The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Bus Batters & Bashes Bedroom In Albemarle Co; What's Next For Violet Crown Development?

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Bus Batters & Bashes Bedroom In Albemarle Co What’s Next For Violet Crown Development? Silverback Distillery Afton Location For Sale Mid $2M Asking Price For Silverback Afton What’s Best Use Of Silverback Distillery? UVA Third Year Student On NBC’s “The Voice” Florida State At Virginia, 9PM, Tonight, ACCN AlbCo Commonwealth Attorney Jim Hingeley On 3/5 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. We're going to get the headlines up on screen here in a matter of moments. And we'll break some news for you on today's show. In fact, I'm going to respond here with a thank you as that news continues to come into the program as we speak. Silverback Distillery, its Afton location, is going to hit the market, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow. This is the Riggleman family's distillery in Afton, a beautiful property. We'll unpack that deal for you on today's show. I would think there would be plenty of suitors for a slice of heaven in God's country on 151. We'll give some insight into the deal flow, and we'll ask questions. Why sell the Afton location on 151 at this time.

I'll ask additional questions. How this pertains to headwinds for the alcohol industry. Craft alcohol, as a younger generation, is frankly consuming less booze. Millennials, yours truly, just was a part of our life. Gen Zers, young millennials, the younger generation, the consumer of today and tomorrow, not so much so. So we'll talk about that on the program.

Give me a thumbs up when those headlines are on screen. We'll talk on today's program, a bus battering and bashing a bedroom in Albemarle County. Headlines are on screen. Look at the screen. I think we're going to drive the news cycle today on the I Love Seville Network. How does a bus, public transportation, CAT, Charlottesville-Albemarle Transport, Ramrod, someone's living room, someone's bedroom on Georgetown Road. Imagine sitting in your room watching the Today Show. Maybe you're catching the Oscars on repeat. You're enjoying some iced coffee,

maybe a Krispy Kreme donut, maybe a nice Danish from Marie Bette. And as you're watching Conan O'Brien leading the Oscars, a bus batters, bashes, and battering rams your bedroom. That happened today. What the hell is in the water in Charlottesville and Albemarle County and Central Virginia? Ladies and gentlemen, there's some crazy juice that is coming up from the ground and intoxicating people with lunatic behavior. That happened this morning. We'll talk about it on the program, ladies and gentlemen. We'll talk on today's show, more violent crown news. We've been all over this

from day one. There's two people that have, since COVID, become the talk of downtown Charlottesville, and one of them is Stefan Friedman. We broke the news yesterday to you. Old Metropolitan Hall, now under Stefan Friedman's control and ownership. That was a brand birthed by Travis Wilburn of State Charlottesville, a man who's making his living in the short-term rental space, the luxury rental space, Travis Wilburn. He passes the torch of the old Metropolitan Hall venue to Stefan Friedman. Now Stefan Friedman, the man who's made a living in purchasing distressed assets, a financier, finds himself as the shot caller or the number one influencer in the most important eight blocks of Central Virginia, the downtown mall.

Friedman owns Draft Taproom. Friedman owns Bonnie and Reed Seafood. Friedman owns Vitae Spirits. Friedman owns that sushi joint in the back of Vitae Spirits. Friedman now owns Old Metropolitan Hall. He owns Ace Biscuit and Barbecue. I've been told he owns Licking Hole Creek Brewery. The guy who enjoys a fresh cocktail at Marigold, the bar, is really, in an estate in North Garden, who is making a strong push to turn Violent Crown into an 18-story apartment tower. Violent Crown has rumored

been on the market for sale for a long period of time. Jeff Levine was not the first dog sniffing this opportunity. There's other heavy hitters in this marketplace that have sniffed the opportunity of purchasing the Violent Crown movie theater as the owner of the property has looked to exit the property for some time. And unfortunately for the business owner of Violent Crown, Elevate, an outfit out of Austin, Texas, who is strictly the owner of the business, not, who is strictly the owner of the business, not the real estate, the owner of the business, elevate out of Austin, Texas. In a lot of ways, they got played here. They signed a lease that does not have a lot of runway or longevity on it. Now, no one truly knows, outside of the people that signed the lease, Jeff Levine obviously

knows how long the agreement is. The folks who own the real estate say it's short term. The folks that are running the business say it's long enough and we're going to actualize the entire length of the lease here. But here's what it basically comes down to. You have a game of chicken being played right now. Jeff Levine and the owners of the real estate of Violent Crown are using the power of the media. And I guess I'm being played like a pawn in there, but it certainly makes for some effing great fodder

for a talk show, folks. And they're basically using the power of the media to squeeze the operators of the movie theater business. And now Jeff Levine has got the Board of Architectural Review on his side. They have rubber-stamped 18-story apartment tower that is going to be the tallest building in the city, the tallest building in the region, and it ain't even close, people.

So what's next for this project? You've got two power players, and Jeff Levine and Stefan Freeman, out-of-market guys that no one had heard of before COVID. No one had had an ounce of influence or word mention of these two men prior to COVID. Post-COVID, they're dictating the pace and tempo of downtown Charlottesville. We're going to talk about that on today's program. We'll break some news for you. Catch some wind from two talented brokers, and I hope they're watching the program, Jenny Stoner and Johnny Pritzloff of Tallheimer. I continue to come across these brokers in the world

I'm in, which is real estate and business brokerage. We just had a business close on yesterday that I'm so excited to talk about. I want my clients who purchased the business to make that announcement, and we're working on organizing their schedule for them to come on and announce the business that they've purchased in a significant deal that we help broker, an established business. But as we are constantly looking at deals on our desk right over there next to where I'm sitting, I constantly hear the Stoner and Pritzloff names being mentioned for just doing great work leasing and selling stuff around the community.

