• The new Starbucks location is intended to open in Spring 2018 and will have a drive thru!
   
• This new location will be only 1,250 feet from the existing Starbucks location on the other side of I-81 at James Madison Square.  Starbucks indicates that the existing store will remain open.
   
• Access to Starbucks will be off of Hunters Road -- not Port Republic Road.  This is good -- to not have another entrance/exit onto Port Republic Road in this busy area -- but I'm still not sure how folks are going to leave Starbucks (from Hunters Road) and turn left (across two lanes of traffic) to get onto Port Republic Road heading back towards I-81 and JMU.  Many (most?) times of day, it is very difficult to make this left turn with two lanes of traffic in each direction.
  

• Altitude at Stone Port (student housing) - rezoning approved
• Moe's Grill (restaurant) - under review
• Reserve @ Stone Port - mass grading underway
• Farmers & Merchants Bank at Coffman's Corner - ready to break ground
• Doctor's Office at Coffman's Corner - under review
• Robinson Park Apartments - footers and framing underway
• Greenport - construction underway
• Retreat @ Harrisonburg (student housing) - mass grading underway
• Preston Lake Marketplace - mass grading completed, seeded

Download a larger version of this map as a JPG or PDF.

• 50% one-bedroom apartments
• 39% two-bedroom apartments
• 11% three-bedroom apartments

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) -- A new building on corner of Mason and East Market streets near Urban Exchange will feature a restaurant, possibly a wine bar and some apartments; and those apartments won't be typical rentals.

The three apartments that will go on the third floor will be advertised as short-term rentals on Air B&B, a website that allows people to rent out their spaces temporarily.

The building's owner, Ken Bell, hopes this will boost the downtown scene, but also bring in something he thinks is missing from the area.

"There's already a number of apartments for people looking for the standard year-long lease but what I haven't been able to see is any way that someone that's just visiting, but wants to stay in downtown," Bell said. "There's really not much available right now for that."

In the basement, Bell hopes to have a wine bar and a Mediterranean restaurant on the first and second floors.

According to Bell, he hopes that this building will encourage other expansion in the downtown area.

"They build upon one another," Bell said. "The more people that live downtown and shop downtown, then there's more businesses that wanna be downtown --and those businesses need space so then it will continue to grow."

Saturday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday:  12:00 PM - 5:00 PM

A $60 million new jail by the landfill that's projected to reach capacity in seven years is the plan to fix overcrowding – that is, if it's actually a real plan at all
By Andrew Jenner | Published November 7, 2014

According to the planning study, the annex would "primarily be a minimum security, treatment and program based building" with 315 beds.

It would also house all women prisoners and include a mental health housing unit and a less secure "community custody wing."

The wing would provide dormitory- style housing for inmates involved with work release, education release, work programs and re-entry programs.

The annex would also include visitation rooms, four classrooms, a library, indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, medical offices and detox cells.

The total cost of the project is estimated at more than $63.26 million, half of which would come from the state and the rest split between the city and county.

The cost includes a possible future expansion of the new facility to accommodate an additional 385 beds — for a total of 700 — estimated to cost $5.78 million.

The annex would be 144,000 square feet, with the option to expand to 230,140 square feet in the future.

Officials aim to submit a corrections study to the state by the end of the year. With state approval expected to take roughly a year, officials are hoping to receive state funding for construction in 2016.

If the funds are approved then, the study plans for the new facility to open in March 2020.

• The structural steel is in the process of being erected and the new building is starting to take shape! Steel will continue going up throughout the week.
• Plumbing and electrical work that will go under the concrete slab will begin at the end of September.
• The first week of October, the concrete planks that will form the first floor and ceiling over the basement will arrive to be installed.
• By mid October, the concrete slab for the basement will be poured.

• Bonjangles, being built at the corner of Port Republic Road and Stone Spring Road.
   
  
• The Reserve at Stone Port being built between the to be constructed section of the Southeast Connector Road and Ridgewood Road.
   
  
• Plenty of additional land at Stone Port, yet to be developed, intended for destination retail, medical and professional office, and high density residential.

"The proposed development consists of townhouses along a curvilinear roadway that follows the topography of the site.  A new access point from Massanetta Springs Road would be constructed and a traffic circle woudl be placed near the entrance to the new development."

• There would not be any more than 76 townhouses.
• All existing healthy pine trees along Massanetta Springs Road that are not in the construction limits would be retained.
• The event center would accommodate up to 300 people and will include a golf club house, pro-shop, restaurant, cart storage and associate golf course activities.
  

I started the master plan for Collicello North by orienting smaller homes (1,000-1,800 SF) to take full advantage of the sun. The roof lines were designed so that photo voltaic panels become a natural extension of the structure. The homes will be high-quality construction with close attention to architectural details, energy efficient and EarthCraft-certified. The tree-lined streets are designed as much for the pedestrian as for vehicle traffic. The patios and courtyards provide private outdoor spaces while the porches connect spatially to the large center common area with open space, grass, trees, a pavilion and community garden.

• four lanes for traffic
• a raised median area
• turning lanes
• a 4' bike lane on each side of the road
  
• a 5' sidewalk on each side of the road

If you are buying a home near Reservoir Street (Stonewall Heights, Avalon Woods, etc) you should:

1. be encouraged that you'll soon have a nice new road to travel on, and
   
2. check out where and how the road is being expanded.

View the Reservoir Street Improvement website for a PDF map of the new road.

P.S.  Did you know that 18 buildings along Reservoir Street will be demolished to make way for the improved road?