The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Total Homes Sold & Median Price (2016 vs 2024); $275K vs $465K Median Value (2016 vs 2024)

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Total Homes Sold & Median Price (2016 vs 2024) $275K vs $465K Median Value (2016 vs 2024) Henley Principal On Leave Pending Investigation Superintendent Dr. Haas Issues Statement Are UVA Fraternities About To Be Terminated? Value Of Frat Houses If Frats Cease To Exist? DT Mall Desegregation Exhibit Vandalized Brazos In Barracks Opening At 7am Now 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 Friday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. Last show of the week. Take a look at the screen for today's headlines. We'll talk topics that matter to you, topics that are local to you, topics that are, you know, what we think is the pulse of the community, what the community is thinking and talking about. We have a principal at Henley Middle School who is now on administrative leave. We anticipated this would be the outcome yesterday. It played out as we said it would. Dr. Haas issued a statement. We'll give credit where credit's due with Dr. Haas with the statement.

He's the superintendent of Alamore County Public Schools, of course, with the statement that he issued, which was a handful of paragraphs. An interim principal is in the works, Crystal Beasley at Henley. And now we try to figure out what's next in store for the largest middle school in Albemarle County. I'm going to talk real estate today. We'll lead the show with that. Fantastic data from Real Talk with Keith Smith this morning. We had Dave Norris, Greg Slater, and of course, Keith Smith in the studio. Greg Slater, fantastic realtor, the chair of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors Foundation. It's a nonprofit. The executive director is Dave realtor, the chair of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors Foundation. It's a nonprofit. The executive director is Dave Norris, the former mayor

of the city of Charlottesville. And both Slater and Norris were in here as we were talking housing affordability. And as we talked how from 2016, the median value of a home was $275,000. To now, 2024, the median value of a home is $465,000. That's a 70% increase median values in, what, eight years. The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors footprint. We'll show you that data and talk about what that means for this community. Also on the program, we will talk fraternities at the University of Virginia. Look, it's no secret that fraternity life at UVA is in the microscope, is in the crosshairs.

And hazing and the political climate have made fraternities at schools like UVA very vulnerable. A handful of fraternities, because of hazing, have had their charters terminated. I'm going to ask this question, what is the future of fraternities at a school like the University of Virginia, then I think the natural next question is what will happen to the homes of these fraternities, the massive mansions, right on Rugby Road, right near grounds, if these fraternities are forever evaporated vanished

decommissioned charters terminated I was a Phi Kappa Psi University of Virginia fraternity member that's the massive White House on Rugby Road at the end of the Mad Bowl

the fraternity that got caught up in the Rolling Stone reporting that turned out to be completely false and fabricated. These houses, many of them are in need of tremendous repair. I mean, to say that they need to be repaired is a significant understatement. I remember when I lived in the fraternity house my third and fourth year standing on soup cans in the shower because the plumbing wouldn't drain appropriately, and I didn't want my skin to touch the water that was lingering for weeks, if not months, in our showers. So we stand on the large size, not the regular size Campbell's soup cans,

but the large family size soup cans for a little more lift. But it's all about location, location, location. And these houses have appeal with their history, with their aesthetic, with their close proximity to grounds, to city. And I'm curious what the value of these fraternities are, the structure, the real estate, to the University of Virginia and to potentially the market, to investors, to developers, to landlords, to folks that want to cater to student housing where they can optimize profit margins by renting individual rooms for $1,500, $2,000 a month to students

because it's mommy and daddy that are paying for them. So we'll talk about that on the Friday edition of today's talk show. We'll talk today Brazos Tacos opening in Barracks Road for breakfast. Is it every day at 7 a.m.? Yeah. Wow. Brazos is figuring out the labor issue. Brazos, a 7 a.m. breakfast opening in Barracks Road Shopping Center,

their second location, and unfortunately a downtown mall desegregation art exhibit was vandalized. I mean, the scummiest of the scum. This is the type of scum that is right there with the guy who goes into Sentara Martha Jefferson

Hospital wearing a white lab coat with a paper bag that he says is an explosive device, leaves it in the hospital, and then sprints out the door to terrify hospital workers and patients. Why you would do that? I don't know.

