The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Ix Park: 17.47 Acres, $84M Ask, 751 Home Units; What's The Future & Best Use For Ix Park?

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Ix Park: 17.47 Acres, $84M Ask, 751 Home Units What’s The Future & Best Use For Ix Park? 1070 WINA Targeting Paywall News Competitors 1070 WINA Exec, “News Should Always Be Free” Piedmont Housing Alliance: $334,166 Per Unit PHA Building 60-Unit Premier Circle Apartments UVA Honor Code: AI Detector Ban + Cheating VCU Protestors Call For President’s Resignation 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 and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Friday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. Fantastic to connect with you on a gorgeous Friday, smack dab in the heart of central Virginia. Our studio on Market Street, less than two miles from the University of Virginia, 50 yards from the Charlottesville Police Department, a block removed from the University of Virginia, 50 yards from the Charlottesville Police Department, a block removed from the Albemarle and Charlottesville City Courthouses, a block off the downtown mall, and smack dab in the middle of the heartbeat of a 300,000-person market we call Central Virginia. Look at the screen for today's headlines. Today's program, I can tell you right now, is going to be dynamic.

Ix Park, on again, off again, for sale. We initially broke the news on the I Love Seville Network the first time it went on the market. That was last, I couldn't even tell you. It's been some time. Constantly is on again, off again. Sometimes it's on as it is right now with 17.47 acres offered at $84 million. Sometimes they chop up the parcels 201 to 239 Elliott Avenue. Sometimes they try to piecemeal it. Sometimes last year they were trying to sell Iggs Park with the upzoning potential. We know now it's 751 dwelling units allowed by right with the existing zoning. I want to talk this project and its upside and what's the best use of Ix Park on today's program.

I also want to highlight on today's program, ladies and gentlemen, the new website, Seville Right Now, a website launched by publicly traded company Saga Communications. Its localized division is called the Charlottesville Radio Group, CRG. It's owned by a publicly traded company, Saga Communications. They are getting in the internet, digital, local news business as a complement to what they provide on the radio dial, specifically 1070 WINA. The vice president and general manager of Charlottesville Radio Group is Garrett Klingel. I've done business with Mr. Klingel for a decade or more easily. I remember when Mr. Klingle was a sales associate selling commercial inventory on radio stations

like 1070 WINA, 97.3, 3WV, 106.1 The Corner, Z95, etc. They recently make an announcement that they're launching a website called Seville Right Now. That's the same moniker or name for, I want to make sure I have it 100% right. I'm going to program schedule and I'm going to the 4 to 6 p.m. slot Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday a show hosted by award winning journalist Courtney Stewart interestingly the name of the show is Charlottesville Right Now

interestingly the name of the website is charlottesvillerightnow.com so they launch a web portal that takes the content that is featured on 1070 WINA and positions and publishes said content on seavillerightnow.com. This is a brilliant move by the Charlottesville Radio Group. They get additional traffic sources. How you monetize media is through metrics that highlight viewership, listenership, and web traffic. So here they can put on their rate card

when they're selling clients. Not only do we provide radio commercial inventory, 30-second spots, 60-second spots, underwriting portions of shows where your name is mentioned, your call to action is highlighted. But we also have this website, SevilleRightNow.com, where we can position your brand or position your call to action message in front of our digital following. Mr. Klingle, in the release of announcing CVO right now, makes the comment, and I'm paraphrasing, I will relay the comment verbatim to you, that we believe all news should be free, accessible, and not behind a paywall of any capacity. This is a direct target at the daily progress and could be a further cut to the death of a thousand cuts

of print legacy media. Part of the collateral damage is someone we admire, Sean Tubbs, and his Town Crier Productions in the crossfire indirectly. Mr. Tubbs, a regular contributor to Courtney Stewart's show, Charlottesville, right now. So is Mr. Tubbs contributing to his direct competitor, a company whose top executive is saying paywalls are a no-no for local news, which is how Mr. Tubbs makes his living? I want to unpack that on today's program. I want to talk Neil Williamson's Piedmont Housing Alliance commentary on the Free Enterprise Forum.

I'll say it again. Neil, you've been on fire lately. The headline is expensive affordable housing. I see Mr. Williamson watching right now. Deep Throat's got some comments for Mr. Williamson already. He talks about Piedmont Housing Alliance's 60-unit Premier Circle Phase II apartment development. Piedmont Housing Alliance is a non-profit developer. A lot of people don't realize that PHA is a developer. They are a non-profit developer. And this 60-unit Premier

Circle Phase II apartment development project, the cost is estimated at more than $20 million, which pencils out, according to Neil, and the man's math is accurate, $334,166 per unit. If a non-profit developer needs $334,166 per apartment unit with subsidies and breaks of many kind, it puts in perspective of how expensive housing creation is in the central Virginia market. I want to unpack that on today's program. Also on the show, we'll talk AI detectors and how Virginia, the University of Virginia's Honor Code Committee, students, are in the process, Judah, of saying AI detection software, the type of software utilized to figure out if chat GBT or artificial intelligence writes papers, essays, takes tests for students. The Honor Code Committee is on the cusp of saying that kind of software cannot be used as evidence when trying a student for an Honor Code violation. I am flabbergasted by this. Also on today's program, Virginia Commonwealth University

protesters are calling for the pink slip or the resignation of the president of the school with how a protest was handled earlier this week where police were put into the mix, mediating or disbanding a protest, causing injuries to protesters and police alike. We have a president in the crossfire 50 minutes from Charlottesville, Virginia. Some folks will say this is why Jim Ryan's saying nothing. Because he doesn't want to be the VCU president. Because president of schools now is a politics job. And not about leading education first.

