The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Breaking News: CoCo's Adventure Factory; CoCo's Adventure Factory In Seminole Square

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Breaking News: CoCo’s Adventure Factory CoCo’s Adventure Factory In Seminole Square Trampolines, Bumper Cars, Ziplines, Ropes Course Drop Tower, Arcade, Ninja Course, B-Days, Cafe 02/2026 Grand Opening, Daniel Halpert Founder Indoor Biz: Rock Revolution, Smash Pickleball, Etc. What’s Future Of Local Business In CVille Area? More Dysfunction & Resignation At UVA Health UVA Board Of Visitors Dissolves DEI Programs 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 Monday afternoon guys. I'm Jerry Miller and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seaville show. It's a pleasure to connect with you guys on what is starting to feel like spring here in the Charlottesville, Almar County and Central Virginia region. Today's show I think is going to be a really good one. I really do. I just got off the phone with a serial entrepreneur, a doctor who's got a real estate investment business, he's got a construction company, and he's about to enter into a new line of

business that I'm quickly learning about. And ladies and gentlemen, that line of business is a family entertainment center, an indoor adventure park. And the new brand, the new business, is Coco's Adventure Factory. Willy Wonka-esque, whimsical, and indoor adventure park that is going to be tailor-made for our children in the greater Charlottesville, Almar County, and Central Virginia area.

I wanna talk about this today. 34,000 square feet of lease space in Seminole Square Shopping Center. A build out that's gonna run somewhere between two and three million dollars, ladies and gentlemen. Monthly rent in the neighborhood of 25,000 to 35,000 per month, depending on where the entrepreneur and the business is in their lease term.

This is a 10 year lease. We're talking trampolines, we're talking a ropes course, we're talking bumper cars, a drop tower, zip lines, slides with LED lights, ballpits, a ninja warrior course, an arcade, birthday rooms, rooms you can rent to have your kids birthday parties, a cafe, a parents lounge. Good gosh, this is gonna be something special. And the entrepreneur behind it, ladies and gentlemen, is a guy that I spent about 25 minutes

chatting with on the phone today, Dr. Daniel Halpert of Culpeper County, Virginia. He's gonna join us on the I Love Seaville show, ladies and gentlemen, in studio on Thursday to talk about Coco's Adventure Factory, the skin he has in the game here. We're talking when this is all said and done, two million to three million dollars in build out expenses alone and then a personally guaranteed ten-year lease with rent starting at $25,000 a

month and escalating all the way to $35,000 a month. We'll break down the business model today on the I Love Seville Show. If you have not noticed, the I Love Seville Show is on the cusp of business news, business reporting, all the other outlets follow and mimic what we do on this show. We proved it last week

with Denver Wrigleman and Silverback Distillery breaking that news. It was Ralph Sampson, the taproom at Barracks Road Shopping Center closing. As soon as we talked about it on the show, all the other old media, legacy media, just followed suit. A lot we're going to cover on today's program including the University of Virginia, dissolving its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Oh my, oh my, oh my. And Glenn Yonkin is doing a victory lap on national television, the governor of the commonwealth,

on all the talking headstations, championing what he has done at Thomas Jefferson's university. We're also gonna talk on today's program, guys. More resignation and more dysfunction within UVA Health. The story continues to quicksand and the collateral damage continues to capture more bodies. This time, a member of UVA Health System Board has resigned over the departure of Craig Kent, the Chief Executive Officer.

What shocks me about this resignation, a resignation that took place, guys, what? On Friday, Judah, last Thursday is when this took place, a resignation that took place without the guy actually reading the report of dysfunction. He is legitimately resigning Thomas Scully without reading the third party lawyer report about corruption, alleged cronyism, white collar, white collar, RICO, white collar crime, fraudulent billing, and medical chart changing. So much to cover on this program, guys,

as it pertains to this topic. And I also want to talk about what's the future of locally owned business in this community. Olivia Branch, thank you for watching the program. Paul Johnson, welcome to the show. William McChesney, thank you for watching the program. Folks in Fredericksburg, Northern Virginia, Culpeper, Orange County, Louisa, Charlottesville, Alboros, Crozet, Ivy, City of Charlottesville, and Schwarm Pup already on the feed. Ladies and gentlemen,

we have two TV stations, a newspaper watching us as we speak. Judah Wickhauer will give some love to three generations strong Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. John Vermillion, Andrew Vermillion had a great conversation with John Vermillion the other day. Andrew Vermillion doing things the right way on East High Street and online at CharlottesvilleSanitarySupply.com. This business has been in existence and operating successfully in the Charlottesville community for more than 60 years and nothing I would rather see than see Charlottesville Sanitary Supply make it

another 60 as Andrew Vermillion is carrying and continuing the baton of success and communication and customer service at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. Judah Wickower, studio camera and a two shot. My friend, there's a spot that's coming to Charlottesville that has a grand opening that's scheduled for January, February of next year where we could ride on slides with LED lights that shoots us out of a tube into a ball pit. We can go on a Ninja Warrior course.

We can jump on trampolines. Use our best upper body strength on a ropes course. Get in bumper cars and slam the hell out of each other. There's no one that would rather slam the hell out of me than this guy that's on screen right now, Judah Wickauer. Ain't that the truth, Judah Wickauer? Maybe. A parents' lounge, a cafe, an arcade tailor made for you, my friend, Coco's, Adventure Factory, J-Dub's, this sounds pretty damn cool. Sounds awesome. It's definitely something that Charlottesville could use. We've talked of several fun, what would you call it, aggregate play yards for kids, usually combining things like laser tag and other fun activities. I think this is awesome. I think it's sad to

think of parents hanging out in a parents' lounge rather than jumping in and having some fun themselves. Oh, my friend, I'm going to be on the Ninja Warrior course. Yeah. I'm going to be bumper carin', people. I'm going to be on that LED slide as I shoot into a ball pit. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. I know my wife will as well.

