Major development community clears first big step. Also in this issue: Holiday profile – Curitiba Art Cafe.
by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The irony of Tuesday night’s City Council meeting was not lost on soon-to-be outgoing Council member Matt Kelly.
He came on to Council in 2002, he said, over a zoning issue involving the same parcel of land that the Council was voting on that evening. Notably, some 63 acres that is situated along a portion of Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard near Virginia Credit Union Stadium.
The land is the proposed site for the Neon development, a mixed-use residential and commercial area that would target young people between the ages of 25 and 40. To accomplish this, the land has to be rezoned from Planned Development Commercial (PD-C) to Planned Development Mixed Use (PD-MU) and Planned Development Residential (PD-R).
Council voted 6-0 Tuesday night with one abstention (Council Member Jon Gerlach) to approve on first read the proposed rezoning. The second read is scheduled for the December 12 meeting.
The Neon development would include 762 multifamily dwelling units, as well as an expansive clubhouse with coworking space, event space, and a fitness center, among other amenities. In addition, the development will feature some 25,000 square feet of commercial-use space.
Holiday Profile: Curitiba Art Cafe
by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Business Name: Curitiba Art Cafe
Location: 919 Caroline Street
Regular Business Hours: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Website: curitibaartcafe.com
Instagram: Curitiba_art_cafe
For Cori Blanch, owning a shop in downtown Fredericksburg wasn’t something he planned to do. He was not prepared financially to take on such a responsibility.
But Frank and Anna Robinson, who opened Curitiba Art Cafe in 2017, saw something in Cori and his wife, Megan Samples, that the two of them didn’t see in themselves at that time. So in 2020, the Robinsons sat the two down and created a pathway for them to own what Cori describes as one of the most beautiful buildings in Fredericksburg.
“We were completely floored by the offer.” They’ve also made the most of the opportunity.
Curitiba Art Cafe at 919 Caroline Street has all the things you’d expect at a cafe – coffee, an assortment of pastries, and some quality lunch fare – but in an environment unlike any other.
Cori and Megan haven’t much changed the physical look of Curitiba – that’s the legacy that Frank, an architect, left. Rather, their changes reflect the second half of the company’s name: “Art Cafe”
“That’s the part we thought we could affect the most,” Cori said. “We want to be an art hub. But art the medium, not art the genre.”
By that he means a space for anyone who practices the creative arts. It’s most obvious in the many paintings that hang around the shop.
“We want to build a place that members of the art community have access to.” Cori and Megan do that by opening their walls to anyone – amateur or professional – who has an interest in sharing their paintings.
Beyond a physical gallery, however, Curitiba has become a living, breathing expression of the arts. The site hosts live music events, photography groups and graphic design groups, and more.
“It’s not enough to just a part of the art scene,” Cori said, “but you have to be a good steward of the art scene.”
Three Questions for the Owners
FXBG Advance: What are your bestselling items?
Cori: The Curry Chicken sandwich is the big favorite here – so much so that we struggle to keep it in stock. We’re also quietly becoming known for our cocktails.
FXBG Advance: What’s the most surprising thing people can buy at Curitiba?
Cori: Cocktails. Our smoked Old Fashioned is really popular. People enjoy not just the drink, but the process we go through to make it. People are surprised by how far we go with our cocktails. They’re surprised by the level of craftsmanship that goes into our drinks. We make our own syrups, and use a range of special techniques to get certain effects. We try and cover a good gambit of spirits and techniques.
We have about 10 cocktails at a time on our menu, and we swap things out seasonally. But the Old Fashioned is always on there.
FXBG Advance: What’s the most surprising thing about the building?
Cori: The level of history. We like teaching people about what we’ve learned. The upstairs, for example, is is an old enslaved persons’ quarters. A lot of people are really struck when they go upstairs and realize what this place once was.
Then there’s the long list of businesses that have been here over the years.
“Buildings like this one,” Cori said, “remind us that we’re part of a long history.”
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-Martin Davis, Editor
The entire council turned over when Matt was elected. The elected body had rezoned a huge property for commercial development, thinking they were preventing the construction of over a thousand new homes that would have brought new residents with school age children. Instead of being hailed as heroes, the public was outraged they had given a developer carte blanche. The irony is that Celebrate VA ended up with way more than a thousand new homes and is apparently going to get more. The fatal flaw in the council’s 2002 action was to not aggressively pursue a new interchange. Infrastructure is destiny, not zoning. The developer said he would talk to the governor about an interchange and the council stupidly thought that was enough. It wasn’t and subsequent opportunities to get that interchange have slipped by. Celebrate VA still struggles.