Shareholders in a colorful downtown parking company were recently told that the April 1 deadline for purchase offers has been extended to July 1. But before the May 9 letter announcing that decision found its way into the hands of shareholder and would-be buyout artist Richard Spurzem, he was steaming over the fact that his $9.3 million offer, submitted on the original deadline day, had gone unanswered.

“Why are they being so secretive?” says Spurzem. “We’re just a little community thing– why not just have a meeting?”

Fellow shareholder Spencer Connerat agrees and says that Spurzem was “clearly mistreated” by the company’s failure to even acknowledge his offer.

“We don’t have any secrets,” says company chair Jim Berry, adding that he’s sorry Spurzem feels let down by the lack of a response. He says the company has received “several” offers and (more)

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How quickly we forget. In a Daily Progress story today about the new $21 million Jefferson Scholars Foundation headquarters (photo bottom right), a 25,000-square-foot complex to be built on the site of the former Eugene Bradbury-designed Beta House/Compton House (photo left) on Maury Avenue, it’s mentioned that the “project drew criticism over the past year from several local historic preservationists who denounced the foundation’s decision to demolish a 93-year-old house to make way for the new structure.”

And that’s it.

In fact, Charlottesville’s own preservation and design planner, Mary Joy Scala, called the demolition of the Beta House (more)

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Yes, ladies and gentlemen, developer Lee Danielson (bottom left) has returned to the Downtown Mall, but this time he’s brought a few wealthy and glamorous friends.

“It wasn’t easy to get this started,” said Danielson, following today’s groundbreaking for The Landmark Hotel (once Hotel Charlottesville, then the Landmark, then The Beacon, now the Landmark again), a $30 million 9-story luxury hotel scheduled to open in July 2009. “It’s difficult to get people to believe in Charlottesville if they’re not from Charlottesville.”

Presumably, then, it wasn’t that hard to get Cnet founder Halsey Minor (upper left) to believe. Minor, owner and major investor in the project, was born in Charlottesville, and at today’s ceremony he recalled his hometown roots.

“This is more of a family reunion than a groundbreaking,” he told the small crowd of local luminaries and press folks, including mayor Dave Norris, vice-mayor Julian Taliaferro, John Paul Jones Arena manager Larry Wilson, and mega-developer Hunter Craig.

Minor recalled buying his first baseball glove at Downtown Athletic, and told the story of his great-great grandfather, John B. Minor, one of the first law professors at UVA, who, Minor said, convinced an advancing Confederate army not to burn UVa to the ground.

“It was one of the first extraordinary acts of preservation,” he said.

Like his great-great granddaddy, Minor says he wants to preserve Charlottesville’s history–with style.

“There won’t be any sappy busts of the three presidents in the lobby,” he said. “We want to call attention to Charlottesville’s history with humor and elegance.”

Indeed, the Landmark’s principle architect Neil Bhatt, of NBJ Architecture (it appears that Danielson’s old chum, architect Mark Hornberger and his firm Hornberger/Worstell were dropped, but Bhatt says they will “carry over the same theme.” Hmm….we wonder what the BAR might think of that, considering how impressed they were with Hornberger’s designed when they approved it), says the black marble facade will be preserved and that the remaining facades will blend in with the downtown architecture.

The 100-key hotel will also include a restaurant and bar, a state-of-the-art meeting place, and a rooftop terrace.

“It’s an urban project, so there are a lot of complexities,” says Bhatt, whose firm specializes in designing hotels. “It’s a very tight site.”

But Bhatt predicts the building will, indeed, become a landmark. “The light boxes on the top floor will glow at night,” he says. In addition, the large open-air terrace on the Mall side will be “great for wedding parties and other events,” he says.

As for the interior, Minor and Danielson have brought along designer-to-the-stars Michael Smith, famous for decorating the homes of Cindy Crawford, Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Introducing mayor Norris, Minor quipped that he had a “natural prejudice against mayors,” but assured the crowd that “this one was wonderful.”

Norris said the construction of the hotel would be a new “renaissance” for the the Mall. Later, he told the Hook that “anytime you bring something like this downtown, it can only help.”

Indeed, “rebirth” appeared to be a talking point.

“It will be a catalyst for the continuing growth of downtown Charlottesville,” Minor told the Hook. “It will make retailers more confident if they have the hotel here, bringing people downtown,” he said. “We’re in the middle of a rebirth of the area.”

“It was a chance to do something interesting in Charlottesville,” Minor responded when asked why he teamed up with Danielson. “I wouldn’t have done this anywhere else in the country.”

“You can’t imagine how it feels to be starting this,” Danielson told the Hook. “I was wondering if it was ever going to happen.”