All right, let's give them the nitty gritty. I want viewers and listeners that you hear this breaking news for the first time on the Isle of Seville Network. I want you to think what's happening here. You are seeing a rise of entrepreneurs pursuing businesses, an empty shopping center, an empty office space. Think about what's happening here. The team at Seaville Smash, an indoor pickleball facility, is opening in the very near future, maybe by spring, maybe by the middle of summer this year, and Seminole Square Shopping Center. Colleen, Laura, the CEO of ACAC, they've teamed together,

ladies and gentlemen, to open Seaville Smash, Chris Crater, and Seminole Square Shopping Center, where they're gonna have a boatload of indoor courts. And they're gonna encourage the racket and pickleball community to play the fastest growing sport in America inside an old Marshall's retail location. Right next door to where Seaville Smash is going to be, the old Marshall's location and

Seminole Square shopping center, you're going to have Coco's Adventure Factory open. And Coco's Adventure Factory, giddy up and get ready for this. 34,000 square feet. Right next to where the pickleball facility is going to be, which is roughly 32,000-33,000 square feet. So there's two businesses led by local entrepreneurs that are going to take nearly 70,000 vacant square feet of Seminole Square Shopping Center and create omni-experiential businesses. This is not selling a skew on a shelf. This is not a commodity sold on a shelf. This is selling an experience, an experience for ages of humans across the spectrum. With Coco's Adventure Factory, 34,000 square feet, trampolines, ropes courses, bumper cars, a drop tower, where folks are taken high in the air, kids, adults, and then drop to the ground very quickly.

You've seen this at Kings Dominion, you've seen this at Busch Gardens at theme parks. They're gonna have zip lines, soft play, slides with LED lights that shoot you into ball pits, a Ninja Warrior course, an arcade, a cafe, a place where parents can rent rooms to hold birthday parties. There's going to be a parent lounge with coffee and tea, maybe alcohol served.

This sounds pretty spectacular. The entrepreneur behind this is Dr. Daniel Halpert of Culpepper County, Virginia. And Dr. Daniel Halpert, ladies and gentlemen, is an advanced medical sports and spine doctor. He's made a great living for himself, his wife, and his nine-year-old twin daughters. And he's taken the capital, the success he's had from his medical

practice, interventional pain management, and he's invested in real estate and into a construction company and now into this new sector of business that's categorized as family entertainment center or an indoor adventure park. And this guy is taking some effing risk, ladies and gentlemen. The build out, two to three million dollars the budget to build this out. The financing provided by M&T Bank. We're talking personally guaranteed money where collateral is put on the line, specifically real estate holdings of Dr. Daniel Halpert. He's got a 10-year lease

here that's personally guaranteed. One year of no rent as he builds this out. The landlord, Chuck Rockin. Chuck Rockin's a local legend. If you move and shake in real estate like I do, Chuck Rockin, that name comes up constantly, ladies and gentlemen. He's the landlord. You have a grand opening date of January or February of next year. Lease just got signed. Build out's going on right now. Coco's Adventure Center, guys, Coco's Adventure Factory is going to be Willy Wonka-esque and extremely whimsical. Dr. Halpert even has an idea of rolling out some kind of chocolate associated with Coco's Adventure Factory. The business model is straightforward. You pay to enter.

You want to use the facility, you pay to enter. He's going to offer a yearly pass, an annual pass that you can buy as well. I love the idea. I love the idea for the following reasons. First, as a father of two young boys, my wife and I will literally do anything to keep our Miller maniacs off of YouTube, off of screens, off of sitting on a chair and a couch and rotting their brain while doom-scrolling short videos that captivate, mesmerize, and hypnotize our maniacs. I've said on this program so many times, my son's favorite candy is Skittles. I can be two feet away from my son when he's watching YouTube shorts.

And as he's doom scrolling YouTube, he's super big into Pokemon right now, I can be two feet away from him and I can say, son, I have a bag of Skittles. You can eat all these Skittles before dinner. You can have as many as you want. I have all your favorite colors, the red and the purples. And he's two feet away from me and I'm literally talking to him at this level and he does not hear what I say because he's so drowned into doom-scrolling on YouTube. We will look back on screen time as parents and we will realize we gave our children hardcore drugs and the hardcore drugs is not going to be blow or fentanyl or weed

drugs of yesteryear and today the drugs are going to be tick-tock YouTube and Instagram and social media and we're to realize that what we did was create anxiety, laziness, a lack of work ethic. We're going to create comparison is the thief of joy. We're going to basically give our kids screens and tablets and not know what we are doing to their personal development, which is harming it. There's a reason why the C-suite of many of these social media companies do not allow their children

time on screens or their respective apps. Now, I want to take an opportunity, Judah, as you're rotating, of course, the lower thirds on screen, right? You're highlighting what's to come. right? You're highlighting what's to come. Look at how business is changing in the Charlottesville community as it pertains to office space and these vacant storefronts. The vacant storefronts, ladies and gentlemen, take Seminole Square Shopping Center in particular. Within a calendar year at Seminole Square Shopping Center and Chuck Rockin, you've seen Chris Crater, you've seen friend of the program and extremely talented pickleball athlete Colleen Shear and her partner, their partner, Lauren, come together to create Seaville Smash