Judah Wickower on a two-shot. Real talk with Keith Smith. I want to go over this data point, the data that we discussed today. You have, I believe, this graph that we can put on screen. If you could put that on screen for us. And for those that are listening and not watching, we're showing data, the comparison of total homes sold and median sales prices for the first six months of the year, 2016 through 2024. So this is data tied to the first half of each year, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

It shows units sold, including new construction, and it shows median values. I want to highlight the bottom line first, the trend. From 2016, the first half of the year, in 2016, the median value was $275,000. In 2024, the median value was $465,000, roughly a 70% increase. Interestingly, the units sold for the first half of the year in 2016 was 1,712 units. In 2024, it was 1,735 units. Your interest rate is significantly more costly this year than it was in 2016. 2016, your interest rate was probably in the 4% to 5% range.

That number, two points, two and a half points higher in the 7% range. So despite the cost of housing increasing by 70%, median value, and despite the interest rate environment being two to two and a half points more expensive, units are moving, equity is growing, values are increasing. Judah Wickauer, we can put the first and second, lower third on as you and I unpack this topic. I asked Keith Smith, Greg Slater, Dave Norris,

stewards of this community, this question. Does this trend, a 70% increase in median value, is it a reflection of a strong Charlottesville, Alamaro County, and Central Virginia economy? Is it a reflection of a housing affordability crisis? County and Central Virginia economy? Is it a reflection of a housing affordability crisis? Is this something to champion or is this something to call as a point of concern? I'm curious of your take on this and I'll offer some thoughts of my own I mean I would say it's

a cause for concern but I know far less than the hallowed minds on our earlier show in terms of affordability it's clearly not helping the everyday people looking to get into a house around here.

I highlighted on the show earlier today, Weldon Cooper predicts the population to increase by 40,000 people by the year 2050. If we have that kind of population influx, you would expect demand to continue to rise. We also have CNBC calling Virginia the top state to do business in the nation, third time in five years that Virginia's gotten that award. We have the University of Virginia being recognized and accoladed as a new Ivy League school,

the University of Virginia expanding enrollment, the Data Science School, the Paul Manning Biotech Institute, the Amazon Investment, Louisa County, $11 billion, Northrop Grumman, $250 million factory in Waynesboro, the $58 million Rivanna Station purchased by Almaro County, a deal done with Wendell Wood to keep the defense sector firmly planted in Almaro on the Greene County line as factors or as reasoning

of why these values will continue to uptick. Anybody watching the Summer Olympics will probably be hearing at least a little bit about UVA. Another great point right there from Judah Wickauer. A lot of, I mean, how many other schools in the U.S. have as many people going to the Olympics as UVA? Great question. Great statement.

Bloomberg called the Charlottesville area top 20 in the nation for remote and hybrid work. Dave Norris made this point. Look, it's no secret. The communities that have the best kind of housing affordability are the communities that are suffering with their economies. You want some housing affordability? You go to a community that doesn't have a strong economy where where people don't want to work, live, and play there. Ask yourself this question.

The crossroads of 70% increase in median value and housing affordability. Which side of the aisle do you want to sit on? And here's another question I have for you. Is it with social media, often the line in the sand is you have to pick, am I on this side of the line or on that side of the line? Can we be both? Can we be, we want our homes to increase. You're a homeowner.

I'm a homeowner. We want our homes to increase 70 You're a homeowner. I'm a homeowner. We want our homes to increase 70% in value in eight years. But we also want to have workforce housing in our community because we know with workforce housing, we'll be able to have teachers, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, food and beverage personnel living in the community because we need strong educational systems strong schools we need strong police strong firefighting strong emts and we want personnel to live in our community that can work at the restaurants which is one of the reasons why we love living here the restaurant the music yeah i think this is a case of be careful what you wish for. Natural growth is a good thing, but when it gets out of control, it doesn't really benefit anyone.

Yes, like you said, we all want our home price to go up, our home's worth to go up. But, you know, ultimately, if you're, the kind of environment that creates is not conducive to, you know, to being able to, I think, take advantage of that to the best that you can. Obviously, your house might be worth more, but when you go to buy another house, your overall value hasn't, you know, it's like if you're making more money, but the value of the dollar is lower.

