The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - City Attorney Exonerated, Then Retires ASAP; City Attorney: Who, What, When, Where & Why

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: City Attorney Exonerated, Then Retires ASAP City Attorney: Who, What, When, Where & Why Did CVille Correctly Handle City Atty Bruhahaha? Chamber Of Commerce Bldg For Sale; Best Use? Refrigerated Warehouse Space In Richmond, VA Refrigerated Warehouses Could Impact CVille Well IX Art Park Foundation Is Rebranding UVA At Wake Forest, 7PM, Saturday, ESPN2 Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Wednesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's great to connect with you on a show that's loaded with content again. Again, loaded with content. We've had a boatload of content the last few weeks on what we like to call the water cooler of Charlottesville, Virginia. The city attorney who's been in hot water in Charlottesville, also in hot water in Chesapeake, his former employer, yeah, has now been exonerated. A press release was issued today. Juan Diego Wade, the mayor of Charlottesville, quoted in the press release

mysteriously no insight provided into the investigation on why Charlottesville City Attorney Jacob Stroman was investigated, why he was put on paid leave for 120 days for four months. Why his assistant was fired. Why his assistant, Ryan Franklin, the assistant city attorney, why he was fired, placed on administrative leave, and then fired. Why Jacob Stroman then immediately resigns? If you're exonerated, why resign immediately after being exonerated? If you're exonerated,

why not speak to the press and offer clarity of what happened in the investigation? Will this not follow Mr. Stroman around should he look for another type of job as a representative, legal representative of a jurisdiction? You would think this type of content, whether the Virginian pilot covering what happened in Chesapeake, his former employer, and now Charlottesville Tomorrow, and again, props to Charlottesville Tomorrow. I think this is five weeks in a row I've given Charlottesville tomorrow props. Seville tomorrow, keep reporting like this, please. You are filling a gap. We'll give you the who, what, when, where, why of what we know,

and then ask questions to you, the viewer and listener, that I feel are common sense questions. I feel it's clandestine. The clandestine nature of this investigation reeks of backroom dealing and is the foundation of a gossip rumor mill that is human nature. We'll talk about that today. I want to talk, and I promise some viewers and listeners, we did not get to this topic on yesterday's show because I thought yesterday's show was very compelling. The burger batch closing. We had dairy market commentary in yesterday and what's going on in F&B locally. If there's any commentary you want to offer Judah from yesterday's program or something you found compelling, please do so. I'll get to you in a matter of moments. We can also talk about the headlines you find most compelling today. But the Chamber of Commerce building on the corner of, is that Market and Third? Where? The Chamber of Commerce building right here. Is that Market and Fifth? That's Market and Fifth. Corner of Market and Fifth is for sale. I want to talk best uses for the Chamber of Commerce building on

Market and Fifth as the Chamber of Commerce looks to reimagine itself and the best way it can serve the greater Charlottesville business community. Since Elizabeth Cromwell, the former president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, since she left her post as head of the Chamber organization, you can make a legitimate argument the organization has been in somewhat of a professional limbo or professional purgatory.

Natalie Massery was the president and CEO after Elizabeth Cromwell for a New York Minute or for a grit coffee latte. I was trying to make a joke for a cup of coffee. That was a terrible joke. She was there and then she shockingly, surprisingly resigned. Since then, there's been a corporate headhunter search for a new chamber president with someone on the board stepping down from the board to serve as an interim CEO. And then Sasha, she's the head of Storyhouse. I can't believe I'm drawing a blank on her last name. Sasha Tripp, sliding over to lead the board.

We'll talk about the best use of the building and offer some insight into the chamber today. I also want to talk a trend that I'm seeing in Richmond that I think could be a trend that would be successful in Charlottesville. Refrigerated warehouse space is gaining momentum in the name of the Richmond business, AG Cold, that has more than 300,000 square feet of refrigerated industrial warehouse space in the Suffolk area. This concept, refrigerated warehouse space, would have significant success in the city

or in the urban ring and could be the foundation for what we talked yesterday for a reimagined grocery co-op on Cherry Avenue that is not tied to a brick and

mortar and the overhead associated with said structure. I want to have that conversation on today's show. We will also talk about the rebranding of the Ix Art Park Foundation. And the University of Virginia is at Wake Forest on Saturday with the 7 p.m. kickoff of national TV coverage, ESPN2. And what is a critical game for Virginia football. The first five games of the season, extremely winnable. The back end of the schedule, extremely difficult. Judah Wickhauer on a two-shot will give some props to Mexicali Restaurant for

being a partner of the show. Johnny Ornalis and River Hawkins have a new restaurant on West Main Street in the Old World of Beer location. Judah, it's Mexicali with 50 free parking spaces right under the building, the flats, which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, the building. A building initially constructed by Corn Capshalls team, now owned by an out-of-market P.E. firm. Mexicali Restaurant, the old World of Beer location. And of course, our friends at Pro Renata Brewery. If you have not been to their Crozet location,

friends, you are missing something special. My wife and I went there a few days ago with our two boys. We enjoyed Dino's Pizza and Muthru at Pro Renata. We had two hazy IPAs. I watched college football. Our kids played on the playground. My wife and I had conversation while our kids were busy on a jungle gym.