in the old Marshall's location. Lauren, Colleen, and Chris are gonna bring a boatload of indoor pickleball courts, and they've rented 30,000 plus square feet from one of Charlottesville and Almarra County's largest landlords. And they're betting a boatload of money, taking a boatload of risk, that this fastest growing sport in America, pickleball, is going to transition into a profitable and lucrative

business in an old location that sold discounted and and and and and disregarded merchandise. Marshall's. So here Rockin and his team lease a massive space to an upstart outfit that is trying to make a living with a wiffle ball and paddles and indoor courts. Right next to Seaville Smash in the old Marshall's location Dr. Daniel Halpert is going to open Coco's Adventure Factory an indoor adventure park. Rockin has taken a bet that these two groups these two businesses can successfully operate almost 70,000 square feet of Seminole Square Shopping Center. Now take it a step further.

Look at what friend of the program, Mike Kinnick, is doing in Rock Revolution on old Ivy Road. I was intimately a part of brokering this deal. Rock Revolution in the old Pure bar space on old ivy Road Kinnick is going to take that entire office building which is owned by the fabulous Terry Hinder man The mayor of fry Springs guys got a touch of a jeweler on a squash court He's also the owner of the Maury Avenue shopping center Also, the owner of fry spring station the real estate where Pine Napa is currently located.

Kinnick is going to bring a bouldering concept, rock climbing, a bouldering concept to an office building. The construction and the renovation is literally happening on Old Ivy Road right now. So here you have three very prominent, invisible positions in Charlottesville, down Morrill County. An office building under an underpass next to a nearly 30,000 a year private school by two prestigious country clubs, Farmington and Boar's Head. A bouldering business is opening. And Seminole Square shopping center, you have retail being converted to obni experiential.

And 5th Street station, Dix is closing. What was the place that Dix closed? Dix, Judah? Uh oh, man, outback something or other out. What was the name of the outdoor business? You should know this off the top of your head. Well, you should Google it if you don't know it. Dix is closing public lands in Fifth Street Station,

and Dix is taking 100, thousand square feet in 5th Street Station, one hundred thousand square feet and repositioning it as omni-experiential. In this new Dix sporting goods, no longer will public lands be there. Instead, it's going to be a Dix super store that has an indoor track for running, a massive rock climbing wall that's even bigger than the one that Dick's was offering, soccer goals to shoot try on shoes and to rip penalty kicks and shots into a net. It's going to have simulator golf bays where you have multiple bays, a handful of golf simulators where you can take drivers in five irons, seven irons, burners, three

woods, and take shots while playing any course of America. It's going to have basketball hoops, putting greens. Look at what's happening with our vacant square footage all over Charlottesville, down more county. It's being reimagined. It's being repositioned. I've been talking about this on the I love Seville show since COVID. During the pandemic, I said our behavior is changing.

Humans are being trained because we're told to stay in the house by the government. We're told to be recluses, to shelter in place, to not leave our house. We're given money by the government to shelter in place and not leave our house. We're told by the government to prioritize supporting big box brands instead of locally owned brands. All this happened during COVID for the sole purpose of skewing an election. This isn't about politics, this is about reality. And during that two-year period of time of COVID and the pandemic where the federal government said, hey, average American, average Joe and average Sally with your children, don't leave your couch.

Use your phone and your computers to order food to your house and do it in the name of saving America and keeping everyone healthy. Prioritize big box brands over locally owned brands. That's what they did and then they gave us money. Then we're surprised that our human behavior changed now people are insta-carting Now people are ordering to their front step more than ever

drop shipping goods to their door more than ever and What created what was some of the collateral damage that was created was vacant office building and vacant storefront and bacon vacant retail space was vacant office building and vacant storefront and vacant retail space. We're humans, we're creative, we innovate. Now we're figuring out how to take that vacant storefront space, that vacant office space, that vacant retail space and monetize it. And I said during COVID, I predicted this was going to happen, that you're going to see omni-experiential businesses pop up. And that's exactly what is happening right now.

And we also said on the I Love Seaville Show that one of the lines of business that was missing for this community was the old fun park off Burkmar Drive. What was the name of that park, Judah? Mmm, I can look it up. Off Burkmar Drive, there used to be batting cages and bumper cars, putt-putt, arcades, all kinds of cool stuff.

That closed and nothing filled its spot. But now you have multiple entrepreneurs and business owners that are opening up concepts tied to inside spaces There was a starbase alpha and a planet fun planet fun was the one on burkmar drive Georgia Gilmer says Boarshead is a resort not a country club You can pay for membership at Boarshead resort and utilize it as a country club if you're like It also is a resort as well Lauren confirms public lands and ivy.

Kevin Yancey says, would you rather be taking a dirt nap? I would imagine that was in regards to me making the concept comment about the government telling us to stay inside during COVID. I'm not gonna make this about COVID or the politics associated with it. The reality is with hindsight and retrospect, the collateral damage created from federal government

telling us to stay inside and giving us free money to stay inside as opposed to living our lives far superseded than the risk associated with COVID. We're still dealing with inflation right now. Pesky inflation because the government gave us a boatload of money, but that's not what this show is about. I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole and I'm not gonna take the bait.

