The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Trump Demands That Interest Rates Drop Now; Significant Layoffs At CNN, Starbucks, Adidas, Etc

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Trump Demands That Interest Rates Drop Now Significant Layoffs At CNN, Starbucks, Adidas, Etc 50% Of U.S. Managers Predict Layoffs In 2025 Downtown Grit Coffee For Rent ($4,500/Month) Space w/ Most Upside: Grit v Draft v Country Store What Is The Best Park For Families In The City Of CVille? We Have A Client Who Wants To Buy An F&B Biz Contact Jerry If Looking To Sell Your Restaurant 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.

Thank you. The program was excellent. Mitch Corti of Subtex joined us, the Executive Vice President of Development, and he was an open book. I've heard this morning and into the day from a handful of folks that I have tremendous respect for, and you know who you are, and you watch the program, and they highlighted how transparent and straightforward Corti was in yesterday's interview. He highlighted the project on Stadium Road that's going to be home to, eventually, more than 1,300 students, a 729,000-square-foot project that is going to be incredibly impactful on our community. A land lease, Mitch Corti's words, of 900 to 100 years. A land lease done with the Canton companies who, frankly speaking, they have incredible foresight

through assembling a bunch of parcels off of Jefferson Park Avenue, off of Stadium Road. And once a software search, a national GIS software search that was done by Subtex, the national developer, was done, they said, good God, this one company, this one entity, the Canton companies here in Charlottesville owns this very developable area of the city that's in the shadows of Scott Stadium. And a hop, skip, and a jump literally from grounds at the University of Virginia, literally. They broker a land lease, and now they're going to spend, you know, I couldn't even tell you the exact number. I guess I should have asked them the exact number, a couple hundred million dollars, if not more.

I would love that exact number to build a 729,000 square foot neighborhood. I mean, 1,300 people is a neighborhood. Intriguing element from yesterday's interview, the executive vice president of development said the structure that we build will not last longer than the land lease we have, which is 90 to 100 years. His words, not mine. I'll say that again. Think about that. These development firms, these national development firms are building neighborhoods. They're creating apartment towers, 729,000 square feet and more than 1,300 beds, studio apartments, one bedrooms, up to four-bedroom apartments. And in the process of putting their models together,

they look at the length of their land lease, 90 to 100 years, and they say what we build on the dirt we're leasing will not last longer than the term of the lease. Absolutely just mind-boggling thinking. And not mind-boggling in a negative way, but it just really puts in perspective how analytical and how data-sophisticated these firms are. And of course they are. You're probably spending what? How much do you think this is, viewers and listeners that are watching this program? The sharks and the insiders that are watching this program. A quarter of a billion dollars?

I generally have no idea. I have no idea how much it would be. Quarter of a billion? I mean, is it more than that? Certainly more than that with the lease. A lot we're going to cover on the program. Bill Bichesne, Moses just held up his staff, Judah.

He did not make the Red Sea part. It's kind of splitting hairs. Judah Wickhauer on a two-shot. There goes Sunshine Mathon right there, right? Piedmont Housing and Alliance. Is Sunshine getting out of a Rivian right there? Did you see Sunshine? Is someone in that Rivian right there that's outside the door? Is someone sitting shotgun? I don't see anyone in there. Can you go out and look? I want to confirm that Sunshine got out of that Rivian, if possible. No, the light's just turned off.

Go to the studio camera. It is worth, I think, me looking to go out and look outside the window to see if the Piedmont Housing Alliance... Yeah, courtyard camera. I want to go look. Put it on the courtyard camera. And give them a play-by-play of what I'm doing here. Are you on the courtyard camera? Jerry is moving towards... There he is.

It is empty. I know that. That's what I told you. I think Sunshine Jerry is moving towards... There he is. I know that. That's what I told you. No, it's been sitting there for a while. He may have... Yeah. He may have grabbed something from it, but I didn't see him. I want you to keep your eyes on that Rivian right there with Sunshine. That would intrigue the hell out of me, the executive director of the Piedmont

Housing Alliance. Deep Throat says, oh, okay. Deep Throat's got some intel over there. He says he drives a Tesla. Is this true, Deep Throat, or is this tongue-in-cheek? I think this is some sarcasm from number one in the family saying Sunshine drives a Tesla to his house in a home in an HOA neighborhood in Albemarle County. I think this is definitely sarcasm.

