help out a tremendous amount.”

Albemarle County will support the project by matching the state’s investment program funding. The amount of the per-job stipend from the state, and the corresponding local match, could not be determined by press time.

From January 2015

Real jobs, not just retail and restaurants. Young people graduate from WAHS or UVA, where can they work in town? Some apartments within walking distance of the Square, with the median housing price in Crozet being above $275K, where can a young WAHS or UVA graduate live in town even if there were employers? A town needs all these things to maintain its own identity, otherwise it becomes a mere bedroom community for Charlottesville.

A(nother) Bad Day on 64

Another bad day on 64 led to a bad day on 250, which led to backups on Garth … basically, today was a day to stay in Crozet if at all possible.

I learned about the wreck, and immediately retweeted … and was able to get to Charlottesville earlier than I’d planned.

And then …

From the CCAC Meeting recently

The tweets from this morning …

We have a great community of people on the Crozet Twitter.

Continue reading “A(nother) Bad Day on 64”

Prepping for Crozet’s 2018 Real Estate Market

A lot of homes will come on the market in 2017 in Crozet, but how many will fit you?

Crozet, Brownsville Elementary Schools -New listings, contracts, solds
Crozet, Brownsville Elementary Schools -New listings, contracts, solds

Q: When should a buyer or seller start the “I’m serious about buying or selling a home next year” conversation?

A: As early as possible. (same advice goes for Crozet area sellers)

Some perspective on the Crozet market … if you are looking to purchase a resale home, best start targeting your micro market now.

From January 2016 to 25 September 2017

  • 533 homes sold in Crozet via the Charlottesville MLS
    • 331 homes sold for less than $500K
      • 43 of these were new construction (13%)
      • 206 sold for more than $500K; 135 were new construction (66%!)
    • 111 were attached homes; 421 were single family
  • Of the 331 that sold for less than $500K
    • 114 had at least 4 bedrooms
    • 111 with at least 2 bathrooms
    • 108 with at least 1,700 finished square feet
    • 91 within 2 miles of The Square
    • 38 sold for less than $400K
  • 12 homes sold in Crozet + Brownsville for less than $350K
    • Days on market for these 12? 0, 5, 11, 12, 19, 36, 41, 55, 76, 81, 116, 127
  • Schools matter; luckily, Crozet schools are pretty darn good, with great leaders in each.

Short story – it may look like a lot of houses sell every year, but when you start drilling down, determining your locational and life triangles, there may be fewer homes that come on the market in Crozet than you might think (or want/hope).

Disclosure: I’m a real estate agent. But you knew that, right?

NestWest Open House - Friday, 29 September 2017. 5pm - 7pm. With David Ferrall & Jim Duncan
NestWest Open House in Piedmont Place (between Over the Moon Bookstore & Morsel Compass) – Friday, 29 September 2017. 5pm – 7pm. With David Ferrall & Jim Duncan


Relevant


 

Continue reading “Prepping for Crozet’s 2018 Real Estate Market”