The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Tourism Improvement District - Hotels Funding; Is A Convention Center A Realty In Near Future?

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Tourism Improvement District – Hotels Funding Is A Convention Center A Realty In Near Future? Dewberry “Call For Offers” 1/9 – What’s Happened? Public Lands Out, Dick’s House Of Sports In Details On What Dick’s House Of Sports Will Offer SMU (12-4, 3-2) at UVA (8-8, 1-4), 9PM, ACCN Verve Apartments: 729K+ SQF, 463 Apts, 1,332 Beds Mitch Korte, Executive VP Development, On 1/22 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.

I don't care. Don't care? Okay. Good Wednesday afternoon, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Civo show. It's been a busy morning today for the shop, for our firm. On the phone for about 45 minutes with a local real estate attorney,

offering some consultation and some perspective on a business brokerage transaction that's materializing. A little bit of real estate associated with said business brokerage transaction. I'm excited for that news to break in February. We will allow our clients to break that news on our platform. And institutional business trading hands, a deal that we are personally brokering right here in our building, the Mackle Building in downtown Charlottesville. I love what I do.

And why I love what I do is every day is completely different. I met this morning with a retired Albemarle County Board of Supervisor right here in the office with some plans we are discussing about a potential new show on the I Love Seville Network. That's exciting. Spent an hour catching up with this retired Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. Then following that meeting, a 45-minute phone call with a closing attorney, with a real estate attorney, about a business brokerage transaction. The lease associated with it. This afternoon, we got a phone call with a local, actually, is it an in-person meeting at 2.30 right? He's coming in. An in-person

meeting with a local builder and developer at 2.30 to offer some consultation with said developer and builder about navigating the headwinds here in Charlottesville and Alamaro County red tape wise policy wise politically

and how this particular builder and developer could potentially gain some more market share with their type of of of business model which is unique so every day is different um in the meantime uh in between these meetings and and and while trying to come up with content to host the show i got a a tip earlier in the week to kind of ask some questions of what's coming to 5th Street Station with public lands no more. The climbing wall at public lands in 5th Street Station is currently on ice, at least for the time being. Dicks in public lands, brother and sister businesses, public lands, an offshoot brand of Dick's. And corporate has said, look, we're going to put public lands and we're going to set it to pasture. We're going to put it six feet under and put it in the cemetery.

And we're going to take our Dick's brand and we're going to expand it even more. So Dick's is going to be rebranded Dick's House of Sports. And Dick's House of Sports is going to take all of the space of public lands. And Dick's House of Sports is going to be a 100,000 square foot retail store in Fifth Street Station. Public lands was underachieving. One of the reasons it was underachieving, the clothing, the attire, the weaponry, the knives, the kayaks,

everything in there was entirely too expensive. It was being commoditized by the internet and cannibalized by the internet. Dix has decided to shut down public lands and expand Dix and rebrand it into House of Sports. And it's going to create an omni-experiential retail experience.

Batting cages, golf simulators, a track for running, and eventually, at the end of this year, a larger and more improved climbing wall at Dick's House of Sports. They're going to take the next 10 months to close public lands and remodel the space. I have more intel for you on this. There are some Dick's... Is the connection good? We're up and running? Things are good?

Okay. There are some Dick's in New is the connection good? We're up and running? Things are good? Okay. There are some dicks in New York and Pennsylvania, House of Sports, that even have ice skating rinks in them. You heard me correctly, ice skating rinks. This one on Fifth Street Station will not have an ice skating rink, but I have more details of what you can expect on Dick's House of Sports. A lot we're going to cover on the program, including information from yesterday's interview. I thought the interview yesterday with Travis Wilburn was compelling. He was

cool. He was calm. He was collected. He was compelling. His commentary, just absolutely fantastic. And one of the items from yesterday that struck me was the hotel years in Charlottesville and Alamaro County are currently meeting and planning and chatting and convening about a tourism improvement district where there could be a portion, some hotel tax allocated to the funding and creation of a convention center in the near future for the Charlottesville-Almoral area. I want to unpack that. I had a feeling much of what was covered yesterday, I thought the interview was great. A lot of it I, you know, was privy to already. I was not, was not privy to the Tourism Improvement District information that Travis Wilburn passed along on the record on the talk show yesterday. So I want to unpack that and relay it to you. I also want to talk on today's program, this Dewberry Hotel,

the 9th of January, which is now, what, about a week ago. The call for offers was the 9th of January. Have we heard anything on the call for offers for the steel skeleton on the downtown mall? Let's talk about that on today's program.

We'll also chatter on today's show, Virginia basketball. SMU, the Ponies, are in Charlottesville right now. 9 o'clock tip-off, John Paul Jones Arena. The SMU Mustangs are a five-and-a-half point favorite in what is a critically important game for Ron Sanchez. If he loses this game, he falls to 8-9 and below.500 on the year and 1-5 in conference play. on the year and 1-5 in conference

play. And if you go 1-5 in conference play, the Ron Sanchez experiment will officially be kaput. Kaput, Judah? Is it kaput? Kaput? Is that Yiddish? Kaput? Something like that. Is that? Are we

reintroducing the Yiddish word of the day? On behalf of Deep Throat and Judah Wickhauer, who's a Yiddish virtuoso? Kaput? I wouldn't say reintroducing. I love the Yiddish word of the day. You want to bring it back in the mix? If you want me to. Yiddish word of the day.