He says this is sarcasm. Sometimes I can't pick up your sarcasm, much like Judah's sarcasm over here. And to Deep Throat's credit, his sarcasm is lost in direct message. Judah's sarcasm, sometimes I generally cannot pick up, and I'm sitting across from him, four feet apart. So I strike... People laugh when I'm being serious. I strike

deep throats comment that Sunshine drives a Tesla. I'm very curious if that's his Rivian, though. I know I saw him walk... You saw him there. Anyway. I saw him walking that way. We'll see. Alright Anyway, I saw him walking right now. You know, we'll see. All right. Let's cut to the today's headlines. Put them on screen if you could. And we'll weave Judah Wickauer in on a on a two shot here in a matter of moments.

The lead of the story, lead of the show here is is Trump on global television. The newly minted president in his second term, straight up was jabbing, like not just jabbing, but I'm talking like jab to the face, right hook, uppercut, drone pow in the Federal Reserve saying minutes ago that he's going to apply significant pressure on the Federal Reserve to get interest rates to drop right now. And then he says, frankly speaking, they should be dropping all over the world and the rest of the countries in the world should follow America's lead and watch what I do. He's saying this at the World Economic Forum and Davos. Trump is one of bold proclamation and bold speech.

The Federal Reserve and the White House are obviously separated for good reason. You know, Powell was appointed by Trump, and Trump has kicked Powell in the family jewels proverbially many, many times. He is constantly putting Powell down, pressuring Powell, knocking Powell. And now that he is the most powerful man in the world, maybe Musk, the most powerful man, Trump, certainly either the most powerful or the second most powerful man in the world, he's saying rates are going to drop. And there's a thousand plus real estate agents in Charlottesville Area Association Realtors, more than a hundred brokers in the Charlottesville Area Association Realtors that are begging for rates to drop significantly. Now, depending on where you're shopping and what your profile is like, well into the sevens.

Your thoughts on that, Judah? You want a two-shot as you're offering commentary here? Is he saying they'll drop or demanding they drop? He's saying they're – he's demanding they will drop. Okay. Demanding they will drop. Those are two very different things. He's demanding they will drop. Demanding they will drop. Those are two very different things. He's demanding.

He says exact words. I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately. Well, I mean, that would be great, wouldn't it? Is it going to be great? Does it create housing affordability? If rates fall significantly, does it create housing insanity with buying and selling of real estate? Is now the time to try to get in the market and purchase right before rates drop, knowing you can refinance when they do? Because if rates drop a point and change two points and who, no one has a crystal ball.

I frankly anticipated rates would already would have fallen here in the first quarter of the year now that the election was behind us and they haven't you know i know the realtors are begging that they're i know the realtors are begging that they drop absolutely begging that they drop as it is a a market that is mired in quicksand right now and and this hellacious cold and and snow has not helped loosen inventory. It has not loosened inventory in any capacity locally. What were you saying while I was talking there, J-Dubs? I have no idea. You don't remember what you just said five seconds ago? No, I don't.

Okay, all right. I was listening to you. Okay. Let's see. I know it's not uh necessarily you're right it's not going to uh it's not going to solve all the ills of the uh of the housing market uh just having the rates drop and it probably will create a rush where people decide okay i'm getting in and they haven't realized everybody else is thinking the same thing. So you may have a point that now before the rates drop may be a good time to get in

and get something and just have your foot in the door and when and if they do drop make the most of it. Give us a one shot over here. We'll get to some other headlines on today's program, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to chatter on the show. Significant layoffs at CNN, Starbucks, and Adidas all announced today. CNN, 200 plus people laid off. 6% of the workforce getting pink slipped. Adidas, 500 workers laid off at the brand that was first established with footwear. Starbucks layoffs at the corporate level. And I'll take it a step further. This hits our wire, our news wire in the studio.

Ladies and gentlemen, managers, nearly half of managers predict significant layoffs in 2025. U.S. managers said their company will likely lay off workers in 2025, according to a January 15th report from ResumeTemplates.com. Managers cited several reasons for layoffs, including economic struggles, industry-specific challenges, automation, and artificial intelligence, overstaffing, and anticipated policies from the Trump administration. Two days ago on the I Love Seville show, we highlighted investment bank Goldman Sachs, who was rolling out an aggressive artificial intelligence plan, offering an AI assistant to 10,000 workers at the investment bank. The AI assistant would slowly be assimilated into the workforce and replace the workforce.

The humans are training the artificial intelligence. Or is it the artificial intelligence that are training the humans? Regardless, it's the humans that are being replaced. We are seeing this everywhere. You see this at the local golden arches on Pantops. I've highlighted this many times. Where you go into that restaurant, you are not ordering through a person. You are ordering through a kiosk. A person may give you the food, and frankly, all they do is they drop it on the counter. When you go through the drive-thru, they are adamant about you ordering through their mobile app.

