ANNUAL REPORT 2021
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City of Charlottesville Office of Economic Development
Message From The Director Dear Stakeholders,
Welcome to the annual update from the Office of Economic Development. We are pleased to provide updates on our activities from 2021. Mid-way through the year, I placed the nearby graphic of man trying to keep a bunch of plates spinning in the air on my door as a caution to those entering that there may be chaos within. With the ongoing and seemingly never ending pandemic, a series of significant leadership changes within the organization and several departures of key OED staff, it has never been more difficult to keep all the plates in the air. Truth be told, we probably dropped a couple or at the very least missed some opportunities to improve. Nonetheless, as you will see in these pages, we managed to provide meaningful assistance and support to entrepreneurs and businesses across the city. A key element of our work this year involved the development of an economic recovery initiative to assist with ameliorating the impacts of the pandemic. This effort, known as, The Recovery Roadmap: A Plan for Business Recovery in Charlottesville is underway and will deploy over $500,000 in additional support to businesses through 2022. Access to office space should not be an impediment to business recovery as over 500,000 square feet of new Class A office space was delivered to the market by developers in downtown Charlottesville this year. This unprecedented amount presents both an opportunity and a challenge to future growth as the nature of work continues to evolve. Despite this uncertainty the majority of this new space is leased indicating continued strong demand for downtown real estate. In another highlight the City’s Home to Hope Program was recognized earlier this year with an award of excellence from the International City Managers Association (ICMA). Home to Hope is the City’s Peer Support Recovery Program that serves the reentry population by assisting formerly incarcerated individuals residing in Charlottesville. These efforts collectively lead to a more vibrant economy that both helps to support local services and provides meaningful job opportunities for citizens. Thank you for your continued support of Charlottesville’s business community. Sincerely,
Chris Engel Director, Office of Economic Development
2021 Annual Report
The Recovery Roadmap: A Plan for Business Recovery in Charlottesville With the City Council indicating economic recovery of local businesses from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as a top near-term priority, the Office of Economic Development engaged the business community in a recovery planning effort in the early spring. Following broad participation from City business owners the City Council endorsed the Recovery Roadmap plan in June and allocated a portion of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act funding to support it. The plan identifies 15 initiatives to help strengthen and sustain the Charlottesville entrepreneurial ecosystem in the next 12-18 months.
THE PLAN
15
INITIATIVES
12-18 MONTHS
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City of Charlottesville Office of Economic Development
A Few Highlights OED Works to Update & Refresh Downtown Mall Maps BRACE Grant to Support Business Recovery In 2021, OED offered another round of the Building Resiliency Among Charlottesville Entrepreneurs (BRACE) Grant. This follows an initial round in 2020 where BRACE grants helped 69 City businesses survive the early days of the pandemic. BRACE 2.0. was intended to help businesses gain resiliency and adapt in response to a threat such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 31 grants were delivered to City-based businesses and organizations during this round of funding. These $2,500 grants were targeted to businesses that demonstrated the ability to adapt from the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding for this grant was provided by the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority (CEDA).
OED staff worked to update the Downtown Mall maps by listing all of the retail related businesses found on the pedestrian mall. In addition to updating the business list, the design was refreshed to make it easier to read and find locations. Also, new with this update, the maps include a QR code that visitors may use to access additional and timely information about downtown. These maps are installed on each intersection of Main Street and the cross streets. Maps are also installed at the Water Street and Market Street Parking Garages.
Marketing Leverage Grant Another element of the Recovery Roadmap is the newly created Marketing Leverage Grant (MLG). City based businesses may apply for one of three options depending on their particular situation and needs to help support their marketing efforts during recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.
By year end 22 grants totaling over $50,000 had been approved and were being funded to support business recovery in the City.
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2021 Annual Report
Buy Local Campaign OED partnered with Albemarle County’s Office of Economic Development on a new regional Buy Local campaign. The effort seeks to educate the public on the many benefits of supporting locally owned and operated businesses which include keeping more money circulating in our local economy, job opportunities for residents and enhanced civic pride. The campaign includes ads on TV and postings on social media for both the City and the County. There are so many great locally owned businesses and we are proud to celebrate them all!