And this is probably the first that you're going to hear of this. Ms. Stoner is going to bring to market tomorrow the Riggleman's Silverback Distillery operation in Afton. Now, there's many parts to this deal. There's the assets themselves, the equipment that are available for purchase. Then there's the acreage and the buildings. And then there's the whole shebam, if you want to buy everything and run a distillery yourself. You can buy the equipment separate. You can buy the dirt in the buildings.

Or you can buy them all at once. The asking price is in the mid twos, somewhere between two and three million. It's a hell of a property. It's God's country. It's right on 151. But if you're a straight shooter, and I know Jenny and Johnny are straight shooters, The world we live in when it comes to craft cocktails and craft booze and craft liquor and craft wine is an ever-changing world. And the consumer of today is extremely different than the consumer of yesteryear and the consumer right before the pandemic. I don't know if we can chalk this up to COVID collateral damage, the fact that today's consumer is less booze-centric, but something's changed with the palette of the average Joe and average Sally when it comes to consuming alcohol. And you see that, folks. I've heard, and I highlighted this on the program when we talked

about Hunter Smith's Champion Equipment. Equipment valued north of $1.6 million at auction time. That's what a third-party valuator pegged Hunter's Champion Equipment at at $1.6 million. We're talking equipment at auction that traded for less than $100,000. And some of the folks that purchased that equipment were in the business of manufacturing beer equipment. They did so so that equipment would not flood the market, basically hedging risk. Think about the world we live in where equipment is being auctioned

because a brewery closed down, and the businesses that are buying the equipment that's being auctioned are the businesses that make the equipment themselves. That's the world, the state we're in right now when it comes to craft booze. So is the upside of Silverback opening another distillery there? What is the upside here? What's the play?

I want to talk about that on today's program. Regardless, it's a badass piece of property. Badass piece of property that's nine acres. It's got... I'm looking at the details literally on my feed right now. They got a barrel barn. They got... a barrel barn that's not conditioned,

but the existing building has every single bell and whistle you can imagine. It has enough power to run a data center. Man, that would be so crazy if a data center goes to 151 in Silverback Distillery. The land and the building is for sale, and the brokers will assist in discussions to purchase the equipment. I want to emphasize this, and this is important messaging for the community. Silverback is not closing.

They are consolidating their production so their distillers are not being pulled across state lines. So this is a strategic business move by the Riggleman family to consolidate production at their Pennsylvania location. They're doing this as a strategic move. Still, you've got to ask yourself this question, what it means for booze, craft booze, in the Commonwealth and Central Virginia. You're seeing a number of brands and businesses either consolidate away or close altogether. And I said a couple weeks ago on the talk show,

there's an extremely well-known beer brand in the Charlottesville area that is on fragile, fragile, fragile, fragile, fragile business sustainability. Not my news to break, but one we patronize often. That is, on the cusp of closure. A lot we're going to cover on today's program, including a UVA third year on NBC's The Voice. Albemarle Commonwealth's attorney, Jim Hingely, will join us tomorrow on the program.

Man, what a time to interview the top officer in Albemarle County and Jim Hingely due to Wickhour. What a time to interview the man. I'm grateful for Mr. Hingely, the Commonwealth's attorney of Albemarle County's time. Tomorrow, mark your calendar for that interview. You got Ron Sanchez, maybe in his last basketball game, home basketball game, as a Virginia Cavalier. I mean, does Sanchez keep his job, folks? The insider money says no. But does Virginia have a chance at Shaka Smart? Ryan Odom? That's the question. And if you strike out on Odom and Shaka Smart, do you just end up keeping Ron Sanchez?

And how about Kyle Guy? How about Jason Williford? How about Chase Coleman? How about Isaiah Wilkins? These are UVA guys. What's going to happen to them if Sanchez gets pink slip? So much to cover on the program. Judah Wickhauer, a two-shot.

We'll talk Violent Crown. We'll talk the breaking news of Silverback Distillery for sale. We'll talk a bus battering and bashing a bedroom in Albemarle County. Someone enjoying a Zabarco's apple fritter donut, a Zabarco's apple fritter over their coffee, watching the I Love Seville show on repeat on YouTube, and smash, a bus goes through the front of their house. Jeez Louise, ladies and gentlemen. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, due to 60 consecutive years in business.

Support the businesses you want to see make another 60 years, guys. Online at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com. Andrew Vermillion, John Vermillion, they are absolutely making this community a better place at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and online at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com. Judah Wickauer, I ask you the same question every single day. Which headline most intrigues you and why? I think it's amazing that the distilleries for sale, it's very interesting. What interests you about it? Just the fact that they're choosing now to do it, And I'd be curious to find out the reason why. Well, the reason why, we just said, is they're consolidating operations in Pennsylvania,

so they're not distilling across state lines. We'll unpack that even more. Do you have the photo of the bus ramming the house on Georgetown Road? Yeah. Can you put that on screen? Mm-hmm. You thought your day, look at the screen, guys. You thought your day started off bad.