Dave Norris also was quick to point out, wages have not kept up with this kind of increase in value. Yeah. Then I added to it, not only have wages not kept up with this increase in value, how about some grocery shopping? How about putting some gas in your tank? How about having a balance on your credit card

with the rates higher now versus 2016? Everything's more expensive. Yeah. Sarah Williams watching on YouTube, she said a single teacher cannot even buy a home in the county. They have to get a second or third job to be able to afford to live in the county they're serving. No doubt. How about the firefighters? Sarah, I appreciate that comment. How about the firefighters? How about the police? How about the EMTs? Yeah. How about our beloved restaurants looking for labor? Folks can't afford to work there. Can't afford to live in the county where they work. How about all the pools in the area that are open but are hurting for lifeguards? City and county have openly said we need lifeguards if we want to fully open the pools that serve the community at their full capacity hour-wise. We can't do that now. And the schools are once again wondering how they're

going to get enough bus drivers for the beginning of next year. Bus drivers are an issue. I'll ask the question again. Can you say you want your homes to increase 70% in value and be all in favor of that? We all want our homes to increase in value. And also be a housing affordability advocate. That's a tough one. Very tough question. Very tough question. Very tough question.

I found the data compelling. That's why we pass it along to you, the viewers and listeners. If you want a master class on what's going on, listen to the morning talk show. It was excellent. Greg Slater and Dave Norris were excellent. I want to head to the next topic. Dr. Matthew Haas issues a lengthy statement on the Henley Middle School principal who was arrested. Yeah. Not only a lengthy statement, action was taken.

She was positioned on, Neil and Kevin, I'll get to your comments in a matter of moments. Logan Wells, Claylow, hello, thank you for joining us. The Henley Middle School principal was put on administrative leave. Kevin Higgins says, and the teachers pay on average $300 annually out of their own pockets for school supplies as well. Neil Williamson shares a link to the Free Enterprise Forum, and it's a link on making products or making beds is the headline. A Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce recently released a 2011 jobs report. Before I get to the Henley Middle School teacher story,

Dr. Haas's response, and ask the question, should this principal have been hired in the first place? I want to offer some commentary on the first topic. John Blair, I'll get to your years in Charlottesville, and I think our economy in the 24 years I've been here is probably stronger than it's ever been right now, than I've seen in 24 years. You have, find me a category of business that's struggling right now, Charlottesville-wise. You can make the argument that the food and beverage categories has some headwinds because of labor, right? But can you say that the food and beverage business doesn't have incredible demand?

Of course it has incredible demand. We're also seeing a lot of success in certain businesses. Everywhere. 24 years, I've seen the strongest economy right now. You want some housing affordability, okay. But an economy that's this strong is not going to breed a housing affordability. And a university that continues to get accolades

and continues to get stronger and continues to expand enrollment is going to be a major player in what's happening with housing. UVA is expanding its curriculum offerings left and right, biotech,

data science, and expanding enrollment. You've got a community that is, right now, the most expensive time to buy a house, interest rate-wise, value-wise, and the homes are trading left and right in no time. Multiple offer scenarios.

Are there less of them? Sure. But the ones that are coming to market are trading in no time. Just careful what you wish for. Careful what you wish for. Careful what you wish for. This is from LinkedIn. If you have anything to add, jump in the mix, please. I like when we have the back and forth banter. Mr. John Blair, number two in the family,

I disagree with Mr. Norris. Stanton's real estate market is much more affordable than Charlottesville's. The Stanton economy is not struggling. The median home price is $352,000. Also think, pushing back on Mr. Blair's comment a little bit there, I also think Stanton doesn't have nearly the demand that Charlottesville does. No. It's definitely not a one-to-one.

Apples to apples comparison. A city's economy doesn't have to be in the you-know-what in order to have housing affordability, but it certainly, I think it's often the case. If the economy is strong, which gets more people that want to move here, of course that's going to erode affordability. Yeah. that's going to erode affordability. That's a cocktail party conversation. In 2016, the median value for the first half of the year was $275,000. In 2024, the median value was $465,000.

All right. We promised the viewers and listeners the Henley story. Sarah Hill Buchinski is in the real estate game, and she says, I was not an economics major, but I don't think 70% home value increase in housing affordability, workforce housing is realistic. The laws of supply and demand. I don't, I say, I've said this so many times here

I think housing affordability is just I'm choosing my words carefully here it's just she uses the word unrealistic I don't think it's realistic you don't think housing affordability is realistic

she says it might be nice to want both but that's not going to happen I agree I don't think it's realistic. You don't think housing affordability is realistic? She says it might be nice to want both, but that's not going to happen. I agree. I don't think it's realistic. Yeah. How is it realistic? And you very intelligently highlighted the Carlton trailer part. $7 million for a trailer park.