They want you to order through the app. We're seeing middle management and lower on the cusp, I hate to say this, ladies and gentlemen, of being eradicated, replaced, destroyed, eviscerated, eliminated. Profits over people. Judah Wickhauer says, I'm going to get Judah Wickhauer's take on how this could impact Charlottesville, Alamo County in central Virginia. Your take on A11, A12 and January 6th with layoffs is an intriguing one. We'll get to that in a matter of moments.

I want to talk the downtown Grit Coffee. Am I on a one-shot here? Grit Coffee on the downtown mall, the York Place location. Remember, Grit Coffee is going to move to Water Street. It's going to move to the old Waterbird Spirits location, a building owned by Hunter Craig, one of the most established and influential property owners in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Hunter Craig owns a large chunk of the University of Virginia corner. Hunter Craig owns a good chunk of, frankly, a lot of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

One of the power players at Virginia National Bank, the guy who created a home for his sons, Waterbird Spirits. Waterbird Spirits has since been sold to a global spirits conglomerate where the Craig family made eight figures many times over.

You heard me correctly, Waterbird Spirits, eight figures many times over. You heard me correctly, Waterbird Spirits, eight figures many times over. Congratulations to the Craigs for the exit of that business and that brand. Now the old Waterbird Spirits location is up for grabs. Grit Coffee is going to go off the downtown mall to Water Street. Travis Wilbert on the talk show last week said one of the reasons he's been told, and he patronizes Grit Coffee every day, he said this on the talk show last week said one of the reasons he's been told, and he patronizes Grit Coffee every day. He said this on the talk show, on the I Love Seville show, Travis. He said, I'm in Grit Coffee every day. They're moving to Water Street, and one large

reason for safety of their staff was some of the derelicts, Judah, derelicts? Derelicts.ah derelicts derelicts derelicts some of the unsavory individuals that visit grit coffee that strike fear into their staff so now the home of grit coffee which is it's going to be the home of grit coffee for the next handful of weeks we're talking four or five weeks here before they open i think in march on water street, the current home in York Place is for sale. And the asking for the lease is $4,500 a month in rent. A very intriguing space on the downtown mall. Grit Coffee, this space has not been vacant, has not been up for lease since I can remember, folks.

Before it was Grit Coffee, it was Cafe Cubano. Tony Jorge, who I believe is still working for Devil's Backbone right now, my one-time neighbor on Rockledge Drive in Redfields, Tony Jorge, who owned Cafe Cubano, he had Cafe Cubano there. He exited Cafe Cubano, sold Cafe Cubano, and is now, ladies and gentlemen, working for Devil's Backbone from a hospitality standpoint. So this location is up for grabs. I want to compare and contrast this location,

the Grit Coffee on the Mall in York Place, with Draft Tap Room and Blue Ridge Country Store, three soon-to-be-vacant storefronts on the mall. And I want to talk upside, compare and contrast, and ask the question, grit, draft, Blue Ridge Country Store, which one has the most upside? In downtown Charlottesville. Jude, I want to get your take on that. John Blair, I'm going to get to your comments here in a matter of moments.

And LinkedIn, Deep Throat, your comments. Viewers and listeners, put your thoughts in the stream. I will relay them live on air. Bill McChesney, I'll get to your comments here in a matter of moments. Got local media watching. Vanessa Parkhill, I'll get to your comments here in a matter of moments. Also on today's program, we are going to talk the best park for families. Judy, you'll have some insight on that.

You've visited some of the parks. There's Splash Pads. There's parks around the mall. There's McGuffey. There's Tonsler, right? We'll talk best parks for families as this is a topic of conversation in the news cycle. Sean Tubbs with his InfoCivo is doing a good job of covering this. And I'd like to put this in the universe.

We get a lot of business from the I Love Civo show, a lot of business from the show. I have a client that is looking to purchase a restaurant. Cash on hand, I have a client that wants to buy a local F&B business. If you're a restaurateur and you're looking to exit your business, I have an established client with cash on hand that can make that exit a reality for you in the next couple of months. DM me, text me, email me, call me, let me know. Looking to buy a restaurant for a very established client that's looking to scale an operation. All right, Judah Wickauer, TwoShot. Your layoff commentary intrigued me.

200-plus laid off at CNN. CNN's laying off 6% of its workforce. 500 people laid off at Adidas. Starbucks continues to lay people off. Starbucks is searching for an identity. Starbucks recently put new policy in play right after the George Floyd murder and when the country was particularly vulnerable,

was very vulnerable post-George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Black Lives Matter protests, Starbucks put some policy in play that anyone could patronize their stores, even if they were not paying customers. They had a major situation play out where two customers in Starbucks who were black customers got into a brouhaha with store management about setting up shop in Starbucks despite not ordering any kind of product from Starbucks. And management said, you've got to leave.

