First, refresh your internet memeory with this video..

Ok, now that you have rotted your brain, you will be able to understand what’s going on here.  According to the Daily Progress, Charlottesville has been trying to “steal” a 1.5 acre piece of land which will enable the Whole Foods development to be finalized.  Charlottesville doesn’t call it stealing. They call it “eminent domain” which is a hotly debated legal issue. According to wikipedia,

The power of governments to take private real or personal property has always existed in the United States, being a part of the common law inherited from England. This power reposes in the legislative branch of the government and may not be exercised unless the legislature has authorized its use by statutes that specify who may use it and for what purposes. The legislature may so delegate the power to private entities like public utilities or railroads, and even to individuals for the purpose of acquiring access to their landlocked land. Its use was limited by the Takings Clause in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1791, which reads, “…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation”. The Fifth Amendment did not create the national government’s right to use the eminent domain power, it simply limited it to public use.

The important thing being that eminent domain only applies for the benefit of the public.  Charlottesville wants to build a road which would connect Hydraulic Road to the Seminole Square shopping center to Hillsdale Drive (anyone have a map?) as part of the new Whole Foods development. Of course city officials say that this 1.5 acre land would benefit the public, but it sounds like it’s benefiting Whole Foods more than anything.

What do you think?

Lee Danielson has been fired and is no longer the developer for the Landmark Hotel according to the Daily Progress.  No one knows the specifics of why.

[via DP]

Picture of the Landmark Hotel from Blanco Nino

If you recall, we asked some real journalists to investigate the whole story about the construction halt and lack of financing for the Landmark Hotel.  Thanks to a real journalist at the Daily Progress (his name is Brian McNeill), we have an update!  It gets messy…

»Read More

Will the Landmark hotel look like this again? Probably not, but according to the Daily Progress,  an Atlanta bank has failed to make construction loan payments on the Landmark Hotel site and Halsey Minor has halted construction on the hotel. The article explains:

Under an agreement with the bank, Minor said, he would pay $7 million in equity and the bank would pick up as much as $24 million to pay for the project’s construction. Minor said he has paid his share, but the bank has fallen behind and missed a $1.1 million payment that was due Friday. So far, Minor said, the bank has paid around $4 million of its total $24 million obligation. 

Um, hello. Banks just don’t not make payments on construction loans for no reason. Construction loans have a lot of covenants that are often overlooked in good economic times. If things don’t look as good, the bank might have a legal reason to not pay its obligation.  Or, maybe the bank has its own financial problems.  It’s hard to believe, even when you want to rooftop bar and free drinks sooo badly.

How about some real journalists call that Atlanta bank and find out the other side of the story?  Sure, maybe the bank is to blame, but my boozstincts tell me otherwise. Hopefully the bank isn’t shutting down, because that would delay the construction a long time.

Recently a Chicago contractor was awarded with a $58.5 million dollar contact to build a 46 acre facility for a “Joint-Use Intelligence Analysis Facility” slightly north of Charlottesville. The facility will house over 1,000 jobs and is expected to bring a total of 1,500 jobs to the area by its expected completion date in 2010.

The Daily Progress reports that the facility will be located slightly north of the CHO airport and across 29. This sounds great, but what about traffic? 29N traffic is already a nightmare.

[via Daily Progress][pic]