And if they get that, if they get the land for $7 million, I think most people would agree that they're getting it for a steal, especially considering what you could put down there if you really wanted to. $7 million for that trailer park is a steal. A steal. Yeah. million dollars for that trailer park is steel a steel yeah and anyone that thinks that they're a new owner is likely to keep that a trailer park i i just can't see it happening sadly um you've got to feel for the people that have lived there empathize 100% because that's the rung right above

housing crisis for these 60 families I mean I would say that's yeah you've got a piece of property that's dependent on you know the person that owns the land and it's not the kind of thing that you can what like that's dependent on the person that owns the land.

And it's not the kind of thing that you can... That's the free market version of a land trust. Yeah. The trailer park is the free market version of a land trust. And if you've got to move, where do you move? How do you move? You own the house, but you don't earn the dirt. Yeah. You can sell the house, but you don't earn the dirt. Yeah.

You can sell the house, but you can't sell the dirt. I think I saw somebody mentioning it would be nice if Habitat for Humanity bought the land. Or I don't know if there's a special term for that, but obviously that would be a godsend to all the people living there. I don't know if it will happen. Sarah Williams says, if we're not careful, we're going to lose so many teachers to Northern Virginia who pays more and can live, and then the teachers can just live in Culpeper and commute there. And she says, but can a FHA individual compete in the fast home turn over market in homes? And she highlights what Kevin said about the $300 of out-of-pocket pay for supplies in the schools.

So true. I know mine does as well. Sarah, we love when you watch on YouTube. We're at the tip of the iceberg. The tip, folks. If you want to put the lower thirds on there for the Henley Middle School teacher, the principal, not teacher, principal. What's your take on this? I want to give Haas props. Haas issued a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 paragraph statement, the superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools. The principal, LaRuth Ensley, is on administrative leave. We don't know with pay or without pay.

If you had to guess with or without pay, what would you guess? I don't know. How does pay for principals and teachers work over the summer? I honestly don't know. I think a principal is paid because they are doing work during the summer

much more regularly. I would say she's on administrative leave with pay, pending investigation. I would say she's on administrative leave with pay, pending investigation. I would guess that too. Because they want to hedge risk in case of a lawsuit. Yeah. The interim principal is the former vice principal, Crystal Beasley.

I had this link sent to me by a number of people. A number of people, viewers and listeners, sent me this. And it's a screenshot of a Richmond Times Dispatch article that highlights the Roof Ensley was charged with misdemeanor assault years ago in Henrico. She filed a similar charge against Huguenot High School Principal Jafar Barakat, which was her partner. Evidently, the Ensley and Barakat had a confrontation in Panera Bread, the shops at Willow Lawn years ago.

That's what folks are asking, was this the right person for the job, knowing the previous track record? I think that's a fair question. Yeah, I think it's a fair question, but I think that's a fair question. Yeah, I think it's a fair question. But, I mean, do we know the outcome of that case? And considering the fact that it wasn't involving kids,

I can kind of understand how it could have been overlooked. Or at least, what's the right word? Forgiven? The kids part makes it so tough to have a conversation about it. Their kids were transferred. It was a meeting in the Panera Bread, in front of the Panera Bread,

the Willow Lawn, the Willow Lawn shops, where they were transferring their children. I want to give Haas props by saying thank you for the statement. Yeah. I think it was necessary, especially I'm sure there were a lot. I'm sure all the parents were up in arms and wanting to know more information.

100%. And I think he covered his bases without throwing the principal under the bus, which is obviously the right thing to do considering that the case is ongoing and she hasn't been convicted of anything. Sarah Williams just highlighted that. You're innocent until you're proven guilty. Innocent until proven guilty. We saw the guy who was charged with something On the Rivanna Trail.

Inappropriately touching women on the trail. And his job suspended him. The owner of where he was living, I believe, started the process, at least, of evicting him. And imagine if he'd actually lost his job and got kicked out of his apartment rental, whatever it was. I mean, I would say that's definitely a call for seeking damages. Innocent until proven guilty is what he's highlighting. That's how it works, 100%. we're getting DMs sent to us now

you saw that I'm not sure that's entirely relevant to the story at hand yeah To the story at hand. Yeah. You want to dot the I's and cross the T's on this? I don't think we should reference that DM, though. I appreciate the DM being sent to us, but I don't think we should reference that because of what you said.

