The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Building Housing For 800 Students On Ivy Rd; UVA Wants 2nd Years Living On Ivy Road In 2027

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: UVA Building Housing For 800 Students On Ivy Rd UVA Wants 2nd Years Living On Ivy Road In 2027 Will UVA Ivy Rd Project Impact 2117 Ivy Rd Project? 2117 Ivy Rd (old Truist) = 10 Stories, 241 Units Is Bubble Bursting On CVille Multi-Family Housing? Blue Moon, Lumpkins, Mel’s, Moose’s = 121 Years VA Tech Will Pay Athletes $20.5M In 2025-26 Hokies Will Max NIL Pay To Athletes Each Year 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.

Jerry Miller, Good Tuesday afternoon to you. Thank you kindly for joining us. A busy show lined up for you today. A programming note tomorrow, Joe Plantania, the Commonwealth's attorney of Charlottesville, will be in the studio along with Police Chief Mike Kochess. That's on tomorrow's show. Joe Plantania and Police Chief Mike Kochess at 12.30 p.m. Mark your calendars. It should be a very good show. If you have questions for both gentlemen, please send them to us. We don't mind questions that respectfully challenge our guests, but they have to come from a mindset of respect. A topic that was discussed in the open session

of the Board of Visitors meeting last week, remember the BOV met on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday here in Charlottesville was the concept or the push to house second year 750 to 800 of them on grounds in newly constructed UVA housing. And the University of Virginia is making a push by the year 2027, which if you think about it, really is not that far away. UVA wants an additional 750 to 800 second years living in housing of their own. I've been talking about this topic with Deep Throat, who I see sent me a DM. I also have talked this topic over the last few days with a couple of buddies that I play squash with who are huge property owners, big-time property owners, commercial and residential, big landlords, you would say. And the concept has come up of taking 750 to 800 renters, that's a large portion of a renting population in the city, second-year students, and offering them university housing and removing them from the

private landlord pool, the question came up, how will this impact the economy here in Charlottesville? And I want to relay, with their permission, I've gotten their permission, anything I talk about on this show, I've got the permission of the folks that I talk with. Can I relay it on air? Can I talk about this on the show? Oftentimes, a lot of these folks are asking me to put this out there on their behalf. If someone says, I don't want you talking about it, I honor it. That's how we get a lot of this information is we're true to our word of what we say here. But these folks have said, you should put on your show what 750 to 800 students losing that tenant population will do to

the community. One of the commercial landlords in particular said, you should ask your show what a project on Ivy Road for 750 to 800 students, how will that impact the project across the street in the old Truist Bank location? And that address is 2117 Ivy Road. This is a 10-story planned building in 241 units. Remember, it used to be, was it RMD, if memory serves, that was bringing this to market? Now it's Up Campus. The developer is Up Campus, who does student housing. They do student housing in a lot of places in the country. The fellows I play squash with, the folks that are way heavier hitters than me and have been doing the commercial real estate and multifamily and development game for decades,

a lot longer than what I've been doing it, have said it's going to be extremely difficult to get housing or to get financing for this 2117 Ivy Road project. And this one guy who's got fantastic hands on the squash court said that Ivy Road in a lot of ways is, the UVA in a lot of ways is sticking it to this up-campus developer by beating them to the punch with development and basically watering down demand. And then I passed this along to a man I trust and deep throat in direct message capacity yesterday, and he relays to me your contact's perspective is absolutely right.

He said, what bank is going to want to finance a project for an out-of-market developer at the old Truist Bank site when directly across the street, the biggest developer in the region, the University of Virginia, is stealing their potential renter base from them? And then we started talking, Deep Throat, that I started talking with the Squash buddies, and then I started talking with some commercial brokers about this topic. And the common denominator with all these various conversations that I'm having

is the glut of multifamily housing. We had the team behind, what was the name of the, I should know this, I've asked you this before, the apartments in Stonefield, was it the Elysian? The Elysian? The Elysian? Thank you, in Stonefield. Luxury apartments in Stonefield within walking distance of wonderful restaurants, a movie theater, a grocery store, shops and amenities and parking, and their vacancy rate is more than 50% currently. So the question was asked by these various pockets of people that I interact with,