And then we capped it off with Move Through, topped with Gummy Bears, Pro Renata, Crozet. Good God, they have built something absolutely gorgeous and special. They also have a location in downtown Stanton, and they're brewing their beer in the Shenandoah Valley in the old Skipping Rock location. John Shabe, John Shabe, John Shabe, you have vision, John Shabe. Judah Wickhauer on a two-shot. Anything compelling from yesterday that

you didn't have a chance to dot the I's and cross the T's. We had the burger batch conversation closing in Stonefield. I heard from a friend who is a mover and shaker in commercial real estate following the show yesterday. And he said, the government loans are starting to hit payment periods and people cannot keep the lights on anymore. These are the government loans from the pandemic. They had two years of no payment or interest-only payments, and now the brunt of those COVID loans are coming due. And he also highlighted the difficulty of staffing for food and beverage businesses.

These are all trends and storylines we cover extremely well in this talk show. Anything compelling from yesterday or something that's compelling to you today before I get into my monologue? I think the one big thing I don't think we talked about, well, I don't think we really got into

was about the grocery store on Cherry. And the fact that while brick and mortar may be an expense, I don't know that asking those people to pay, we talked about however much it is to pay for delivery, which may be a perfectly viable option for some people. But asking people who are low income to pay extra to have groceries delivered to them may not be the best option for them.

I didn't suggest the grocery on Cherry Avenue should be delivered to doorstops. I suggest that the grocery store on Cherry Avenue should be a pickup situation where groceries on a couple days a week are picked up like Relay Foods used to do locally at a parking space on Cherry Avenue, at a parking lot or some kind of centered or organized parking situation where you go and pick them up. I think that's the best way to have the most affordability when it comes to grocery store prices. Because as

soon as you factor in tens of thousands of square feet of overhead, the utility bills associated with them and the employees, that overhead has to be factored in on pricing. If you truly want the most affordable groceries out there, you don't have the baggage and the fat that's tied to tens of thousands of rentable square feet, the labor associated with it, and the ridiculously obscene utility bills and insurance associated with it. And that's going to get into the storyline later in the show

where in Richmond, 300,000 square feet plus of refrigerated warehouse space has now popped up in the Suff, where in Richmond, 300,000 square feet plus of refrigerated warehouse space has now popped up in the Suffolk area. And food and beverage businesses are utilizing this refrigerated warehouse space as a storage facility for their goods before they're delivered to customers. I think we can make a legitimate model, a legitimate argument that this refrigerated warehouse model could very well work in Charlottesville and it could turn the F&B grocery business upside down.

The point I made yesterday about the cost of grocery delivery was an argument that I made that showed the brick and mortar model of the grocery business is dying the death of a thousand cuts. Because my wife, others, would just have the groceries delivered to their doorstep in a couple hours

after clicking a button on their app that says re-up or re-order. Yeah. I wonder if the co-op could work together with something like that to make a viable option for... Something like what? Something like drop-off. Yeah, that's the argument I'm making. to store the goods in a Class C real estate environment where the overhead associated with the rent is much less than a Class A real estate environment.

You need much less labor. You have much lower utility bills. You have much less rent overhead. And then you use refrigerated trucks to deliver the groceries to a drop-off location that's established one or two days a week in advance where customers go and pick up their groceries they're going to go to the location anyway to buy them it does not have to happen in a overhead environment that's tied with tens of thousands of square feet and the obscene overhead

associated with it, which is then passed along to customers in the form of elevated price points on stuff on shelves. This is the conversation that should be had. Instead, some of the conversation that we're having is put an old school model

Well, they're having a meeting to discuss the options, so I would imagine that... Well, they should listen to meeting to discuss the options. So I would imagine that... Well, they should listen to the I Love Siebel Show, where ideas come to percolate and fester. Hopefully someone will bring that option up. Someone should bring that up.

Listen to Jerry and Jude on the I Love Siebel Show yesterday, Tuesday, September 3rd, and Wednesday, September 4th, for a model that would be successful. Today's headline, most compelling to you, Logan Wells-Claylow, thank you for watching. John Blair, thank you for watching. Viewers and listeners in three states now watching the program. What is on your mind for today's headlines?