Logan Walls-Claylow, Vanessa Parkill, Curtis Shaver, Stacey Baker-Patty. Curtis Shaver was at Bingo Brewery yesterday in Richmond. Bingo in Scott's Edition. Interestingly, Curtis, we were at Scott's Edition earlier in the day celebrating my wife's birthday. We started at Ardent Brewery. We parked in Scott's Edition in Richmond. We went from Ardent Brewery, then we walked to Bingo Brewery, Bingo Beer Company, where you and your beautiful wife were enjoying some beverages. We left Bingo Beer Company and did not stay there because it was so busy. At Bingo Beer Company yesterday,

they legitimately had a packed house as people were drinking beer and playing Bingo, with somebody on a microphone with speakers acting as an emcee maintaining the fun. It was, every table was taken when we were there. Instead of bingo, we ended up going to Vason in Scott's edition, a fantastic brewery. I suggest the Norse, double IPA. And then we finished with dinner at Peter Chang's

to celebrate my wife and her birthday, our two boys. And he's exactly right. Bingo Beer Company, that's something that Charlottesville could use. An adult version of an indoor fun park. At Bingo Beer Company, you have arcades, arcade games. You have arcades, arcade games. You have bingo. You have a boatload of stuff to do while drinking beer. Who has that in Charlottesville?

Dr. John Shaben, Pro Renata, has a slight version of that. Pro Renata's got TVs. It's a sports bar meets a brewery. They got ax throwing. They got music venues, stages, inside stage, outside stage, a bunch of different stages. But has anyone in beer or in food and beverage come up with the concept of doing what Bingo Beer Company is doing and bringing it to Charlottesville?

Curtis sent me a text and when Curtis sends me a text about food and beverage and business, I listen, because the guy knows food and beverage and business like the pope knows holy water. He said Charlottesville needs something like Bingo Beer Company, and he's exactly right. Regardless, I want to give some props to the following people, to Colleen, to Chris Crater, to Lauren at Seaville Smash and the old Marshall's location. I want to give some props to Dr. Daniel Halpert, and the old Marshall's location. I want to give some props to Dr. Daniel Halpert who's gonna be in studio on Thursday to talk about Coco's Adventure Factory. I love the name. I love the whimsical

nature, the Willy Wonka-esque feel of what he's building. I love the fact that this guy's going balls to the effing wall on this. Two to three million dollars on the build out alone, ladies and gentlemen. 25,000 to $35,000 a month in rent. 25K to start, 35K on the backend of the 10 year term. This guy's leasing 34,000 square feet of space. And he's doing it all in the name of keeping kids off screens and to bring another option

to Central Virginia. Now he's a businessman, he wants to make some money on this. This isn't charity. And I have no problem with that at all. I got no problem with Mike Kinnick and rock revolution. Completely reimagining an office building on old Ivy Road. Completely reimagining an office building on Old Ivy Road. Completely reimagining an office building and turning it into bouldering, rock climbing.

His phase two is top rope, competing with the folks at McIntyre Plaza, that are in rock climbing as well. Do I want Dicks to win, the new Super Dix, and their 100,000 square feet, and their Fortune 100 business? Hells to the no. I want Kinnick to win. I want Halpert to win. I want Colleen and Chris and Lauren to win.

And it's up to us to support them. And that's a perfect segue into what's the future of business. I've seen so many people in this community ask this question. How is the locally owned, how is the locally owned, Dr. John Shabe, the owner of Pro Renata is watching the show right now. He says we got pinball and games coming in two weeks. Arcade games and pinball already in motion. Love when the owners of the businesses watch the program.

Dr. John Shabe, one of the great guys in the business, love Pro Renata and what he's doing. Looks like he's going to take a little smidge of what Bingo is doing, Curtis Shaver, and opening it up over at Pro Renata and Crozet. Great move, Dr. John Shabe. One of the things I love about Shabe and Pro Renata is they're always willing to try something.

They epitomize entrepreneur. Dr. John Shabe at Pro Renata is much like Dr. Daniel Halpert. Dr. John Shabe makes his initial living as a dentist. And he's like, you know what? I made some good money in dentists, but I'm done digging in people's mouths and doing root canals and pulling gunk out of their teeth and making them squirm. Is there any place that you would rather at least be than in a dentist's chair?

That is my living nightmare. The opposite of being in the dentist's chair for me is probably a brewery with my wife and two kids. He went from owning a business where you make money from customers who hate going to your business, to owning a business where you make money from customers who look forward to give you their money. Think about that. One business, you take a metal tool that is pointy and sharp, and you dig between people's teeth,

and you pull out gunk. The other business, you have live music and good beer and good food and entertainment and people want to come to you and give you their money. Dr. Daniel Halper goes from advanced medical sports and spine where you walk into his office in Culpepper and you have spine issues. You can't walk, your back hurts, you're hunched over, your quality of life sucks. And he's had success with that and he's invested it into real estate, into a construction company, and now he's going balls to the

wall with Cocos. I love these kind of stories. So what we did, 18 years we've been in brand management advertising agency, still do it. Now we get to cherry pick our clients and who we want to work with. We want to work with people that are nice, that we enjoy working alongside, as opposed to 18 years ago where I had to chase every dollar. And why is that the case? Because I own a lot of real estate right now. And we have other businesses that allow us that kind of freedom. I see the future of business in this community, guys, locally owned business, locally owned business as being omni-experiential. You must, if you're a local business owner, have a model where the consumer, the average Crozation, the average Elmore Countian, the average Charlottesvillean, the average Belmontonian,

the average Fluco can go into your business and say, I am going to give this money, this business my money at a time where money is tight because this business is going to afford me an experience, reward me with an experience that I otherwise cannot get from the internet. That's what the happy cook has done well. Cooking classes where you can try their goods and the items they sell before you buy them on a shelf. That's what Patty Zeller does well at Animal Connection. Come to our ICCS location and allow us to groom your dogs.