You're not paying customers. That was caught on film and turned into a brouhaha of monumental proportions for the publicly traded company. Recently, I'm talking last week, Starbucks said, you know what? The people that are in this store, in any of our stores, need to be paying customers from here on out. We are not going to deal with the collateral damage of allowing every Tom, Dick, and Harry in our store, even if they're not paying, because it's putting our staff, much like the grit situation, it Harry in our store, even if they're not paying, because it's putting our staff,

much like the grit situation, it's putting our staff in an unsafe work environment. So now you have to pay to play if you want to patronize Starbucks or enjoy quality of life inside Starbucks. Adidas, 500 people. Starbucks, 6% of the workforce. You've got Resume, Templates.com saying half of United States of America managers said their company will lay people off.

What the hell is going on? All from your commentary on CNN and the impact it could have on, frankly, nutso type of behavior. I don't know about the CNN causing the type of behavior. What I was referencing was the fact that our news agencies are losing market share. Obviously, we're getting away from having local reporters unless you're in a big city. Richmond is basically in control of what most of the central Virginia newspapers. In regards to that, I'm wondering if we're not going to start seeing more echo chambers. You said it yourself about everybody moving to blue sky, where they're all going to sit around and kumbaya with each

other, but are they going to get opposing views? Are they going to get civil discourse? There's something to be said for those things, And I'm afraid we're going to lose a lot of that. And that brought me to the idea of, you know, occurrences like A12 and January 6th, where a lot of people may be getting their information not from a trusted news source but from their personal echo chamber and making

decisions based on poorly sourced information and I don't like the idea that more of those things are going to happen but I don't like the idea more of those things are gonna happen but I don't see as as places like CNN are laying off staff as they're trying to find ways to stay relevant and continue making money I've eventually money. Eventually, are we going to start seeing the five richest people in our country start

buying up the news services? Well, Musk has already done that with Twitter, with X. Mark Zuckerberg has Facebook, has Meta with Facebook, Instagram, Messenger. I mean, he's got an array of apps under his purview. Mr. Beast is in the mix right now to purchase TikTok. Musk is being linked to purchase TikTok. The frightening proposition, if the folks that are in power gain more power through media ownership. That's terrifying. Bezos owns what? The Washington Post. He's a guy that's controlling one of the most institutional media brands globally, the Post. And Judah's right. If we start seeing the aggressive erosion,

corrosion of legacy and traditional media, that's going to further silo power and influence in our country. And I don't think the activists and the liberals in Charlottesville and Alamaro County and Central Virginia are doing themselves a favor by transitioning over to Blue Sky, where they're frankly, which is an app, folks, an app that's similar to Twitter,

but not owned by Musk. That's why the anti-Musk movement is transitioning to Blue Sky. Speaking and interacting with people in an echo chamber is just going to mean your viewpoints and your perspectives will not be heard or seen or read by the masses. Well, I don't even know. I don't know about that, but worse than that is your views and viewpoints are going to stagnate. CNN is straight up saying its model is broken.

It's going to potentially close its Manhattan bureaus and transition to headquarters in Atlanta, laying off at least 6% of the workforce right now. The top newspaper owner in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Lee Enterprises, is on the brink of bankruptcy. I mean, is failing financially. And as 2025 turns into 2026, the small business, the mid-cap business,

is going to advertise digitally on platforms like, frankly, Facebook. Facebook and Meta are going to gain even more market share as TikTok is in financial purgatory right now. Basically, a purgatory of being alive or not. You know? Is TikTok on the cusp of being the way of MySpace and Friendster? I doubt it.

Right? Is it going to be eliminated? We don't know. Well, just because it can't be used in the U.S. doesn't mean it will be eliminated. If it can't be used in the U.S., it's going to be worthless in the United States of America. Yeah. Those ad dollars in the United States would then go to Instagram, Facebook, and Meta,

which would further strengthen Instagram, Facebook, and Meta, which would further disadvantage TV, radio, and print. There's a reason the Charlottesville Radio Group rebranded itself the Charlottesville Media Group. And I think the point that Judah makes is a good one. When you start losing voices of accountability or platforms of accountability, platforms of record, then you start becoming a community

that is much more vulnerable, a community that's much more prone to backroom dealing and much more prone to, frankly, scary movements. Yeah. And that's something that I think is worth highlighting on the program. Absolutely worth highlighting. Comments coming in. John Blair says this.

If you want to put the first headline on screen. First he says, The interview yesterday was absolutely fabulous. You did a really great job, JM. Thank you, John Blair. He says, if you want an answer for your best park in the city, I'd say it's Penn Park. He says, I say that because Darden Tau is located in Amar County. Penn Park's fantastic. I love McGuffey Park. I agree that Penn's probably the best. And I haven't even seen I agree that Penn's probably the best. And I haven't even seen the construction that's recently been finished there. What's the splash park we take? I always forget this. The splash park we always take our two-year-old to?

