The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - $956 Million Tourism Impact (CVille & AlbCo 2023); Tourism Supports More Than 7,000 Jobs In Area

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: $956 Million Tourism Impact (CVille & AlbCo 2023) Tourism Supports More Than 7,000 Jobs In Area $1.2 Billion Defense Impact Per Yr (CVille, Alb, GC) Defense Sector Supports 7,000+ Jobs In Area Tourism vs Defense: Compare & Contrast Impacts Duck-Pin Bowling Coming To Dairy Market What Attractions Are Missing From CVille Area? No. 13 SMU (-9.5) at UVA, 12PM Sat, ESPN2 Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. Fantastic afternoon in downtown Charlottesville. Our studio less than two miles from Scott Stadium at the John Paul Jones Arena. And we have quite a bit to cover. What are we, less than a mile away, I would say,

from Dairy Market? The home to what will be a duck pin bowling alley in the old South and Central Steakhouse location. There was a little bit of scuttlebutt that Craig Hartman may open a version of his Gordonsville Ice House in the South and Central location, but that scuttlebutt did not materialize. Instead, a duck pin bowling alley in the works at Dairy Market. In fact, this will come up before the Board of Architectural Review today at 5.30 in what is a public meeting that will also have two items on its agenda from Jeff Levine, the big Apple developer who wants to build a hotel in the

shadows of the Omni Hotel, where the Artful Lodger is, and who wants to transition the movie theater that's clearly in third place, Violet Crown, into an apartment tower that would be the tallest building in the city of Charlottesville. Tallest building in the region, would we say, Judah? How far is region? Central Virginia. I would say Central Virginia. What would be taller? What is the tallest building right now? We did a story on this. It was the Draftsmen Hotel, right? Yeah, I believe so. Then Jaffrey's Code Building in the two slot, right? Newly added. Newly added.

Newly edited into it. ilovecebal.com forward slash tallest buildings in Charlottesville if you want to see it. The Draftsman, the tallest right now, 121 feet tall, 2018 year built. If Levine's building comes to market, it would be the tallest in central Virginia. What could compete with it in Albemarle County? That's a sincere question for you, viewer and listener. What is the tallest building in Albemarle County? Viewers and listeners, put your thoughts in the feed, and we'll relay it live on air. I would love to crowdsource that answer. I would love to

crowdsource that answer. Kevin Yancey, yes, south and central has been closed for some time. A duck pen bowling alley. And it's steed, if you may. A lot we're going to cover on today's show. We're going to talk about the lead story in the Daily Progress, the hero slot, the centerpiece package in the Daily Progress, about the impact on tourism in Charlottesville and Albemarle County in 2023. $956 million, the impact of tourism in Charlottesville and Albemarle County in 2023. $956 million. $47.1 million in tourism-related taxes for those two jurisdictions. More than 7,000 jobs tied to tourism,

according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation, in this region. One of the best stats of this package centerpiece story is the 6% increase in tourism spending over the last two years. This article, the Virginia Tourism Corporation, and this analysis offers this perspective. Charlottesville and Alamo have rebounded since the pandemic. Interestingly,

our colleagues at Friends of Seville, Greer Achenbach does fantastic work. Friends of Seville is doing amazing things with trying to drive foot traffic in downtown Charlottesville. They've highlighted 2017 versus 2023, tracking IP addresses on phones. Foot traffic in downtown Charlottesville is down a million IP addresses. 2017 versus 2023. So we know tourism has rebounded, but that rebound is not necessarily going downtown i want to unpack or i should rephrase we know tourism has rebounded but that tourism is not going downtown to the same extent it went downtown in 2017 we know why that is in part the massive scale of vineyards and wineries and breweries in the area. 80 plus of them in this particular Charlottesville and Alamaro County and these Charlottesville and Alamaro County jurisdictions. So there's more competition for the tourism dollar than

ever before. It's not just Monticello. I remember when I got here in 2000 as a first year at the University of Virginia, the draws for my parents for Charlottesville were Monticello, the UVA Corner, the Downtown Mall, Scott Stadium, and the John Paul Jones Arena. They did not go past there. Now the draws are much more plentiful and significant. I want to also on today's program compare and contrast tourism's impact to the defense sector. I have wondered aloud, Neil Williamson has wondered aloud, I hope the president of the Free Enterprise Forum is watching the show, Neil Williamson, just a fantastic person, what the tourism impact has in comparison to the defense sector's impact. We know in 2023, last year, the Chamber of Commerce, Albemarle County's government, and Charlottesville City's government, in conjunction with the Weldon Cooper Institute, commissioned a study.

