(Photo: © Alan Karchmer / OTTO)Īfter pandemic-related delays, the reborn Monticello Dairy reopened this past fall-COVID-19 precautions firmly in place-as a bustling 23,000-square-foot food hall that honors the building’s original agri-industrial roots while serving as a “community-driven venue” that, according to a press release, has the power to draw people back to a local landmark had been all but forsaken in recent years. Lobby area of the office building connected to the milk processing facility-turned-food hall. Phase one, which broke ground in the summer of 2018, also includes new construction, namely a four-story office addition also designed by Cunningham | Quill. However, the recently completed first phase, which involved the meticulous renovation and restoration of the old dairy building, is at the heart of the project. The three-phase Dairy Central development at the site will ultimately give way to new construction for rental apartments, affordable housing, retail, and dedicated office space that will house community organizations. When Stony Point Development purchased the 4.5-acre property at 946 Grady Avenue in 2017 with plans to transform it into a mixed-use development, they certainly had their work cut out for them, although the sturdy building, with its thick brick walls and concrete flooring, was in good structural shape and its highly walkable location near downtown and the University of Virginia was ideal.
Much of the 1937’s building historic character was carefully left intact with renovating and expanding it. As tenants came and went, the building itself fell into a state of neglect and its future remained hazy. It went on to house an eclectic number of businesses per The Daily Progress, including a martial arts studio, battery retailer, indoor paintball park, recording studio, and a number of breweries and restaurants. Once home to an ice cream parlor, event venue, and, for a while, a very large plastic cow sculpture, the column-fronted milk processing facility ceased operations following a change of ownership in the mid-1980s. Designed by prominent local architect Elmer Burruss, the 1937 Monticello Dairy building for decades served as both an architectural focal point and community gathering spot for residents of 10th and Page, a compact and historically African American neighborhood developed by John West, an emancipated slave who went on to become a prolific landowner and civic leader in Charlottesville.
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