All right. Lonnie Murray, welcome to the broadcast. Which headline is most intriguing to you? And then we'll highlight Charlottesville Sanitary Supply on the Wednesday edition of the I Love Seaball show. What intrigues you the most today, J-Dubs? I'm intrigued by Dick's expanding

and bringing some pretty cool fun enhancements to the store. Batting cages, golf simulators, a larger climbing wall, a track, a significantly larger foot shoe offering.

They're going balls to the wall, putt intended, with the omni-experiential concept. They want folks to come into their store 100,000 square feet. This could be the large, is 100,000 square feet the largest store square feet wise in Alamaro County in the city of Charlottesville? Literally, that's a question for you, the viewer and listener. Which retailer in Charlottesville City and Alamaro County has more than 100,000 square feet? I mean, it's got to be one of the grocery stores, right? You got to think the grocery stores Wegmans and Teeter and Kroger are cracking 100,000 square feet. But besides the grocery store, is there

any other retailer that's over 100,000 square feet? But Dick's is literally going to encourage in October when it opens of this year, the consumer to come in to its brick and mortar and literally try on, play, hit, use their equipment before buying it. It's smart. It's something that the internet cannot offer. They may be able to beat you on price. Yeah. something that the internet cannot offer. They may be able to beat you on price, but they're not going to give you the opportunity for instant gratification and come into the store and hit a bat, hit a baseball with the bat you're considering purchasing,

the two or three bats you're considering buying, or the driver, the Callaway Big Bertha, or the tailor-made driver. Which one do you want to buy? Go to the golf simulator and try them both before you make a purchase. You like those shoes? Try them on before you climb that wall. Before you run on that track.

The New York and Pennsylvania Dicks House of Sports have legitimate ice skating rinks inside them. That's cool. Very cool. We'll give some love to another fantastic retailer. The Vermillions. John and Andrew Vermillion, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. East High Street, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply,

online at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com. Support the businesses you want to see make another 60 years. They're 60 years in, three generations, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. I would love to see another 60 years in six generations. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, support these businesses, folks. If you want the community to stay local and charming and have nostalgia and have good community service, you support businesses like Charlottesville Sanitary Supply.

John Blair, great to see you yesterday. Very much enjoy everything about your family. Thank you for watching the program. Lonnie Murray, I'll get to your comment in a matter of moments. Kevin Yancey, I'll get to your comment in a matter of moments here. I think the lead of the show, Judah, will put you on a two-shot. The Travis Wilburn interview yesterday, fantastic. I hope Travis is watching and hears this. He offered compelling commentary on what he was doing from, say, Charlottesville standpoint, the 100 collection standpoint. Charlottesville Insider, his marketing platform.

I legitimately have watched Travis. I first arrived in Charlottesville in 2000. He first arrived in Charlottesville in 2000. We've both been in this community nearly 25 years. I watched Travis go from someone who sold ads in the Seville Weekly in a print product doing business development for Bill Chapman to jogging with Bill Chapman, the owner of the Seville Weekly, the co-founder of the Seville Weekly, frankly, with friend Hall Spencer, to launching an Airbnb at his house, saying, I can turn this into a business, and now behind the scenes, one of the power players in our community. We heard from him the rise of the current executive director

of the Charlottesville-Almoral Airport. The executive director, a fresh face, started as a security guard of the airport and has worked their way up to the director position i mean talk about professional manifest destiny going from a security guard all the way up to executive director of an airport he highlighted the airport needs to return to what it was before covid it currently is a shadow of its former self. It's just not having the customer base nor the routes offered like it once had. And he said, if the airport can return to its former form, you could start having legitimate conversations about a convention center, which will help this community with Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

filling up the vacant hotel rooms. They have no problem for the weekends. The weekends, they can charge $400, $500, $600 a night. But early week, midweek, many of these hotel rooms are just collecting dust and certainly are not catering to customers and patrons. So the topic that came up that I found extremely intriguing was this tourism improvement district where the hotel years in Charlottesville and Albemarle County are literally convening and meeting, and they're talking about ways where they could potentially fund,

Travis's words, a convention center in our community. Elliot Harding, the Esquire, a very sharp political mind, Elliot Harding, helped him find some office space, friend of the program, Elliot Harding. He suggested the convention center over at Walnut Creek down Fifth Street Extended, not a bad location, close to the interstate, five minutes from downtown Charlottesville. Travis said, that's not a bad spot. He said, little known secret, a lot of folks didn't realize that a convention center was part of Keith Woodard's plans for his Water Street project. Keith Woodard, there's two Keith Woodards in this community. Both of them are in real estate. Both of them are in commercial and both of them do

development. Both of them do a lot of moving and shaking. The first Keith Woodard, the one that was tied to the Water Street project is the one from Woodard Properties. His son, Anthony, now running the company. Anthony's and Woodard Properties are the grocery store, trying to bring the grocery store to Fifeville. Before Anthony got in the mix, early COVID, pre-COVID, during the Nakia Walker regime, Keefe tried to build a fantastic commercial building on Water Street, the parking lot where the farmer's market is. He put a lot of money in underground infrastructure. I've heard through the grapevine

well over a million dollars. And then the challenge of dealing with the Nikaya Walker political regime was so distasteful. What's the word? Distasteful.