And this study analyzed the economic impact of the defense sector in Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Greene. The defense sector's impact in Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Greene. Very little in Greene, but it's growing. The defense sector's impact was $1,218,252,468. I'll just use $1.2 billion. So the defense sector, significantly more impactful than tourism. $1.2 billion. Significantly.

You wouldn't say $1.2 billion plus versus $956 million is significant? I mean, $250 million is a lot of money. $250 million difference. That's a big delta. You don't think so? But it's not like it's double or anything like that. And I would argue that if it weren't for the tourism industry, we might have far less of the defense industry around.

Okay, that is a hell of a point you should make. That's a compelling argument you should make when we dive into that. That's a very viable and legitimate point. This is what we do know. We know that the most significant economic impacts in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County area, number one, clear-cut the University of Virginia. Now we know number two is clear-cut defense sector.

Clear-cut number three is tourism. And I would be willing to bet that the clear-cut number four most significant economic impact in Charlottesville and Albemarle County is real estate. And all the businesses and supply chainsarle County is real estate and all the businesses and supply chains associated with the real estate industry. I would love to see the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. In fact, I encourage the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors, which is struggling to find a value proposition now in this ever-changing time of being a realtor and an association. Did you guys see the New York Times report that came out yesterday? No.

The New York Times did a detailed analysis, investigative journalism, on the National Association of Realtors and the obscene amount of spending its executives and heavy-hitting volunteers were doing with association dollars. We're talking bottles of wine, $500 or $600, tickets to the play Hamilton. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for volunteers. We're talking millions of dollars in compensation for volunteers. We're talking millions of dollars in compensation for the C-suite. We're talking pet sitters, private planes, country club memberships, car allowances, and an unchecked level of spending with the National Association of Realtors. All this is coinciding with a

Me Too investigation with its head honcho, who is documented to inappropriate interactions with women. All this coinciding with the decoupling of commissions and lawsuits that have grabbed national headlines. The National Association of Realtors is in absolute peril right now, a precarious position of significant proportions. That's a conversation that will be had on the Friday edition of Real Talk with Keith Smith. Don't miss that one, Friday at 10.15 a.m. Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors is looking for a future, wondering what its value proposition is going to be. Is its value proposition educational for its members?

Is its value proposition this Hillsdale Drive location, an epicenter that they built that cost a lot of money that's not really being utilized. I've encouraged Carr to put the Hillsdale Drive location on the market for sale. It's just not needed anymore. I would also encourage the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors to commission a similar study of what the economic impacts are of real estate in Charlottesville, Alamo County, and the Charlottesville metro area. Because I would bet once that economic impact, once that study has been done, you would find that real estate's in the fourth slot, and that could be a value proposition that's utilized

by CAR to further reinforce its value proposition, the value of what it offers the community. A lot we're going to talk about today's show. I want to give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 60 consecutive years of business, the Vermillion family, a business started with a husband and wife who moved from Richmond to Charlottesville 60 plus years ago, who raised their son, John Vermillion, in the business. And John Vermillion now has his two sons working in the business. Three generations strong. CharlottesvilleSanitarySupply.com now have a fantastic e-commerce platform. We've got to give some props to River, to Johnny, restauranteurs of talented proportions, and Mexicali Restaurant on West Main Street. If you have not tried Mexicali Restaurant,

you're missing a street art museum, cocktail bar, music venue, and some of the best Latin fusion cuisine in the region, Mexicali, in the old world of beer spot. So, Judah, should I set the stage? You make that compelling argument, you do. It's a good one. Tourism, ladies and gentlemen, according to today's Daily Progress, in 2023, an economic impact of $956 million. This economic impact has upticked 6% over the past two years. The tourism tax-related impact in 2023 was $47 million for Almar County and the city of Charlottesville. And according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation, our region, 7,000 plus jobs associated with tourism. We now know the tourism is rebounding.