This show is jam-packed, packed my friend absolutely jam-packed we're going to talk x park first this program the first to break the news that x park and i'm and guys i'm talking the whole damn park i'm talking the the place where the farmer's market is i'm talking talking where the retail shops are, where the brewery is. Everything is on the market for sale. It's on again, off again, on the market for sale. They want $84 million, J-Dubs. $84 million. So let's take $84 million on our trusty calculator.

Got that number right here, J-Dubs. And we're going to divide it by 17, just call it 17.5. You get a lot of money. No doubt. Thank you, Wes. I want to ask you this question. What is the best use of the most valuable and undeveloped property in the city of Charlottesville right now is this. The only thing that could potentially compete in the city of Charlottesville for most valuable and undeveloped, underutilized property in the city of Charlottesville right now. There's two that come to mind. It's the parking lot on West Main Street owned by Alan Kajin, the bi-coastal attorney that listens to this show, one of the top landlords in the Charlottesville market. Alan Kajin also is the co-owner of Ix

Park with Ludwig Kutner. Ludwig listens to the show, lives in the building. He has family that lives in the building we're doing this studio in. See the man all the time. The only property that competes with Ix as the most underutilized, valuable, most upside in the city is either the parking lot on West Main Street or city yard. Inexplicably, Charlottesville is using incredibly valuable real estate in the Star Hill neighborhood to store in-house work vehicles behind a fence. Use it basically as a junkyard. And speaking of junkyards, the right junkyard, the hairy right junkyard behind Beer Run or next to Beer Run is also on that short list of most valuable. Those are your most valuable

undeveloped properties. Now that the city is giving Wendell Wood an escape route on High Street with the land on by the Rivanna River, buying it and creating it into a park, that's off the list. So from my standpoint, the most valuable right now, with the most upside, is Ix, number one. Number two, the parking lot on West Main Street,

interestingly, one and two are owned in part by the same guy, Alan Kajin, the bi-coastal attorney, San Francisco, Charlottesville, former partner of the late, great Gabe Silverman. Number three, I'll throw city yard in. Number four, I'll throw Wright's junkyard. You're talking what, 5 million Judah, basically, an acre, assembled at 84 million with an upside of 751 dwelling units allowed by right. Put that lower third on screen.

You're going to rotate the first two lower thirds on this conversation. Would you like to go first? Do you want me to show the maps? Oh, you got the maps? Judah, let's get the maps in there. Look at you.

Exceeding expectations. I didn't ask you to do the map put the maps on screen damn thank you make it the program better judah b wickhauer jack of all wits jack of all trades jumping jack judah wickhauer formerly known as the great boobini we'll find a new nickname because he doesn't like that one. I'm still going to go by Giardini. Are the maps on screen? First map is on screen. Judah's on fire. Put the second map on screen. Rotate them on and put the lower thirds.

And then go with us for a two-shot. And you, my friend, since you're on fire right now, lead the discussion and I will adapt to you. And boy, do I have a lot to say on this topic. I'm not sure how much I've got to say. You can ask questions. I like when you ask questions.

I'm checking out these maps right now. I mean, the map is just an aerial view. You know. What are your questions, viewers and listeners? Deep Throat, this is right up your alley. John Blair, this is right up your alley. Neil Williamson, this is right up your alley.

Go, Judah, go. Go, Judah, go. All right. Go. So the whole, this is from one end to the other, from like all the way up the hill, from Three Notched all the way down to the giant building that sprawls from the taco place, Brazos Tacos, to what is it? One of the news stations? News station moved to Rio Road. It formerly was there.

It's not there anymore. 177,000 square feet of leaseable area as of now. The listing is being positioned as this. Substantial income coming from the land already which justifies the price plus the upside of 751 dwelling units allowed by right on the 17.47 acres price per acre four million eight hundred and eight thousand two hundred and forty three dollars i mean mother it got a whole conyo

what do you got j-dubs $143. I mean, mother of carajo, coño. What do you got, J-Dubs? So potentially this could all get torn down and turned into housing? Yes, sir. 751 dwelling units by zoning. By right. That sounds like something from China. An incredible infill development opportunity.

I think it would be... I mean, I'm not a business person or a developer. I think that would be terrible. I love Ixart Park the way it is. I think it's something unique about Charlottesville and I would hate to see it raised and

turned into a gigantic block of apartments, condos, townhomes, postage stamp sized lots with 3-4,000 square foot

single family detached homes on them a farmer's market in the middle with housing built around it, a tech campus, a mixed use project, a live, work, play development

if they kept the park and some of the unique aspects of Ix. The quirkiness, if you may. The nuance, if you may. Yeah. Well, we do know this. The Ix Park Foundation, which is had by Susan Krischel.