Yeah. I think all we can do is wait find out what happens with the trial I'm sure that what should be the principle of Henley again you know I think this is this is going to call into

question like you said, past charges. I wouldn't be surprised if more and more parents start raising questions of whether she is the right person for this job. But I honestly couldn't say. Fair. I appreciate that. I'll say this. Someone who, and the Rivanna Trail situation was a perfect example. Innocent until proven guilty.

Let's see how the investigation plays out. But I do commend Albemarle County to jumping on this quickly. I commend Dr. Haas by saying in his statement, this did not apply to students of Albemarle County to jumping on this quickly. I commend Dr. Haas by saying in his statement, this did not apply to students of Albemarle County Public Schools or happen at Henley at all. We're going to let the investigation play out and we're going to monitor the situation, but she's on administrative leave.

I would imagine it's with pay. Do I think she's going to be the principal of Henley again? I would say most likely not. If I was a betting person. Yeah, I think that's going to be the principal of Henley again? I would say most likely not. If I was a betting person. Yeah, I think that's fair too. But she's entitled to this playing out appropriately within the court system. Another perception media circus is happening before our eyes, not just this Henley Principal situation,

but fraternities at the University of Virginia are being terminated aggressively because of hazing. Theta Chi, Phi Kappa Alpha, Pi Lambda Phi, Sigma Alpha Mu, all in the crossfire at UVA. I was a fraternity guy at UVA, a Phi Kappa Psi. I unquestionably was hazed. Was willing to go through it. Some fraternity brothers were not. Today's student,

maybe it's social media, where word gets out much quicker. When I was doing it, word wasn't gotten out. It was much more in the DL. Hazing is just not accepted in any capacity now. 20 years ago, it was the norm.

Whether it's swallowing goldfish, streaking sororities, staying up for a week without sleeping, cleaning trash, drinking skunky keg beer, doing wall sits, push-ups, having hot sauce put all over our bodies in the most unmentionable places. This is what years, if not decades, of pledges did.

Called paying your dues, called pledging. Now paying your dues and pledging, to say it's not tolerated, it's an understatement. In a lot of cases, it's completely against the law. Yeah, because I think there's a difference between paying your dues and some of the things that go on with hazing. There's a clear divide where some of that stuff, I mean,

you may have a different perspective on this, but I tend to feel like people in charge of hazing, at least the kind of hazing that results in people getting seriously injured or worse, there's something wrong with those people. I mean, at some point you have to say, look, what are you, these are human beings. Do you disagree? I mean, I, I get that there's a, a, I get the, uh, the underlying idea of bonding people together. But, uh, I think at some point you have to say, look, this is a bridge too far. You've taken it past the realm of bonding,

and it's now sadism. Okay, fair. I think anything, I think when you get 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22-year-olds in a group setting, in a house that they think they own, they do own, their fraternities own, and without supervision, when people are drinking heavily, potentially doing drugs, mindsets and common sense and rationale can shift quickly or be non-existent at all. And you throw in the history of what a lot of these people have done. It happened to me, so it's got to happen to you. Right.

And you get otherwise very normal, very rational, very rational, very common sense oriented young men making terrible decisions. Mob mentality is a terrifying thing. Seen it firsthand, experienced it firsthand, been through it firsthand. The fraternity world ecosystem at UVA and a lot of universities and colleges is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Which may be a good thing.

If you don't have pledges and you can't up membership, then you can't collect dues, then you don't have fraternity. On top of that, today's political climate of old boys clubs steeped in tradition and money and history are becoming more taboo than they are the norm and acceptable. So I ask this question. If we're heading to a world where fraternities are even marginal. When I was at UVA from 2000 to 2004,

fraternity life, Greek life, was less than a third of the university. I would imagine that number has fallen even more. If fraternity and sorority life become marginalized and distant and diminished even more, what happens to the houses, the mansions? What happens to the real estate? What happens to these structures that are rich in history and more importantly have the best locations possible?

The houses that are around Rugby Road and the Mad Bull, a large, large majority of them are fraternity and sorority houses. Who buys those? Will we see the University of Virginia expand its real estate holdings along Rugby Road and scoop these up? Probably. Will we see these turn into housing for students? I don't know. Will they turn into classrooms? Will they turn into curriculum or academic environments for support staff? What's going

to happen to the housing? Can the free market get its hands on them? I will say this. Our house, the Phi Kappa Psi, the house at the end of the Mabel, was a house owned by the fraternity. It was owned by the local chapter. This house is so deep in tradition. Woodrow Wilson, a member in this house, the president. In our composite, where we took photos of all the brothers by year, by class, the composites that hung on the walls of the fraternity, Woodrow Wilson's picture in the dead center of every composite. Because we were proud that Wilson was a fraternity member of Phi Kappa Psi. So I ask you this question. What happens to the real estate?