Distasteful is a good word. So, you know, bang your head on the table, claw your eyes out, cut your arm with a knife. Maybe that's a bit exaggerated. But so difficult that he said, I am going to walk away from this money, all this money, this time,

the opportunity cost of everything, because I do not want walk away from this money, all this money, this time, the opportunity cost of everything, because I do not want to deal with this political climate. And a project on Water Street that was not only going to be the home of the farmer's market, but I learned yesterday, was going to be a home for a convention center, just literally evaporated, and went poof, like a ghost, like Kaiser Soze, literally in thin air. Now the community is still struggling for a convention center, and evidently, if you want to put these lower thirds on screen, the first and second one, there's a tourism improvement district that is percolating with hotel years in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Fantastic knowledge from Travis yesterday. I've heard of the business

improvement district, and I'm a huge fan of the bid. And the business improvement district is for downtown businesses and landlords that would basically pay a fee each year to a coffer. And this bid would drive marketing and advertising, beautification, and quality of life around the most important eight blocks in downtown Charlottesville. Many in the community, many in the downtown community are split on the business improvement district. I am hugely in favor of it.

I am long on the downtown mall. I have, I would say, millions invested in downtown Charlottesville, safe to say. Would like to pass that on to our children, my wife and I. And I am very bullish on downtown despite the struggles of downtown. The bid would be a brilliant idea. I think the bid, the business improvement district for downtown Charlottesville is something that folks know about. I don't think folks know about the tourism improvement district, a tax that hotels would use to fund a convention center. The best kind of tax is because it's a tax judah on visitors

that are eager to open their wallets, their Louis Vuitton, their Gucci, their Coach, their Michael Kors, and give the community their dollars for vacations and for experiences. I have long said that the tourist should be prioritized considerably more locally. He offered the statistic. I did not realize that when Executive Director Greer Achenbach,

and I misspoke yesterday. I said she was going to be in the office yesterday. She's actually going to be in the office tomorrow, the executive director. We got a 9-15 with her tomorrow. Put that on your radar. I got it on your calendar. Sent you an invite. Why do you never accept the invites on the calendar, on the appointments I send your way?

I usually end up with a big stack of them in my email. It's hard to miss. Always inviting you on the appointments here. Just trying to keep them top of mind. She's going to be here at 9.15. She presented to city council that from before COVID to post-COVID, cell phone data shows foot traffic

on the downtown mall is down to 1 million IP addresses. That was information Travis passed along to her. Information that he presented and broke down even more in detail on yesterday's program. If you want some knowledge, some insider knowledge, one of Charlottesville's insiders, folks, is Travis Wilburn. You should listen to yesterday's show from start to finish. This tourism improvement district where hotels fund a convention center

is a brilliant idea. And if that convention center can somehow be reimagined in the Water Street location that Nakia Walker put the kaputs on, can I plural kaputs? Plural kaputs, multiple kaputs. Can you think of, anyone think of a better spot for a convention center than this parking lot, especially if you complement it with a farmer's market, with what Woodard was trying to do? The only other spot I could think of that would be a better position for a convention center, maybe a reimagining a fashion scare mall. If Home Depot, and remember, Home Depot is one of the most important, Home Depot is now a developer

in Alamo County, Home Depot as some of the contingencies for the tax breaks that they got they have to reimagine that small area plan, that gateway of Fashion Square Mall they have to figure out what to do with the Red Lobster and they have to figure out that entire little area

and make it a much more improved area. Maybe Home Depot thinks convention center. That's the only other spot I can think of that would be better than Water Street for a potential convention center. But the pieces that Travis highlighted yesterday are being slowly put together. New executive director at the airport. Someone who went from security guard at the airport to executive director. Talk about a professional climb. Trying to add more, is it routes? Is that the word? I'm drawing a blank on the word here. Routes? Routes. Oh, you're talking about plane routes? Yeah. Routes, sure. More routes to get more people in and out. That's always been an issue with

CHO. I've said CHO is my favorite airport. I've gotten, and you've seen it in the past. We serviced a lot of business in New Jersey what, seven, eight years ago when we were building the business. Seven, eight years ago, we were able to charge New Jersey clients basically Manhattan rates.

I'd take the Manhattan rate card, I'd discount it by 20, 25%, and still I was significantly ahead of what I was charging for clients in Charlottesville. And we were using Charlottesville labor to service Manhattan and New Jersey business. And the margin was fantastic. The tough part of servicing business like that was a lot of travel. A lot of red eyes. A week away from family, serious grinding.

You remember those days? Oh, yeah. We would fly from Cho at like 4.45, 5 o'clock in the morning, take a flight from Cho to Charlotte, right, to then go back to LaGuardia. Yeah. It was bananas. Go to Charlotte to LaGuardia. That was bananas. Go to Charlotte to LaGuardia. That was always the issue with Cho. The problem was never waiting around. I'd get there 15 minutes, 20 minutes before the plane took off and had no problem boarding. When you had a pass waiting for you.

Judah would slide the pass under a seat. I'd find it, go over there, had a bag, always carried on. 20 minutes we were on, we were ready to go. Right? You remember? Oh, yeah. I mean, I've flown out of Charlottesville plenty of times. The issue is, though, getting places and the routes offered.

And evidently, that's being improved. That's good. That is good news. That is good news. Watched yesterday's interview with Travis Wilburn. It's one that's compelling. I think you'll learn a lot from. And put the third lower third on screen, the three slot lower third, the Dewberry. Do we have any updates on the Dewberry? The call for offers was the 9th of January. I'm working the phones. Anything viewers and listeners have heard? Deep Throat says this on the convention center.

Get his photo on screen. Number one in the family makes the program better. On the convention center, Dallas's will cost $3.5 billion for a 2,500,000 square foot convention center. $3.5 billion. Even if we're talking a much smaller convention center, I have a hard time seeing how a few bucks a night of tack-on fees can generate flow sufficient to service debt on a convention center. The entire region, five of VA, Virginia, has 11,000 hotel rooms. Seville area is only a fraction of this.