I always mess up Susan's last name. I've done some business with Susan. Is it Krischel? Am I saying it right? She's a fantastic attorney. She's the spokesman often for Mr. Ludwig Kudner. She's run the non-profit associated with

X, which has the Looking Glass art exhibit, and also does the music venues and the concert venue that is X, the entertainment venue that is X. We know that they've had tremendous attrition with executive director position. We know that funding levels are not where they need to be for sustainability long term. And we have seen on multiple times the X nonprofit do a call to action saying, we need your help if you want this to continue. And we're in dire straits.

And that's part of the quirkiness that is X. We also know that this project, if you call it X project, X park, very strategically captured a farmer's market environment. This was done for a number of reasons. Reason number one, it offers trickle over traffic and exposure for the tenants that are paying rent. Reason number two, to improve the quality of life of the farmer's market experience. Who wants to be on a black asphalt in the dog days of summer where your pets have their feet, their paws burning and are not allowed at the farmer's market on Water Street?

The one in Ix, they are. And they have grass and it's not asphalt, and there's bathrooms. Infinitely better. Perhaps the most important reason, what do you think it is? The most important reason

for... The farmer's market coming to Ix. What is the most important reason? I honestly don't know. If you have the farmer's market at X, you could conceivably utilize that in marketing the property

as a live, work, play development project. If you're considering spending nearly $5 million an acre, $84 in totality, to buy the X project and you say, oh wow, the market's part of what I get to purchase. I could do something with this because everyone has affinity or passion or some kind of positive connotation or emotion when it comes to localized, fresh farmers markets. In this plan, or in this idea, would it just be the big block of buildings on the other side from Three Notched? Would it just be that that was turned into housing? Depending on the developer and the developer's vision, I would think you potentially do the entire thing, knock it all down. But then

you wouldn't have the... Or some may do plans where you build around structures you want to keep. What seemed to me, and I love the three-notch brand, what seemed to me it would be absolute lunacy to not build around a brewery and not build around a farmer's

market. It would seem lunacy to me. to not build around a brewery and not build around a farmer's market. Right. It would seem lunacy to me. It would seem this could very easily be converted into some kind of tech campus or built around some kind of WeWork type of environment where you have your office and working scenario, your tech campus, you have your farmer's market,

you have your brewery. Basically what you saw with the wool factory when Selvage was over there. You had Willow Tree's campus in Alamaro County right over the line. Willow Tree with a brewery, with a coffee shop, with a restaurant, and with some retail. And with some parking spaces. Next to a hiking trail and the river. This would be campus for professionals

next to a brewery, next to a farmer's market, a restaurant Brazos, and within walking distance of the downtown mall. Yeah, I was just going to say that might be a better plan. But that would

come at the sacrifice of... Are you waiting for a response from me? Yes. That would come at a sacrifice of, I don't know, not... The current... Building... Merchants. Well, yeah.

John Blair. I was going to say, if you're going to build around providing those options for people, then you'd have to think hard about... I mean, I don't think there are a whole lot of

F&B places in that sprawling building, but you do have Brazos Tacos and a few other places. I believe there's a coffee place. Is it Jaybird? Yep. John Blair asked this question. Is housing the most profitable use of this property? I was just going to bring that up because with everything we've been discussing. Well, you can then allude to the Piedmont Housing Alliance. One of the reasons I offered that as

another topic is Neil Williamson has penciled out what it costs Piedmont Housing to do 60 apartments at Premier Circle Phase 2, $334,166 per unit. And that's with discounts associated with a nonprofit. So, ladies and gentlemen, if I'm going to do some quick math and you have an opportunity to build 751 units, 751 units on there by zoning, and if I take 751 and I just times it by the PHA number of 334-166, and no private developer can do projects like that number.

This is a non-profit getting big-time discounts. That comes out to be $251 million in construction costs, potentially. That's expensive. So if you're acquiring the land for $84 million, $84 million acquisition is the ask. $84 million. Almost $5 million an acre.

And your back of the napkin is $250 million to construct the 751 dwelling units that it's being marketed and advertised with its potential. You add those two numbers together, and you're looking at somewhere between $300 and $350 million. That's a good chunk of money. $300 to $350 million. So that's why perhaps Mr. Blair asked, is that the best use of the property?

Very curious to see what Deep Throat has to think about this. Oh, there's stuff here from Deep Throat. He says, I can't wait. He says, the X permit is in the system. He said, they already submitted a subdivision plat to NDS, probably to show that this project can be done. He says, I can't wait for the activists' salty tears about this development project, another dairy market phase three waiting to happen.

You asked for it. Eat your veggies. I'll be across the street with the popcorn in my hand watching you. Teeth throwed. That seems somewhat sinister and salty, my friend. And then he's got some commentary on PHA, the cost per unit. He says the PHA cost per unit is ridiculous. He says that is the definition of inefficiency yet the city uncritically dumps money in their laps this from deep throat he said the

city should be looking for other litech developers over the count over the country to see if any of the efficient ones would want to come to a project in seville. He said with Kindle Wood, which PHA spearheaded, each unit came out to $450,000 per unit, and the land was free. What about the DHCD, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development cost? This is the Sixth Street Apartments Phase 1 project. This is in Neil's article about expensive affordable housing.

You want to offer a little more? Yeah, I mean, that Premier Circle Phase 2 apartment seems almost cheap in comparison. You said those are over $334,000 per unit. The 6th Street Apartments Phase 1 project. But let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. I don't mean to interrupt you. Now, go ahead.

