City to speed up mall renovation

By Seth Rosen

Published: June 17, 2008

Charlottesville officials have gotten the message about the pace and scope of the $7.5 million overhaul of the Downtown Mall: Keep it simple and get it done as fast as possible.

The city is scaling back and speeding up its ambitious redesign of the venerable brick pathway, to save money and to better adhere to the original concept.

Two large fountains, which would cost $900,000, and a sister city plaza are now no longer in the plans. A children’s playground on the east end of the mall may also be cut from the project.

And in a move sure to please area architects, city officials are now open to replacing the 4-inch-by-12-inch bricks with similar sized ones. Earlier, the city was eyeing 5-inch-by-10-inch bricks, which angered some in the design community who felt that changing the brick size would deviate too much from the original concept of architect Lawrence Halprin.

“If we want to be true to the Halprin design, the 4-inch-by-12-inch is the way to do that,” Jim Tolbert, the head city planner, told councilors Monday, adding that it would cost $200,000 more for the 4-inch-by-inch-12 bricks.

Officials are also considering a WiFi mesh network on the mall so residents can log onto the Internet anywhere on the pedestrian strip, officials announced for the first time Monday. That would cost about $54,000.

The city is also pushing up the construction date and expediting the work. Instead of spreading out the renovations over several years as originally envisioned, construction will now begin in January and is planned to be wrapped up by the end of April.

“The recurring theme [from merchants] is get it done as quickly as possible,” said Joe Schinstock, the project manager for MMM Design Group, which is overseeing the project.To make that happen, councilors are putting $6 million in the upcoming budget for the renovations instead of $1.5 million. That money will be included in the city’s 2009 bond package.

Other possible new amenities include designated areas for public art, more dedicated space for vendors and new furniture.

The $7.5 million plan does not include the bricking of any side streets, which would cost an additional $4.5 million, officials said.

Some say the changes to the renovation plan do not go far enough. Councilor Satyendra Huja, who helped spearhead the construction of the mall in the mid-1970s as a city planner, said that he would like to see the concept refined closer to the original Halprin design.

“I think the mall right now has a sense of place and character that ought to be maintained and preserved,” he said. “I don’t think we want to sacrifice that with our improvements.”

Several residents, along with Mayor Dave Norris and Councilor David Brown, echoed those comments.

Huja does not want lots of art “cluttering” the mall and said that changes to the lighting fixtures should be pared back.

“Sometimes less is more,” he added.

Beth Meyer, a professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, said she feared the renovations were turning into a “demolition.”

“It appears that every detail and material of the mall is up for grabs,” Meyers said. “The current plan is a far cry from either rehabilitation or ‘civil engineering services.’”

There will be a public meeting on the mall plans at 6:30 p.m. on June 30 in the city meeting space at the Market Street garage. Councilors will likely decide on a final design later this summer.