Much of the real estate is decrepit. It's falling down. To say it's remodeling is an understatement. Many of the fraternities don't have the financial, the capital coffers for improvement projects. Many of the fraternities may be in a position where they can no longer upkeep their house, especially if fraternity membership is falling and if the dues base is not there for upkeep. One of the things that saved our house was the settlement from Rolling Stone that could be utilized that was then invested back into the fraternity structure-wise, roof-wise, HVAC-wise. You look at that house now, Phi Psi, and you see railing on the roof. Crazy. What a crazy story. We used to, as second, third, and fourth years, climb to the roof of Phi

Kappa Psi, the house that's at the end of the Mad Bull. We would climb literally a ladder onto the roof of our house, and we would party, invite girls, get hammered up there. Brothers of mine woke up the next morning on that roof. There was no railing around the roof at the time.

It was a flat surface that was like, a flat surface akin to like, I'll compare it to a sports reference, a basketball court. You have the paint, the rectangle, where folks line up outside during a free throw. NBA, you can't stand it for three seconds. College basketball, five seconds. It was akin to a little larger version of the paint that we would just hang out in something that size, a dozen of us, and some kids would literally wake up there the next morning.

If they had rolled left or right, they're tumbling four or five stories. Was it flat and then tilted to the edge? Flat and then tilted down. And if you roll off the flat point and tilt down, you're falling four or five stories, you will die. You would be dead. Yeah, no doubt. So I'm, I'm, you know, a conversation

for your cocktail party. What happens to the houses if they, if, if fraternity and sorority life continues to be diminished or it continues to be, uh, politicized, continues to be in the crosshairs of civil and legal suits. Yeah. If university judiciary committees and student affair committees deem the behavior of fraternity men, and I mean, particularly for fraternity men, against the honor code or against the law. I mean, you're looking at real estate that is worth millions, if not...

I mean, some of those houses, you may be looking at something that's close to $10 million in value per house. Certainly $5 million. Yeah, because those are big houses. And the dirt. And the million. Yeah, because those are big houses. And the dirt and the location. Yeah. I mean, a house of, you're talking 20,000 square feet homes here. Right.

You're talking homes that have enough bedrooms for 18 to 20 people to live there. You could make some good money. In our house, in Fisai, there was, on the third floor, there was one, two, three,

four, five, six, seven people living on the third floor. I would bet you 10 to 12 people living on the second floor. Three or four people living on the main level

in a kitchen in the basement with a massive hangout area. I mean 20 people easily you're talking 5 to 10 million dollars for some of these houses. What is going to happen

to that? What would they be repurposed into? I mean I think it all depends. Like you said some of them probably need so much work that it's not even worth renovating them. Others, maybe it is. And I also think it depends who gets their hands on them. I could definitely see developers turning those into, you know, turning into sectioned offoff apartment houses. I mean, that's what we had a lot of in Charlottesville.

I mean, in Savannah, where just like two-, three-, four-story houses where each floor was rented out separately. And it worked great. I'll throw this to you here. What type of housing in the city of Charlottesville commands the most rent per square foot? Outside of Stonefield Barracks and Class A retail, you're probably looking at renting to students. I'll rephrase here so I'm very accurate with what I'm saying. What type of residential housing gets the most money

in the city of Charlottesville? It's student housing because the parents are paying for it. They can afford it. The flats, the apartment towers on West Main, $1,500 to $2,000 a room.

You take a fraternity house on Rugby Road and convert it into 20 rentals. 20 rentals at $2,000 a month. I mean, you're looking at $40,000 a month, $480,000 a year. It's a heck of an investment. Heck of an investment. Heck of an investment. You get half a million dollars a year in rent roll on something that you're paying five to six million dollars for. In 10 years, 11 years, 12 years, of course there's going to be maintenance, additional costs. You've covered what you paid. Plus the appreciation. What will those turn into?