Or you can self-serve dog wash their dogs. We'll cut your dog's toenails. We'll clean their ears, will show you how you can train your dogs, walk your dogs, help them obey and be obedient and learn commands and oh by the way we have dog treats and leashes and bowls and food for you to buy. That's what Three Notch tried to do and is doing with the purchase of Wild Wolf Brewing Company.

Why do they buy Wild Wolf Brewing Company from Mary Wolf, the first female executive in AOL history? Because Wild Wolf Brewing Company gives them the chance to create an omni-experiential business model. Concerts, running, 5K, hiking, axe throwing. That's the future of locally owned business. And it's up to the locally owned business owner to figure this out because these types of business

will survive the internet. These are the ones that will survive the internet. Chew to Wicow on a two shot. Internet. These are the ones that will survive the Internet. I'll get to your comments, viewers and listeners here in a matter of moments. I want to weave Judah in and then I'll get to the viewers and I love the fact that a lot of this is activity-based. It's things that you can go do. It's not just sitting in front of a screen. It's not just watching a movie, playing with the phone. I love the fact that there's all this great stuff from the Ninja course, which I would love to run,

to bumper cars, zip lines. Last time I was on a zip line was in Costa Rica, probably over a decade ago. It was a blast. I think a lot of us have felt the missing, that missing part of Charlottesville since places like the fun, what is it called? since places like the fun, what is it called?

Planet fun? Planet fun, since Planet Fun disappeared, some of these other places. It's a shame that Charlottesville doesn't have more for kids. It was amazing when they built the skate park because at least that's something. But still, we've been seriously lacking for years. Also, Judah Wickauer. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts.

John Blair, his photo on screen. Number two in the family. Jerry, you've been on the experiential retail transformation for years. Every parent in Charlottesville, Elmora, is ecstatic over these developments at Seminole Square. But there's another story here. The downtown mall is going the wrong way.

First, we saw the death of the ice rink. Now we've seen the fountains shut off for years on the mall. The downtown mall needs to look at some experiential ventures. I still think zip lining over the mall would be good and profitable idea if the city would grant an air easement. John Blair also says also no top golf or batting cage in the region for public consumption.

Big opportunities abound. When John Blair leaves comments, I listen. No doubt. Downtown mall. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen. Great points. Yours truly, my family has got significant skin in the game in downtown Charlottesville.

We're talking to the tune of a few million dollars with the commercial real estate we own. Probably somewhere close to four. I am constantly thinking of downtown Charlottesville and I use this platform to be very straightforward. I hear from some of the landlords, I won't say who but I'm talking about the heaviest of heavy hitters. They come into this studio, some of them unannounced without appointments on the schedule, interrupting meetings that I having with paying clients, and they're saying, why are you talking about downtown like this?

And then I literally look at somebody that's worth five or $600 million, and I say, you know what, I'm happy to chat with you, but now's not the time, you need to leave my office, and you need to do it now. And they look at me, because no one talks to them that way. No one. But you don't come in unannounced without a meeting

and interrupt me as I'm running my business. And you know who you are because you watch and listen to this show every day. Gladly we'll chat with you. But at a scheduled appointment. The reason I use this platform to talk about the houselessness in downtown Charlottesville, the perceived crime in downtown Charlottesville, the vulnerability of downtown Charlottesville tied to parking concerns, tied to panhandling, is because I got a boatload of skin in the game and I want

to leave these bricks, this real estate that I own, my wife and I own, to our two boys. Nothing more than I'd rather do to give them what we've worked our ass off and sacrificed so much for. That's the plan. And until downtown Charlottesville figures out first the public relations nightmare it is in. It's not going to truly heal post COVID. In 2019, the mall was clicking and humming on all cylinders.

There's never been a better version of downtown Charlottesville than 2019. Then COVID hit. Then we stayed home. Then we got used to ordering things on the internet. Then we got lazy. We got fat. We didn't exercise. We didn't want to support local. We got money from the government. We got used to Netflix. We got used to streaming content on our couch and our underwear and our tighty whities and not going to support Zocalo. Look at what's happening with Zocalo Restaurant. It used to be owned by Peter Castiglione, Andrew Silver,

and Ivan Reckos. Then Peter left and he and Christian Kelly opened up Maya Restaurant. Now it's just Peter at Maya Restaurant. Zocalo was left with Andrew and Ivan. Andrew moved to Texas. He's got a bowls and salad business down there. Andrew and Ivan helped develop the menu for Roots

Natural Kitchen on the UVA corner. One of the most successful restaurants, if not the most successful restaurant ever birthed from Charlottesville's food and beverage ecosystem is probably Roots Natural Kitchen. What do they have? A dozen plus locations. Look how many locations Roots Natural Kitchen. What do they have, a dozen plus locations? Look how many locations Roots Natural Kitchen has for me. A restaurant birthed by UVA graduates on the corner. I think it's a dozen plus locations up and down the eastern seaboard, ladies and gentlemen.

Andrew Leaves, Zocalo's owned by Ivan. Ivan says I'm getting the hell out of here. And he sells an institutional brand in business in Zocalo. There's been boatloads of food and beverage turnover. Food and beverage turnover tied to Hunter Smith. Brasserie Cezanne. Passiflora. Brasserie Cezette. A place that he said he was going to do some kind of Belgian cuisine and brew beer. Did they ever brew beer there? I don't think so. I didn't see any beer being brewed there.