No doubt. Half a bus is through a house in Almaro County. Talk about a rude awakening. Half a bus is through a house in Almaro County. Is this a lawsuit waiting to happen? I mean, pretty much everything nowadays is a lawsuit waiting to happen. What do you do if you're sitting and enjoying an apple fritter from Sbarco's, having some iced coffee and watching the I Love Seville show,

and a bus rams your house and half the bus is inside. Does the driver of the bus, while the bus is inside your home, the driver is inside your house in the bedroom. Half the bus is inside. There's people in the bus. Does the driver then open the door and let the people off inside the house? Is that what happens there? Does the driver pull the bus door lever and say,

all right, I guess this is your bus stop. Time to get off the bus. It's the last stop on the cat route. The last stop on the cat route is the nightstand of Johnny and Susie's house on Georgetown Road. I would not be surprised if the driver was not talking at that point.

Something tells me that something happened, that the driver was no longer in control and possibly not even conscious. Oh, so you think medical emergency here. My wife was asking if this was a hammered bus driver, high OD drugs with the bus driver. You think it's medical emergency. It definitely could be something alcohol or drug related, but I don't know. That just doesn't. Medical emergency would be a better scenario than a hammered or super blitzed bus driver.

No doubt. So now we're hoping for medical emergency, right? I mean, not hoping, but... Well, I mean, I would rather that than blitzed and blacked out, super drunk, right? Either way, this could have been a lot worse. And so we should be thankful that it was just the bus driver and the one, I believe, one person in the home who were taken to the hospital. I just got a hilarious text message about that. I'm going to respond to this text message by saying that's effing hilarious.

This text message comes in, those people didn't catch the cat. The cat caught them. Oh, man. I'm literally laughing out loud reading this text message on the show. Catch the cat is the tagline. Catch the cat is the tagline. Is this the death nail of public transportation? People don't even realize this. You know how few people ride the bus in Charlottesville? I want you, the viewer and listener, next time you see Cat riding around town, all these activists in our community are like, oh, we need public transportation. We need public transportation.

We need better routes. We need more consistency. I want you guys to take a look at the bus and see how many people are actually riding the bus. Do you know Cat hemorrhages money? And you know what the most asinine thing about Cat and the activists in this community? Is they're championing electric buses. Electric buses have the consistency and viability of Fred Flintstone's leg-powered vehicle. What was Barney and Fred using in the Flintstones?

It was leg-powered, right? Somehow these folks want Cat to be powered by electric power. Look at what electric-powered buses have done in other municipalities in the country. They routinely fail and break down, folks, and they're extremely expensive. Now we've got public transportation bashing and battering someone's bedroom on a Tuesday morning. It is just an ominous foreshadowing for its future. Philip Dow watching the program. We got two TV stations and a newspaper watching the I Love Seville show right now. Carol Thorpe, the Queen of Jack Jewett, watching the program.

She says, please suggest that everyone watch City Council's meeting to learn budget and potential tax rate hike information. One thing I want to highlight about tax rates, Alamaro County, its executive, is suggesting a $0.04 real estate tax rate increase. $0.04 at a time when assessments have already spiked through the roof. Our assessment in Ivy, we're on four acres in Ivy, 23.5% year-over-year increase. And on top of that, they're going to raise the real estate tax rate. Anyone that says raising the real estate tax rate,

we're going to do this to pay honor or we're going to do this to fund housing affordability initiatives, just does not understand how dollars and cents works. You can't ask people to pay more money when it comes to assessments and the tax rate and the namesake of housing affordability. That's an oxymoron, folks. That does not make sense. Oh, it burns me up, Judah Wickauer.

Watch the budget closely of both the city and the county. And does someone ever say, we're going to fund more money for public transportation? Are we going to point to the fact that, are we going to have more buses ramrodding people's houses? This is like out of Super Troopers. What's next? The bus driver's going to ask for a mustache ride?

You ever seen Super Troopers? Oh, yeah. Next headline. Neil Williamson watching the program. He says, fact, it costs more to count the fare box than the money contained within the bus. Think about what he just said. This is a fact. It costs more to count the fare box than the money contained within the fare box. Think about that. We are offering, we are paying for public transportation for such few people to actually ride a bus. And I understand public transportation is a utility,

but the system we have right now is broken. It's absolutely broken. I'm all for figuring out a different system, but what we have right now is wrong. It's not working. The lead of the show, and I think why you, the viewer and listener, is turning into the program, let's put the silverback headlines on screen. I literally figured this out. I literally was passed along this information with the approval of those who passed this information along to me. I always ask if I'm able to air this information before we actually air it. get the information is because people who are passing us, passing info on to us, know that they can count on us to deliver the information in an above board way. The information passed on to us

by Jenny Stoner of Thalheimer. She's a fantastic broker. So is Johnny Pritzloff. I sincerely mean that, guys. Silverback Distillery coming on market tomorrow. The asking price is going to be in the mid-two millions. It's important that the messaging is clear here. The Riggleman family is consolidating its operation and production at its Pennsylvania location. They are not closing. I will reiterate it again.

