Barracks blots out canopy plan

By Seth Rosen

Published: May 20, 2008

A plan to remove a section of the concrete canopy of the Barracks Road Shopping Center has been put on hold after merchants and customers criticized the move.

Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns the shopping center, announced to tenants during a meeting last week that it will not demolish the covered walkway from Panera Bread to Richey & Co. The company had already won Charlottesville officials’ approval to replace the 10-foot-deep concrete walkway in that stretch of the center with small, individual awnings in front of each store.

“The message we delivered is that there will be no canopy renovation project,” said John R. Tschiderer, a vice president for development at Federal Realty, who acknowledged in an e-mail to tenants that redesign was “a lightning rod of controversy.”

Federal Realty hoped that the changes would give each store an individual identity to supplant the homogenous look of the center.

But the idea was widely criticized by customers, who complained that they would be exposed to the elements, and merchants, who feared it would depress sales on hot or rainy days. Nearly 300 area residents either signed a petition or sent an e-mail saying they opposed the canopy replacement.

The canopy changes are part of a large renovation of the shopping center, which will include replacing signs, adding parking spaces by redrawing lines, and altering the road network.

The company told merchants that rather than investing time and money in the canopy renovation, it wanted to focus on finding a permanent tenant for the 26,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Goody’s. The new tenant might require changes to the building and the adjacent parking lot.

“We want to put our energies and monies into that effort first,” Tschiderer said.

Steve Metz, who owns Lynne Goldman Studio and started the petition drive, said that not a single merchant at the meeting voiced support for the canopy redesign. Metz, who fears shoppers would be dissuaded from coming to the center during bouts of bad weather, said he was glad the changes have been postponed but would like to see a pledge from Federal Realty to not alter the canopy at a later date.

“It’s great, but there was no commitment to taking the canopy issue off the table,” he said. “What makes me nervous is that they are still in a position to do it.”

Other storeowners were more optimistic that the plan would be permanently shelved, saying that Federal Realty would respond to merchants’ and customers’ wishes.

Tschiderer, for his part, was adamant that the canopy design would not happen anytime soon, but said it would be foolish to try to predict future renovations.

“Improvements to the property are required over time and we will look at that as time unfolds,” he said.