Wilson Richie has passed away. You're talking about one time the most influential guy in restaurants on the downtown mall. He's passed away and he's in heaven right now. We're in tremendous flux right now. And there's two men, one of them I'm efforting for an interview on the show. We're having a back and forth on DM about him coming on the show, Jeff Levine. Jeff Levine, ladies and gentlemen. No, excuse me, excuse me.

I'm having a back and forth with Stefan Freedman. Stefan Freedman is the owner of Body and Read Seafood. Stefan Freedman is the owner of Vitae Spirits. He's the owner of the sushi Fried is the owner of Vitae Spirits. He's the owner of the Sushi Joint in the back of Vitae Spirits. He just took over Old Metropolitan Hall from Travis Wilburn. He owns Draft Tap Room.

Good god, Stefan, let's open Draft Tap Room. Dear god, it's March Madness and the ACC tournament. I wanted to drink some cold beers behind my office while watching basketball. Can you open that, please? He also owns Ace Biscuit and Barbecue, and he's got a stake in Little John's. You're probably looking at the the face, the New York Yankees, the Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees is Stefan Freeman with the downtown mall. The face of the mall right now is this

guy. The former venture capitalist, dist distress asset businessman. The back, the next most influential guy on the mall is probably Jeff Levine trying to bring an 18 story apartment tower to the Violent Crown movie theater location and building a hotel next to the Omni, Jeff Levine. The guy who remodeled Blue Moon Diner next to University Tire on West Main Street and that luxury apartment tower. He's probably your second most influential guy in downtown Charlottesville right now. Those two guys and probably your third most

influential guy in downtown Charlottesville and this is very humbly and very straightforward, probably your third most influential person in downtown Charlottesville is the guy that's talking right now. No bullshit. Because of the reach and the platform we have and the following we have and the viewership and listenership that we have and the messaging that we can put out there. And some of the bricks we own. There needs to be a brain trust that gets together and reimagines where this mall

is going. Because the Alan Kageens and the Ludwig Kooteners and friend of the program who's a mentor, Bill Nitchman and the Lewis family, and the Joe Geeks, they're not getting any younger. Not getting any younger. And I'm going to be around here for 40, 50 more years at least, God willing. And until downtown ‑‑ and downtown has tried, decades arcade is downtown, right? Downtown is trying. Until downtown Charlottesville starts figuring out how to drive people downtown in a non-expensive food and beverage way, downtown is going to struggle. Sandra McDaniel says,

Morgan Harrington, since then I do not go downtown. It's a seedy, scary place at night. The unfortunate thing is that is the case in some regards, but it's not the case in all regards. It's not the case in all. Did you know, a lot of people don't know this story. Sit back and listen to this story. Curtis Shaver has challenged you to a showdown against you,

Judah Wichower, on the Ninja Course at Cocos. All right. You versus Curtis in a Ninja Course Showdown at Cocos. That guy's got core strength like a gorilla. Judah's got the balance of a billy goat or a mountain lion, Curtis. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready.

A lot of people don't know this story. You ready for this story? Do you know the area next to the bus station, the old tourist location, the old tourist center by the pavilion where Fridays After Five is? Yeah. You know that area, the side where the houseless turned it into an encampment for some time?

We're talking kind of close to the free speech wall, the transit center. You're talking about by the second floor doors of the welcome center? Yeah, on the downtown wall. Yeah. And the city put up those fences. I think I still might have a picture of that.

The city, if you have a picture of that, you can put it on screen. I don't know if that's easy for you to find or not. The city put up those fences there, and they said they were doing a construction project, and then those fences never came down. It was basically a way, an impediment for the houseless to sleep there.

Still, the houseless were jumping over those fences and sleeping there because there was some roof offering, and then the walls behind them offered shelter. I mean, those barricades didn't weigh more than what? Like, probably 30 pounds. They could slide them around. Yeah. Right.

It was the least welcoming of welcome centers ever. Get ready for this, ladies and gentlemen, what I'm about to tell you. One of the most visible and recognizable houseless individuals on the downtown mall died there a couple weeks ago. Found dead next to the Transit Center and the former Welcome Center. And no one tied to Charlottesville City did anything about a dead body of a houseless guy who most likely froze to death outside. One of the very, very, very, very kind ladies that works at Timberlake's Drug store and the lunch counter in the back of

Timberlake's, one of the friendliest souls in Charlottesville. It says hi to everyone, love running into her. She realized that he was dead next to the transit center on the mall, most likely frozen to death on one of those single digit, remember we had that back to back single digit temperature nights? This is what this lady did who's in her upper 80s from an age standpoint, ladies and gentlemen. First she called the rescue squad and called 911 and said that there was a dead man on the mall who'd froze to death. Once the rescue squad got there, Judah's got the photo on screen.

Look at the screen so you can see the location we're talking about. Look at the screen. I'll go back to a one shot. Once you got the man's body off the mall, frozen to death, she then took it on herself. We're talking a woman in her upper eighties to take all his personal belongings and all his stuff and to neatly and kindly pack it up for his next of kin if his next of kin ever showed up. A woman in her 80s is packing up the personal belongings of a houseless individual who froze to death on the mall. This is a cross from City Hall mind you. No one tied to the city helped the Timberlake's employee on her own time find a better resting place

for a man who froze to death on the most important eight blocks and in a region of 300,000 people. And no one helped her pack up his personal belongings. Ward gets back to a friend of mine, not going to utilize his name, heavy hitter in downtown Charlottesville. He walks into city hall,

demands to speak to the city manager. They say, you have to have an appointment to speak to him. He said, I'm talking to him and I'm not leaving until you do. Finally, he gets into the city manager's office and he relays the story of what's going on. The city manager then says, good night. I didn't know that happened. And he immediately then sends,

we're talking within 20 minutes, puts in a couple of phone calls and sends some city employees out to help this 87, 88 year old lady pack up the sleeping bags, the cardboard boxes, the clothes, the coolers, the belongings, the little belongings that this man who froze to death on the mall own. This is 2025 in Charl costly market to live in. Real estate, median income, Charlottesville. We have a man freezing to death on the mall and an

