SoHo in Belmont

By Rebecca Beirne

Bobbing balloons and champagne toasts marked the long-awaited groundbreaking on June 13 for the Belmont Loft Co.’s condominium complex at the corner of Douglas and Lyman streets. It took a decade and at least a half dozen community meetings for the project to be approved.
Formerly owned by the City Industrial Development Authority, the land in Belmont had been used over the years as a dumping ground for petroleum products and even the remains of a demolished ABC store. That part will become a garden. Architect Bruce Wardell designed the 42-unit brick warehouse-style loft structure that will occupy the rest of the site.
With the ever-visible coal tower in the background, Jack Stoner, head of the development team at the project, joined a mixed bag of Charlottesvillians– some invited, some not– to celebrate the project which will bring a new kind of sophistication to North Belmont.
Completion is slated for the summer of 2003. For more information, see the website, www.belmontloftco.com.