Revpar in Seville area is like 150 bucks. I'd be very curious to see the numbers, but I very much doubt they add up. Other money will be required. I think other money would be required, and that money would come from... Point to you, Judah. You got this answer. I don't have the money. No, but you know the answer. Do I? The city.

Taxing. Albemarle County and UVA. UVA would benefit greatly from a convention center. Convince them of that, though. I think UVA is convinced of that. and the city of Charlottesville to pull money, and then the hotels contributing as well, and then the airport improving its routes. You got the early makings of a convention center materializing,

and this convention center has been scuttlebutted and chitter-chattered for the 25 years I've been here. I would love Olivia Branch's take on this. The Queen of Keswick. She knows this topic inside and out. Olivia, if you're watching, I would love your perspective on this. Lottie Murray has got some comments. Anytime Lottie Murray offers comments, I try to read them immediately. Let me get to Lottie Murray here.

In fact, I see multiple comments from Lottie Murray offers comments, I try to read them immediately. Let me get to Lottie Murray here. In fact, I see multiple comments from Lottie Murray. He says, as a citizen, our family goes to other Virginia cities several times a year to rock and mineral shows, reptile shows, garden shows, anime conventions, etc. It often gives our family something to do in the winter. We love to be able to have those experiences locally. He says, as a citizen, I will always highlight as a citizen part. As a citizen, if Charlottesville doesn't want a permanent home for the farmer's market, maybe it could be built in Albemarle County. If I was Albemarle County, I would be chomping at the bit to create a farmer's market experience. Ludwig Kutner created a farmer's market experience.

Yeah. Ludwig Kutner created a farmer's market experience at X park. If I was Alamo County, I would be trying to do something very similar. No doubt. 100%. Bill McChesney. Thank you for watching. Kevin Yancey.

Thank you for watching. Viewers and listeners. Let us know your thoughts. Bill McChesney says, what language is kaput from? French. He says it's German. This word meaning no longer working comes from German kaput.

Oh, also from French. From French, yeah. Thank you, Bill McChesney. Judah's the linguist over here on the program. Do we get a Dewberry update? I mean, who are you expecting to give this update? Well, the listing brokers picked up the phone and sent an email to the Daily Progress and said, here's what we're doing. I hope they communicate in the same capacity with the newspaper. The newspaper, Reynolds, the editor, straight up said, we were able to break this news

because the guys that are selling the Dewberry, the same dudes that sold the Cork Hotel and the same dudes that sold Keswick Hall, they called us and said, we want you to report on this. And they said, we have a deadline of the 9th of January. We've got a structural engineer that's okayed the steel. All the electrical components and the HVAC components have to be torn out, but the structure itself is safe. We want to sell it to somebody, and we have a deadline of the 9th of January for offers to come in. Have any offers materialized? I'd like to know that answer. I would like to know that answer. I'm encouraging local media to try to figure

out that answer. We don't want to break the news. We want to offer our opinion and commentary on the news. We want to be columnists of the news. Digital columnists is what this show is about. Very curious to see what happens with the Dewberry. Next headline. Judah Wickhera,

what do we got on the program here? Is this the public lands? Yep. So I got a tip from a mover and shaker locally. This person was a developer. I'll leave it at that. And they said, you should look into what's going on over at Dick's. I said, okay. I go into Dick's, talk to some people. I end up having a conversation with the manager. Did not know me from Adam. That's the best time to have those conversations,

when they don't know you from Adam, just an average guy talking to a manager. What they're planning for Dick's is significant, ladies and gentlemen. Public lands gone, kind of like the outdoorsy brand over there. 50,000 square feet allocated to public lands. It's no more. The public lands model, like the field and stream model,

failing and flopping because the merchandise that they were selling there was extremely expensive. The same merchandise that could be purchased online for a significantly discounted rate. So Dick's had to figure something out. And now they're going all in. They're going to be pot committed to an

omni-experiential retail model. And they're going to say, we're not going to sell expensive merchandise anymore. We're going to start competing with the internet. And our value proposition as we compete with online retailers is we're going to give our customers the opportunity to literally try our merchandise, touch our merchandise, use our merchandise before they buy it. So they're going to take public lands and combine it to Dick's. They're going to rebrand Dick's, Dick's House of Sports. It's going to be 100,000 square feet of retail. Outside of any of the grocery stores,

I don't think there's a retail model that is 100,000 square feet. How big is Wegmans? How big is Wegmans Charlottesville? Can you figure that out? How many square feet is that? Is that 100,000 square feet? We should be able to figure that out. Is it 120,000 square feet? We should be able to figure that out.

Is it 120,000 square feet, the Wegmans? So you're talking the dicks. Is that what you got? That's what Charlottesville 29 says. 120,000 square feet. So you got a store that is flirting with the size of Wegmans, and they're going to have in this store batting cages, golf simulators, a track for running, soccer goals so you can try on cleats and take shots on a goal. An area for you to swing and hit tennis balls. A climbing wall that is improved and larger than the climbing wall they currently have.

Is it just one wall? This is all I've been told. The current wall we have is going to close until October. And when Dick's House of Sports opens in October, it will be 100,000 square feet. The wall we have will be much improved. It will be larger and easier for folks to access. We will have four golf simulators, batting cages, a goal to shoot soccer balls into, a track to run, and we want the consumer to come into our store where the goods will be priced in line with what you can find on the internet. And we want the consumer to come in to touch, feel, try them on, and use before buying. And they're basically saying,

Amazon, try to match that, U.S. obese. It is effing genius. Is that the future of retail? I've often highlighted two... Go ahead. You're basically saying we're getting back to the mall? I've often... Is that the mall?