87 year old Good Samaritan that works a lunch counter on a drug store as the one that is dealing with the collateral damage. True story. God is my witness. The mall needs co-op money, private, public, partnership, contribution from Charlottesville and City Hall to reimagine. Because if you look, you have duck pin bowling coming to south and central as Chris Henry and his father-in-law, legitimately a billionaire, Paul Manning, re-imagined one of their trophy properties, Dairy Market.

You got Chuck Rockin giving a year of free lease to a Culpepper County doctor to build an indoor adventure central, an indoor adventure park called Cocos. You got the CEO of ACAC partnering with two other business ladies to bring indoor pickleball next door to Cocos. You got a businessman and Mike Kinnick bringing bouldering to Pure Bar on Old Ivy Road, and you got Dick's opening, Dick's House of Sport, 100,000 square feet of indoor athletic activity on Fifth Street Station. And all of this is happening as the downtown mall

is dying the death of 1,000 cuts. It's unfortunate, but it's today's reality. Viewers and listeners, I'll get to some comments. James Watson says, do you think Dix 2.0 will survive more than four years? He says it needs to be relatively affordable. That's a great question. I do know that there are other Dix house of sports and larger markets including one that is in New England that has a legitimate ice legitimately an ice skating rink inside

it. Do some googling and research and you can find the one I'm talking about. There's an ice skating rink. Dick's is creating a business model where they want you to use the gear that they're selling in athletic settings in their store before you buy them. It's effing genius. It's something that Amazon Prime cannot offer. They can offer you cheap cleats and cheap baseball bats and golf clubs. They can offer you cheap camping gear,

tennis rackets and pickleball paddles and squash rackets. But what they cannot offer you is an opportunity to use the gear in a store before buying it. And that's what Dick's is betting on. Randy O'Neill is watching the program. He said all this kids entertainment, Judah, is for the haves and not the have nots. It's only for the wealthy.

Sadly. And it's not for those that do not have money, parents with money. Do you buy that, Judah? I think for the most part, yeah, I buy that. None of these places are going to be free. None of these places are going to be, I imagine, cheap. I mean, we've seen the same thing with bowling.

I've been bowling in such a long time, but we've heard people remark on the cost of renting a lane. Bowling is insanely expensive. A lane, yeah. Insanely expensive to go bowling right now. And I don't see that any of these places are going to be much different. They're going to be a wonderful resource to have, but yeah, I don't think they're going to,

they're not going to be inviting kids in who aren't able to pay for whatever, whether it's hourly, whether it's, you know, paying for the rides that you want to play on, I don't see it, especially with a, what, two to three million dollar build out? Two to three million dollar build out and 25,000 to $35,000 in lease overhead. So out of the gate, out of the gate, this guy's two million to three million,

let's just call it three million dollars. It always goes higher than you anticipate. Call it three million dollars in build out, and then his lease, first month, January, February of next year, his first month, because he's got some free rent until he gets to that point, is 25,000 a month. Yeah.

And then he's got employees that he's gonna have to pay for. Insurance, can you imagine the insurance overhead associated with a business like this? The insurance has got to be through. Find me an insurance provider that's gonna cover this kind of risk profile. It's not gonna be free as Judas said. I did speak to Daniel Halpert and he said he's committed to making it as affordable as possible because he wants to appeal to the masses. And he said he's going to make it more affordable than the trampoline park. Neil Williamson watching the program, he says, can I Love Seaville do a pay

per view of the Judah Wickhauer versus Curtis Shaver ninja warrior match? It's a great idea. Yeah, that'd be cool. Judah Wickhkower. Judah, these would be the, these would be the monikers. Judah, the billy goat Wittkower against Curtis, the gorilla shaver, a ninja, ninja warrior brouhaha of epic and significant proportions. How about Jumpin' Judah and Climbin' Kurt? He goes by Dirty. Dirty Kurt. Dirty Kurt Schaefer. Okay. I always kind of cringe with the,

I love the dirty nickname, but I'm like Kurt, you're a chef here. Dirty, chef. Love Dirty Kurt. Oh man. Love dirty, Kurti. Oh man. Well, I will say this. To Randy's point, I am extremely confident

that the folks that have researched these business models and are investing millions of dollars into these ideas have done their research and are targeting the Charlottesville area because of that HUD family median household income of 124,200 and that's a 2023 number. HUD family median household income, 2023 the year, 124,200, I can bet you, do you want to take this bet? Should we do a prop bet? I will

bet you the 2024 number is even higher. Do you want to take that bet? No, not particularly. You think it's going to be higher too? Probably. So choosing this market as a way to launch a business or as a market to launch a business is smart because of the wealth that's in the market. Yeah. We're 62 minutes in. Jenny Hu is watching the program. She says she's got a tip for the founder.

I'm excited about Cocos and hope the area, they hope that Cocos is open at least majority, if not all the days of the week. I mentioned to you about my kids having to drive to Stanton for an escape room as none of ours and neither is decades open during the week." She says, great work to you, Judah, to get the show up because currently Twitter is having issues. Wow. Viewers and listeners, that's some breaking news for you. And we encourage you to mark your calendar for Thursday.