And tourism is rebounding, interestingly, at the very same time that traffic on the downtown mall is falling. From 2017 to 2023, traffic on the downtown mall, according to cell phone IP addresses, and a presentation done by Greer Achenbach, the executive director of Friends of Seville, the nonprofit lobbying group that supports the downtown mall. She said we've had a million drop in IP traffic in that period of time. How much of that I wonder if. I wonder is due to the loss of something like. Like First Night Virginia. Great question.

I think that has an impact. There's got to be a ton of people. That would have been on the downtown mall. Thousands. Just in the course of like a few days. Thousands of people. Every year. Yeah.

I'm surprised you didn't highlight the ice park there. As well. I don't know if that brought as many people. Every year. Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't highlight the ice park there as well. I don't know if that brought as many people. I agree with you. I would almost say that Jeffrey's Code Building, maybe more people tied to Jeffrey's Code Building than the ice park. Could be. If you think about it. Coworking space, venue space, office space, coffee shop, sandwich shop. Maybe more people tied to code than the ice park.

A lot of people don't want to hear that. I want to compare and contrast the tourism dollars to the defense sector. The defense sector, a $1.2 billion impact per year impact. 7,000 plus jobs also. It's such a great talking point for a show like this. 1.2 billion per year impact, 956 million tours in 2023. Both the same amount of jobs. 7,000 plus.

Which is most significant? Which is more influential? Which is more important? Which is something to talk about, as Bonnie Raitt said. Clearly, it's time to make the donuts on the I Love Seville show today. You make the argument that without tourism, we may not have defense sector. Go down that road. Well, I think we've got to start that with UVA.

UVA is obviously the linchpin to this area. See, I think UVA is a different category. It is, but remember, I don't think Charlottesville would be the town it is without UVA, and without being if it never became the town it currently is, we wouldn't have the... We wouldn't have the... The evolution into tourism.

Yeah. Well said. And without that evolution into tourism, we probably wouldn't have a fraction of the wineries. I mean, it's because of wineries that have been around the longest that I think people started to realize that Virginia, I mean, obviously Thomas Jefferson had an inkling

that Charlottesville had some pretty special soil. But if there was nobody coming here, I doubt there would be a whole lot of people buying up land to partake in the difficult job of growing grapes in this region because it's, from what I hear, not simple. Brutal business. Yeah. A brutal business.

So many vineyards and wineries have talked about unexpected freezes and the grapes being left unattended or unprotected and an entire year's worth of wine output crushed. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And without all that, who knows if groups like INGIC ever would have landed in this area. Okay. Or if they would have chosen someplace else to begin with. And now I feel like it's all somewhat self-sustaining. You've got UVA fueling tourism, fueling wineries, fueling more tourism, fueling the fact that all these defense industry places are more than happy to stay here. And I'm

sure the people that work there would rebel if there was even a whisper of moving somewhere else. Because why wouldn't they want to live in this area? Judah Wittgower, out of the gates, compelling commentary from the jack of all wits, the jack of all trades, the jack of all thoughts. I will say this. I think you make a very good point. Would the defense sector have come in here to the significance of $1.2 billion in yearly, to the toot of 7,000-plus jobs, if there was not the University of Virginia and talent to kind of matriculate through the educational pipeline to the employment pipeline?

Probably not. Do they all work together, or are they all vertically integrated? Are they all complementary? Definitely. I would say complementary, perhaps not vertically integrated. Well said. Much like the businesses we have here. Although the businesses here are probably more vertically integrated than

complementary. We talked about that yesterday. Very good points you're making here so far. Which in very pointed fashion is more significant? The argument can be made without throwing shade on our tourism brethren that it's the defense sector.

And the argument can be made with the defense sector, despite having the same amount of job creation, despite being $1.2 billion versus $956 million in impact yearly, somewhat close, although I would say a quarter of a billion dollar delta is massive. Massive. It is big, but it also depends on what that number is coming from. If it was like $2.5 million against $5 million, that's half as as much whereas here it's a much smaller proportion still i think you're right about uh the defense industry being the biggest not only is it uh

it's almost contained number. It's a known quantity. It's not spikes of high-volume drivers coming into the area because of a football game or because of a graduation or because the leaves are suddenly yellow. It's just a known quantity. Bill McChesney, Kevin Yancey, Lonnie Murray, I'll get to your comments.

