One Brick Short

Rejoice! O ye residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle and Greene, rejoice! For unto us has been delivered by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors yet another large commercial development, also known as a strip mall.

The Northtown Center on U.S. 29 across from Keglers and Schewels and Better Living, up the road from Fashion Square Mall, Shoppers World Shopping Center, Rio Hill Shopping Center and Albemarle Square Center; KMart, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club and down the road from Hollymead Towne Center and Target and Forest Lakes Shopping Center, is finally approved!

We need this development. We need a lot of things, including more common sense and backbone, but not nearly as much as we need this development. Think of what an additional 84,000 square feet of retail space can give us?

We could get a Home Depot to compete with Lowe’s across the street and Lowe’s up in Greene County!

We could get another Appleby’s, another Burger King, another Food Lion, another Kroger, another Starbucks, another pet supply store, another Chinese or Mexican restaurant, another TJ Maxx or Marshalls or Big Lots.

If we’re lucky, we could get a Texas Steakhouse restaurant, a Macaroni Grill, a Ukrops, a Starbucks with a drive-through window, a Kohl’s department store.

The greatest reason to rejoice, O ye residents, is that, thanks to the supervisors and Northtown Center developer Wendell Wood, we may get something this community desperately needs:  An Olive Garden Restaurant!