Before I get into my monologue, Bobby Yarborough, hello. Thank you for watching the program. It's definitely our top headline. Jacob Stroman? Yeah. Oh oh my gosh I think the guy wanted out I mean he's only been around for a year and change right?

and four months of that was paid vacation the man started as the city attorney in July of 2023. He was put on paid administrative leave in April. Paid leave. April, May, June, July, August. We're talking four months and change. The man has been paid

to sit at home doing nothing. Or doing whatever he wants. Doing whatever he wants. Maybe he decided he liked the retired life. a man to sit at home in his boxers, his bathrobe, while watching The Young and the Restless and Judge Judy in the middle of day while stirring his Bloody Mary with a celery stick, a spicy one at that,

the city was using taxpayer money to have an interim law firm, a high-dollar, high-power law firm, be the substitute city attorney. Today, a press release goes out. This is an effing

banana story. Today, a press release goes out with Mayor Juan Diego Wade announcing that Jacob Stroman, who was under investigation for the past four months, an investigation that we, the taxpayers, the people that fund the city, have no idea what the investigation was about. Today, the mayor, we pay his salary, his 20 grand. We pay him. We voted Juan Diego Wade into

office. We get no clarity on what the investigation is about. We get no clarity of what the city attorney, Stroman, was exonerated upon, why he was exonerated. Why he was paid for four and a half months. Why he was paid for four months and change while we paid a high-power law firm to do his job. We paid two people. We paid two. We had the most expensive city attorney in Charlottesville history over the last four months. Someone on paid leave for four months in change and then a high-priced tag firm doing the work that he was supposed to do.

History of the Charlottesville, Virginia most expensive city attorney ever. Ladies and gentlemen, think about that. And this is not the first time we've had somebody drop out and make a lot of money from the city. Bingo. You want to offer clarity on that one?

I mean, you're better with the names and places. Please. We had a city manager who was, how long was he employed? The guy from Pennsylvania? Yeah. That quit before his first day on the job? And did he, I think he made some money still, right? Am I wrong about that?

You'd have to look into that. That one was a laughing stock scenario. And then Michael C. Rogers writes the ship before Sam Sanders guides the ship now. It just had the one-year anniversary. Yeah. So here's the who, what, when, where, why, and the questions I'm asking. The first question is, why was Jacob Stroman investigated? What led to this investigation where he was put on paid administrative leave? The second question, why was the assistant city attorney, Ryan Franklin, fired? Yeah.

Why was he fired? The third question I have. The four months in change of investigation where a high dollar law firm was paid, how much was that high dollar law firm paid? Next question that I have.

Stroman was eventually exonerated for the investigation that clouded his name why was he exonerated what was the evidence that exonerated him the next question I have after the man is exonerated

he immediately resigns why did he immediately resign? If you're exonerated, wouldn't you want to stay in the job to clear your name? Why did he immediately resign? I mean, what's there to clear if you've been exonerated? Plenty to clear. The next question that I have. Next question.

Why is he not talking to the media? Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to him to get a quote. I just sent Stroman a LinkedIn request. Hopefully he accepts it. Then I'll send him a DM. Would you like to come on the I Love Seville show to talk about this? Why not speak to the media to clear your name on search unless you truly are planning to resign and you know retire to basically retire and the final question i have why is local government and this is probably juan diego wade or sam sanders sam sanders city manager juan diego wade the mayor why are neither sam sanders Sam Sanders nor Juan Diego Wade being forthright or transparent with the people that pay them, us, the citizens and taxpayers of Charlottesville, Virginia, over what happened in this set of circumstances? Those are all fair questions and all should be asked by all of us because we are the ones that fund these people's salaries and the city in totality.

Now, the high dollar law firm stays as the substitute city attorney for an extended period of time. Deep Throat made the joke in DM fashion. Let's hope the city attorney they're targeting is not found by the headhunter that found some of the previous positions, including the city manager from yesteryear that quit before his first day on the job. Yeah. Trying to figure out what his name was. quit before his first day on the job. Yeah. Trying to figure out what his name was. What was that man's name?

So many questions, ladies and gentlemen, that should be asked. And so much fodder for a talk show like the I Love Seville show. Kevin Higgins says, does he get a city pension? Bill McChesney says, this has become a Charlottesville governance soap opera.

No doubt. We should push back on investigations that offer little clarity or are held in clandestine fashion. We should push back. And we should ask those questions. Anything you want to add to this, Judah Wickow? Just that it's nuts. I can't believe that we don't have more information about this. And you're right.