Silverback is not closing. They're strictly consolidating their operation to Pennsylvania. They don't want to distill across state lines. This makes things more efficient for the business and the brand, which is an award-winning business, award-winning brand, award-winning booze. This now leaves a 151 hole because Silverback was well liked and certainly consumers enjoyed the experience there. The upside I think is pretty significant. Nine acres. You have state-of-the-art equipment, certainly state-of-the-art at purchase time,

equipment like anything, whether it's the TVs that are hanging on the walls at our house, the Rivians, a nod to Johnny Pritzloff right there that we are driving, the Tesla trucks that we are driving, a nod to Corbin Snow right there. Once you purchase them, something newer and shinier comes out that is more state-of-the-art than when you bought it a couple months ago, a year ago, a couple years ago.

Interestingly, there's opportunities here. There's the asset sale to purchase the distilling equipment, and then there's the opportunity to purchase the land, the buildings, which is the true upside. We learned from the Champion brewing asset sale that went to auction a couple of weeks ago that this equipment just does not carry the same oomph or weight that it used to. When manufacturers are buying the equipment at auction to prevent a flood of equipment hitting the market that shows you a sign of the times. And that's what happened with the champion equipment that was valued at $1.6 million that traded for under $100,000. I first want to say to Denver Riggleman and his wife and their family that huge fans of them. We would be lucky to have Denver Riggleman in office,

whether it's a governor, whether it's a delegate, whether it's in a Senate post. We would be lucky to have his level-headedness in office of any kind. I wish them nothing but the best of luck as they consolidate in their Pennsylvania location. Is this a potential data center? I find that potentially far-fetched. But then again, Louisa County has Amazon investing $11 billion into data centers across three campuses, just a hop, skip, and and jump from where I'm sitting. $11 billion in Louisa County through Amazon and data centers, folks.

Michael Buchenski watching the program. I'll get to your comments in a matter of moments. Bill McChesney, I'll get to your comments in a matter of moments. I got every media outlet in town watching the show i got this that i want to emphasize for the viewers and listeners this from jenny herself it's a great opportunity for someone who wants a property like this looking to get a foothold on 151 i want to emphasize that silverback is not closing. It's important for the messaging. They have a barrel barn that is not conditioned, but the existing building has every single

bell and whistle and has enough power to run a data center. The price, of course, is negotiable, but it's somewhere in the mid twos. And they're willing to help assist with the sale of the assets if need be. What do you make of this, Judah? Go beyond what we've covered here. What do you make of this? I mean, it's a great piece of land. I think it would be a shame to give it over to data centers. The proliferation of those centers is a little bit

concerning, especially considering the power required for them, and also the fact that they don't require a lot of employees. It may take – they may bring some construction while they're being built, but in the end, I feel like they're just a drain on space

and don't really offer anything to localities. The folks at the newspaper, the two TV stations and one radio station that are watching this program right now, you should cover this story in your news cycles this week. TV, radio, and print that's watching the show right now, you should turn this into fodder for your news cycle and to your viewers and listeners that Silverback Distillery is for sale. There's a number of different angles you could cover with your news coverage. You could cover it that this is a turnkey operation. Anyone that wants to get into craft alcohol, this is a turnkey operation for you.

That's one easy angle. You can cover the angle Riggleman, politics, family to craft booze, success, consolidating in Pennsylvania. That's another angle for you. You can utilize this as a springboard to the future of craft cocktail. You could utilize this as the, like think about Nelson County. Nelson County's economic, the driver of Nelson County's economy. What do you have? Wintergreen and booze. You have Wintergreen Resort and booze.

Is this a sign of what's to come foreshadowing for Nelson County? If you're the Nelson County Board of Supervisors, are you convening right now? Jesse for Rutherford watching the program. Mr. Rutherford, Nelson County Board of Supervisors, are you asking yourself this question? Are other dominoes going to fall here? What makes 151 great, Judah?

It's a very simple answer. What makes 151 great? The fact that it's one road with a bunch of great spots on it. There it is. A bunch of great spots on one road. It's as good as all the offerings on the road. It's as good as all the offerings on the road. Yeah. It's as good as all the offerings on the road. Does this impact other positions on 150 Fund? These are the questions I would be asking. Potentially. Regardless, if you're looking for a turnkey operation, a turnkey opportunity,

this is one that's perfect for you. I have a feeling that this is going to be picked up by the old media and turned into content for their respective news cycles. Mike Buchenski watching the program, First Heritage Mortgage. He says, my understanding was property taxes are part of the state income that goes to schools in that area county. And if I'm correct, then that money needs to go towards schools expansion because there's too many kids learning in basically trailers versus actual school building. What are you referring to that with Mike Buchanski? Curious of that perspective. Always value your comments on the show, but what specifically are you referring to? Vanessa Parkhill says, I agree with Judah. Maybe a medical issue for the driver.

I know that house. It's right on the corner of Georgetown and Barracks. It would be rough to end up there, even if under the influence. Marlene Jones takes a little bristles at my comments of public transportation. She says, MicroCat is a great success and should be expanded. Really great for the elderly. Let me ask a sincere question here. If cat

hemorrhages and loses money and is used by the few, should it still be offered as a public utility? What do you suggest the few do once it's gone? Doesn't that further gentrify Charlottesville? If people can't get around, if people with lower incomes can't get around, do they choose somewhere else where they can actually use public utilities and get to work? Does the lack of public transportation further gentrify Charlottesville?

Or does the assessments and real estate tax rate increases at the same time gentrify Charlottesville more so than the inconsistencies of public transportation? I mean, I think those things are already gentrifying Charlottesville. Would this not just add to that? It certainly wouldn't help. No. Neil makes the comment that it costs more money. Did you hear what he said? It costs more money to count the fare than the fare actually has.

