Located across Market Street from the police station, the Old Michie Building was originally anchored by LiveArts.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

The city’s leading dance club is moving to the original home of the city’s leading theater company. Club 216 is moving from Water Street, a site slated for a high-rise residential condominium project, to the Old Michie Building, which served as the home of LiveArts from 1989 to 2003. “Club 216 is MOVING!!” exclaims an email to members of the private club, known for its frequent drag shows and large gay clientele. “The rumors are true.”

The email indicates that the last weekend at 216 West Water Street is April 3rd & 4th, with the reopening on Market Street two weeks later. The release also remarks that the new location is directly across the street from the Charlottesville Police Station— “The safest place to party will now be even
safer!!”

Blogger Waldo Jaquith notes that the anchor spot in Old Michie— a big windowless box created expressly for LiveArts by developer Gabe Silverman— was only suitable for a very few tenants.

Comments(11)

This old bridge carrying Rt. 743 will be scrapped.
FILE PHOTO BY ADAM SORENSEN

With its bid of just under $2 million, a firm headquartered in downtown Charlottesville is the apparent low bidder for the contract to replace the Advance Mills Bridge, whose old one-lane, wood-and-steel structure was closed in 2007 due to safety concerns.

The firm is Fielder’s Choice Construction, located on South First Street. In recent months, the company has completed an infill apartment complex in Harrisonburg, begun building a water treatment plant for Luray, and received “Full Qualification” certification from VDOT.

“This is the biggest VDOT contract we have,” says Fielder’s Choice operations vice-president Donald Cantore. “We now have a $5 million backlog.”

The firm’s bid of $1,934,457 beat out seven other companies for the contract to span the North Fork Rivanna River with Route 743 at Advance Mills.

VDOT says the new bridge will be a two-laner, with a wide shoulder to handle bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The contract also calls for widening the road on both sides to (more)

Comments(1)

Isabella, a 19-year-old aspiring model from Barboursville will compete on Cycle 12 of America’s Next Top Model airing March 4.
PUBLICITY PHOTO

Last fall, Lauren Brie Harding, daughter of Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding, was one of 14 contestants chosen for cycle 11 of America’s Next Top Model. She made it to the final eight before she was eliminated. Now comes news that another local beauty has been selected to compete in Cycle 12. “Isabella” is a 19-year-old aspiring model from Barboursville who’ll face off against 12 other contestants when the new season airs on March 4 on the CW. The Wikipedia page for America’s Next Top Model identifies her as Isabella Falk. Calls to area Falks were not returned at posting time.

Comments(2)

Adam Greenbaum took over Vinegar Hill Theatre last fall and scored a huge hit with Slumdog Millionaire.
FILE PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

While Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire has made millions of moviegoers feel good, it’s made one local theater owner feel even better.

“We were so lucky,” says Adam Greenbaum, who bought the struggling Vinegar Hill Theatre last fall and immediately had a tough decision to make about his movie lineup.

“Fox Searchlight told me we could have The Wrestler or Slumdog,” Greenbaum recalls. “At that point, I hadn’t seen either, so it was a toss-up.”

Greenbaum says the already brewing advance buzz on Slumdog led him to go with his gut, and he booked the film to begin December 19 (following Rachel Getting Married and Happy Go Lucky). Two months– and more than $100,000 in ticket sales at Vinegar Hill Theatre alone– later, it seems Greenbaum’s gut was right on the money.

“I’m constantly amazed,” he says, recalling several weeks in January where even the usually less crowded 4pm shows sold out in the 219-seat theater. While Slumdog has done well at Greenbaum’s second theater, Visulite Cinema in Staunton, Greenbaum says it’s done “incredibly well” in Charlottesville. In fact, Greenbaum says that according to Nielsen numbers, Slumdog is the highest grossing movie in Charlottesville since last year’s The Dark Knight, and he believes it has a chance to outsell even last summer’s James Bond movie Quantum of Solace.

Whereas blockbusters like those tend to do huge numbers on opening weekend and gradually decline, (more)

Comments(1)

Thirty nine tornados swept through Virginia in 2008, including the devastating storm that decimated Suffolk. Above, the antique store in Driver, Virginia after that tornado.
PHOTO BY JIM BRICKETT/FLICKR

Anyone who lived through 2008 knows tornados can whip through Virginia– and whip people into a frenzy in the process. Last year, 39 tornados hit the Commonwealth– including the mother of tornados that cut a devastating swath through Suffolk.

To keep yourself and your family safe, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management has planned a statewide tornado drill on March 17 at 9:45am, which will begin on NOAA weather radio and then be broadcast on radio and television stations. Last year, 340,000 people registered to participate.

If you don’t want to wait that long to prepare, since tornados can officially strike at any time of year, the Emergency Management Department has provided instructions for a DIY tornado drill.

•  Announce the start of the drill.
•Participants should act as though a tornado warning has been issued for the immediate area or a tornado has been sighted nearby. They should move as quickly as possible (more)

Comments(3)

Sally Thomas (left) handed over an official dredging report while Dede Smith offered a “minority report.”
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Declining useage means that local water bills are getting a double-digit increase, as the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority’s five-member board voted unanimously Monday, February 23 for wholesale water/sewer rates to climb nearly 11 percent in the city and 12 percent in the county— nearly double last year’s increase.

“Rates must increase due mainly to lower flows,” says the Authority’s budget. “Although logic would seem to prescribe that lower flows would mean lower rates, the opposite is true when there are large fixed costs.”

In other large fixed costs news, the Authority board voted unanimously to spend up to $264,000 to fund a three-member panel of engineers as part of the Authority’s effort to build a dam in the Ragged Mountain Natural Area. Critics, such as former Charlottesville City Councilor Kevin Lynch and massage therapist Betty Mooney, have asked the Authority to hold off (more)

Comments(23)