Pantops: Proud Past, Vibrant Future

By Joanne DiMaggio

As with most identifiable areas in Albemarle County, Pantops has a long and proud history. This prized property, which sits in the shadow of Monticello, once was owned by the Jefferson family. Edward C. Mead, the author of Historic Homes of the South-West Mountains Virginia, writes: “Pantops was considered one of Mr. Jefferson's ‘pet farms,’ and it is said that he hesitated for a time whether his new home should be here or at Monticello, the grand view from this point being hardly less enchanting than its more lofty neighbor. Pantops — formerly written ‘Pant-Ops’—was, therefore, so named by Mr. Jefferson from two Greek words meaning ‘all-seeing,’ significant of the extended view from its summit.” 

Today Pantops is one of the fastest-growing, most-desirable areas in Albemarle County to live and work. Its location is ideal, with easy access to I-64 and a short distance from the Downtown Mall and the University of Virginia. It has combined a variety of residential options—from apartments to townhomes to condos to single-family dwellings—with nearby shopping, restaurants, and businesses.

Anita Dunbar, a REALTOR® with Montague Miller & Co.—Westfield, considers the area known as Pantops to be bordered on the west by Free Bridge; to the north as far as Fontana; to the east to I-64; and to the south, the City of Charlottesville.

“One of the advantages of living at Pantops is being close to downtown Charlottesville, the new Martha Jefferson Hospital; easy access to 64 East or West; close to State Farm Insurance Company, and now restaurants, major grocery, and office buildings,” she said. “That whole area is growing. It basically feels like a new area that is very close to the city; modern with its upgrades with new facilities. It just feels vibrant.”

And “vibrant” is the exact word that Robert B. (Rip) Cathcart, Chairman of the Cathcart Group, uses to describe Pantops. Cathcart develops, builds, and manages the 140-apartment home complex at Carriage Hill Apartments and the 160-unit luxury condo conversions at Claremont at Carriage Hill Condos. 

“It’s very vibrant,” he said of Pantops. “It’s been a significant growth area in the urban ring around Charlottesville for many years. When I say vibrant, you have a lot of new retail development with two significant shopping centers—one anchored by Giant and one by Food Lion. You have a variety of housing. Most importantly, you’re very convenient to Charlottesville. Most of our residents work in town, either downtown, at U.Va., or both hospitals.”

Cathcart credits the success of Pantops with the expansion of Free Bridge from a three- to five-lane road. “Free Bridge was expanded around 1998, which was about the same time we decided to develop Carriage Hill. That’s when we broke ground. We considered the expansion of Free Bridge to be key to all of that, because before that expansion, you were getting a bottleneck there. It was not nearly as accessible as it is now in terms of convenience to get to and from Charlottesville. I think it made the whole Pantops area more desirable. If they hadn’t done that, we would not have developed Carriage Hill.” 

Dunbar has been selling real estate in the Pantops area for 26 years and has seen a lot of changes in that time in terms of variety of housing opportunities. 

“You have communities with different age groups and interests (Fontana a young family neighborhood and Westminster Canterbury a retirement community),” she said. “And you have the new townhomes being built by Ryan and Southern Homes. I’ve sold two recently to families that work for State Farm just across the highway that wanted to be close to their workplace. I consider Ashcroft in that same area. Families live there who work locally for businesses and U.Va. who want to live close to the city in single-family homes with larger parcels of land and easy access to the Downtown Mall. With the restaurants and grocery stores, it’s becoming a place where people want to live.”

Cathcart has also witnessed some changes in the years since his company started to develop Carriage Hill. “We started construction in 1998 and opened the first phase in 2000 and the second phase in 2002. Around the same time we were developing, I think the most significant change is Peter Jefferson Place and the significant amount of job creation through the development of office buildings, as well as the shopping center anchored by Giant. That is a higher-end shopping center and we’ve seen that as a real positive for the whole area.”

Cathcart says the greatest change is yet to come. “The biggest thing by far, and the biggest thing to happen there, is Martha Jefferson Hospital. You’re looking at 1,800 jobs in one location. We consider that huge. Those are high-paying jobs. It’s a big boom for Pantops.”

Both Dunbar and Cathcart see the demographics of the residents at Pantops to be wide and varied. 

“I am seeing highly educated, culturally diverse families interested in not being in the city, but being close to the city,” said Dunbar. “Pantops offers that convenience. Most of the homes that are there are certainly newer homes (built in the last 20 years), so it offers the advantage of more up-to-date features that families are looking for in today’s market. A few miles east you have golf communities like Glenmore and Keswick Estates, who are enjoying the commercial space with grocery store and restaurants, coffee shops, doctors offices, etc. and all the amenities they need on a daily basis.” 

Dunbar says the housing market in and around Pantops is definitely on the upswing. “I think it’s been booming if you look at how quickly those new townhomes by Ryan Homes and Southern Homes have been selling in that area this spring. They offer new housing for affordable prices. Southern Homes is expanding and they are going to build a large number of not only townhomes, but it is my understanding they are also building single-family homes.”

Cathcart said he feels the market has picked up considerably. “I think the hospital opening in about a year—people are seeing it’s already under roof—has put the housing market on the upswing. We sold a good number of condo units last year and we’ve gotten off to a good start this year. 2008 was a low point of the downswing in housing. I think we’re seeing a pretty significant upswing at this point.”

With so much happening so quickly, the future of Pantops looks bright.

“I think it will continue to expand,” said Dunbar. “The whole east side of the city is going to expand, so I really feel that we will see additional new neighborhoods in that particular area.” 

Cathcart agrees. “I have to believe it’s going to continue to grow. I’m not well versed in the amount of remaining developable land, but I know there is some. Again I think Martha Jefferson Hospital is going to have a significant impact and it will continue to grow. You are convenient to all the employment centers downtown, at U.Va. and at U.Va. hospital, but we have quite a bit of employment at Pantops, so you have the ingredients for continued growth and development.”