Green something? Greenleaf. Greenleaf is a good one right there. Greenleaf Park we take our two-year-old. He loves to splash around on that. And then Blair says this, Jerry, Trump did the same thing, demanding that interest rates be cut in 2019. Here's a link to the article. Trump got the cuts he wanted in 2019 and shared the link on my personal LinkedIn in the comment section where this show is airing upon. Dude comes out by dude. The president of the United States comes out of the gate from the get-go and says, we are cutting rates and the world will follow us. The world will follow us. This will

impact people with revolving debt, with floating debt. That credit card debt may be more manageable. It's, I think, going to have an impact on the real estate market that potentially customers, that potentially buyers are not really anticipating correctly. I think it's going to be positive for the agents and the brokers. I think the buyers are going to potentially jump back into bidding wars and insanity, home inspection waivers and no contingencies of any kind, sight unseen offers. You start dropping rates like that and you could go back into COVID bananas. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, prepare yourself, ladies and gentlemen.

Lauren and Ivy, thank you for watching the program. She says Greenleaf for the littles, two to five-year-olds. Bill McChesney says Greenleaf Park is served from McIntyre Park by the bypass, is severed, severed from McIntyre Park by the bypass. West McIntyre has been changed by the city placing the YMCA, and East McIntyre has the skate park in it now, and it's primarily accessible from West McIntyre. Belmont Park off of Avon, Washington Park at 10th and Preston.

All these properties were given to the city of Charlottesville along with Justice and Market Street Park by Paul Goodloe McIntyre. Great stuff from the mayor of McIntyre right there, Bill McChesney. Bill McChesney, you make the program better. The Market Street Park, in the giving of Market Street Park, of Lee Park, Robert E. Lee Park of Freedom Park, what is the name of the park? Isn't it just Market Street Park? It's not Freedom Park? Is that right? I don't know.

Lee Park where the A11 and A12 epicenter that park was given by Paul Goodloe McIntyre of McIntyre school of commerce at the university of virginia and the language when gifting this park to the city he had a couple of caveats and contingencies and a always has to be called lee park b it always has to have this statue of robert e lee in it and c has to be a public park for the city to enjoy. Two of the three caveats were not honored.

Two of the three. I'm picturing Charlottesville standing over his resting place saying, what you gonna do? What you gonna do? We've seen a lot of broken promises, have we not? Yep. We've seen a lot of broken promises have we not yep we've seen a lot a lot of broken promises in our fair um city uh here in charlottesville

virginia um i got this comment from facebook message in a in a an anonymous capacity this is not deep throat but this is something that comes in from someone who knows the game how much commercial leverage do you think trump has that will be ballooning, terming in the next 12 to 24 months? That's a great question. Jesus. Takes it a layer further. Unpack what this commenter has to say, Judah. Or I can unpack it for you if you'd like, if you want to pass this to me.

Could you read it again? How much commercial leverage do you think Trump has that will be ballooning, terming in the next 12 to 24 months? Ballooning, terming? Yeah. I'm not sure I understand that. Okay, I'll unpack it here. Donald Trump owns a lot of real estate,

a lot of commercial real estate. A lot of that real estate that he owns has debt that's coming due. Term and balloon. That's what it's coming due. A lot of that debt is floating debt. Debt that has an interest rate tied to it where every couple years, every year, that interest rate is determined by a banker and moves with prime.

This commenter makes the comment, Trump demanding rates go low. Is this what's best for America or is this what's best for Trump? Or do they go hand in hand? Is what's best for America what's best for Trump? I'm not saying haters are going to try to take that comment out of context right there. But Trump demanding that rates go low, is that what's best for America or is that what's best for Trump? It's a good question. It's a great comment right there, especially with one of his first very boisterous pushes since he's gotten into office. Janice Boistravillian, isn't there an investigation into FCC and Soros

buying all the radio stations? There's always something going on with Soros. Vanessa Parkeo, how can folks be surprised about where things are going with AI? Did people think it would continue to be a novelty that people use to polish their emails to their bosses? Artificial intelligence, I'm telling you right now, if you're in a middle management, project management, administrative role, you're in an 18 to 36-month window where artificial intelligence will be so robust, accessible,

ubiquitous, and sophisticated that your upside employment wise will be extremely limited. Goldman Sachs, ladies and gentlemen, is rolling this out. Investment banks are rolling this artificial intelligence out to do IPO, initial public offering work. Work that these banks were saying would take weeks to do by a dozen or so people are being done in a mere days

by artificial intelligence. It's insane. It is absolutely insane. And to the point that Judah made profits over people, the folks this impacts are not the folks at the top of the pyramid. This is middle class America, workforce America, lower class America that will be eviscerated by artificial intelligence. I'm frankly terrified. It is not the upper class, the top 10% that will be impacted by this. They will utilize the artificial intelligence, the upper class and the top 10% for their gain by gaining more margin on labor or more efficiency with elements of work that they need. There's always going to be a place for a deal maker. There's always going to be a place for a deal maker. There's always going to be a place for a human connector of money, of opportunity, of deal, and someone to organize it. There's always going to be a place for a landlord.