Oh, yeah. And he says private streetcars once existed in Charlottesville. And an important note, the ABC producer permit does not transfer with the property sale. You'd have to file for your own permit. The business, and I'll offer this perspective, Neil, the business that we just sold that is an extremely well-known business and a pretty pricey deal, the people that purchased the business had no difficulty getting their own ABC permit. While it's a pain in the tail, getting the ABC permit is not super challenging. So I've seen now multiple clients get ABC permits for businesses that they've purchased.

We're bringing another business to market here. It's got an asking price that may catch you off guard at first, but the financials justify the ask. It's got a $1.4 million ask, a million four. But the financials, the top line, the cash flow, and the assets justify the million four ask. We have a couple of buyers that are already kicking the tires. If you want some more information, non-disclosures will be signed, but I'm happy to provide it to you.

You know how to reach me. Marlene Jones wants us to highlight that there's a We Stand With Ukraine movement today from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Charlottesville Federal Building. And she's encouraging people to wear blue, yellow, and bring signs and flags. You want to touch on that at all? Zelensky and Trump and that brouhaha? Oh, man. I mean, that's a quagmire, if ever there was one. I think people's responses run the gamut from one side to the other. And I have a hard time parsing all of the news with all of the feelings and with all of the, you know.

But, I mean, I'll say what I said to you before. I'm, I'm, I'm against countries invading other countries, but in terms of, in terms of giving money willy nilly to anyone that asked for it, I think we would be very well served by knowing exactly where our largesse, our charity, is going, who's spending it, and keeping tabs on those things. Because that's a lot of money, and it comes from you and I. It comes from all of us paying taxes. And I don't want someone taking my money and just tossing it in the air and saying, hey, we helped someone. When J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, and Zelensky were in the Oval Office last week, I thought I was watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey. It was very odd that they chose to televise that. I thought I was watching a TV show on Bravo.

Was Andy Cohen the executive producer of what we saw in the Oval Office? The only thing missing was the makeup, the silicone, and the glitz and glamour. And if that was present, we would be watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

I'm sure there was some of all of that in that room. Was there silicone? Where was the platinum and the diamonds? There certainly was makeup. There was a lot of hairspray. There was a lot of hairspray. I'm not saying that any of the three people talking had any silicone, but there were enough people in that room that I would be hard-pressed to say there was...

On camera, on camera, on camera. Have you seen Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Hawking had any silicone, but there were enough people in that room that I would be hard-pressed to say there was... On camera, on camera, on camera. Have you seen Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? No. Why would I ever watch that? I love it. It's fantastic. I watch it all the time.

That maybe explains a lot. Yes, it explains that I love watching television that is mindless that I'm able to watch, check out of, and check back in on. James Watson says, there's no public transit service that covers its costs from dollars taken in from fares anywhere in the U.S. I understand that. I totally understand that, James. And because that is the case, because every transit service provided

in every jurisdiction in the country, because that's the case, should we not think differently? Or should we just say, oh, because Atlanta's doing it and D.C.'s doing it and Philadelphia's doing it, Charlottesville should do it? Take a look, viewers and listeners, at any bus that's going around, CAT bus. And it's an empty, empty bus.

It's completely empty. You can count the amount of people on the bus on one hand. Two, you take a look next time and I'm not saying eliminating it all together is the right path but the path that we have now where buses are not on time people can't count on them to arrive they can't use them to get to jobs and now they're running into people's houses not sure that's the solution it's a sad joke arrive. They can't use them to get to jobs. And now they're running into people's houses.

Not sure that's the solution. It's a sad joke. John says, I guess you could say, John Blair, that I hope that homeowner has catastrophic homeowners insurance coverage. Dad joke. It's a great Jack Jordan. Violent Crown. The bar rubber stamps. The Big Apple North Garden developer on 18 stories. Here are the questions I would ask, okay? If you're now even closer to doing an 18-story apartment tower on the downtown mall, how is that going to impact business when at the same time that same developer

is going to bring a new hotel next to the Omni and the Artful Lodger spot? You would have development happening at two spots on the mall, potentially at the exact same time. Are any of the businesses that are on the mall going to be able to withstand two projects of this magnitude that are going to take years to manifest? Parking, traffic issues, the perceived quality of life impact, the headaches that go with it. And then I got a follow-up question for you. Is what's truly best for the mall 18 stories of apartments? Is that really what's best for the mall? That's a good question. Follow-up question for you on that. Is the future of that location a movie theater? Follow-up question for you on that. The people that are operating the movie theater