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VIDEOS PRODUCED
7,500
+
IMPRESSIONS
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City of Charlottesville Office of Economic Development
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Charlottesville An October 2021 aerial view of downtown Charlottesville looking west shows five significant commercial projects that have recently been completed. From left to right: 1. The Quirk Hotel An art-inspired 80-room boutique hotel with banquet facilities and a rooftop bar and restaurant opened late 2020;
2. Apex Plaza A state-of-the-art mass timber building just off the downtown mall will serve as the new corporate headquarters for Apex Clean Energy; 3. Dairy Central With 50,000 square feet of office space in conjunction with a first of its kind food hall and retail and residential space;
2021 Annual Report
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Photo courtesy of Joe Rice
4. CODE On the downtown mall, provides coworking options, a theater, an outdoor plaza and room for over 500 employees; 5. The 3Twenty3 Offers 120,000 square feet of dedicated office space in large floorplates and 200 structured parking spaces for tenants
Collectively the office projects mentioned add a half million square feet to the downtown market. This amount is equivalent to ¼ of the all the floor space in the Empire State building! In a typical year downtown Charlottesville may see on average 50,000 to 70,000 square feet of new office space come on the market.
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City of Charlottesville Office of Economic Development
GO Hire Workforce Grant OED adapted the GO Hire program to align with Recovery Roadmap initiative and better assist local business with hiring staff. The workforce-based grant is designed to assist City businesses that are growing and enhancing their workforce. Businesses that are hiring City residents for positions that pay $15.00/hour could be eligible for up to $5,000 in reimbursements. The City’s grant can be combined with the Governor’s “Return to Earn” program. More than a dozen businesses took advantage of this tool to better grow their workforce this past year.
Business Training Series The first offering of the Recovery Roadmap was a series of virtual training sessions on topics of current relevance including: bookkeeping, photography, customer service, HR and social media. Over 75 business owners participated in these sessions during the month of May.
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PARTICIPANTS
TRAINING VIRTUAL SERIES
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL CHARLOTTESVILLE AREA BUSINESSES
Join us the entire month of May for a series of virtual business workshops designed specifically to help your business recover in 2021! AT YOUR SERVICE: EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE EQUALS COLD, HARD CASH May 5th, 6th, and 7th from 9am to 11am FREE additional two-hour consultation/assessment with instructor Instructor: Cathy Stapleton, Cathy Stapleton & Co.
2021 Annual Report
GO Start-Up Class Completed The Minority Business Program’s fourth GO Start-Up class graduated virtually in the spring of 2021. The six week program provides the basic tools needed to launch a new business at no cost to the participant. Nine City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle residents gave a graduation speech and pitches their businesses to families, community members, and program supporters.
Congratulations
on completing the program!
Destiny Moore
Najeeba Popal
Keyanna Cabell
Shaniqua Brown
Moore by Destiny, LLC Riqkey Transportation & Logistics, LLC
Mariah Bowles
Gemini Collections, LLC
Max Via Flying Pigs Press, LLC
Angel’s Afghan Cuisine, LLC Flower Power VA, LLC
Shaquille Thompkins
Officially Stamped, LLC
Tamrah Payne
Tasami Natural, LLC
Tyrone Thomas
Ty’s Soul Food Kitchen and Catering, LLC
Charlottesville Ale Trail Goes Digital In 2018, the Charlottesville Ale trail was formed to promote the vibrant and growing brewing industry within the City of Charlottesville. In March 2021, the popular paper passport for the Ale Trail went digital. Customers can now get a ‘stamp’ by scanning a QR code at each location or through a geo-location enabled check-in. Since going digital, 375 individuals have completed the 2.3 mile self-guided urban walking tour featuring the City’s six breweries.
OED Launches New CRM Following extensive research, OED implemented a new customer relationship management software to help improve internal and external communication efforts. OED invested in InfoFlo, a multi-faceted technology solution to assist OED in improving communication to business owners and building customer relationships. This software will also track projects, tasks, and several other features to allow staff to organize and consolidate information.