and what I try to do is just interact and talk with everyone. Try to talk with the folks in elected positions, in government positions, private developers, run very heavily in the real estate circles. And in all these circles, the common denominator is this glut of multifamily housing. And then you take a glut of multifamily housing that currently exists in Charlottesville and in the urban ring, and then you add the fact that UVA is going to take 800 students out of the rent rolls, off the rent rolls, out of the renter population. And guys, you have a significant potential conundrum on your hands. I relayed a few months ago the story of me sitting next to a couple of guys from Fulton Bank,

fantastic bank, Fulton. And I'm sitting there with one of their guys in their lending division, and I'm sitting next to one of the guys in their retail division, and I think I'm drinking a Basque double IPA, a Basque Dippa. The guys are drinking old fashions, and we have a charcuterie board, a bowl of peanuts, mixed nuts, and then we start getting plates of food coming in. And we're sitting there shooting the you-know-what. And I was talking with them about potentially looking to purchase a six-unit project or a six-unit multifamily on East High Street. And I showed him the listing.

I kind of walked through the business model, the funding that we had, a down payment that was going to exceed 30%. Had a partner, a guy I do a lot of business with, that we were going to bring in the mix, and he was excited about it as well. Older than me, this gentleman, he's got ownership stake on the UVA corner

and ownership stake at Stanton and ownership stake on Cherry and elsewhere. And we were going to buy this six unit, this six unit multifamily project that frankly was needed tremendous TLC. And we were going to put some lipstick on the pig and we were going to offer the current tenants a better place to live by improving where they were living. And if anything, anyone wanted out of the lease when the lease expired, we were going to raise the rents, and the idea was to hold this six-unit off of East High Street until we were able to get the permitting and the approval to potentially do something more significant there. And our concept was once we got the permitting and approval,

we would then take the approved permitting and approval and then find a buyer. We weren't going to be the folks that were going to tear the six units down and build something from scratch. That wasn't the game. The game was to buy something that was a distressed asset that had tenants in place and used the rent roll to get through the permitting and approval process with City Hall and local government to then get the plans in place. We anticipated it taking 18 to 24 months, and when those plans were in place in 18 to 24 months, we would sell the opportunity to somebody who wanted to build 12, 18, 24 units in this spot. Talked about this with a fantastic real estate broker, and I'll say who it is. I don't think he'll mind me saying who it is.

And Gary Palmer. Gary Palmer saw the upside in Vision with this project off of East High Street. And when I'm sitting there having the Bass double IPA and eating some charcuterie at the Mill Room, talking to these guys from Fulton Bank, the guy that I was going to partner with in the deal walks into the middle room. He storyboards and vision boards with me what we wanted to do. And immediately the guy stopped and said, you know what? We just want you to know that anything above three units and multifamily, we're not lending on. And even three units, you're going to have a hard time getting financing with us. There's too much multifamily in this area. So I'm going

to stop you in your tracks here. We don't mean to disappoint you and we want to do business with you. But this project is not going to clear the higher-ups. We're not going to lend money on a multifamily project like this. And I said, this is six units. There's tenants in place. We're putting a down payment down of more than 30%. We have our debt-to-equity profile, me personally, is fantastic. His debt-to-equity profile, he's got non-existent

debt. What do you mean you're not? We've got great credit. We live and work in the commercial space. We are the folks that you lend money to. And he agreed to everything. He said, you are the perfect candidates, and we know you would make this work. We're just telling you what is being told to us that Fulton's not lending on multifamily right now. We're sorry, Jerry. And like that, I started realizing that, holy, you know what? We may have a glut of multifamily.