Why would this guy not want to talk about it? Deep Throat Stroman graduated from Princeton in 1982. So call that a birth year of 1961. In theory, he could be old enough to truly retire. He also pokes fun at Juan Diego Wade's statement, where he basically lauds and gives props, Mayor Wade, to what Jacob Stroman has done on the job, which he's been on the job for a year. Less than a year.

He was hired in July, and over four months, hired in July of 2023, and over four months of his tenure, more than four months of his tenure, has been paid administrative leave. And Juan Diego Wade, in the press press release announcing the man's exoneration and then retirement louds the man with how he's handled

the citizens who sued the city on upzoning, on the new zoning ordinance, and gives props to Stroman for helping the city develop its new zoning code and navigating the city through the acquisition of a piece of property in Belmont

where the city is considering building a shelter for the unhoused, a storyline that garnered pushback from Belmontonians because they didn't want a homeless shelter where their children played. Then city manager Sam Sanders and council immediately said, okay, maybe we need to reconsider the shelter for the unhoused in Belmont. Would you want a shelter for the houseless next to your abode on the urban ring? On the urban ring? I definitely wouldn't want it right next to my home. Would you want that?

No, nobody would want it right next to their home. Would you want the haven next to your house? Nobody would want that next to their house. Are Belmontodians fair in pushing back on a homeless shelter next to their homes? Yeah, if it's right next to someone's home, I would definitely push back. Judah Wittkower is a man of empathy and common sense, and I think everyone would share that man's opinion. Yeah. Sands Anderson is the Richmond-based law firm that has been acting as the city attorney during Stroman's administrative leave and will continue to serve in the role. How much do they charge an hour? $4.95 an hour? $5.95 an hour? We charge $2.95 an hour. Are they $4.95 an hour? Are they $5.95 an hour?

Bill McChesney calls it a standard operating procedure around here. Let's get to our next storyline. The next storyline, if you can put the lower third on screen. And I'm curious of your take. Chamber of Commerce building for sale. I'll offer you the perspective, the who, what, when, where, why. The address is 415 Market Street. It's on the corner of Market and Fifth.

Johnny Pritzloff has the listing. Dude's a rock star. Hope Johnny hears that. One of the best commercial brokers, Johnny, Jenny Stoner. I'll say in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And that's authentic. That's a sincere statement. It's got 3,000 square feet.

It's got no on-site parking, but it's across the street from the Market Street parking garage. Caddy Corner. You call it Caddy Corner? Yeah, I'd say that's Kitty Corner. Two stories, each floor about 1,500 square feet. A huge lot.

0.04 acres. A huge lot. 0.04 acres. A huge what? Lot. 0.04. It's a postage stamp. But it's downtown Charlottesville. Most stuff is on a postage stamp. Is it just office space or is there...

Built in 1911, yes, office space. Meeting space? It's meeting space. Offices for executives, a waiting room, and a small area for meet and greet. Here's the challenge. Here's the challenge you have. Total assessment, by the way, is $885,400.

Here's the challenge you have. Chamber of Commerce doesn't need this space anymore. Want to know why? Because the Chamber of Commerce business model, it's evolved. It's much more about happy hours and lunch and learns, meet and greets and events and organizational type situations at restaurants and bars or Jeffrey Woodruff's code auditorium. And it's easier to do stuff at those places and have them, you know, get the food there than try to,

uh, what Colin, uh, Colin caters. It's much less it's business model about chopped up office space that's costly to maintain, costly to upkeep, and costly

to run. So they're choosing to sell Smart Move and have flexibility. Sound familiar? What's that sound like to you? The 2024 ecosystem of hybrid work flexibility, hybrid remote

pivot, all the cliches it's happening right now with an institutional organization the chamber, the advocates of the business community the chamber realizes it advocates of the business community. The chamber realizes it has to get younger

in its demographic. Younger in its membership. And to do that, it has to reinvent how it engages with the business community. And how it's going to engage moving forward is the way I outline meet and greets,

lunch and learns, happy hours, dinners, events. So you don't think they're going to keep any central location? I would make a legitimate argument. The extent of what the chamber needs is an executive office space setup where it has one, maybe two executive office spaces staffed by one member, maybe two, a membership services director, where if the community wants to get more information

and talk to an actual human, they go to an executive office, something in the neighborhood of six or $700 a month. We have 24 of them. Ours are fully rented, executive offices. Completely rented. You know that. You see them. But I would say that's what they need. And I would say what they need is a more robust and interactive and dynamic website where if someone is interested in joining the Chamber or getting intelligence intel on the chamber, they can interact with a more robust web portal that's much more dynamic, specifically dynamic and responsive to these, to phones, to iPhones and Androids.

