CRHA real estate moves questioned, store counts, and crash sites

Does CRHA’s planned purchase of a 4-story Downtown Mall building for its headquarters make sense?

Local news coverage has focused heavily on the idea of building some kind of homeless shelter on the Avon/Levy site — which has housing advocates excited and some Belmont residents concerned — but there's been very little coverage questioning the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s recent real estate moves.

The CRHA, which develops and funds affordable housing and provides support services for low-income residents has chosen to buy a building on the Downtown Mall for its new headquarters, a 4-story, 23,000 square-foot mixed-use building at 310-312 East Market Street, once home to Silverchair and Vita Nova Pizza, for $2.65 million.

At the same time, CRHA is selling a prime piece of real estate it owns on the corner of Avon Street and Levy Avenue (the former home of Community Bikes) to the City for $4.1 million. City manager Sam Sanders has …