Then I started talking and asking around and having conversations with various people. And now you find the University of Virginia in 2027 is going to take 750 to 800 second years out of the tenant population. So you potentially have even less renters in a couple years in this multifamily space. This is something that needs to be talked about. And that's why these folks that I'm playing swash with, that's why Deep Throat, that's why these bankers, and that's why these other folks that I run with in the commercial game are saying, put

it on the platform of what's happening with multifamily. People don't realize what's going on. You've got the livable Charlottesville organization, Matthew Gilligan and Stephen Johnson, that are screaming at the top of Carter's Mountain using their little blue sky platform saying, build more multifamily, build more multifamily, build more multifamily. Has anyone taken a moment to check the vacancy rates of the multifamily that's being built? And has anyone considered, ladies and gentlemen, what taking 750 to 800 students out of the tenant population is going to do? Has anyone considered what a UVA project on Ivy Road across from the Truist Bank is going to do to this up-campus development team from a financing standpoint? I mean, geez louise, we may have a bubble here in multifamily in the city of Charlottesville and in the urban ring of Alamoar County.

I want to talk about that today. I want to unpack this in ways that everyone can understand. Because it's one thing for activists in an urban lobbying group to try to corner and bully city council into passing and approving all multifamily projects and pushing the zoning code through that allows more housing density. Okay, that's what's happening now. But what's really happening is the housing that's being built, you may not have the demand to fill it. And some of these projects are in jeopardy. We'll talk about that today. I also want to talk today, Judah, about Blue Moon Diner, Lumpkins, Mels, and Mooses. We talked about this some yesterday.

I offered Judah a proposition bet. I put the over-under at 100 years. If you add up Blue Moon, Lumpkins, Mel's, and Moose's, all four of those restaurants and how long they serve the community, I said I would take the over-on 100 years. Judah accepted. Judah, studio camera, then we've been the glue guy, the Elmer's glue guy of the network. Judah B. Wickhour, jack of all trades, jack of all wits. I said, Judah, let's put the over-under at 100. I'll take the over. You take

the under. You accepted the bet for a bottle of brown liquor. You didn't accept the bet. You passed on the bet. 121 years, Lumpkins, Mooses, Mells, and Blue Moon Diner have served this community. Collectively, 121 years. This is a kick in the nuts for this community, losing 121 years of tenure on four iconic businesses.

I'm going to talk about the significance of losing 121 years of business as well today. I also want to talk on today's program, Judah, and I'm going to talk about the significance of losing 121 years of business as well today. I also want to talk on today's program, Judah, and I'm going to ask you what you find to be the most significant headline today before we give some love to our partners. This story broke late last week and flew under the radar. It then got published by the Lee Enterprises media engine. And Lee is the Daily Progress, what, the Roanoke Times, the Richmond Times Dispatch, and some of the smaller papers.

Bill Roth is the broadcaster, the play-by-play guy for Virginia Tech. He had a conversation with Virginia Tech Athletic Director Whit Babcock. And Virginia Tech, late Friday, confirmed on the record that they, starting next year, 2025-2026, will pay its student-athletes the max it is allowed to pay in name-image likeness. $20,500,000. Virginia Tech said we're all in. $20,500,000. Virginia Tech said we're all in. $20,500,000, that's a great question.

It's going to be focused primarily on football, men's basketball, and women's basketball, the athletic director confirmed. He said we are going to pay to get the best players with football, men's basketball, and women's basketball, the revenue-generating sports. And we're going to allocate $20,500,000 to these teenagers and these young men and women. And we hope that's going to attract the best talent, and we are going to win in those sports. Ladies and gentlemen, Virginia Tech goes balls to the wall and maximizes the cap. The cap is at $20,500,000. There's a 4% increase allowed every year on this cap. And they say they're going to go balls to wall every year.

This is going to have significant impacts on the University of Virginia. We talked about it this morning on what I thought was an excellent edition or episode of the Jerry and Jerry Show. I want to talk about it a little more today on the I Love Seabull Show. We want to give some attention to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, 60 consecutive years of business. I mean, guys, 18 straight years for Blue Moon Diner, 39 straight years for Mel's Cafe, 10 straight years for Moose's, 54 straight years for Lumpkin's, all extremely impressive.