Deep Throat, I'm going to get to your comments. Ginny Hu, thank you for the retweet. Local media, thank you for watching the program. Defense sector more significant for the following reasons. The 7,000-plus jobs associated with the defense sector are high-paying jobs. High-paying jobs. The Northrop Grumman facility that's being built in Waynesboro, the average salary of those folks, 94 grand.

$94,000 per each member working in that Northrop Grumman new facility. We've made the argument on this show in the past that we're in a housing crisis in Alamaro County and the city of Charlottesville. We've also made this argument in previous shows. You look at the top drivers of workforce in Charlottesville and Alamaro. The number one driver of workforce

in Charlottesville and Alamaro, you gotta say is UVA. The number two driver of workforce in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, what would you say? You combine Charlottesville and Albemarle County government, schools and government, and all the public utilities, anybody that's getting a paycheck from Charlottesville or Albemarle County. You aggregate the two, that's in the second slot. The third slot, there's 1,100 realtors in the Charlottesville Area Association, 1,100 realtors. I would imagine when you include all the supply chain tied to real estate, there's another

probably flirting with 6,000 of those. So in that third slot, from a job creation standpoint, you probably have real estate, tourism, and defense sector in a very close category, numbers wise. You look at real estate, the defense sector, and tourism, and of those three categories, there's one that's making significantly more than the other two, and it's the defense sector. 10% of the agents are doing 90% of the transactions. And in fact, if you talk to some of these more savvy, if you talk to the Keith Smiths of the world, he said, really, that number is like eight or nine percent of the agents are doing 90 percent of the transactions. He said the very large majority of agents in car are struggling to make their bills. Tourism, very similar. You're working in this industry. What are you making? Large portion of them?

12, 13, 14, 15, 16 bucks an hour? Weekends, holidays, nights? Yeah. Right? Long hours, on your feet, grueling work. How much are the folks working the farm, working the vineyards and the vines? Working the soil.

Cleaning the dishes. Pouring the wine. Doing the tours. Pulling the taps at the breweries. Cleaning the tables. Serving the people. Taking the trash out. Tourism and real estate,

these two sectors have significant economic impacts on the region. Number one, UVA. Number two, defense sector. Number three, tourism. Four, real estate. Five, you aggregate the folks that get a paycheck tied to Charlottesville and Albemarle County. You look at these, and it's two of those five that are making any kind of money that sniffs or flirts or surpasses the median family household income, according to HUD.

One person, one person, median family household income, according to HUD. One person, one person, median family household income, according to HUD, is $124,200 in 2023. That number most certainly will go up in 2024. You look at the defense sector and UVA, one person tied to those categories of employment can do the $124,200 by themselves. Well past it in most and a200 by themselves. Well past it in a lot of cases. Well past it. That is not the case, ladies and gentlemen, for real estate. That is not the case, ladies and gentlemen, for tourism. That is not the case, ladies and gentlemen, for the employees tied to

Charlottesville and Alamaro County in some capacity with a paycheck derived from those two jurisdictions. So you can make a very legitimate argument that while tourism is driving the economic engine, while the real estate sector is driving the economic engine, and while the folks that are associated with Charlottesville and Alamaro County from an employment standpoint are driving the economic engine, it's the folks employed by those three categories of business that are certainly contributing to, I've got to rephrase my words, the folks associated with those categories of business that are feeling the headwinds of the housing crisis and the significantly expensive nature of living here. Yeah.

If the industries continue to grow and they continue to hire more folks to serve said industries, will we not have this cut- nose to spite our face scenario? Explain why you... Will we not have this domino effect? The engine grows. You need more people to serve the engine that's growing in momentum. Yeah.

And as you bring more people to serve the momentum-driving engine... You make it harder for those same people to stay and drive the engine. There it is. I mean, I think that's a common problem right now. Who knows if we'll see... if we'll ever see a downturn again in the housing market. But yeah, I think that's going to be a problem for years to come.

Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Lottie Murray, I'm coming to you here. Deep throat, I'm coming to you. Rotate those lower thirds that are tied to this. So much to cover on today's show. Lottie Murray, Murray heavy hitter I was just in Richmond for the marathon and I know we spent a ton of money on our hotel eating at restaurants and shopping with our girls there were a record number of runners this year and also just as many spectators if you multiply the kind of money we spent by thousands of people, that's massive. When you look at our area and all the people that come here for cycling and running races and other outdoor recreation, there's a huge relative measured impact that

we should start talking about. I agree. I've often on this platform said Charlottesville and Atmore County should prioritize sports tourism more than it's doing. You think about sports tourism, right? Hosting tournaments, soccer tournaments, basketball tournaments, hosting mountain biking races. These sports tournaments require a lot less labor to execute than the tourism dollars that are associated with food and beverage, hospitality, and events that are extremely labor intensive. Kevin Yancey watching the program, I asked the question, what's the tallest building in Albemarle County? Kevin Yancey said the tallest building in Albemarle County,

is it the old Jefferson National Bank? He says, is it the Doubletree or Injick, the tallest in Albemarle County? I don't have that answer. I do know in the city of Charlottesville, and if you want to see the list, you go to ilovecivo.com forward slash tallest buildings in Charlottesville, that the Draftsman's the tallest one, and Jeffrey's Code Building is number two, and the old Monticello Hotel is number three. I do know that tonight at 5.30, the Big Apple developer, Jeff Levine, is trying to push a 184-foot tall building forward, and that would dramatically dwarf the currently tallest building in the city. It wouldn't even be close. I mean, you're talking a delta of 63 feet, 50% larger than the Draftsmen Hotel. It would be, what is it, Dr. Seuss, the one that towers

over everyone, the Who and Whoville? Could be. A lot of folks say that the Who and Whoville is written about a guy that didn't make it into the University of Virginia. And that's why he's towering over Whoville. That actually is a myth and not true. That sounds about right. It's a myth and not true. Lonnie Murray's little zing to Keith Smith says, as much as I spend on outdoor recreation, I bet Keith Smith spends even more. Keith Smith spends a lot of money on outdoor recreation,

and I'll leave it at that. My friend has champagne tastes. The distinguished gentleman does, Keith Smith. Bill McChesney, mayor of McIntyre. The defense sector isn't just confined to the NGIC campus. There are other supporting contractors employing people that are not federal government employees. You're 100% right. And if you look at the Weldon Cooper study, which was commissioned by the city of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and the Chamber of Commerce. I think they included that.

They did. They included direct employment, 3,972 people. Indirect employment, 1,053 people. And induced employment, 1,994 people. Just under 4,000 direct jobs, 1,350 indirect jobs, and 2,000 induced jobs, which means those generated by spending by workers in the defense sector.

Yeah. So that was included. I appreciate that comment still, though, Mayor of McIntyre. Let's go to Deep Throat, his photo on screen. Great stuff from Deep Throat. The GDP for our MSA, MSA we'll just call footprint in layman's terms, our metro area, is $15 billion, Judah.

$15 billion. He says $1 billion in tourism sounds plausible. Just accommodation for travelers employs almost 3,000 people in the MSA. Of course, weekly wage is abysmal. 720 a week. The argument we're making here, the argument we've made in previous shows. The average weekly wage for all industries,

to put it in comparison, 1,300. So the 720 associated with just travelers is significantly below what is that 45 42 below the average wage for all industries he also says you need to recognize difference between economic impact and fiscal impact because we tax the SHIT out of tourism, meals tax, lodging tax, it has a big fiscal impact out of the proportion to economic impact. And for that reason, authorities happily approve hotel after hotel, even though they bring crap job after crap job. What's he saying there? You break that down, Judah. That's a good comment from Deep Throat. He's saying that the more hotels, the more crap jobs you have.