Yeah, mobile responsive. Mobile responsive, if not a native app by itself. I think the 2024 of what the chamber needs from real estate is less bricks and sticks and more code and digital. Yeah. That makes sense. So what's the best use for 415 Market Street? You want to go with that one, Judah Wicow?

3,000 square feet, no parking, built in 1911, Class C building, two stories, 0.04 acres. DX zoning. Show us yours, Judah Wickhart. You want to unpack that one? No, what does DX mean? No, unpack the best use of what you would do with the building. We don't have to get in the weeds on the DX zoning. I've never been inside it. It's kind of hard to assess what I would do with it but if it's already office spaces I mean if office spaces going quickly around here I'd keep it like that

I can't really see anyone wanting to... Would you even be allowed to remodel a building like that? I don't know. Remodeling the exterior of the building would be extremely difficult because it's in a historic district. You get the BAR, the ARB, the onomatopoeia. I don't know that you would get permission. A squared, B squared, and C squared all involved in that scenario. Yeah, and I don't think they would go for a remodel of the exterior.

What I would do with that location, if I were to purchase that location, if I were to purchase that location, is I would convert that location into an events rental space. What they're doing in the old Mickey Hamlet law firm, in the old Monticello Hotel, Mickey Hamlet, some of those attorneys, fine representatives of our businesses and our family. When Mickey Hamlet moved behind

the truest bank location into a newly constructed building, to a new building, and jettison their old location in the old Monticello Hotel in the same building as Court Square Tavern. They did that, Mickey Hamlet, one of the most dynamic law firms in the greater Charlottesville area, because the founding partners of the law firm said, hey, we're the owners of this space. We bought this as founding partners of the law firm said, hey, we're the owners of this space.

We bought this as founding partners for our law firm to be housed within. And now we're getting long in the tooth and up there in age. And we want to sell our positions so we can get our money. So they did that. The new owners of the old Mickey Hamlet law firm space,

some of the most significant movers and shakers in central Virginia own condos in that building, including friend of the program, Hall Spencer. The movers and shakers that live above this law firm are somewhat bristling right now because the new owners of the old Mickey Hamlet location

are converting it into an events and weddings space. A place you can have rehearsal dinners, a place you can use to rent for parties. Interestingly, the building right next door to it, which we've covered a couple of weeks ago on the I Love Seville show, is also being sold. And at one time, what was suggested for that

building was a hotel. That was the building that has the various blues on it, on its balcony. Green blues. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, the different colors of green. So what I would do with a Chamber of Commerce building, and I think your price point, if you're going to buy this, it's going to be somewhere between $850,000 and $900,000 because of the work needed to get it up to speed, I would take that building and I would turn it into an events venue that could be rented in similar fashion as the... What's Travis Wilburn's business called?

The event venue place he has. Is it the Old Met? Tdubs, what's the name of your place on the downtown mall? Old Metropolitan Hall. You see the folks enjoying silent disco with headphones on, dancing in their patio

while you're walking the downtown mall. They're moving and shaking with silent disco and you're like, what are those people doing? Turn it into an old metropolitan hall. And do it before the people that bought the Mickey Hamlet building get theirs to market. You have parking across the street in the Market Street garage. You're a block off the downtown mall, and you're surrounded by hotels everywhere.

Hold your venue. Hold your venue, hold your event at our venue and let us take care of the work just like Travis is crushing it with old Metropolitan Hall. Interestingly, Travis's Charlottesville insider business, the visitor center that he tried to launch in the downtown mall, that is now closed. It is no longer open for business. Visitor center, what was that? Charlottesville Insider, right next to Old Metropolitan Hall, a few doors down from Hamilton's Restaurant.

He had a visitor's center that he opened there. You've got to get out and walk around, stretch those legs out. I think I know what you're talking about. It's close. I've just never really... Asked questions? No. Wonder what was going on? Talked to anybody about it?

No. Dug deeper? Walked by it and thought, oh, interesting. It's close. Which you could add to storefront vacancy, but the city doesn't count it as a storefront vacancy because technically there's a tenant in there, but that tenant is not open.

Draft taproom, not a vacancy. Draft taproom hasn't been open since COVID. That seems like a vacancy to me. Not by the Economic Development Office and its vacancy rate. Right. But it's certainly not bringing feet to the downtown mall. It's got pieces of paper over it with the words, beer is coming. What does it have? Isn't that what is on there? Something like that. I'd take that building right there and remodel it into an event space.