How about 60-plus consecutive years for the Vermillion family, for John and Andrew at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 60 years of business, the Vermilions online at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. And of course our friends at Mexicali Restaurant, Judah. Cocktail bar, street art museum, Latin fusion cuisine, music venue. My, oh my, oh my. Mexicali Restaurant is doing some amazing things. Which headline, Judah, intrigues you the most and why?

Like I said, I was curious about that $20.5 million, because obviously that's a ton if that's per athlete. If it's for their entire sports program, I would think that might be pretty small. I mean, how many... Let's just talk men's. 20,500,000 is a boatload of money. Men's basketball and women's basketball have 12 players on the roster. Football has what? What's the number of football viewers and listeners?

John Blair, Kevin Higgins, Kevin Yancey. What's it, 100? You're talking about 124 players. And not all, the bench warmers ain't going to get the money. Right. I know that not everybody's going to get an equal. You're looking at 50 football players, maybe 7 basketball players, and maybe 5 women's basketball players. You're talking about $20,500,000

divided by, what? Let's hedge conservatively. 75? You're talking about a quarter million dollars or more a year for these kids to play sports. And of course the star quarterback, the star running back, the star defensive end, the star offensive tackle, the star linebacker, and the star defensive back are going to make more. Same with the star basketball player in the state

or star women's basketball player. But if you say 50 guys on football, you say five guys on basketball and five guys, five gals on the women's team, let's call it 60 total players making most of that 20 million, 500,000. Let's go 20 million, 500,000 divided by 60. You're looking at $341,000. And that's going to increase 4% every year if they do this. Virginia Tech said it's an arms race. They increased this 4% every year. I mean, we're talking about compound every year. And the point Hootie Ratcliffe made on the Jerry and Jerry show this morning, this is the point he made. He said, Virginia Tech is selling out its stadium. It gets 60,000 plus people at the game every single home game.

They sell out. So they're driving revenue with home games, concessions sales, merchandise sales, parking revenue, ticket revenue, right? Donations because of the communal spirit that comes with sellouts at Lane Stadium. When you hear Metallica playing as they come out of the tunnel at the beginning of the game. They sold out the last game of the season with both teams were five and six when Virginia Tech's won 22 of the last 24 ballgames against UVA, when it was 20 degrees outside, and they still sold out. Right?

They still sold out. So the point he made was this. Virginia Tech, if it's an arms race, and they're trying to raise $20.5 million every year, 4% increase every year thereafter, they have the foundation to do it. The University of Virginia gets 25,000 people, not 60,000 at a home game. And Jerry Ratcliffe confirmed they're losing more than a million dollars per home game. If this is an arms race where you're paying for play, and that's the world we live in, you have a foundation or a business model that is absolutely broken right now. I think people are now understanding that UVA,

half of its roster has exhausted its eligibility. And another 10 guys just entered the transfer portal. Is that because they had an extra year from COVID? Exhausted eligibility means they have no eligibility left. Some got extra years from COVID. Some got extra time because of the mass murder with the three football players. But half the roster this past season exhausted eligibility. Then they lost additional players.

Tony Elliott has to replace more than half his roster right now. It's just absolutely bananas. We'll talk about that on today's show. We'll talk Lumpkins. A lot we want to cover on the program. Let's get to the topic that multiple people are asking me to put in the news cycle on this talk show. I respect the responsibility that comes with hosting the show, okay? Let's dot the I's.

Let's give it to you in bullet point fashion, okay? I's give it to you in bullet point fashion. Okay? I'll give it to you in bullet point fashion. And then viewers and listeners, you ask us questions as well. Judah did not take the bet. You're right, Bill McChesney. I tried to strong arm him into taking the bet. Strong arming might have been not the best phrase. I tried to suggest or influence him that he take that proposition bet.

I did know when suggesting the proposition bet that Lumpkins had 50 plus years of tenure. So I had a pretty good idea that I was going to win the bet if you took it over 100. That's what makes a proposition bet so fun. It's thinking quickly on your feet to determine if you want to get into a betting arrangement. Now, you could have pushed back and adjusted the over-under if you wanted to. But anyway, bullet point fashion. Board of Visitors meeting last week. An item flying under the radar.