So you think. How is artificial intelligence going to own bricks and take those bricks and rent them to people? You find that to be such a... I can't wait to hear how artificial intelligence is going to start buying buildings and then renting those buildings to people. I can tell you what artificial intelligence can do. They can start

managing the emails and the leases and the access for the tenants to the buildings. They can do that right now. They're certainly going to be doing that even more efficiently. But it's the upper class and the wealthy that are going to utilize this to the

detriment of the middle and lower class. Yeah, I've got no argument with that. Georgia Gilmer confirms Greenleaf. Thank you, Georgia Gilmer. Gigi, you make the program better over there. Like and share the show. Like and share the show. We'll give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply.

60 consecutive years in business. Judah, Andrew Vermillion, John Vermillion at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. East High vermillion at charlottesville sanitary supply east high street online at charlottesville sanitary supply.com um deep throat highlights um target rate cuts do not always lead to lower lower mortgage rates inappropriate cuts lead to a steeper curve higher term premium and higher mortgage rates that's true that's true um i would imagine the cuts that Trump is pushing, I think we all are in agreement, though,

will be cuts that are tied to housing. Bill McChesney, Lee Park was gifted as a memorial to McIntyre's parents. Thank you for that insight there, Bill McChesney. Bill McChesney, you make the program better all the time. I sincerely mean that. Next headline, Judah Wickhead. Is that the great coffee headline? Yep.

This is an opportunity for somebody. $4,500 a month rent for great coffee. York Place, $4,500 a month. That's reasonable. We are, let's see, I can't let the bird out of the cage here. There's 31 days in January. Closing is the 17th of February. So 17 plus 31 days in January, so there's 8. So we are 25 days away from important clients of mine closing on the purchase of a business locally.

I think you know this business through dealings in the office. We should not say who it is. Significant purchase. Many six figures, new lease signed of the five-year variety with options, and now an opportunity to pursue other locations for our client. I'm extremely familiar, this is what we do with the environments in Charlottesville and Albemarle County from an acquisition

and leasing standpoint with commercial. And ask a $4,500 a month from the Charlie Lewis family for one of the most eye-catching spaces on the downtown mall is a very reasonable ask. You talk about the trophy properties on the mall

to run a business out of. You immediately think what? Hamilton's, right? You immediately think maybe the whiskey jar. You immediately think Citizen Burger Bar. Think Zocalo, right? These are some of the trophy, the A of the A commercial on the mall. Right below that A of the A, a strong A commercial is this grit coffee spot. This spot has 60 seats inside and 35 seats outside. The first time this space has been on the market, the first time, ladies and gentlemen, that this space has been available. The asking is 4,500 a month. The rent, you can do a three or five year term. It's available the 1st of March.

You have had two established businesses, institutional businesses have success here. Tony Jorge's Cafe Cubano, where I first fell in love with that spot. This business is, I can't believe I'm saying this. In May of 2008 is when I launched the shop. I launched the shop in May in 2008 as a broke joke, working out of a condo, out of Panera Bread and Barracks Road because they had free Wi-Fi that was stronger than the Wi-Fi I had at my condo, and out of Cafe Cubano in the downtown mall. Now we're 17 years later this May. I fell in love with the great location while working out of Cafe Cubano's back room. We will know a lot about our downtown mall, the health, the legitimacy, the strength of the mall, with how long this space stays vacant or if it stays vacant at all.

This space has been active, ladies and gentlemen, since October, the 9th of October. And here we are, the 23rd of January, and it's still active. And it's going to be vacant the 1st of March. In five weeks, this will be vacant. As grit moves to Water Street and the old Waterbird Spirit location, Hunter Craig's old clock building across from Monoloco. If it's vacant for an extended period of time, you have one of the A of the A's vacant, along with other A of the A's vacant, Commonwealth Sky Bar, Blue Ridge Country Store, and good God, Draft Half Room, Stefan Freeman. Are you going to open? I linked in Stefan Freeman. He said he would come on the program. Please remind me after the

program to follow up on my LinkedIn request, where Mr. Freeman, Stefan Freeman said, I will come on the show after the new year to talk everything we have going on. He owns, um, he is a, a, a owner of a Spitzkin and barbecue draft tap room. He is a part of the little John's team owner of Bonnie and Reed owner of Vitae spirits. The scuttlebutt on the street has one of the best freshest sushi joints in all of the region operating out of Vitae Spirits. A sushi joint that has seats for just six people and no established menu. A husband and wife creating made-to-order sushi of their choice for customers.