I don't think that building there can accommodate much from an executive office standpoint. And as someone who's in the executive office game with 24 at his disposal, I'm going to tell you right now, that is a brutal business. The reason it works for us is because we're on site already managing our

other businesses. I want you to find me a commercial broker that's going to drive across Charlottesville to rent a $500 or $600 a month executive office where you have to show it seven or eight times before it actually rents on a one-year lease with tenants choosing to renew the one-year lease 50% of the time. Commission on a $6,000, $500 a month lease at a 3% clip. What do you think that is? Say that again? The commission on 500 a month when you close a lease, a one-year lease on a $500 a month executive office, if you're getting three points, $180 in commissions. $180.

Let's say they get a whopping 6%, $360. There's not a commercial broker in this market that is going to show in an executive office five to eight times to get a one-year lease and have that one-year lease turn over 50% of the time. The reason it works for us is we're right here 60 hours a week. And all I have to do is walk down the hall. We also have some built-in market advantage of the I Love Seville show and the I Love Seville network. When vacancies happen, we put it on there and we immediately get responses. What is that called?

You can call it edge. You can call it economies of scale. Or you can call it a business model that's vertically integrated. What would you do with that space? I don't know. I mean, it's... It depends on who buys it.

I honestly don't know. I mean, you've got good ideas. That's the challenge with the CFA sale, with converting it into executive office space or any executive office space conversion. Yeah. You're hustling $6,000 or $7,000 a year leases where the commission is minuscule.

Mm-hmm. And you have to keep doing it. And you have to keep doing it and you have to keep doing it John Blair's got a comment we've got too much respect for Mr. Blair to ask him about the Jacob Stroman thing on the talk show

so I'm not going to do that he says this I'm curious about what you and Judah think of this there's a Jack Brown's in Harrisonburg. It is downtown and one of the best spots in the city for a restaurant. As you know, Harrisonburg is a nice city with a major university, but here's something to notice. Their specialty burgers are $9.99 in Harrisonburg compared to $11.99 in Charlottesville. Their regular hamburger is $7.99 in Harrisonburg compared to the $8.99 burger in Charlottesville. Their regular hamburger is $7.99 in Harrisonburg compared to the $8.99

burger in Charlottesville. Their regular fries are $3.49 in Harrisonburg versus the $3.99 in Charlottesville. I am curious if you two think that the cost differential is more labor or real estate driven. Interesting. I think the price is maybe even more expensive in Charlottesville now. I think they're up around at least $12.50. You were hyping a Jack Brown's $4 grilled cheese yesterday. Yeah. The grilled cheese is... Can you confirm that's still the price? I may go there tonight. I'll check it out. I would love if you had a grilled cheese, get the cost of the grilled cheese,

a grilled cheese, a side of fries, and a lager, and let us know what the cost was after tip. With a 20% tip. All right. Just out of curiosity. I could probably do that. Although it may end up being more than one lager. Oh, thirsty? Always.

Who's not? What do you attribute to the price delta with Harrisonburg and Charlottesville when they're separated by a mere one hour of drive time? I mean, I would guess... I would guess either that they're making up for rent on the downtown mall or that the Charlottesville Jack Browns just realizes that they can get more. Maybe people in Harrisonburg wouldn't pay those prices. I think it's a combination

of everything. I think it's a combination of an escalated rent environment. I think it's a combination of an escalated labor environment. And I think it's a combination of a consumer that can afford a menu price that is greater than the consumer can afford in Harrisonburg. The disposable income and the family household income in Charlottesville is significantly more than that of Harrisonburg. And if a business is not targeting the potential of the enhanced family household income

in what is the second most expensive metropolitan area in all of the Commonwealth, then that business is not being opportunistic. And I also think the escalated rent environment, in particular on the downtown mall, and the escalated labor environment in Charlottesville, because there's not that much labor out there. And the labor that is willing to work understands it has leverage because the supply is low. And when human capital is low in supply, the human capital that is available to work can command a higher price per hour, a higher pay or wage per hour. That's what's happening right now. I've said on this talk show, if you're building a model

based on paying people and hourly wage to be a frontline type of worker, that's going to be a challenging environment. A challenging, challenging environment, unless you're able to tap into family or a very loyal base of workers that's hard to find and as this community becomes more expensive which let's cut to the chase the population is increasing and independent variables like the data science school the Paul Manning biotech school the Amazon 11 billion in Louisa County, Northrop Grumman $300 million factory where the average wage is $94,000 in Waynesboro. Those folks aren't living in Waynesboro.

UVA population upticking. All these scenarios are going to make Charlottesville more expensive, which is going to further gentrify the community, which is further going to diminish the labor pool. And as the labor pool becomes diminished or non-existent, businesses that rely on frontline workers paying them an hourly wage are going to see their margins shrink and shrink and

shrink and shrink and shrink. Yeah. This is great. This is why he's number one in the family. It says, deep throat, the family income in Charlottesville is 30% higher than Harrisonburg. 30% higher than Harrisonburg. That makes sense. And I'll bet you that Delta is increasing at an aggressive clip. No doubt. And as people leave,

it's going to be the lower income, the food and beverage workers who can't afford to live any longer. It's going to change those statistics as well. Right.