Finish your thought because you're providing value. I apologize for jumping in. I'm just very excitable when it comes to this topic. I love this topic. The 6th Street Apartments Phase 1 project is a $29 million-plus project producing or planning to produce 47 affordable rental units, and the cost is going to be $621,000 per unit. I mean, can that be correct? That sounds like insanity.

Insanity! Like, that's... You have a... I'm not trying to throw shade. I'm pretty sure that cost per unit costs more than my parents' house cost them to build. But your parents also built

in a different environment. How old is your parents' house? Maybe 10 years. I'd say it's older than 10 years. Okay. Still. Things got out of control, COVID and beyond. Yeah, no doubt. Lending environment, interest rate environment, acquisition environment, labor market, cost of goods, red tape, bureaucracy, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. Way worse now than a decade plus ago. Still $621,000 for an affordable rental unit? That just sounds nuts. I don't know who that's affordable for.

I don't know how the city makes, or I don't know how the county makes that affordable in the long run. Well, let me ask you this uh manhattan hospitality group we broke the news yesterday pays 24 million dollars for the 80 room cork hotel yeah 300,000 per hotel room those hotel rooms rent for what five six seven hundred a night depending on the day of the week and depending on the events that are going on that week or that weekend. Williamson is talking about in this Free Enterprise Forum commentary, $334,166 per unit for apartments

in a 60-unit Premier Circle Phase II development project Piedmont Housing Alliance is doing. These things rent for below market value, below market dollar, because it's a non-profit that prides itself in creating housing affordability. $334,166 per unit. It's an astronomical number. For apartments. And it's not an apples to apples, oranges to oranges comparison at all. The 80 unit cork, 300,000 per room, $24 million purchase.

But I'm just trying to throw some kind of barometer out there for folks to have a conversation with with their mint juleps over Kentucky Derby weekend. Can't wait for the Derby. Effing love the Derby. Here's a good commentary from Deep Throat.

California is the most expensive market in the nation, the state of California. The median LIHTC unit in California has total development costs of $600,000 per unit, and that includes expensive California land. With the Sixth Street project, the land was free, and it's being priced at close to California costs. He said, something ain't mathing.

The math is not mathing. Anyway, when you're enjoying a mint julep and eating some charcuterie on Kentucky Derby weekend, perhaps a topic of conversation, $84 million asking for Ickes Park, 17.47 acres with the upside of 751 dwelling units. And what is, I think, the most undeveloped, valuable, undeveloped is the wrong word, the piece of property assembled,

contiguous piece of property that's assembled with the most upside in a 10.2 square mile city. And this got me thinking. This came up on the morning show. Here's another topic of fodder for your cocktail party this weekend. Anyone know the tallest building in the city of Charlottesville?

You do now, right? Yeah, I heard you asking the question. Viewers and listeners, we're going to give you the six tallest buildings in the city of Charlottesville, and I'm going to take the link for the tallest buildings in the city of Charlottesville, and I'm going to put it in the comments section

of my personal Facebook page. Follow me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter. I just published it on the comment section of my personal Facebook page. Follow me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter. I just published it on the comment section of my personal Facebook page. I'm going to publish it on the I Love Seville Facebook page, the link for the six tallest buildings, so you have some fodder for your cocktail party. The I Love Seville group on Twitter, on LinkedIn, put it on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Podcasts. The tallest building in the city of Charlottesville is, drum roll please. That was excellent. Thank you. That was excellent. Did that hurt? No. That was excellent. Thank you. That was excellent. Did that hurt? No. That was excellent. The Draftsmen Hotel, 10 floors, 121 feet tall, built in 2018.

The one on West Main Street. The Draftsmen Hotel, number one, 10 floors, 121 feet tall, built in 2018. The old Monticello Hotel, now 500 court squares, number two, nine floors, 109 feet tall, built in 1926. Number three, the new University Hospital Tower, nine floors, 109 feet tall, 2019 year built. Number four, 1800 Jefferson Park, it's an apartment condo tower, nine floors, 109 feet tall, 1966 year built. Number five, the Lewis and Clark Building, nine floors, 109 feet tall, 1966 year built. Number five, the Lewis and Clark building, nine floors, 109 feet tall, 1989 year built. Number six, the flats, nine floors, 101 feet tall, 2014 year built.

Corrin Capshaw made a killing with the flats. I'm going to point this, I'm going to publish this tallest building on my LinkedIn comments I just did. I'm going to publish this tallest building on my LinkedIn comments I just did. I'm going to put it on Twitter right now and the thread for this show. So you guys can reference it as well. I'm going to pin this show to the top of my Twitter profile, which I just did. And I'm going to publish this link for the tallest buildings for all those in the Twitterverse? Twittersphere?

Yeah, Twittersphere. Is that the best moniker? I guess. I'm not going to call it the X-Sphere. Yeah, I'm not going to call it that. You think Elon regrets buying Twitter? No, probably not. Yeah.

I don't think so either. I don't think Elon has many regrets in his life. I mean, he's just... It's his toy. He's just, what, laid off 10% of his Tesla force and is asking for his shareholders

to give him, what, how many billions? A billion dollar package? He doesn't care. He doesn't care. His biggest weakness is his biggest strength. His self-absorption. As are most people like that.