Elevate out of Austin, Texas, how used do they feel right now? They were sold a bill of goods by an outfit that was doing a deal on the other side with a developer for that location. Were they doing the deal when they first brought in Elevate? Hard to say, but Outfit, the Austin group, Elevate, had to know that its position was a position of vulnerability when they didn't own the real estate itself, especially post-COVID times when our viewing habits had changed. And who's going to invest into a movie theater when it's clear

your lease is not going to be renewed? If you're Elevate out of Austin and you're running this movie theater and your lease, the owners of the real estate says it's short term, elevate the operators of the business, say they're going to run it until the end. Why would they continue to invest into their operation when they're not going to get a chance to renew their lease? The sad thing is they've already invested quite a bit, haven't they? They invest in new seats and word on the street is the new seats that they've put in the new seating system is not nearly as good as the old system. That's the complaint on the interwebs. Interesting. It's still money spent. Let me ask you this question. If you're the owners of the real estate and you have a business leasing from you and you want to do something else with the

business, when do you go to the folks that are leasing from you and say, you know what? I don't want you to lease from me anymore. I'll let you break the lease right now if you want to. They'll say no. If I was representing them, I'd say, no, I'm not going to break the lease because you know they want them to break the lease. Then you say, you give me a payday to break the lease. Yeah. Help me move this operation to somewhere else. Give me a payday to break the lease. Yeah. Help me move this operation to somewhere else. Give me a payday to break the lease. And then the owners of the real estate will say, is the payday worth the lease break? We had a tenant come to us and say they wanted to break a lease a year plus early.

A year plus early. A year plus early. I said. To break the lease a year plus early. I want to have. X amount of rent. Paid up front in full now. And then. A percentage of your security deposit.

Will be kept. As a lease break penalty. And they agreed. Because they want it out. And then it's up to me to lease that spot prior to the six-month runway expires, and then you come out ahead. Neil Williamson, perhaps more importantly, how will that many residents impact downtown mall businesses? The chamber visit to Greenville, South Carolina exposed the importance of having

customers living within walking distance. Perhaps a bigger question, will this impact Jerry's parking play? I get myself into trouble making this comment that I routinely get $20, and by routinely I get maybe 10 $20 parking tickets a year. The meme accounts had fun with me on this. I miss the meme accounts having fun at my expense. Please continue with that fodder meme accounts. We park in front of our building. We get a $20 parking ticket from time to time. Two $20 parking tickets, three $20 parking tickets a month is $60 a month. We park in front

of our building, $60 a month versus $130 in the Market Street parking garage for a monthly pass. $60 versus $130, and you have to walk a block and up two or three floors of stairs. It's the cost of doing business. And anyone who gives me grief for getting three or four parking tickets a month, really, I get about ten a year, that's it. I say this, Aren't I creating incremental revenue for the city through parking tickets? I'm not doing anything wrong, right? Doing something wrong would be not paying the parking ticket. It says you can park here for two hours. If you're longer than two hours, you pay a parking fee. I pay the parking fee. What is wrong about that? Nothing. Right?

Is there anything wrong with that? There are lots of people that I see yellow parking tickets on their cars. We don't go around saying that they're

all evil, horrible people. The reality is you get to know the parking meters, routes, and when they ticket the blocks in downtown Charlottesville. I mean, I've been working in downtown Charlottesville for 18 years. Neil Williamson compares to Greenville, South

Carolina. And he says, do we not need the density of people for downtown mall to thrive? I agree we need the density of people in a live, work, play environment. But this is my point. The businesses that are on downtown Charlottesville right now are on incredibly fragile ground for a number of reasons. Houseless, parking, crime, you name it. Will the businesses that are on downtown Charlottesville's eight blocks, will they survive two significant development projects happening at exactly the same time? Do we think those projects are going to affect the entire mall the same way? Those two projects are on the Omni side of the mall. That's the gateway to them all. The perception will be that you have two major construction projects

happening at the same time. It will be parking issues, traffic issues, getting there issues, all kinds of perceived issues that are not true or realistic or actual problems, but that's perception is reality. I genuinely worry about the businesses that are on shaky ground right now going through two development projects at the exact same time.

I genuinely worry about that. And folks, the Violent Crown Movie Theater has been rumored for sale, and this opportunity has been passed. I heard about it. It crossed my desk well before Jeff Levine got his hands on this opportunity. Many local potential buyers had a chance to scoop this up and did not. So now we got somebody. I was having this conversation at Squash yesterday.

This was the conversation I was having. You got folks that are determining the outcome of Charlottesville that are not emotionally and physically invested in Charlottesville. What does emotional and physical investment in Charlottesville mean? It means raising your kids here, having your companies here, having a generational business here, hoping your grandkids are raised here. This conversation I was having at the squash courts yesterday pertain to Mike Pruitt, Alamaro County Board of Supervisors. Mr. Pruitt is enamored, is enamored, and I hope he hears this. Is he watching the program now? Mr. Pruitt, are you watching the program now? He's enamored with creating density in Alamaro County, expanding the developmental area,

repositioning the developmental area, saying Rivanna Village, where Glenmore is at, our old stomping grounds, was a development failure. So we should basically say this portion of the development area, the Rivanna Village portion around Glenmore and Keswick, should be not included in the 5% area. We should take that out and substitute it with another aspect of Alamaro County that's not in the development area right now. We should do a trade, basically play zoning monopoly, is what he's saying. Let's do zoning monopoly with Rivanna Village and replace it with something else. This is what I want to. Let's do zoning monopoly with Rivanna Village and replace it with something

else. This is what I want to ask any of the viewers and listeners here. Is Supervisor Pruitt committed to living in Albemarle County long term? Committed to raising his kids in Albemarle County long term? Committed to being a generational supervisor long term? Or is the Board of Supervisors opportunity a platform or a springboard to hire elected political office? Because if this is strictly an opportunity to spring into an office, an elected position of more clout

and more influence and of greater appeal, then we are left in the wake of what is done in his four-year term on the dais. I'm committed, and you're committed, I'm committed, Neil's committed, all the viewers and listeners of this talk show are committed, many of the viewers and listeners on this talk show are committed to this community today, tomorrow, and as our kids get older and as our grandkids potentially live here.