That's not the mall. Sure it is. At Foot Locker, you couldn't go into Foot Locker and try on some Air Jordans and then put those Air Jordans on and start shooting and dunking basketballs or try on some Sambas or some Copas and then start ripping size 5 soccer balls into a soccer net.

You couldn't do that at Foot Locker in the mall. Not that specifically, no. You couldn't take baseball bats from the mall and hit 80 mile an hour fastballs from a batting cage. Or pick up a Big Bertha or a TaylorMade driver and rip 300 yard drives on a golf simulator. You certainly couldn't try on shoes and climb 20-foot walls. I've highlighted on this program, and make sure these lower thirds are right, I've highlighted on this program the retailers that I thought were winning. And I've done this in years past. I think the retailers that are winning in our community, I'll name a couple. I think what

Monique and Steve are doing at the Happy Cook is winning. They've created a retail store that is built around a cooking class. You have multiple cooking classes where you can learn from celebrity chefs locally. Celebrity chefs locally are paid to teach a class in their store. 10 to 15 people pay to take that class. The chef makes money on teaching the class. Steve and Monique make money on selling tickets to the class. They are using the equipment,

the people that take this class, the kitchen equipment, the kitchen wares, that they then sell in the store right next to the class setting. That is effing genius. That is omni-experiential retail. Patty Zeller at Animal Connection is doing omni-experiential retail. Self-serve dog washes, grooming, educational training, training dogs. It's more than selling something on a shelf. Steve and Monique did it. They put William Sonoma out of business in Stonefield. The Happy Cook put William Sonoma out of business. Patty Zeller,

how many national retailers has she put out of business from Ix Park? She put the one on Pantops out of business. Whatever that place was called. Not sure what that place was called. You know what I'm talking about? She put that one out of business. And look at what PetSmart's trying to do

in Fifth Street Station. Same thing that she did. Training, grooming. It is genius. Dick's is going down that way. John Blair on LinkedIn. I'll get to his comment. I saw him and his fantastic wife, Ann, yesterday.

They're an A-plus family. I'm curious what you think of the following as an idea for a convention center location. The former Kmart site on hydraulic. Another interesting possibility would be the old Excel Inn that burned down on Emmett Street. Great ideas. John, you know better than I do. He's a super connected guy. Was the convention center, and do we have the headlines on PTI? The PTI headlines that started the show, do they come with X's in the blank spots? Is the rundown completely populated with content? The PTI headlines? Yeah.

Okay, thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong here, John. Isn't Riverbend and Korn's team, Alan Taylor, aren't they planning a significant project on the site of the old Kmart location, the Gold's Gym location? Correct me if I'm wrong on that. But I agree with you, that would be a fantastic location for a convention center. I most like the idea that Travis presented that was Keith Woodard's initial idea of having the convention center in downtown Charlottesville. Because you can take breaks or finish whatever you did before or after your activity at the convention center and patronize them all. I really love that concept. Watch the Travis Wilburn interview from yesterday.

Curtis Shaver, I love you, Curtis Shaver. He says, can I bring a sixer to try out their Yeti coolers? Absolutely, Curtis. Curtis, I love Curtis. I don't see why you could not do that. And now I'm not speaking for the management at Dick's. But if it was me, if it was Curtis, this was me before I got married. She kept me on the straight and narrow.

I'd probably be hanging with Curtis. We'd pull up in his old black Chevy pickup truck. We'd walk in with a rack of Minutemen from Three Notch. We'd trot into Dick's House of Sports. We'd bust open one of those chairs, the reclining chairs, you know, those fold-out chairs, but the ones that recline. We'd get the Yeti coolers, put the racks, the Minuteman rack in the Yeti cooler,

and sit back right there and have a sit. Just have a sit. Don't forget the ice. We'd bring the ice, too too and see what management would say. But they want you to try it. Yeah. They want you to experience it. He says, what about the bikes and kayaks?

They're going to have a river pool to test kayaks in? I don't know if they're going to have a river pool, but the Pennsylvania and New York Dicks House of Sports legitimately have an ice skating rink in them. Think about that. Research it and Google it. The manager told me about it today. There's an ice skating rink in the Pennsylvania and New York Dicks House of Sports. Unbelievable. They want to turn the retail concept into an activity for families.

They're turning retail into family things to do. They're taking that old fun park that was on Berkmar Drive. We talked about it a few weeks ago on the program. What was it called that had the go-karts and the putting

and the batting cages and the arcade and the bumper cars? Funland. Was it Funland? I don't remember. They're basically taking an aspect of Funland that was on Berkmar Drive,

and they're adding it to their retail component to get people in the door. It is genius. Lonnie Murray says, Virginia Tech built their own convention center that doubles as a place where students can get job training. That's a great idea. That's why I think UVA would be all in on a convention center. It's a great idea. Great comment from Lonnie Murray.