Their choice, the husband and wife, for customers. Only six seats out of Vitae Spirit. All this under Stefan Freeman's purview. Grit coffee, if it's vacant for an extended period of time, you got something going on here. Right? First time in its history that it's available for rent. And an asking price that's reasonable, $4,500. We're not talking about some of these astronomical rents that we've heard through the grapevine

and like these other spots on the mall, like a late night club and venue for live music. Let's flirt with $20,000 a month in rent. I'm not going to out what it is, but you guys can probably figure that on your own. Okay. A very reasonable ask here. And this is a perfect segue as you rotate the lower third. Judah, which do you think has more upside of the vacant storefronts that cater to food and beverage? The country store, the Blue Ridge Country Store, we're hearing that's going to soon be assimilated and soon be merged into Bagby's. Draft tap room, Stefan Freeman's draft tap room, or the Grit storefront, the Lewis family Grit storefront.

Which has most upside to you and why? I'd go with Grit. I'd love to hear this. I like it. I think you could be right. Why Grit? I think it's got better positioning than the others. I think you're right on that. And by better position, explain that for

the viewers and listeners. It's between Whiskey Jar and... It's on the right, that side of the mall. That's the stronger side of the mall. It's on the Omni side of the mall. It's on the code building side of the mall. There's more foot traffic on that side of the mall. That's the stronger side of the mall. You know, it's on the Omni side of the mall. It's on the code building side of the mall. There's more foot traffic on that side of the mall. The other two may see an increase in warmer months when the when the pavilion opens back up. But but I think that's all that traffic is still going to be walking up and down in front of Miller's and York Place as well. So I just think that that's got the best positioning of those three spots on the downtown mall for year-round foot traffic. You know, you and I, I like to go back and forth, and sometimes I choose an answer for a little friction for the

show because I think a little bit of friction makes for a better show. I'm in agreement with Judah on this one. The least of the three and all three are strong options. All three have upside. I'm not throwing shade on any of them. All of them have upside.

Of the three, Grit, Draft Taproom, and Blue Ridge Country Store, I would rank them in this order. Number one, grit. Number two, draft. Number three, country store. Country store is, I don't say it's a bit lost. It's a storefront, but it's kind of, how would you characterize it with the storefront there? It's, it doesn't, it's, Draft is an, is an end cap. Draft is a corner storefront end cap that has a corner window, huge windows. And that fifth street cut through on the mall gets a boat load of foot traffic because it's right next to the market street parking garage by the post office by city hall it's an access point to the mall yeah massive foot traffic there okay and cat massive foot trap

the grit coffee spot geez louise that is the coffee spot for that side of the mall yeah if you're staying at the omni if if you're staying at jeff levine's new hotel that's that he's building and the shadows of the Omni. And speaking of Jeff Levine, for a third time, he presented before the Board of Architectural Review, tearing down Violent Crown movie theater and building an apartment tower. This is very much still alive. It's flying under the radar by local media because local media is 22 and 23-year-olds that are still lamenting the demise of TikTok and not focus on development on the downtown mall. But Levine has presented for a third time to the Bar, to the Board of Architectural Review, building an apartment behemoth that we have never seen before. I should show the renderings tomorrow.

Those renderings are available. How much it towers over a friend of the program, Jeffrey Woodruff's code building. It is astronomically the tallest building in the city. And it's not close what he's talking about. But speaking of grit, if you're staying anywhere on that side or you're patronizing anywhere of the most popular side of the mall,

you see grit. This is a coveted location. No doubt. $4,500 a month. Judah, I think you're all over it here. Very pointed question for you. Straightforward. Five weeks.

Does grit secure a tenant between now and grit moving out of the market of the downtown location? Or is it going to sit vacant for an extended period of time? I mean, you walk the mall as much as I do. Yeah, but that doesn't... Do you think it's going to secure a tenant? I'd like to think it would.

Of all the places that could open up and secure a tenant quickly, I think that's got a high chance of succeeding, of getting someone who wants that spot. But I don't know who's looking. I don't know who's planning on starting a business that belongs on the mall. So I honestly don't know. Bill McChesney asked this question. This is a great question from William. If Levine's apartment tower gains city approval in the sight of violent Crown movie theater,

does that help or hurt a prospective tenant eyeing the grit coffee, York place, downtown mall location? That's a hell of a question. That's a great one to unpack. I'll start with Judah with care on that one. That's a great question. William Logan, Wells, Claylow, Olivia Branch, welcome to the broadcast. J-Dubs, what do you got? I mean, just basically going off of what I've heard here, I'd say that there may be a period of reduced traffic when there's a lot of construction going on in that area.