Right. Let's go to LinkedIn. Gosh, I really appreciate you guys. I really appreciate Deep Throat. Really appreciate John Blair. Really appreciate Neo. Really appreciate really appreciate Deep Throat. I really appreciate John Blair. I really appreciate Neo. I really appreciate all you viewers and listeners. You make the program better.

I sincerely, sincerely, sincerely mean that. JB has this comment. Do you get his photo on screen? This is perhaps my most favorite photo. He says this. Jerry, as you point out, this is a nine-figure development if we're talking housing, Ix Park. If that's really what's going to happen, then are we talking about introducing Black Rocket to the Charlottesville real estate market? That is so much capital, it's going to

take an enormous investor to do it. $300 to $350 million, my back of the napkin mathing. If you go by the 334,000 per unit PHA number. And John makes a great point. Are we going to have BlackRock, Blackstone? My wife used to work for Blackstone. How many years did you work for Blackstone, sweetheart? I'd say eight. Is that fair? Eight?

I think she's going to text me and correct me on that. Eight, nine? Used to live in the Upper East Side, in Normandy Court. All right, next topic. 1070, rotate those two headlines. This is an interesting topic. are the i try to do the show around passions content that that fits the passion so i can offer you the most

you know personal intel or experience real estate and business obviously a passion as a real estate investor and owner and business owner. Media, obviously a passion as someone who has a media business. So the top first two topics fit that passion. UVA is a passion. Went to UVA. That'll be the honor code in AI detecting coming up. So 1070 WINA, how would you characterize this story? Judas, set the table. Set the table, Judas. Set the table. Well, they, I mean, they've got a point. You think they do? No, go ahead. Keep going. I don't mean to interrupt. We've talked about daily progress and the fact that they've, I mean, I, I can't, I don't know the exact timeline of events, but what they've basically fired most of the good people that they had. Uh, now they're left with, uh, with what, maybe one or two, uh, veterans. They've got, uh,

Haas Spencer writing for them. And I don't know who else. I mean, do they have... I don't know if they have enough people to cover all of the different areas of news going on around here. And then they

started trying to monetize their online platform. And then they started trying to monetize their online platform, and then they cut the production of their physical paper to, what, three days a week? I mean, it just sounds like a you-know-what show. Okay. I'm with you. And so I don't know that WINA is wrong. There's no way in heck WINA is wrong. You

can't be wrong for pursuing an entrepreneurial endeavor. You can't be wrong with giving the marketplace more options or competing with other brands and businesses. Right. But they're not competing in the online news business, at least not for our dollars. How do you disagree? Keep going. A thousand percent disagree with that. They're not monetizing it the same way that Daily Progress is. A thousand percent disagree with that. Really? Yeah.

You think they're going to charge eventually? Okay, I'll tell a story. Okay. Me and my partner, David Varel. David Varel, a serial entrepreneur. And in 2008 and 2009, is David Varel watching right now from his mansion in the Outer Banks? In 2007, 2008, 2009,

somewhere in that window, he a serial entrepreneur, me a serial entrepreneur, we invested in a sunglass business called Hollywood Shades. And Hollywood Shades was located in the University Shopping Center, the same shopping center with my favorite store in the area,ping Center, the same shopping center with my favorite

store in the area, the Tennis Shop, owned by Lou Stevens. I get my rackets strung there, my grips done there. Love Lou and the Tennis Shop. We were a few doors down Hollywood Shades. And the concept of our business, Hollywood Shades, was to sell Ray-Bans and Oakley's and Versace and Dolce and Gabbana high-end sunglasses, 250 to some almost $600 in value. And our idea was simple. There's only one sunglass shop in the market. It was the Sunglass Hut in Fashion Square Mall, and the mall is deteriorating quickly. What if we put a sunglass shop on Ivy Road right next to Boardshead, Farmington, right next to Greencroft, and the most tony and affluent stretch of housing and folks living, Ivy Road? And we put a sunglass shop and we staff it with one person and we do the traditional market,

which is keystone and a half, marking it up, which we bought from our providers by 100% and an extra 50% on top of that. We're going to make a killing, we said. And we're going to franchise, we said. We did two things terribly wrong. A, we had terrible luck. 2008, 2009, real estate crisis, market went in the tank, we literally went into a recession, and even wealthy folks were pinching pennies and not buying luxury goods as much. That was bad luck. But we made one error in judgment. One error. We took for granted that we were competing against the average Joe and Sally that was slinging sunglasses on the downtown mall for 10 or 15 or $20 a pop. There were so many people who would come into Hollywood shades and say, I can get something like this. And it might even be a

knockoff, but no one cared for 10 or 15 or $20 on the downtown mall. And halfway through, I realized that our competition was not just a sunglass hut. We were competing for real estate on people's face. So this takes me back to Charlottesville right now and your comment about the Daily Progress and how they're not competing for the same advertiser. There's only a limited pool of advertisers in the central Virginia market.

Very limited. And the same reps that work for the Daily Progress, that work for Charlottesville Radio Group, that work for Monticello Media, that work for CBS 19, that work for NBC 29, that work for ValPak, they are calling on the same businesses every week.

There's the same, there's a finite amount of advertising dollars. So because Seville right now is getting into the media business or furthering its efforts into the media business, it's already in the media business right now with 1070 WINA, eight hours of local content every day.