We want Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville to be a home not only that we can raise our kids in, but our kids' kids can raise their kids in. Are the people that are driving the change in our community, do they have a similar commitment? Does Jeff Levine have a commitment to Al Morrill and to Charlottesville, or is it about the dollar? Is Stefan Freeman committed to Charlottesville and Al Morrill, or is it about the dollar? We've heard about Stefan Freeman and Jeff Levine post-COVID, not pre-COVID. We heard about Mike P Levine post-COVID, not pre-COVID.

We heard about Mike Pruitt post-COVID, not pre-COVID. Is it collateral damage that we're going to deal with as folks make their money or gain their political clout to move on to greener pastures? Are we going to be left in the wake? I ask stuff like that all the time. Wonder stuff like that all the time. That's why I have so much respect for a guy like Chris Fairchild. Chris Fairchild, I think he's watching the program right now. Chris Fairchild, Fluvanna County Board of Supervisor. He is unabashed in who he is as a person and as a politician, as a father, as a business person. This is who he is. Like him or not, this is who Chris Fairchild is.

And I respect that. His goal to keep Fluvanna County as rural as possible, as green as possible. He's like, this is who I am. He's Fluco for life. I would want an elected official determining the outcome of my community that is Albemarle County for life, Charlottesville for life, Fluco for life, Jesse Rutherford, Nelson County for life,

and not someone that is stop gap in the county onto bigger and greener, bigger things. Mike Puchenski says, when I visited Charlottesville 14 years ago, the thing that really stood out was the downtown mall. I had never seen anything like it. It was clean, well, well run, lit, bustling, great food. The changes you're stating here, I fear, will put it on a fast track for losing everything that made it special. I wonder the same. We own a good chunk of the building on Market Street where this studio is located, on the corner of 4th and Market. Piecemealed it together with individual seller-financed deals over the course of 10 years,

now we're in a position where the holdings we have here have no debt left, no mortgage debt left, no seller-financed debt left. No notes. There were times when putting these deals together, if one or two things didn't break the right way,

the entire house of cards would have collapsed on me, and I wouldn't have gotten out of it. But we hedged some risk, and the ball broke the right way, and we made it through it by busting our ass and getting stuff done and keeping the spaces full with tenants. And now we have 23 executive offices and some additional holdings free of debt. There's few in this market that have skin in the game like we do when it comes to downtown Charlottesville. And people ask all the time, why do you talk about downtown Charlottesville's issues when you have so much skin in the game? Because it's the right thing

to do and the only way I know how to make Charlottesville better. Putting and burying my head in the sand and doing nothing ain't going to make it better. Neil Williamson, regardless of the political aspirations, the board of supervisors should be the marketplace of ideas. Committing people for life is the purview of judges and juries.

I respect that, Neil. I understand that as well. I get that. I respect your opinion on that, and I appreciate that perspective, Neil. I sincerely do. It's part of me why, like, with Ann Malick, who's in her fifth fifth term and for Diantha McKeel who just finished her third term,

she's not going for a fourth on the board. Nat Galloway who's about to pursue his third term, who's in the process of pursuing his third term. He's in the middle of his second. The thing about folks like Malik and, and, and, and McKeel and Galloway and Cam Boyd and Snow is you knew where these people stood and you knew they weren't leaving anytime soon. They weren't moving away. So you knew what their votes, what they voted on. They were held accountable when they were like at the coffee shop or the grocery store or like at the movie theater or out in a town. And they knew that. So they voted not only what

was best for the county today, but for the county tomorrow and for the county when their grandkids were living within it. The fly-by nights that we have running for office now, that's not the case. Bill McChesney throwing a little shade at the microcat, basically calling it an Uber and Lyft service, single-trip ride. There's so many times that I don't recognize the community we live within. So many times. Marlene Jones says,

I agree we need to modernize the public transportation models. It should not be rocket science. The public transportation model we have right now is broken. It is so broken. It is so broken. You have people waiting at bus stops next to a post in the ground with a sign sitting outside in rain, snow, heat, every kind of nasty weather possible. I definitely agree that our bus stops are substandard.

The bus doesn't show up on time, doesn't get people to places on time, and now the bus is running into people's bedrooms. It's running into people's bedrooms. Yeah, but that's not a feature. Philip Dow in Scottsville says, the problem with transportation in Seville is infrastructure. The city is outgrowing this infrastructure.

I agree with that as well. I still stand by my gondola idea. And this is where Judah rolls his eyes. There should be a gondola system that links parts of central Virginia. People can commute via gondola. Not even on the roads. In the sky.

I'm not talking Doc Brown's DeLorean in the flux capacitor. I'm talking like a ski resort gondola system. Pickup points strategically created around central Virginia and Almar County. Pantops, north of town, south of town, and the gondola drops you off

in town. Alright, if you're just watching the program, the breaking news is Denver Riggleman's Silverback Distillery is for sale. It'll be an active listing tomorrow. The ask is somewhere between $2 and $3 million, right in that middle $2 million mark.

The messaging is clear. It's not closing. It's consolidating its distilling operations in Pennsylvania so they don't have to distill across state lines. Someone has a very unique opportunity to buy this branded business. Turnkey operation. Turnkey operation with silverback. Although, as has been mentioned, they would still have to reapply for an ABC license.