But honestly, I'm not sure. And I think ultimately somebody looking at that spot probably would see the construction and the prospect of an apartment block there as a good thing. I'll take the flip side. And not just for the sake of a talk show, but authentically, in my heart of hearts,

I mean this. If Levine gets approval for this apartment tower, he wants, what, 18 stories, right? Yeah. Without changing the overall height. If he gets an 18 story apartment tower on the downtown mall where the movie theater is

from the approval process to the finish of the tower, the construction of the tower will be years. Yeah. And in that stretch of time, years, that side of the mall, and the mall as a whole, will take a hit. You will have on that side of the mall two projects going on at the same time. His project to build the hotel next to the Omni and his apartment tower where Violent Crown is. I don't know this.

This is purely conjecture., purely talk for a talk show. This is a great question for the you-know-whos that are watching this program here, one watching right now. Just send me a Facebook message. Does Levine, the developer from the Big Apple who lives in North Garden, does he want the hotel project and the apartment tower on Violent Crown to be built at the same time

for construction efficiency? You think? I don't. I literally said, it's conjecture. I do not know. Would a guy as sophisticated as Jeff Levine, who could be potentially raising half a billion dollars for these two projects, would he want the two projects to be constructed at the exact same time to save money on construction costs, labor costs? I do not have that answer.

That is above my pay grade. But that is certainly in the pay grade within a couple of people that are watching this program right now. Because you could conceivably having labor, the same labor going from job site by Violent Crown to job site by the Omni Hotel. What are you talking? You're walking across the mall there, right? You're walking a hundred yards from one project to the other.

And here's the other bananas thing. We still do not have an effing update on the Dewberry Hotel. The call for offers was the 9th of January. The folks that sold the Quirk Hotel and the Keswick Hotel said, your deadline to get your offers in is the 9th of January. Did any offers come in? Or did no offers come in? I would want to know why hasn't the Daily Progress done a follow-up story on that? Reynolds, you're the editor over there. A follow-up story should have been out on the 10th or the 11th on this. If you're going to break the news that it's for sale,

a follow-up story should be done on whether any offers came in or not. And if you get no comment from the listing brokers, that's a story. They gave me no comment. But a follow-up should happen. I'm paying for a subscription. One of, I think, like 3,000 people in the community that are paying for a subscription. I think it's down to that few people. Could you conceivably have three significant construction projects at the very same time on the mall?

Three? That'd be harsh. And does Levine want two of them to happen at the same time intentionally with the hotel and the apartment tower? Sincerely, would like to know that answer. All right, 127. We're approaching our hour here on the I Love Seville show. A couple of items I want to get out of the notebook.

I'd love to get the renderings he presented to Barr, the Board of Architectural Review on tomorrow's show. Can you make a note, if you could please, sir, to show the renderings tomorrow? And when we do our pre-production meeting and I'm like, these are the topics I want to cover, it could be like, well, you wanted to talk about these production, about these renderings. And then I'd be like, okay, and I can send them to you. In fact, I'm going to send you the

renderings right now. I'm going to Facebook message you the renderings right now. That way it's not on my shoulders. And then I'm going to kindly ask you, kindly, very kindly, can you please have these renderings that I'm Facebook messaging you on screen and in tomorrow's rundown as a headline, please, sir? Thank you. Those are in your Facebook inbox. Last item of the notebook, I have clients that are well-funded, have cash on hand, fantastic credit, already in business,

clients of mine for years that have reached out saying, we want to expand and we want to buy an established food and beverage business, an established restaurant. They'd like to close the deal in the next 90 days if possible. If you're on the cusp of looking to sell your food and beverage business and are just burnt out, you accrued a lot of debt during COVID, you took a HELOC out during COVID, you have those EIDL loans that you took on,

those low-interest loans during COVID, and now the payments are coming due, and you basically want to, if you're burnt out, let me know. Let me know. We have a very established client that is very interested in expanding what they're doing right now.

And I'm very excited for the middle of February where we can potentially break the news as we close on a very established business. My client's purchasing a very established business for many six figures. I think that is going to be a positive for our community, ladies and gentlemen. All right, this is the, today's Thursday, a Thursday edition of the I Love Seville Show. It was a short week, right, for MLK, MLK Day. The Thursday edition of the I Love Seville Show.

I am very grateful for your viewership and listenership, guys. For Judah Wickauer, my name is Jerry Miller. Thank you.