We all realize what fraternities are becoming at UVA. That's a legitimate question we should be wondering. And who's going to target them? All right, a couple other topics before we get out of here. You highlight the downtown mall desegregation art exhibit that was vandalized, and then we'll talk Brazos and we'll get out. If you've been down, I believe it's, let's see, third, in front of the old, in fact, the art exhibit is a direct reference to the side entrance to the Paramount.

Because for those who don't know, that little ticket window on 3rd Street was where black people formerly had to buy their tickets if they wanted to go to the theater at Paramount. So this art exhibit, I'm going to try to describe it. It's like a large tarp with a photo printed on it of people moving past the brick wall. It's been hung between, I believe, three trees. That building where on the side street across from Fleury,

it was for sale at one time. Before we bought this storefront it used to be, it was for sale at one time. Before we bought this storefront for our studio, I looked at purchasing that. I think the asking price was like three, somewhere between three and $400,000. It's an extremely tiny room. Okay.

Extremely tiny. It might've even been a real estate office at one time. It was either a real estate or architecture office at one time. That's the place with the ticket window? Yeah. And the Paramount bought that, but that was for sale. I think it was three or 400,000. Wow. We ended up buying this storefront eight. I looked at the amortization schedule the other day, the table, I think it were on payment. We just did payment 84 of 120 for this storefront. And it was, this was half the price of that one. And I thought offered more visibility. It was three X the size inside and had the drive by traffic and the proximity to the parking garage. So we went with this one plus, of course, the price. Now it doesn't have the proximity to the mall of being across from Fleury, but we're pretty darn close here. But I didn't know the history. Go ahead and

finish your thought. I didn't know that was the entry point for African-Americans who wanted to go to the Paramount. I didn't even think it was an entry point. They just weren't allowed to, that was where they had to buy their tickets. They couldn't buy them at the regular window. And so, and the thing, you know, I think we may be reading more into this. I don't know that the, I don't know that the exhibit is so, what's the word I'm looking for, is so obvious what its purpose is if you don't know the background of the story. But I'm not sure why else somebody would vandalize. And it wasn't just vandalized.

When we say vandalized, it's not like somebody came up and spray-painted it or drew mustaches on faces or anything like that. Somebody came and cut the thing down and and I'm guessing stole it. All that was left were the corners that were tied to the trees. And so I believe they're working on creating a new one to put up that will be easier to take down at the end of the day and put back up to hopefully avoid another attempt at vandalism. And do you have to protect it?

Sadly. Sadly, right? Yeah. Oof. All right, we close with the Brazos news. Open for breakfast at 7 a.m. in Barracks Road Shopping Center. Props to Brazos for expanding their hours. Yeah.

I don't know specifically what they're doing right, but we mentioned earlier that there are some businesses that are just, that are still killing it. There's, what was it? Who was it? There was a local... Roots Natural Kitchen. Yeah, Roots is expanding. who was it there was a a local roots natural kitchen yeah roots is is probably your most successful restaurant ever founded in charlesville roots natural kitchen yeah if memory serves 13

locations now two uva alumni launched the first roots on the uva corner now they have 13 locations in the mid-atlantic on the eastern seaboard, including three in Richmond. That's probably your most successful Charlottesville-based or Charlottesville-birthed restaurant brand. We've also got our good friend of the show, Dino, who's not only opened a successful

pizza place in Dairy Market. He's expanded that business to Crozet at Pro Renata. We also should highlight Pro Renata. Expanding. And then has also opened two Moothroos now, as well as a pasta place. Pasta, pasta.

Dr. John Shabe expanding the Pro Renata brand into downtown Stanton, into the Shandoa Valley, and of course in Crozet. So there's folks in F&B that are having success. Brazos also appears to be another one. They start at Ick's Park. Now they open in Barracks Road Shopping Center. Maybe the most expensive rent district. Let's say the most expensive rent district in the city of Charlottesville.

Expanding the hours, an island pad restaurant, now open for breakfast at 7am. Breakfast and espresso drinks. Amazing. It's great. Wish them all success. Props and kudos to Brasos for the 7am breakfast and espresso drinks. Judah Wickauer, yours truly, Jerry Miller, on the Friday edition of the I Love Seville show. Judah Wickhauer, the Elmer's glue of this network.

Closing thoughts? It's been a crazy week. Wish everyone a great weekend and enjoy this rain. We need it. Hopefully we'll get more than a few inches, and it'll help with the drought conditions we've been experiencing. Perfect way to close. For Judah, I'm Jerry Miller.

Thank you kindly for joining us. So long. Thank you.