Wearing hard hats and wielding golden shovels, Danielson, Minor, and Norris mugged for the cameras and assumed the digging position. However, Danielson’s hardhat appeared to be a little too tight.

“I guess I have a bigger head than I’ve been told,” he joked.

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Six months ago, when the Hook learned that developer Hunter Craig had added the Chancellor Building to his list of Corner purchases (in 2006 he purchased the former Eljo’s building for a reported $4.7 million, and paid $2.6 for the Chancellor, home to the White Spot, Freeman-Victorius frame shop, and the Corner Market), we wondered if there might be some big changes in store for the Corner. However, it wasn’t Craig who confirmed our suspicions ( “I like the Corner just the way it is,” said Craig), but long-time Corner property owner Terry Vassalos.

“I think it’s a turning point,” said Vassalos, who owns the the Corner parking lot, the College Inn, and the Anderson Building (the latter the site of Plan 9, the Satellite Ballroom, Higher Grounds, and Just Curry), speculating that the construction of the Grandmarc on 15th Street and 225 14th Street, which would add 265 new residential units to the area, would revitalize the area with more pedestrians. “I’d like to see fewer restaurants and more retail,” he said. “I think a big chain retail store would be great for the Corner.”

At the time, Vassalos insisted that he had no plans for placing a chain retail store in the Anderson Building.

However, for nearly two weeks now, the rumor that a CVS Pharmacy will be moving into the Anderson Building on The Corner, displacing its current tenants, has been circulating in the blogosphere and on email lists. (more)

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Seven Oaks, the historic Greenwood estate owned by DMB manager, Musictoday founder and real estate magnate Coran Capshaw, is for sale for $12.5 million. The 1840s, 6,870-square-foot house is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Virginia Historic Landmark.

Capshaw bought the Greek Revival manse and accompanying 100 acres in 2000 for $2.25 million. The property, protected from development by a conservation easement, is currently assessed at $4,380,800.

According to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the estate is significant for its well-preserved collection of outbuildings, the oldest of which is a log structure known as Black’s Tavern. Those buildings once housed another Capshaw enterprise, Red Light Management, which moved to town to the former SNL building in late 2005.

Among the dependencies are four tenant houses and a 2,870-square-foot pool house with outdoor kitchen, home theater and vanishing edge pool. A studio, gym, stables and vineyard are part of the package.

Calls today to Capshaw and listing agent Ross Stevens were not immediately returned.

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A $350,000 demolition of the former Boxer/Central Fidelity Bank building at 200 East Main on the Downtown Mall is scheduled to begin in a “couple of weeks,” according to a representative for Minor Family Hotels, the firm building a 9-story “boutique” hotel on the site. See photo right.

Given the history of this hotel idea, which was proposed by developer Lee Danielson in 2004, it’s hard to believe it’s really going to happen, but according Cliff Harrison, an owner’s rep for Minor Family Hotels, it’s a done deal.

“Yes, it’s going to happen,” says Harrison. “We’ll start by putting up barricades around the site, and then the demo should take about two months.”

Everything but the black granite facade and eight feet of wall down Second Street is scheduled to be demolished. Harrison says (more)

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Despite strong objections from local preservationists as well as from City Council, who denied additional bond financing to the Jefferson Scholars Foundation because they were not satisfied with efforts to consider preserving the Compton House (a.ka. Beta House), the Eugene Bradbury-designed private residence and fraternity house was reduced to a pile of rubble today.

To see recent photos of Beta House before the demo, click here.

From the start, the Jefferson Scholars seemed to show little interest in preserving the building at 124 Maury Avenue, despite repeated efforts from preservation activists like architectural historian Daniel Bluestone, who says he tried a number of times to contact Foundation president James Wright to encourage him to preserve the house. Bluestone says Wright never responded.

“We are not, as a foundation, in the business of historic preservation,” Wright told City Council members at a September 17 meeting. Wright– who, according to several Council members, appeared physically agitated by Council’s decision to block the requested financing– said then that the Foundation had not decided what to do with the building.

“It’s definitely a significant historic structure,” Mayor David Brown later told the Hook, “and we want to know what they plan to do before we approve the bond issue.” (more)

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As mentioned in this week’s Dish, Arch’s Frozen Yogurt plans to open a new location on Emmet street next summer. In 2005, Arch’s owners bought the old Donut Connection at 1232 Emmet Street. Since then, they’ve been working with the folks at BRW Architects– known for their renovations of Congregation Beth Israel, the Downtown Rec Center, and the Mall side of the Water Street parking garage– to develop a modern two-story building with two outdoor eating balconies, ivy-covered walls, and a host of energy-efficient features including SIPS wall and roof panels. These cool photomontages, courtesy BRW, show how the new building will look in its natural surroundings.

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