UVA is being pressured. UVA is being pressured by the community in Charlottesville, by activists in our community, activists in the black community, activists in livable Charlottesville. And one of the pressure points they're feeling is the fact that they're not providing enough housing for students. And the activists in the black community and the activists and livable charlottesville and other activist groups michael payne is part of this nikaya walker was part of this i think dave norris was part of this matthew gillikin stephen johnson all part of this they said if uva provides housing for second, it's going to open up the housing the second years were renting.

And that housing that the second years were renting around grounds at the University of Virginia will open, and that open housing, rental housing, can then go to locals, locals that may be working at the University of Virginia that want to be in close proximity to their employer. The housing that's around 14th Street, Preston Avenue, Jefferson Park Avenue, Shamrock Road, Stadium Road, and those pockets and corridors. So UVA finally says, you know what? We need to offer housing for an additional second years, for more second years. So they've entered into a public-private partnership. Their private partner in this is Capstone Development Partners. partners are going to take the lead on developing a new project on Ivy Road for 750 to 800 second

years. Beds, 750 to 800 second years. They are going to try to bring this online prior to the 2027 school year. Summer of 2027 is when they want to finish. The Board of Visitors, UVA, they're estimating the cost of this project will be between $150 million and $160 million. Coalette Sheehy, who is retiring very soon, she's the Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government Relations,

presented this to the Board of Visitors this past week as part of the 2030 Strategic Plan. And in this presentation, she highlighted that improving the student experience is offering second years a chance to live on grounds in UVA housing. She said this will improve the student experience. The reality is the University of Virginia has been pressured by activists in our community, by government in our community, to provide additional housing for students because the thought is that will open up housing stock for locals to live in. So, are they living on grounds or are they going to be living on Ivy?

That's now grounds. I've highlighted that Ivy Road from the Data Science Center, from the Institute, what is it called? The Cush Institute of Democracy, I believe that's what it's called, to the Foods of All Nations Shopping Center,

all the way to the Boar's Head. That's becoming Academic Village 2.0, the Lawn 2.0. UVA is growing toward Ivy, toward its trophy property, the Boar's Head. Eventually, you will see the University of Virginia from Boar's Head until where those Snyder tennis courts are, the data science school is, be all the University of Virginia. That's why I think Phil Delaney's Virginia Oil, that Virginia Oil property

where Danny's Upholstery is located, UVA won. We all know that UVA is going to get that. Why it hasn't sold? Probably because the Delaney estate is asking too much money, especially for a piece of property that's probably has environmental concerns left and right. And I know the University of Virginia is hesitant to purchase property

that has environmental concerns. So as the University of Virginia expands down Ivy Road and is now partnering with a private developer to build beds for 750 to 800 kids, multiple folks in our Rolodex, if Rolodex are such a thing, maybe multiple folks that I DM or text message on a very regular basis, play squash with,

have said, use your platform to educate the community that there is a bubble that's coming with multifamily housing. They point to the following. Taking 750 to 800 second years out of the renter population is going to create even more vacancy for the private landlords. Deep Throat has pointed to the Stonefield Apartments. What was it called again? Elysium. They reached out to us, remember, about figuring out a strategy to fill their vacancies

that is over 50%. We put a branding strategy in place for them. I would love to work with them. Over 50, more than 50% vacant, a luxury apartment complex in Stonefield. One of the folks that I play with said, how do you think that this is going to impact the bank financing on the old Truist site he said this who's lending in the multifamily space right now and then he said who's going to lend in the multifamily space

when the developer across the street the University of Virginia, has taken 750 to 800 of the potential tenants from the Truist Bank site away. He said, getting financing for this project at the old Truist Bank site is going to be very difficult. I then passed that information along to a guy I trust in Deep Throat who seconded what my buddy said. One buddy seconded what the other buddy said. I then pass this along to a guy that has 200 and some multifamily units in Charlottesville and Almar County, a guy I enjoy having cold beverages with

here at the office. We're not going to use his name in the capacity. You know who I'm talking about? I have an idea who it might be. A gentleman that has a love for talking and dogs and enjoying what's on the bar over there comes by from time to time. You know who I'm talking about? I think so. Okay. I pass it along to him. And he said, yeah, I'm worried about this. We're getting ramrodded, he said, by folks pushing for multifamily housing. And they don't realize what they're doing.