This is something that I think has tremendous potential for the Charlottesville area. And I'm not saying this is specific for the city, but this could happen somewhere in Alamaro County. This is from Richmond BizSense. Less than three years after making their first leap into the world of cold storage warehousing, a group of Richmond investors are biting off another piece of the niche real estate segment. Longtime business partners, Yogi Singh, Stuart Garland,

and Pushakal Bajavarsh, I swear I said his name correctly, through their company, Ag Cold, are kicking off an eight-figure project, eight-figure project, Judah, that will add 72,000 square feet to their existing 255,000 square feet of refrigerated industrial space in Suffolk. They began the expansion process by acquiring a three-section warehouse complex at 160 County Street in July. They jumped on the property for two reasons. It

was set to be decommissioned by its existing tenant, animal feed producer Nuts for Wildlife, and it happened to be adjacent to two of Agcold's other facilities on 190 County Street. The current operations include renting warehouse pallet positions to food processors and food manufacturers and food sellers who need storage space for their goods coming in and out of the area. The company's customer base has come mainly from the nut business. Its existing warehouses have rooms for about 50 million pounds of shelled and unshelled used nuts for products like peanut paste, peanut butter, and peanut brittle. Ag cold spent more than 17 million in late 2021 to buy into the industry and be an industrial center of a city that for decades was known as the world's peanut capital. All right, now those are Richmond BizSense's terminology and language.

I'm going to offer some perspective. There's going to be a first-to-market entrepreneur. There will be a first-to-market entrepreneur who opens up refrigerated warehouse space somewhere in Alamaro County and that first market entrepreneur opens up refrigerated warehouse space somewhere in Alamaro County is going to crush it. And that refrigerated warehouse space is going to be used for the storage of goods and can be used as the home. For a digital. Grocery store.

Where goods are ordered through an ordering app. And a pickup spot is designated. For the scooping of groceries. By customers. And that will reinvent the grocery model. And that's what should be presented to that Fightville, Anthony Woodard-led outfit. You may not want to hear it,

because the co-op in a marginalized neighborhood, a food desert, has a story that can be told. And a story that can be woven as the foundation for development. That's what's happening here. Follow my watch as I swing it from side to side. Be mesmerized by my watch. Be hypnotized by my watch. All you see is grocery play. And all you see. And all you

read. Warehouse space, Richmond. Someone bring it to Charlottesville and see what happens. You wanted to highlight the XR Park Foundation rebranding. If you could do that in as much time as you need. Well, they have changed their name. They are now the, the X art park foundation is now the X arts foundation. They are making, they're making changes to their offerings, I think, to streamline what they do and where they spend their money. And they've, I don't know if whittled is the right word, but they have, Whittle is the only word I can think of that works. They've still got the farmer's market. They've got the looking glass, which now has free admission.

Because of a corporate sponsorship from Flow Automotive. Yeah. And they have three festivals that they will continue to hold at the art park. Have we got the right lower third on screen? Not yet. If we can do that, please. Rob Neal says, in regards to Jack Brown's, it's a combination of things. Real estate, he also highlights the Jack Brown's has a second restaurant right next door in Harrisonburg called Billy Jack's.

So the economies in labor and rent negotiation help keep price points down. Rob Neal knows the game. Appreciate that comment from Rob. Not to mention if the restaurant next door is selling burgers. Well, even if you're not selling burgers, you have purchasing power with wholesale providers. Are they run by the same people? Billy Jacks and Jack Browns are the same owner. When you're getting your paper, Jack Browns are the same owner. Okay. Yeah, so when you're getting your paper,

Jack Browns' model is genius. They don't have produce. If you notice, their burgers don't have waste. They don't have a dishwasher. It's paper plates. Meat buns and cheese. Yeah, it's paper plates. They throw the stuff away.

They're not washing stuff except for the glasses of beer. It's genius. Yeah, yeah. There's no waste. I know. And when you have multiple locations, especially two locations attached to each other, you have purchasing power.

So you're saving margin on your wholesale buy. Yeah. Occasionally my parents will want to go there and be like, I don't know if you're going to like it. Why? There's no lettuce, no tomatoes. You basically get what they tell you is on the burger. I don't know if you're going to like it. Why? There's no lettuce, no tomatoes. You basically get what they tell you is on the burger.

Least it costs low on Cherry Avenue. People moving here have money, big money, absolutely. I have no problem with it. I think the model works great. Hole-in-the-wall location with a bartender and one person in the back of the house, maybe a third person on a busy Friday night, three people working. Are we talking about Jack Brown's? Yeah.