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City of Charlottesville Office of Economic Development
City Technology Zone Reauthorized At a December meeting, the City Council voted to reauthorize a citywide Technology Zone through 2026. The Technology Zone serves to broaden the City’s commercial tax base and encourage growth in technology related businesses that produce high-paying technology-based jobs for community residents. Charlottesville was one of the first jurisdictions in the state to create such a zone in 2001, and still the only to designate the entire city as the zone. The Charlottesville Technology Zone ordinance allows qualifying businesses a reduction in their Business Professional and Occupational License or BPOL tax for a seven year eligibility period. The Technology Zone continues to be an excellent way for Charlottesville to market itself as an attractive location for entrepreneurs, technology start-ups and medium sized businesses that have a minimal impact on the environment, while having a significant positive impact on the economy. The Office of Economic Development incorporates the Technology Zone benefits in its regular interactions with existing and prospective businesses and the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue facilitates the administration of the tax credits annually through the BPOL process.
$83M
$ VALUE OF COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT
464
# OF COMMERCIAL PERMITS ISSUED
GO COOK Workforce Training Completed GO Cook is a five-week training program that prepares individuals for entry level culinary careers (e.g., food prep, pantry cook, line cook, etc.) within the restaurant industry. The program, free for eligible City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, is a partnership among the City’s Office of Economic Development, Chef Antwon Brinson of Culinary Concepts AB LLC, and Albemarle County to offer training that will equip residents with basic cooking skills, ServSafe certification, a Certified Cook certification, and workplace essential skills. A small cohort of four individuals completed the program in October and were offered employment options in the food service industry.
Home to Hope Program Receives ICMA Award The Home to Hope Program was recognized earlier this year with an award of excellence from the International City Managers Association (ICMA). Home to Hope is the City’s Peer Support Recovery Program that assists formerly incarcerated individuals residing in Charlottesville. Peer Navigators guide program participants by providing assistance in the form of peer support practices, support groups, community partner referrals, and accessing resources as needed. The Peer Navigators have “lived-experience” and are also state certified Peer Recovery Specialists. The program was managed by OED until September 1, 2021 at which point leadership responsibility was transferred to the Deputy City Manager for Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
2021 Annual Report
Venture Central Launches to Foster Entrepreneurship Venture Central, a collaborative project to support regional entrepreneurship launched in 2021. The founding partners include the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the University of Virginia, and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. An eleven member board was seated and executive leadership search was conducted resulting in the hiring of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder as the organizations first staff a member. Venture Central’s mission is to serve and strengthen the Central Virginia entrepreneurial community by building and bridging connections, programs, funding, and spaces. Venture Central has received support from GO (Growth and Opportunity) Virginia a statewide economic development initiative driving regional economic growth by incentivizing collaboration between business, education and local government through grant opportunities identified in regional Growth & Diversification Plans.
Parking Program As with the local and national economy, COVID-19 presented continued challenges for the Charlottesville Public Parking Program in 2021. As the economy began to bounce back in early to mid-2021 this was reflected in increased utilization of both the Market Street and Water Street Parking Garages. The increased demand was not, however, on a pace with the increased economic activity and employment. This seemed to reflect an increase in telework. Whether this situation is the beginning of a more permanent change in the working environment or still only temporary is hotly debated by experts across the country and something we will continue to monitor. Another side effect of the pandemic has been a greater emphasis on touchless parking payment solutions. For many years the industry has been moving from payments involving cashiers to more automated systems designed to reduce personal interactions and speed the facility entrance and exit
process. One aspect of this movement is the rise of mobile payment solutions. These are systems designed to allow customers to make payments using mobile phones rather than facility pay stations. In 2020, the City engaged Parking Mobile, a local and national leader in this technology, to provide a mobile payment solution for the West 2nd Street parking lot. In 2021, this service was added to the Market Street and Water Street Parking Garages. Customers may also make a reservation in advance for parking using the mobile app. While the world changed in many unexpected ways in 2021 an unavoidable occurrence is the continued aging of the two facilities that provide public parking for the City. That simple act of aging creates the inevitability of the need for repairs. A full structural survey of both garages was conducted in 2021 and a series of significant repairs were documented. Phase one of these repairs are planned to begin in both garages during the summer of 2022. Both facilities will remain open and fully operational during this time.
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Staff Chris Engel, CEcD Director
Trish Carpenter Administrative Assistant
George Sandridge Business Development Manager
Roy Fitch Job Center CoordinatorOutreach
Rick Siebert Parking Manager Ajoni Wynn-Floyd Minority Business Development Coordinator
434.970.3110 ecodev@charlottesville.gov 610 East Market Street Charlottesville, VA 22902 charlottesville.gov/econdev charlottesville.gov/jobcenter charlottesville.gov/hometohope