It's basically just repurposing the news. It's repurposing the news from radio to put it in the written word online. It's repurposing the name of its flagship drive-home show, Charlottesville Right Now, and shortening it to SevilleRightNow.com. And it's going to utilize its rate card and expand its rate card offering and say,

we have these stations, 975, Z95, 1070WINA, all these radio stations they have, the Facebook pages they have, and they're going to complement it with a website called Seville Right Now, and they're going to sell the experience in totality to the finite advertisers that are out there. It's getting another arrow in the quiver for their sales associates when they're shoe leathering the street. The interesting aspect of this story is this. The executive, the top dog, and this guy's got a number of promotions. His name is Garrett Klingle. I know him extremely well. He says in the release when announcing Charlottesville Right Now, SevilleRightNow.com, that

we believe, and I'm going to read it verbatim, what Garrett Klingel said. We launch Seville Right Now as a more comprehensive news site that's hyper-local and always free. We do not think people should have to pay money and create an account just to know what's going on in our community. We already do eight hours of live and local talk and sports every weekday in WINA, and now we have a website

that brings that together with our local journalism to provide an easy-to-use platform of daily local content. We saw a real hole in our community for timely, unbiased news without all the national filler, and Seville right now can fill that need. He's directly targeting the Progress and Sean Tubbs, the only paywalled news sites out there. And the other interesting wrinkle is, is he back-slapping or slapping in the face Tubbs, who goes on the Charlottesville Right Now show once a week to provide content for Courtney Stewart? And is he now in a precarious position, Mr. Tubbs, that he's creating content

for a person or an entity or a platform that's going to compete directly with his paywalled website? Do you see? Yeah, definitely. So what decision does he make? Does he say, dude, your boss just said paywall websites, we're going to try to take down. And that's how I make my living. Does he continue contributing to Charlottesville right now? It's a tough choice. And who do you think is going to win this battle? I mean, I wouldn't put money on... I certainly wouldn't put money on Daily Progress. They don't have as many quivers in that...

as many arrows in that quiver. I mean, it seems like they've been on ‑‑ I mean, that quiver has one, two, three, four, five, six radio stations. I have a lot more localized employees and localized sales reps, and I'm talking CRG. And now a localized news website. What's the local newspaper got? A plan that has been working recently. A paywalled website that folks ain't clicking. We'll see what happens. I find it fascinating. The media wars, if you may. I find it fascinating. 1.22 p.m. on a Friday afternoon,

I want to get AI detector. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts on that topic. Anything you have to offer, put it in the feed. I'll relay it live on air. UVA honor coded the AI detection software. Do you want to highlight that one, Judah? Set the table. The honor committee at UVA which is students, they met for the last public session of the semester and they discussed whether or not to ban AI detectors as evidence in trials. There's nothing that says that AI

detectors can't still be used. They just can't be used as evidence when accusing a student of something. Of cheating. Yeah, essentially. You would use an AI detector to accuse a student of cheating. Yeah, you would use an AI detector to, you could run, I believe, just about anything through it. give you a determination as to whether it believes that text was written by AI. It sounds great, but the more you look into it, the more you'll find that people have been accused who... Wait, what sounds great? It sounds great being able to just run every student's paper

through an AI detector and be able to check off, you know, original, original, original... Okay, okay. I misunderstood you. Okay. AI, original. But it's... There have been false positives. And imagine if, I don't know what the percentage is of, and probably nobody does.

There are probably students who have claimed to be. And you got the new lower third ups on screen, the right one? Unjustly accused of cheating or using chat GPT or whatever other source they may have used. And who's to say? Some of those people are probably telling the truth, and some of them are probably just trying to save their college careers. The problem is, does it matter? If we know for certain that a certain amount of false positives are going to occur, how do we keep using AI detectors for something like this? It would be like using some form of evidence to send someone to prison for life,

or worse, to the electric chair, when you know that there are a certain number of false positives. And that's why I think this is a good idea to ban them. Because you're talking about a student's career and the AI detector is not always correct. So a couple of false positives and you throw the baby out with the bathwater? I think it's more than a couple of false positives and you throw the baby out with the bathwater? I think it's more than a couple.

We had a professor we enjoyed Easter weekend with, my wife and I, his family, his kids, extended family. And he alluded to TAs, associate professors, deans, and tenured professors feeling overwhelmed at the University of Virginia with their students and their use of chat GBT and artificial intelligence to fulfill tests, essays, and other writing assignments. He said it's going unchecked and it's rampant. Exact words. Suggested I do a show on this very topic. If you can't use AI detectors

to detect whether a student originated the content to meet a degree requirement, what does a professor have? You can still use the AI detectors. If the AI detector shows a positive, what position is the professor in at that point? At that point, the professor is in the position of

finding a way to prove that the paper or whatever it is was... And how will the professor do that? I'm not a professor. So you're basically going to ask the professors to work more for the same amount of money? Professors have been determining whether students cheated or cribbed or stole papers for as long as there have been teachers and students to write papers. That's fair, but would you say technology and advancement has made cheating way easier than at one time you...

Ooh, I'm taking a test. What's Johnny got over there with the Pythagorean theorem? Oh, I see A squared plus B squared equals C squared. Yeah, that's fair. But using a flawed system. Sokha Toa. Sine opposite over hypotenuse. What is Ken Elzinga one over here?