It's a great model. 100% have more than one person at the bar and one person in the back. Go there during the day. I've been to Jack. When's the last time you've been to Jack Brown's? I go there. I've been there like a few days ago. I was there last week. I was there last week too.

Yeah. On Friday night, they'll have more than one person on the bar. Go there any night of the week and they've got at least... Do you want to go to Jack Brown's after...

This is a prop bet waiting to happen. I love proposition bets. Let's go as soon as the show ends today. I will put the over-under at four people. I'll take the under, you take the over that are working on the clock right now at Jack Brown's for a bottle of brown juice.

No, thanks. Okay. Why would you take that? I thought you said there were... Yeah, because I obviously don't go there while I'm sitting here in the office all day. We put the over under at three people right now at Jack Brown's with three, a push. No one wins over three. You win under three. I win on the clock working right now at Jack Brown's. No,

thanks. I don't know. And I've, I've never been in there during the day. I, I, I have, yeah, there's many times during the day. I have. Yeah, because you're not tied to a chair.

There's many times there's two people working. Okay. On Friday or Saturday night, you may see two people behind the bar. Absolutely. But if you look in the kitchen, and you can see in the kitchen when you're sitting at the bar, you'll see one person working, maybe two if it's busy. But there's not that much room in that kitchen for multiple operators. After 7 o'clock, I guarantee you there are at least six, seven people working there. I'll take this prop bet. You're saying after 7 o'clock tonight, we're going to put the over-under at seven?

Okay, we'll take the over-under at six. I'll put, I'll even throw you a bone. I'll put the over-under at five. Five's a push, no one wins. Less than five, I win. More than five, you win.

Yeah, I'll take that. You will take that bet? I've been there. After 7 o'clock tonight? Yeah. Because it looks like right now you're going to lose the Lewis Mountain bet. Probably. We have not had any additional units come on the market in Lewis Mountain.

Yeah. So are we going to make an official bet here? Are you sure you want to take this? Yeah, I'll take this. I have six people in there working. Okay, so six or more, you win. You will honestly report it. I'm not going to be there after seven.

I know you're an extremely ethical man. Yeah. A man of tremendous integrity. You tell me how many folks are working at Jack Brown's tonight when you're there at 7 o'clock. I don't know if I'll be there at exactly 7, but yeah. I mean, you get off at 6.30. I might not go right there. But yeah, I'll head over there and check it out.

Is Curtis Shaver watching the program? That man knows that model inside and out. Bob Yarborough, are you watching the program? That man knows that model inside and out. Bob Yarbrough, are you watching the program? Bob Yarbrough knows that model inside and out. He's a saint at Jack Brown's and so is Curtis Shaver. Is Curtis Shaver watching the program? He's a saint at Jack Brown's, too. All right.

We'll close on this. The official details of the bet. The over-under is what? Five. Okay. So if there's more than five people working, if there's six or more, you win the bet. Yeah. If there's less than five people working, four or under, I win the bet.

If there's five working, no one wins. It's a push. We've got a bottle of brown juice on the line, $75 or less. Are we shaking? We can shake if you want. Studio camera, let's shake. Can I see you shake? There we go. Shake. All right.

Oh, you've got your siren. So this one, can you stand up so we can make this official? No, but then I'm standing in front of my hand. Okay, there we go. We're shaking. Okay. I think you're going to lose this bet. Really?

I really think you're going to lose this bet. Okay. This will take my record to, I believe, 10 and 1 on prop bets made on the I Love Seville show. Not that I'm counting. Kevin Higgins says, Judah, please don't take this bet. He took the bet. We shook. I took the bet. It's locked in.

It's locked and loaded. Maria Marshall Barnes. He took the bet. It is locked in. It's locked in. I'm going to collect on this. Fresh direct that New York City is still alive and well, deep throat. I'll close with this.

Wake Forest is hosting the UVA football team on Saturday. Jerry Ratcliffe, the star of the Jerry and Jerry Show, Tuesday mornings at 10.15 a.m. on the I Love Seabill Network says this is the most important game on the schedule. You win this game, you start 2-0 and you start flirting with the potential for a board, for a

bowl berth. You lose this game, you fall to 1-1 and the first five games of your schedule the most winnable portion of your schedule when you could go 4-1 or 5-0, this is the type of loss that could have significant implications not only on a bull berth, but on Tony Elliott's job. Team confidence.

A lot we're going to cover on the program. Appreciate everyone for watching. And we'll let you know how the bet plays out on the I Love C-Ball show tomorrow. Thank you kindly for watching. So long, everybody. Thank you.