The more of those 7,000 jobs in the tourism industry come here. And, of course, as Jerry has been pointing out, they're not going to be getting paid a whole lot. So chances are they're not going to live here. And they will, in effect, add to the car crush that you get going in and out of Charlottesville. Road infrastructure strains, environmental strains, traffic strains, traffic accidents, traffic fatalities. Can't afford to live here. Quality of life, can't afford to live here quality of life can't afford to live here outcry because you can't afford to live here think about it it's just a domino snowball effect yeah but government says bring it on because lodging tax we want the money meals tax retail tax

and they're not wrong i mean i'd rather they be getting the money there than from my rooftop scott thorpe welcome to the show daniel kaufman blackout chop house and public fish and oyster daniel kaufman we love your businesses i may have a buyer for you with the bottle shop as well. Daniel Kaufman. Janice Boyce-Trevillian. Big issue for government workers in Charlottesville, Alamo area. D.C. is in a higher rate of

pay and Charlottesville is so expensive so people are looking to move toward that area which is toward Culpeper. She highlights the expensive nature of the D.C. area and folks just making the commute, especially in this time when people can work hybrid. Yeah. Janice Boyce-Trevillian, JBT.

We love when you watch the program. Props on this comment. I find this topic fascinating. I like data. I like trying to compare and contrast data. I like stats like the GDP for our metro area is $15 billion. Love stuff like that. I love stats like the weekly average wage for those employees that are tied to travel, $720. When the average weekly

wage for all other industries is $1,300. I like data like 7,000 jobs created in defense sector, 7,000 plus jobs created in tourism, compare and contrast them. And another thing, numbers can be presented to tell any story. Yeah, no doubt. The story that's told in the Daily Progress today cites the incredible nature of nearly $1 billion spent on tourism in 2023. What was not unpacked in this story, however,

is those that serve the tourists are the exact folks that are at the poverty line. The exact folks that are out crying. Very often, yeah. That they can't live here. Comments, put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Kate Sharts, the Queen of Ivy, welcome to the program. We enjoyed seeing you yesterday, Kate Sharts. I want to go to duck pin bowling in a matter of moments. Before we get to duck pin bowling in a matter of moments

before we get to duck pin bowling and what family attractions, what attractions this area is missing. I want you to Judah, offer any commentary that you'd like to do and encourage the viewer and listener to read the article in the Daily Progress today. Anything else that you would like to add, J-Dubs?

Nothing specific. I mean, you know, I think I know one or two people in the defense industry. I'm glad the defense industry is here and I think it's a great addition to our area because it's not because it's a more subtle addition not just because it brings in a lot of money

but because it's not it's not a Lakers stadium in the center of Charlottesville causing... The Staples Center gets a reference on the I Love Seville show. I like that. I've been there. The Staples Center. Imagine what 250 and

29 would be like if we had something like that in our area. Rob Neal pushes back. He says, Our household has moved into the travel sports phase of our life. It really hits you how we are the only locality without a complex of scale for youth sports

that can also serve the greater community for many to use year-round. He says this. This is an argument I've made. We have driven west, south, east, further east to communities larger and smaller. Communities for sporting events. Every parent scratching their heads at each place amazed at the concept of a large plot of land laid out well and hosting thousands and thousands of out-of-towners while also benefiting local users. And we can't figure this out.

I would also say the lack of this type of sports tourism complex locally is very regressive for equity. Only families that can afford to travel can offer their kids an opportunity to play. Jerry, does Biscuit Run have flat land scale to do something like this? Biscuit Run having its grand opening in December. We're weeks away from the grand opening of Biscuit Run State Park, which was, let's cut to the chase, a massive tax escape, a massive financial escape for many heavy hitters in this community. I have said on this program so many

times that we should use Darden Tau, Biscuit Run. We should use maybe what Saka has on Polo Grounds Road and build some kind of athletic epicenter to capture sports tourism, or do the JV with the University of Virginia and allow the coaches at the University of Virginia to have a recruiting event on their own home base on grounds. If you went to a Ron Sanchez, a Brian O'Connor, a Tony Elliott, and you said, hey, guys, Mark Allen, the head coach of the squash team, hey guys, we want to have significant tournaments here. And you're going to be able to recruit these guys

right outside your office. In fact, Coach Allen with the squash program has that. This world-class Borset squash facility has done a phenomenal job of hosting the top events, junior events in the nation on Ivy Road. And you see college coaches, including the University of Virginia's head coach and assistants, literally watching talent play right outside their office. Why is this not done with other sports? I wonder that. U.S. Squash, the governing body for squash in the United States of America,

is hosting some of its biggest junior tournaments of the year at the Borset. Nice. Why is this not happening for soccer, for basketball, for baseball, for football, for tennis, wrestling? Why is this not happening? I'll let you guys answer that question. Bill McChesney said it should have been the old Monticello Hotel was the tallest building in Charlottesville. For a long time, there was an ordinance in place saying no one could build a taller building

than the Monticello Hotel. The draftsman has passed that now. James Turner, rep in the PEP, the mayor of Gordonsville, said no longer the Staples Center. It's Crypto Arena now, unfortunately. Jamie Turner, thank you for holding me accountable. And how about LeBron James?

