Charlottesville's Highlight: The Downtown Mall

Charlottesville’s Highlight: The Downtown Mall

As Charlottesville grew during the 1950s and 1960s, businesses and shopping began finding space outside the downtown area. In 1957, The Barracks Road Shopping Center opened to much acclaim; however, this drew people out of the city center. After realizing what was happening, the Charlottesville City Council and business leaders wanted to take action to help keep people in downtown for their basic needs. In 1959, the idea of creating a pedestrian business and shopping center was born.

Once of the first steps in this process was developing a site plan. From the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, the city and its citizens worked to develop the plans and pushed to make this a reality. The plans for construction of The Downtown Mall were approved by the Charlottesville City Council on March 18, 1974. Construction began on December 26, 1974 and opening day happened on July 3, 1976.

https://www.cvillepedia.org/Downtown_Mall

Since that time, The Downtown Mall has grown to house over 120 shops and 30 restaurants offering a broad range of shopping and dining experiences. The Downtown Mall is also home to The Paramount Theater and The Jefferson Theater. These venues truly provide a yesteryear viewing experience for movies and music concerts.

The Sprint Pavilion is located at the east end of The Downtown Mall and supplies the stage for nationally known musicians and talent at this 3,500 seat outdoor music venue. It is also the backdrop for Charlottesville Friday’s After Five, an April to September concert series. It has hosted talent including The Dave Mathews Band, Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, Spin Doctors, and so many more.

http://www.sprintpavilion.com/

Gavin Sherwood is a licensed real estate agent in Virginia. If you are interested in living in Charlottesville, Nelson County, Stoney Creek, Wintergreen, or Central Virginia, contact Gavin today at (434) 962-0226 or gavin@sherwoodteam.com.