Unbelievable. 100,000 square feet. Albert Graves. Public lands is a perfect example of the failure of brick and mortar stores going head-to-head with e-commerce. Get Albert Graves' photo on screen. That guy's one of the key members of the family. I concur a thousand percent Albert Graves. Public lands is a perfect example of the failure of brick and mortar stores going head-to-head with e-commerce. That's a fantastic comment. Public lands tried to sell the same stuff that you could buy online, except it was more expensive in public lands. He also says, it all sounds nice if that's the future of retail, but the reality is most retail stores won't have the square feet within their stores to have the

kind of setup like Dick's is going to have at Fifth Street Station. Another great point by Albert Graves. He's 100% right. This is a big box brand with a huge market advantage because they have the capital and the scale to do this. 100,000 square feet. He's 100% right. He also says Bass Pro Stores have had a fishing pod within the store to try out the fishing poles and lures for years. And Albert Graves says he'd be right there with the rocking fold-out chairs with me and Curtis drinking a cold one. Albert Graves, you're my kind of people, and I know you're Curtis's kind of people too. Aaron King watching the program, we love you. And Albert Graves, how about those

Redskins? How about those commanders, Albert Graves? Vanessa Parkhill, Planet Fun was the place on Berkmar. Thank you, VP, Queen of Earlysville. She says, John Blair, Vanessa Parkhill says, I like the Kmart location for a convention center, but I also heard there are plans already for the property. I'm pretty sure it's Allen Taylor and Corrin Capsule and Riverbend Development there. Vanessa Parkhill, when Dix was in Ryo Hill, they did have a little track around the shoe department, but this new model is definitely next level. And Phillip Dow of Scottsville

says, I would love to see Southwest at Cho. Cho evidently is improving. Evidently improving. We've got a John Blair comment coming in, ladies and gentlemen. He says this. They are planning a big development, but that plan with the target is dead.

Yeah. Initially, the anchor for the Riverbend, Corrin, Capshaw, Alan Taylor project was a target. But that's kaput. That's kaput. Right, Judah? You got it. Have you added a Yiddish word today? Have I added a Yidd it. Have you added a Yiddish word today?

Have I added a Yiddish? Have you included a Yiddish word? I can look one up. What's that? I can look one up. Well, I mean, just off the top of your head, if you like. All right, a couple more items out of the notebook. Is the next one the substax, or is it UVA?

Let me get to the, uh, the Verve Charlottesville on the 22nd of January. So that's a week from today, J-dubs. A week from today on this program and then Deep Throat, I'm getting to your comment here. Um, Deep Throat says Kmart is going to be retail. The motel that burned down, I think UVA has plans for that land. Maybe one of the new dorms on that hotel that burned down. That's from Deep Throat says Kmart is going to be retail. The motel that burned down, I think UVA has plans for that land. Maybe one of the new dorms on that hotel that burned down. That's from Deep Throat. And he says, Philip Dow, Southwest will not come to Cho.

Fleet is almost all 737s. Far too big for the density of passengers on most Cho routes. Deep Throat always making the program better. He says this. Isn't UVA's convention center the new hotel conference center they are building on Ivy? That is a smaller version of the convention center. A smaller version. Some have wondered this.

The access that will be offered with that convention center to those in the community. Some have started to ask that question. Will the community have access to that UVA smaller convention center that they're building? Oh, you're saying UVA only? Some chitter-chatter on that. Some chitter-chatter. This is the Verve topic. So a week from today, what's the gentleman's name that reached out?

That's coming on the show. It's Mitch Cortay, Mitch Mitchell. He goes by Mitch Cortay, K O R T E. He's the executive vice president of development for subtext, which is a national real estate company focused on elevating the resident experience. They are building Verve Charlottesville at 100 Stadium Road next to UVA. I believe this is in the location where that stone house was torn down, I believe, that a lot of people in the community are mourning. What street is this on?

100 Stadium Road. I think Heather Lamond Walker, who I have a lot of respect for, posted something about this. Or maybe it was Jamie Dyer that posted something about this recently. Actually, I think it was Jamie Dyer. And then Matthew Gilligan of the Gilligan Gang was pontificating about this. Livable Seville's co-chair. Let's see what Jamie Dyer isating about this livable seville's co-chair let's see what uh

jamie dyer is posting about this did you know there were earthquakes yesterday in richmond yeah i heard although uh i was relatively unimpressed when i saw the numbers what does that mean uh i mean you remember you remember the meme jokes about the last big Virginia earthquake with pictures of plastic chairs tipped over on their backs and subtitles like, we will remember. We will rebuild. Yeah, I do remember i was i was in like i was in earthquakes as a child and in california that topped you know five six uh points on the richter scale and so this like 2.3 2.6 doesn't really impress me i mean you know it's it's a scary thing um no matter how big or small when you're experiencing it.

But I don't think you won't be reading too many news articles about how much damage was done by a 2.3 scale earthquake. There was an earthquake about 10 years ago or so that hit this area that did a lot of damage, in particular in Louisa County. Really damaged the school. We're getting off track, though. The Stone House was at 104 Stadium Road. I don't know if the viewers and listeners can see this. This is a photo that Jamie Dyer posted on his Facebook page. Can they see this?

If they look at the screen? A little bit. Tilt it down a little bit. Is that better? I think we'll help them see it 104 stadium road this stone house has significant history um city councilor michael payne voted against demolishing this structure who demolished it i i think it's part of this Verve-Charlesville project

that's at 110 Stadium Road. I'll give a little history. UVA demolished it? No, the developer. I thought this was being developed for UVA. Private development. That stone house, a little history. It's in the email that you're copying on.

All the details of what's happening. And the calendar invite that you did not accept over there. The Stonehouse. We first started emailing with them, like, what, last year? We first started emailing with them on December 16th. J-Dubs, this is a national real estate company. The executive vice president of development is coming on our talk show. It's a 12-story project, over 1,300 beds, a project that's 729,262 square feet that they're building here.