At nearly 40 years old, averaging basically a triple-double, LBJ, still playing at a very high level, ladies and gentlemen. Playing basketball for as long as he has had, with the microscope that has been on his back, on his chest, staying out of trouble, not linked to violence, not linked to tomfoolery, not linked to anything but doing it the right way. Gold medals, a billion dollar athlete, LeBron James. His film production studio just merged with the film production studio that produces Carpool Karaoke and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Now, Maverick Carter, his longtime friend and business advisor, and LeBron James have partnered with the people that made Keeping Up with the Kardashians. And they're going to get

even deeper into the content creation. Because LBJ knows, Maverick Carter knows, content is currency. When you create content, you control eyeballs. And when you have eyeballs at your disposal, you can put call toto-action messages in front of eyeballs for your businesses or your clients' businesses, and that's called currency. That's what LBJ is doing. I watched Space Jam, the remake of Space Jam, with my six-year-old son and our nearly two-year-old son

to November 27th. God, we're about to have a two-year-old. There's a remake? Oh, yeah, see? There's a remake. And Michael Jordan is not in the remake. It's LeBron James. Think about what he has done with Space Jam Part 2.

He has introduced his brand, LeBron James, to six-year-olds and two-year-olds all over the world. After that movie, our six-year-old son, I said, who was in Space Jam? You know what he said? LeBron, duh.

When at one time it would have been, Michael Jordan, dude, come on. He said, LeBron, duh. I asked our nearly two-year-old, turns two on the 27th, where's LeBron James? And he pointed to the screen. F-ing genius by LeBron James. Keeping a 40-year-old brand young. Genius. All right, 118 marker. I have a 130 real estate showing with one of our properties. So I have 11 minutes to get you more content of value. Before you, in fact, rotate the lower thirds to duck pin.

I want to highlight this. Tonight at 5.30, before the Board of Architectural Review, the Big Apple developer, Jeff Levine, and his two projects, the hotel where the Arfulodger is, and his plans for the Violent Crown where he's got a purchase with

significant contingencies. Chapter two. Chapter one was everyone knowing about it. Chapter two, Board of Architectural Review. Duckpin Bowling and Dairy Market, Judah Wickauer. What do you make of this? I hope it'll work for them. Me too.

I love the dairy market. I love Dino. I love what Chris Henry's built. I like South and Central. I love Dino. I love what Chris Henry's built. I like South and Central. I like Star Hill. I think it's just a weird time and place in Charlottesville right now. Why does it catch shade? I don't understand the shade of Reddit toward dairy market.

I think it's the, how would I put it? The almost like rubbernecker mindset of like watching something and maybe not cheering on its downfall, but I think for some people, seeing a person of means like Chris Henry knocked down a notch, if you could call it that. That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is.

It's jealousy. I don't even know if it's jealousy. It's jealousy. It's seeing a person of means. Deep Throat. Local Reddit hates rich people. Dairy Market is a rich guy's project. Deep Throat.

And the customers are more affluent than the average Joe. Deep Throat. Our Reddit sub is... These are Deep Throat's words. A cesspool of jealous numpties. God, you got a belly laugh deep throat out of Judah right there. Oh man, that doesn't happen too often. Thank you.

Yeah. It comes down to this. They want to knock people in position of success. You know what I want to live in a world? I want to live in a world where every single person

around me is more successful than me. I want to live in a world where every single person around me is more successful than me. Yeah. I want to live in a world where every single person around me is doing the best possible they can for their life. And the lives of those around them. Exactly. Because if we live in a world like that, we live in a vibrant economy. Think about what Chris Henry and Stony Point have done. They took a shopping center. And could have done. Well said. They took a shopping center that was an afterthought.