What is Larry Sabato one over here? Cheating is much easier now than it's ever been. Okay. You disagree? No, I don't disagree. If cheating's way easier than it's ever been, shouldn't we keep cheating in check and put cheating

in check and make that easier than it's ever been? Okay, but at what cost? Watering down the degree? Having cheating go unchecked means the degree has less value? Having cheating go unchecked means the honor code is worthless? Having cheating go unchecked means the generations... Brian Haluska, get him on screen. We don't have the...

Damn it, Brian Holuska camera. Hold on. He's going to come back. We've got to have the Brian Holuska camera. We're not even going to call it the Market Street camera. We've got to call it the Brian Holuska camera. You've got to do the Brian Holaleska camera. Gotta do the Brian Haleska camera. If we don't keep cheating and check,

the degree becomes less valuable, the honor code less stringent, and the tradition and the history of the honor code less esteemed and pedigreed. They're already talking about getting rid of the single sanction nature of the honor code, less esteem and pedigreed. They're already talking about getting rid of the single-sanction nature of the honor code. Watering down the honor code is watering down a four-year degree at a time when the four-year degree is more expensive than it's ever been. Hey, mom and dad, send your kids to UVA. It's going to cost you

$85,000 a year to send your kids to UVA. And your kids can use ChatGBT unchecked. They can use artificial intelligence unchecked. Send your kids to UVA. We'll charge them $85,000. We've got no way to prevent ChatGBT from writing their papers and getting them through college. Isn't that what we're saying?

I mean, you're saying that the only thing stopping most UVA students from cheating is... I mean, are you trying to allege that most UVA students would cheat? I'm not trying, I didn't, why would I say that at all? I didn't, I'd never said that. I said UVA students do cheat. I didn't say most. Let me ask you a question. When you're driving your car, you have a Ford, right? A four-door red Ford sedan, right? Yeah. When you're driving your car, you have a Ford, right? A four-door red Ford sedan, right? Yeah. When you're driving your car and the speed limit is 55 miles an hour,

do you stay at 55 or do you go above 55 miles an hour? Brian Haleska camera. Brian Haleska camera. Did you get him? Just barely, I think. And the speed limit's 55 miles an hour. Do you stay under the speed limit, Judah? Rarely.

Right? The law says you're supposed to be 55 miles an hour, doesn't it? Do you drive over or under the speed limit on most times? I always drive over. Same with me? If you know you can use chat GBT and artificial intelligence unchecked, would you feel more likely to use chat GBT and

artificial intelligence? You're the guy that goes over the speed limit. Right? Yeah. If you don't have checks and balances or accountability or it's left nebulous or gray, you have the speed limit. But they've always had checks and balances at the school.

Yeah, it's called you get your ass booted. Right. And now it's not the school. Yeah, it's called you get your ass booted. Right. And now, no, now it's not the case. Give us your $85,000. We don't care if you use artificial intelligence to get your degree. Nobody's saying that, though. By not being able to police it, they're saying it.

So you would rather have an imperfect system that is going to... I would rather equip overwhelmed professors, TAs, and associate professors with the opportunity or the option to police their students at the same clip that technology is advancing. They can still use the AI detectors. But if they can't use it as evidence, they can't use them. No, that's not even the slightest bit true. Look, let's say you have 100 papers to go through. If you don't have the AI detector,

I get it. You've got a steep uphill climb. Lou Bloomfield has 500 kids in his seminar, Judah. Okay. You're going to expect the... Don't let me finish. Okay, go ahead. You're going to... Go ahead. You can run those 500, 1,000, you can run as many papers as you want through the AI detector, and that will whittle down to hopefully, hopefully, Lord willing, it's not all 500 papers are coming up

as being AI written, but hopefully you end up with what? The 5%, the 10% that cheated. Now all you have to do is prove that they cheated. Knowing those students and having potentially papers that they've written throughout the course of the course, you would have, I would imagine, teachers have been doing this for years, probably hundreds of years. A hundred years ago, they didn't have chat GBT. Is that all you're going to keep saying? That's the whole topic. All right.

A hundred years ago, you know how you cheated on a paper? You turned in somebody else's as your own. Or you had somebody else write it for you. And how does a teacher prove that somebody else wrote your paper? Because they had the other person's paper from the years previous. What if... A hundred years ago, you know how someone cheated? No, but what if you had? They caught them looking at their test. Someone else's test. Isn't that how most people cheat? All right, you win. It's not about winning. Let's use radar detectors to catch speeding,

but not allow the radar detector evidence to be used in court. Let's equip the police with the detector in a car. If you could prove it's faulty half the time, I would agree that you shouldn't use it as evidence in court. Radar detectors aren't right all the time. That's why when you go to court, the first thing you ask the judge, let me see when the last time the detector's been calibrated. And if it hasn't been calibrated in a certain amount of time,

your speeding ticket is thrown out. I've gotten out of that multiple times. Radar detectors with speeding have false positives all the time. It's called not being calibrated. That doesn't mean the court system throws out the baby with the bathwater and says no radar detector's allowed to determine if someone's speeding. You can still use radar detectors.