Reapplying for the ABC license requires some paperwork and some patience. Yeah, not a major hurdle. This comes in from somebody that I have a lot of respect for. He hasn't given me the green light if I can use his name, so I won't use his name. He says, if we don't bring more housing and people into the mall, I assure you we will continue

the downtown mall's decline. We need to show growth and provide new housing at all prices to the market. The market has stagnated. We are now only willing to approve units that the council wants to approve,

not focusing on the fact that we need to grow to very simplistically handle our area's historic average growth. This person who sent me this text, I have a lot of respect for you. I sincerely do. I will push back on this by saying this to you. Children are learning in trailers at schools. Children are learning in trailers at schools. Children are learning in trailers at public schools.

We have foreign language getting cut from public schools in Albemarle County. We have eighth graders in Albemarle County. More than half of them have failed the math SOL. Public schools are deteriorating. I am not in favor of adding more demand on our public school system, more demand on a public transportation system that is a shadow of its former self. And adding more housing is more demand on schools, it's more demand on public transportations, and it's more

demand on other utilities until infrastructure is up to speed to handle more demand. And the argument that's being made, additional houses, additional rooftops, creates incremental revenue, helps alleviate stress on localities' budgets. I don't buy that. This from Deep Throat. A $450,000 house pays $4,000 in taxes. One kid in public school imposes a $10,000 to $15,000 marginal cost per year. That really puts things in perspective. You want to bring some additional houses into the market? A $450,000 house is going to yield 4K in taxes for the jurisdiction. That kid goes to school, one kid, $10,000 to $15,000 cost per year

to educate that kid in the public school system. More houses and more rooftops doesn't yield more incremental revenue for jurisdictions. More houses and more rooftops causes more economic strain for jurisdictions, especially rooftops tied to children. Rooftops tied to boomers and empty nesters are very different than rooftops tied to children. 60% of Albemarle County's effing budget is schools. 60% of Albemarle County's budget is schools. I'll say it again.

60% of the budget is schools, and the school system wants more money. Every year, more money. Jenny adds this, this stoner does of Thalheimer. Cider, beer, kombucha, so much opportunity here. The distillery building was constructed with so much attention to detail and quality that someone will be getting a great deal on infrastructure, so you couldn't recreate for that price in today's construction environment. She's 100% right on that. That is 100% right.

If someone were to build what Silverback has right now, they would be paying exponentially more to build what Silverback has than buying something existing. Jenny's 100% right on that. 100% agree with Jenny Stoner on that. The cost to build right now is so obscenely expensive that you're better off just buying something existing. That's why our book of business with business brokerages is taking off,

is exploded because people are buying businesses that are already existing and just taking the infrastructure and the assets as is and just massaging them as opposed to white boxing something and then building out from scratch. That's what we did with Krobi's Tangerines, what we did with Moe's, what we did with Package Depot, the one that we're just closing, just off the top of our head. I don't know where that $22 million surplus went. I'd love to know where the $22 million Charlottesville City surplus went to, wouldn't you? Yeah. Why aren't we asking those questions? Why is anyone not asking that question?

Mike Buchanski says, would John Shabe buy it with Pro Renata? I don't think John Shabe's going to buy that. John Shabe wouldn't buy the Silverback Distillery spot because it's too close to his Crozet location. I don't want to speak for Dr. John Shea. Tremendous respect for that guy. Friend of the program, John Shea.

Is John watching right now? I don't think John would buy that. It's too close to his Pro Granato Crozet location where he's the Disney World of Crozet. Someone could buy it. Would a Charlottesville brewery move out there? Like if you are, Jenny's probably got a short list of potential buyers. Maybe you do, Jenny, maybe you don't. I would ask Peter over at Rockfish. He came on our program, right? Yeah. I'm going to look it up.

Peter McMinds, the founder and brewer at Rockfish Brewing. I would be reaching out to him. I would reach out to Rockfish and Peter McMinds if I had that listing. I would reach out to the Decipher Brewing guys. That's who I would reach out to the Decipher Brewing guys. That's who I would reach out to as well.

I would reach out to who else? Charlottesville Beer Wise. You're offering a lot here, Judah. I mean, just name them all. Hogwaller, the Hogwaller guys, the Random Row guys.

South Street is owned by Taylor at Blue Mountain Brewery. Superfly, the Selvage guys. I'd reach out to them. Doesn't Selvage just have a new place open up on ivy right next to where we live on ivy road we patronize it all the time you think they'd jump for a new place

so soon scuttlebutt on the street is there's a big time brewery in the valley that's a significant financial hardship what I would do if I was selling this is I would try to and obviously anyone's trying to sell something as quickly as possible, but I'm going to be extremely straightforward. You have multiple breweries that are known commodities that are on fragile, fragile, fragile financials.

And as others hit the market, this ask, this valuation gets watered down. And that's just how the cookie crumbles. And I'll get out of here with this note. I got a listing that's coming on market, a business opportunity that's got an ask of a million for with top line number that supports it, cash flow that supports it, assets to support it, and runway with a lease that supports it. This is a turnkey opportunity itself that someone's going to buy and just let it run itself and collect a check. I'm talking mailbox money. That's some of the best type of money to get

is the mailbox money. The check that just shows up on the first of the month. Judah Wickower and Jerry Miller, Judah did a hell of a job today. Thank you.