Sharky's Bar and Grill, the Splat House, the Firehouse, McGrady's, Cho's, a Latin grocery store. Three Notch for a while. Three Notch for a while. An automobile parts store. Was there a caterer was there? It was a revolving door of tenants. It was not the best use of the...

To be fair, it still is. It was not the best use of the property. To be fair, it still is. It's not the best use of the property. Now he's created basically a food and beverage incubator where if you ask, have him, if you could, sit over there in the waiting room. If you have a food and beverage incubator

where you're going to have two, what, 12, 14 restaurants at Dairy Market that are paying, what, a couple thousand dollars a rent, a month in rent each? You have, where other, what other spot can you basically have a storefront and pay a couple thousand dollars a month in rent? Yeah. On a short-term lease and not have much build-out costs. It doesn't exist. He's created an incubator for food and beverage.

And if you can go from food truck to stall at dairy market, then you could platform to a larger space. Props to Henry. But people want to knock folks that have success down. And that's an unfortunate nature of humanity. You certainly see that on Reddit. Yeah. All right.

What's the area missing as we have three more minutes left in the program? I will add to this. I have spent 24 years here and I have gone from bachelor life, bar life, closing the bars down, five nights, six nights a week out to engage, married, father of two, in bed by 10 o'clock. What this area is missing is attractions for kids and families. Yeah. You go to Pro Renata and Crozet. You go to Mexicali restaurant on West main street. You see parents and kids mingling. If you want to bring a business to market in Charlottesville and Almar County,

you figure out a business that offers parents something to do with their children. And it doesn't even have to be in the boozing space yeah where's the go-karts and bumper cars of old the laser tag of old the roller skating the arcade of old the roller skating rink of old where is the activity that is something to do for families in Charlottesville and Elmar County? It's not boozing related. You'll struggle to find it. Now, for this duck pin bowling concept to be successful in South and Central Dairy Market, you know what the key is?

It's affordability. If this comes at a price point that is unaffordable to get customer scale, it's not going to survive. Right. Like the other bowling alley. Yeah, you go to Kegler's. It's like, what, $100 for a lane? Dude, it is obscenely expensive.

$100 is probably light. It's obscenely expensive. That's crazy. It's like the death of the movie theater. The movie theater and the bowling alley have had to charge so much because they don't get enough customer foot traffic. So they're like, let's charge more to make up

for the lack of volume. And what they must realize by charging more, the volume's going to drop more. And then eventually you're just going to die. The death spiral. The death spiral. Especially at a time where video games are so immersive now, with VR, with headsets,

that you could basically bowl in your living room. There's also the fact that for a set amount of money, you have a piece of entertainment that could potentially last you hundreds, if not thousands of hours. There it is. Judah B. Wittgower. We'll close with this. Carly Wagner, a couple of comments from Carly. Gareth Weldon, please stop with the everyonely. Gareth Weldon,

please stop with the everyone posts. Gareth, just leave the group. I'm not going to stop with the everyone posts because I own the I Love Seville group. Carly Wagner, I wonder if parental choices have changed. As you are saying this, I'm realizing many parents choose and expect to do things they

enjoy and bring their kids along. Parents of yesteryear dropped kids off somewhere and kids did their thing and parents did theirs. Maybe parents have no desire to go go-karting and things like that. I would love to go bumper-karting and go-karting. She's got a point, though. Even if

it's not that parents want to go or not want to go, I think there was far more malleability in what kids could do a while ago. I mean, I'd ride my bike all over Los Angeles when I was a kid. That would never happen now. I guess not. That would never happen now. All right, we close with this. Saturday, 12 o'clock, SMU visits the University of Virginia for the last home football game of the year. Kick off ESPN, I think it's ESPN 2. I know I put in the headlines it was ESPN.

In the post-production, we have to change that to ESPN 2, please. That was my fault, not your fault, my fault. SMU is a nine and a half point favorite. 12 o'clock kick. Virginia's got to win one more game to get bowl eligible. Curious to see if Anthony Calandria gets benched or if it's a short hook on the second year quarterback

in favor of the veteran, Tony Muskin. Thought we did a pretty good job today, especially Judah Wickhauer. My name is Jerry Miller. It's the I Love Seville show. So long. Judah Wick our my name is Jerry Miller it's the I love Seville show so long Thank you.