Thursday, Dr. Daniel Halpert will be in the studio, the founder of Cocos. Very excited to chat with Dr. Daniel Halpert. James Watson, I like the business model Dix is bringing. Glad they're willing to try on us, but I don't know if we have the population. Definitely would work well in Fairfax, but we have a low population and high prices will be a challenge. Same as it was for public lands and

many places that were in Stonefield that bit the dust. Very curious to see if it plays out as well, James. I will say this, if Dix, House of Sport cannot make it plays out as well, James. I will say this. If Dick's House of Sport cannot make it in 5th Street Station, I am legitimately questioning the future of 5th Street Station. Because 5th Street Station's anchor tenants, Wegmans, they crush it. The movie theater, I am not bullish on that movie theater. Is that an Alamo? That's an Alamo, right? I am not bullish on Alamo, that movie theater,

at all. There are so many times that movie theater is dead empty. And if anyone thinks the future of movies is bright, you guys are huffing glue out of a Ziploc bag. The future of movies is not bright. The future of movies is families and date night on your couch while watching a 72 inch flat screen television that cost you less than $1,500 to buy. Spencer Pushard's company installing it on your brick wall. He's fantastic. You should reach out to Spencer Pushhard. P-U-S-H-A-R-D if you need any audio visual installation. Having that set up, you're all in less than 2K and then you can watch any movie you want on streaming while you're drinking your favorite beer, eating affordable popcorn, and sitting in Judah's favorite attire,

which is a silky stripe robe and some polka dot tighty whitey's. That's not your favorite attire? I'm not sure what's going on here, but. Uh. How would you like to enjoy your movie? This is how Judah's going to enjoy his movie. A maroon cardigan with a button down collar shirt with the collar pulled out of it and a perplexed look on his face as his glasses are half masked down the base of his nose.

Something like that. What is your preferred way to watch a movie? You're talking about at home? Some good food? Something to drink? My preferred way to watch a movie is some Pikachu, Pokemon pajamas, two Emperor of Clouds and an ice cream sandwich on the couch with a 75 inch TV above the fireplace in my house. Ice cream and beer. I just got my, we just got our son a Charizard.

Oh yeah? A Charizard. A very rare triple gold star Charizard that we got at Paper Tiger in Richmond before we went on the birthday escapade with my wife. He's big into Pokemon. I'm starting to get deep into Pokemon. I'm looking for a graded rare Charizard next. Good luck. Charizard. Can't be easy to find. What's that?

I'm sure that can't be easy to find. There's a printing shortage for Pokemon. A printing shortage? Yeah. Currently or in the find. There's a printing shortage for Pokemon. A printing shortage? Yeah. Currently or in the past? Currently, a printing shortage of cards. Does that mean the most recent ones are super expensive? The collectors of Pokemon cards, the hobby

is booming in popularity. And it just coincidentally coincided with a shortage of printing cards, of cards being printed. So the cards are spiking in value and a card like a Charizard is very difficult to find. So we had to go to Richmond to find a Charizard for our kid. Now we can do the pack breaks, but the odds of finding a Charizard and a pack break

is not high. I would imagine. Very interesting. The things we do for our children. I'll tell you what, the things you do for your children, look at what Dr. Daniel Halpert is doing. He's putting millions of dollars on the lines for his nine-year-old twin girls, unbelievable.

What an amazing wife he's got there too. All right, that's the Monday edition of the I Love Seville Show. We did not have a chance to talk diversity, equity, and inclusion on the outs at UVA. We'll talk about that tomorrow. Maybe on the out. What do you mean maybe? There's a very interesting Jefferson Council article where he talks about where But where James Bacon talks about the fact that they may be complying too easily. And he has seen or at least heard about schools basically finding ways to get around. That's what Alamara County Public Schools are doing.

Alamara County Public Schools right now are completely disregarding federal mandates as it applies to DEI and DEI curriculum. Dr. Superintendent, Dr. Matthew Haas is literally doing that. I'm not surprised. We didn't have a chance to talk UVA Health and another resignation and more dysfunction at UVA health. We'll do that tomorrow. So much to cover.

Vanessa Parkhill says she was in Costco the other day. There's a 98 inch TCL TV for $1400. Who's going to go to the movies anymore if you can buy 100 inch TVs for less than 1500 bucks and stream anything you want on the television with surround ... We moved from Glamour to Ivy and said we're not going to bring any of our televisions with us. Actually, that's not true. What did we bring?

We brought one television with us. One television with us. Spencer set that up. One. All the other TVs were brand new. One. Two. We're talking like five TVs,

including one that was 80 inches for under 4K in totality. Who's gonna go to the movies anymore? What a edition of the show. 70 minutes without stopping. Only on the I Love CBO show. With breaking news and content that you'll find nowhere else. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long everybody.

Oh, one other thing. I got a, I'll save this for tomorrow. I got a couple of businesses that we're bringing to market for sale, including a franchise that's in the quick serve category with an asking price of $1,400,000 with top line revenue that justifies it and cash flow that justifies that ask. If you're interested, let me know. Okay? This is something that is a huge opportunity. And Spencer says I can build a movie theater quality home theater for under $7,000 for a family. He can build literally a movie theater in someone's home for less than $7K. How does anyone think that Violent Crown or Alamo or Regal is going to make it?

Those numbers are only going to get lower. The equipment is only going to get more affordable. All right. That's the money edition of the show. So long, everybody. Thank you.