One of the most significant commercial development projects in Charlottesville City history and the executive vice president of development is coming on our talk show next Wednesday to talk about this this is a you know first I want to give some history in the house the stone house it's a story and a half a Tudor style residence built in 1927 for Malcolm McLeod, a UVA professor and friend to Edward R. I'm going to mess up his last name. Stenius Jr. The latter man served as the Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt

and helped launch the United Nations. While Stenius was said to be a frequent visitor to the home, the connection wasn't sufficiently strong to get the house added to either the Virginia Landmarks Register or the National Register of Historic Places, according to Mark McConnell, a UVA and MIT-educated architect who spoke as a consultant to the developer. That's from an article in the Daily Progress. Here's a better picture of the Stone House. This was demolished this week.

This Stone House. Can they see this? I know this is not the best way to display it. Is that a better way? Yeah, they can kind of see that. I mean, 103 Stadium Road. An iconic piece of real estate. So, what is going in its place, and I'm going to give

you some details on this. It's effing crazy. This was one of Charlottesville's individually protected properties. There were 77 IPPs. Of those 77 IPPs, G. Milo was sharing this information. G. Milo, I respect the content you share on social media. It needed council's approval to be demolished. What's going in its place is effing crazy. 729,262 square feet of apartment buildings and commercial retail. It's going to be called the Verve Charlottesville. It will feature 1,332 beds, 463 units, with layouts ranging from studios to four-bedroom apartments.

Remember how we thought that multifamily was getting soft? Imagine when 1,332 beds and 4,063 units come to market. That's really, we're going to see multifamily getting soft. Good God. More information on this. It's situated directly next to grounds. Verve Charlottesville will offer unmatched proximity to UVA's academic core, the UVA Hospital, and downtown Charlottesville. This project will be a joint venture with equity partner Kane Anderson Real Estate. state, 100 Stadium Road, Substack's sixth deal in 2024, and first in Virginia. Deep Throat offers a little color here. Love when you offer some color to the program here, Deep Throat. He says Graystar in the county on Old Ivy Road will apparently have about 500 units on that site. So that could be an even bigger project. Two days ago, or was it yesterday, Deep Throat shared a link with me about Graystar,

the developer for whom Albemarle County, he said, his words, not mine, a little graphic here. I appreciate the graphic nature. He said Albemarle County, he said, his words, not mine, a little graphic here. I appreciate the graphic nature. He said, Albemarle County bent over for Graystar, allowing them to build 500 units off Old Ivy Road. He shared a link from the Wall Street Journal with me about the FTC preparing to sue the largest U.S. apartment landlord over hidden fees. Evidently, Graystar real estate partners, who his words, not mine, Alamo County bent over for on that old Ivy Road project. Everyone's asking this question. They're driving on the bypass, kind of close to St. Ann's Bellfield. They're like, why is all these trees removed? What is this development project that's happening on old Ivy Road? It's this Graystar project. 500 units. 500

units. Albemarle County, what the hell did you approve? 500 units on a corridor that's a traffic cluster duck. Quack, quack, quack. Already. Already a cluster duck. Quack, quack, quack. You got a railroad underpass where cars have to go under.

St. Ann's, Belfield, before and after school, that line is down the bypass. Literally cars parked on the shoulder of the bypass waiting to get off the exit, the Ivy exit, to drop their kids off at St. Ann's-Belfield. The folks that live in Lewis Mountain and Bel Air will feel the brunt of this project. Tony Lewis Mountain and Tony Bel Air will undoubtedly feel the brunt of this project. The entire Ivy Corridor, frankly, will feel the brunt of the project, but those two neighborhoods specifically. Graystar Real Estate Partners, the Federal Trade Commission is preparing a lawsuit, this in the Wall Street Journal, against Graystar Real Estate Partners

that they engaged in deceptive pricing practices and failed to properly disclose certain fees to prospective tenants. Some of these deceptive practices, the hidden fees, were tied to pest control, trash services, and performing tenant background checks. Well, we can be happy to know they'll get a slap on the wrist. What's that? I'm sure we'll be happy to find out later that they got a slap on the wrist. In 2023, the FTC proposed a rule banning hidden fees, specifically mentioning the hotel live event ticketing and rental housing industries. The goal was to make it easier for consumers to compare final prices

once they had fuller disclosure. The FTC, according to the Wall Street Journal, finalized its hidden fees rule last month and said it would seek civil penalties from firms that violated the rule. It mentioned the hotel and live events ticketing sectors requiring upfront disclosure for total price including fees. Then with housing, these backdoor fees, like the garbage and the pest control, that had to be announced up front. Basically, these landlords, these big ones with scale, are trying to find as many profit centers as possible. Here's the thing. When you start tacking on $5 or $10 or $15 for trash and pest control as a profit center, and you have thousands and thousands of units,

this creates millions and millions and millions of dollars of revenue. Millions of dollars of revenue for doing Jack Diddley. For doing the same thing you were going to do anyway. Doing the same thing you ever did without disclosing it to your tenant. You just itemize it and make the apartment look more attractive because it's cheaper. You never disclose it

when you're marketing what the apartment goes for. Yeah. But you charge them once they're in because what are they going to do once they're renting?

Nothing. They can't do anything. You've got to buy the short and curlies. Profits over people. Albemarle County rolls out the red carpet, deep throats word, bends over for them. In a site that all of us in Albemarle County said, what are you doing? You cannot put this here.