There's a couple of false positives with chat GBT identifying some things incorrectly. Oh, we must throw out all chat GBT detectors all across the board. Again, that's not what I said, but whatever. That's what the Honor Code Committee is saying. No, they're not. Judah, they're basically saying that professors cannot use an AI detector as evidence for cheating. That's throwing out the baby with the bathwater. No.

That's saying you... We'll agree to disagree with this. Obviously. When I went to the University of Virginia it was much more clear cut than what it is now which is way more demolish last topic this is a quick one it's 1.37pm on a Friday here this one is disheartening

whether however you feel ladies and gentlemen, about Israel and Palestine and Gaza and Hamas and this miserable effing war, the last thing you want to do, one of the last things

you want to see is police, and this happened at Virginia Commonwealth University, and students, VCU students, get into physical violence. Police were hurt, students were hurt, students were arrested.

And now protest groups are calling for the pink slip or the resignation of the president of Virginia Commonwealth University. I'm all for free speech. Huge champion of free speech. Look at the show we're doing here.

We often challenge status quo in Charlottesville on this talk show, and I think that's why you guys watch. But we've got to protect our students. The number one reason universities and colleges exist is protecting the safety of their students. No parent is going to send students to a university to attend college if the kids are not protected and safe. Number two reason is learning,

but you can't learn if you're not safe, and no parent's going to pay for you to go there if they think their kid's at risk. And earlier this week at Virginia Commonwealth University, students were at risk. I don't blame the police. I blame when you get a, you have a shed in your backyard and there's a bunch of gasoline stored in some cans and you like to smoke cigars or cigarettes around your backyard shed and you have the ability for combustibility.

You had 18, 19, and 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds that are emotional, that are still finding their way into adulthood, protesting something that needs to be protested, basically the murdering and slaughtering of children and innocent people. And their passions ran high. Police were set in to break up the protests. And now kids are hurt or hospitalized.

Police officers are hurt or hospitalized. Kids are arrested. And a president is having his position challenged. And frankly, I fear that at UVA. And I don't want to see it happen.

I don't want to see it happen. Anything you want to add to this? I'm less afraid about... This happening at UVA. Yeah. Why is that? Because of Tim Longo? I've heard reports of cops standing around looking menacing, but according to most reports, the students have been respectful.

They've complied with things they've been asked. They were asked to take down tents and they took them down. They were told not to put up signs on trees and I believe they did that and then took it down when they were confronted about it. Sounds like they're being wise about this and I'm getting pretty close to home right now cops excuse me i call them police officers police officers virginia tech and police officers vcu yeah getting real close to home now yeah but those are different places, different situations, different people.

I hope you are right. I hope you are right. I really hope you are right. And you made a very astute point on a show earlier this week. The students that are graduating from UVA this year are the same students that had their high school graduation significantly interrupted and and pretty much uh i mean disappeared yeah erased that's during covid that's the same with students graduating colleges across the united states now um and i just don't want them these guys to lose another milestone moment yeah we would hate for that to happen for any of the students. Which is an excellent point you made. Obviously, I don't think most of the students would find that a compelling reason to abandon their morals

if their morals tell them that these protests are more important. But hopefully they will be at least respectful of students who aren't as... who aren't as... Emotionally involved? Yeah. You know what's going to cause the disbandment of these protests? Besides violence?

Summer break. Yeah, in some cases. Summer break yeah in some cases summer break in some cases when kids no longer are tied here there are a lot of students who are uh who are going to school where they uh where they're from and uh i wouldn't say that's the case. Maybe not here. Most colleges, most of the students are not from the locality. A sprinkler. They have to go home somewhere, and people, students that are from Charlottesville have to come back here if they're going to school elsewhere. It's much easier to protest when you're surrounded by folks that have freedom and are looking for something to fill the day with. That's definitely true, but I think it would be foolish to expect...

And you're in close living quarters and proximity, too. I think it would be foolish to expect that the protests are going to end for the summer. Time will tell. Judah Wickower had a fantastic week on the I Love Seville show like he always does. Director and producer of the fine and fair talk show that we call the I Love Seville show. Brian Haleska did walk by.

I believe we promised them some jumping jacks. The studio camera would be a fantastic way to close the program. I can't do the jumping jacks without my partner in crime, jumping jack Judah Wickauer. We encourage everyone to go to Otto Turkish Street Food. I believe Judah's going to go there this weekend with his parents. The freshest food made each day,

Otto Turkish Street Food on Water Street. Otto Turkish Street Food. If you want to put any of their photos on screen, Judah and I have had it. It is absolutely the best street food we've ever had. It is delicious. It is a must for you this weekend. Otto Turkish

street food. Judah, after those photos are on screen, the studio camera and some jumping jacks, you should probably get these mics hot over here if you can as well. Ah, I'm stretching. Gotta get my delts. All right.

This is the Istanbul. Delicious. And let's see. We've got a photo of one of their other bowls as well let me get that real quick and and there we go that's the mezzy bowl two delicious. I tried both of them and shared them with my parents and we were all extremely happy. So, hit them up while you watch Jerry getting ready for jumping jacks. Hold on, let me turn on. You already had your shoes off, didn't you?

I think you already had your shoes off. I normally do. Yeah, I know. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 8, 9, 10. All right. That's the show. Have a good weekend, everybody. Thank you.