It's already a cluster when St. Ann's really going to turn into a cluster. A lot of people are saying that Truist Bank project is just a smoke and mirrors game where they're trying to spook UVA by saying we're going to build this apartment tower in your Western gateway. A lot of people are saying they never planned on building it. All they wanted to do was drive the value of that property up and then sell it again. If that's the case, it's effing genius, if that's what they do. But if that project were to materialize, and isn't across the street from that, viewers and listeners, this is a John Blair deep throat. I'm pretty darn sure across the street from that Truist Bank, the University of Virginia is building housing for second years.

So I want you to understand what's happening here. Is that going up the hill? I want you to understand what's happening here. On this tiny stretch of Ivy Road, you have UVA building housing for second years across from the Truist Bank. You have at the site of a Truist Bank, someone planning an apartment tower. And then you have on old Ivy Road, when you're driving on the bypass, kind of close to Davenport Field, 500 apartments being built by Graystar. Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at a

potential... What do you want to call it? ClusterDoc? I mean... Bill McChesney says the bank has been demolished. Yes, sir.

Georgia Gilmer, the traffic around the stone house, JPA stadium road, Emmett street is already bad. It's only going to get worse. Bill McChesney, the national register of historic place places, listings,

landmarks means nothing in Charlottesville. The hat, the statues were historic landmarks and he also says that louisa county earthquake jury was talking about was a 5.4 and the shake was felt at great distances i felt that shake in down fifth street extended when i was living at the bills at southern ridge and that must have been like 12 years ago 15 years ago i felt it where i live i i was going ahead into my car and i I felt it, and I was like, is that a train? Wait, there's no train near here.

When was that, Louisa County? Was that 2011? Then my neighbors started coming outside. Yeah, that was 2011. Good Lord, that was 14 years ago. Yeah. That earthquake crushed Louisa County schools. Crushed? It did a That earthquake crushed Louisa County schools. Crushed?

It did a tremendous damage to Louisa County schools. I think it probably hurt the foundations. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Maybe some brick walls. Tremendous damage to the schools. Significant damage. Albert Graves for Curtis Shaver I'll definitely be at Dick's with you and Curtis Shaver drinking some cold brews

I'll bring the portable speaker so we can jam on some Leonard Skinner I love that we would love that as well that sounds like a lot of fun, frankly. It's my kind of jam. All right, a couple more comments here before we talk about Virginia. We got a 145 conference call today.

Yeah. Diana, is it Sabratri? I'm sorry, Diana. I'm sorry, Chef. There were two of them in Louisa. One was, oh, this is Richmond. Two of them. One was a 2.8.

The second was a 2.4. The city's waste management water pump stopped working again last night because of those earthquakes. Oof. And Richmond. Vanessa says, does Graystar own any other properties in the Seville area? No, they do not. That's the only one they're developing. Deep Throat's offering more color on Graystar. Or no, on Ivy Road. He says UVA bought the building across the road from the bank, but not sure what they plan to put there.

I think the housing plan is on Emmett, the old university garden site. He says the university foundation bought the bank building across from Truist, not UVA proper. The UVA Foundation. The Foundation pays taxes. I could have sworn the housing for second years was on Ivy Road. We've got to touch base with Sean Tubbs about that. Kevin Higgins sent us a message Hamas has agreed to release hostages looks like they believe Trump

that's from Higgins of Greenwood I'd heard on the radio this morning that they'd agreed to stand down with Israel, some type of peace agreement. Good. I imagine it would have to come with release of hostages. How do you feel about that?

I feel great about that. You feel great about that? I mean if they're going to release the hostages, yes, I feel that's, I think, the most important part of all this. Trump's second term is about to start, and Hamas is releasing hostages? I mean, let's see what happens here, right? Yeah. All right, I'll close with this. Big-time basketball game tonight.

Marlene Jones, Judah, Virginia has many buildings that were not built to withstand even what would be a small earthquake in California. Yeah, no doubt. Why does all the bad stuff happen in California? or Santa Ana winds, raging fires, obscene earthquakes, political incompetence, ridiculous gasoline prices, insane cost of living, miserable traffic, homeless people everywhere, drugs rampant. It's almost like California is a different country and in some ways it is earthquakes on the regular

fires on the regular incompetence in political positions at the local and statewide level sometimes those are connected, sometimes not some of the most expensive gasoline prices horrible traffic, some of the most expensive housing, homeless running rampant, drug epidemic. What the hell is going on? I mean, it's not all like that.

I'm not saying they don't have serious problems. But, you know. What is going on? This is God flexing his muscles on California and saying, figure it out. All right. We've got nine minutes away from a call. Ron Sanchez better win the game tonight. If he doesn't win this game, he falls below.500 to.89 overall.

And then he goes 1-5 in ACC play and is at the cellar of the Atlantic Coast Conference. UVA's a 5.5-point underdog. Tip-off is at 9 o'clock. I mean, good God, ladies and gentlemen. And if you listened to the Jerry and Jerry show yesterday, there's a very influential and wealthy and powerful group of men that are behind the scenes moving and shaking to hire the next basketball coach. I'm talking a billionaire. Now, not going to dox who it is.

And two or three other people with serious basketball experience. Behind the scenes, looking to hire the next coach because they don't have much confidence in the athletic director doing it herself. And what's up with the athletic director? Her contract ends, is set to expire in May, and there's no chitter-chatter about a renewal. Good night. That's the I Love Seville show on a Wednesday

for Judah Wickhauer, I'm Jerry Miller so long Thank you.