He then says, use your platform to talk about this in the community. I want to get to some comments that are coming in. Okay, please jump in, please. Is the push to build multifamily, even from developers, is it just a matter of maximizing how many rooms you can get on a footprint? I mean, is that why that seems to be more desirable for developers than single family? The path of least resistance, the easiest way to bring something to market is a single family detached house. A single family detached house that you build for X and you sell for Z. Easiest way to do it.

You get something, you buy the land, you tear down whatever's on there, you build something, it costs you half a million dollars to build, you sell it for $800,000, $900,000. But the activists in the community are pushing government

and government is responding by trying to create density. And now, with density, these developers are trying to bring projects to market, whether it's Jeff Levine at the Violent Crown Theater that wants 18 stories over there, instead of 13 stories, wants to build a monster, and is asking for tax breaks on the downtown mall. Can you imagine if the violent crown becomes an apartment complex that's 18 stories? If UVA builds housing for 750 to 800 second years,

if 2117 Ivy Road, the old Truist Bank, 10 stories and 241 units, they're building a monstrosity off of Old Ivy Road by St. Ann's Belfield. That's in the works. Another monstrosity over there. If all these projects come to market, you have a bubble, multifamily

bubble in Charlottesville and Alamaro County. This story is not being talked about by anyone. Why is no one talking about the multifamily bubble that is happening here? I don't know if anybody has the full scope of what's going on. Didn't we just

outline it? Yeah, but I don't know if anybody else out there sees it that way, and the problem is there's still an issue with... The sharps and insiders are seeing it. The sharps and insiders are seeing it. The sharps and insiders are seeing it. I've heard through multiple people, Chris Henry's completely forgotten about Phase 3 Dairy Market.

And we chopped up Phase 3 Dairy Market being forgotten because he took the metaphorical arrows to the chest in that town hall meeting. Chris Henry is brilliant. Phase 3 Dairy Market, who's going to bring that project when we have a glut like this? How about these comments from number one in the family? On the oversupply of multifamily housing topic, the Elysian, that name is so tough for me. The Elysian has 140 vacant units still in a hot market. He says in a hot market,

apartments get absorbed before the place is even ready to open. That's true. They rent, they have a waiting list. They rent them before they're opening by showing a model home. And he says there's 140 vacant units in the Stonefield Elysian. You guys need to work with us here. We'll help you fill those. I sent you the RFP. I sent you the plan. You RFP'd me.

He says this. If you include 2117 Ivy Road, then Charlottesville has an approved pipeline of over 1,000 new rental units. Then with the UVA developments, that will amount, then he says, then the UVA developments, which translating beds to units, amounts to another 200 to 250 units. He says, Deep Throat does, that's 1,200 units. 1,200 units is over 10% of the entire existing rental stock of Seville. Do you hear what he just said? I'm going to put this in. One of the very few talents I have is communicating and being succinct.

He says you've got 1,200 units multifamily in the pipeline right now for Charlottesville. And that makes up more than 10% of the entire existing rental stock. Do you hear that? Yeah. Should I give them, you explain it. So is it adding 10%?

Okay, I'll try it again. In the pipeline, the development pipeline. 1,200. There's 1,200 plan units. Those 1,200 plan units are more than 10% of the existing rental stock that is out there right now. Yeah. So there's 120,000 rental units, right? Yes.

No. No. 10%. That would be 12,000, Judah. 120,000, 10% would be 12,000. Gotcha. 12,000. Think about what he just said.

Think about that. Yeah. just said. Think about that. You've got the Elysium struggling to fill those exact same types of units and there are 1,200 more on the way. The existing units can't be filled.

Yeah. And you've got The existing units can't be filled. Yeah. And you got another 10% plus in the pipeline. Think about that. That's just the city. Yeah. Yeah. We live in a crazy world where a small population of people are bullying another small population of people to push policy through that is working against the large population of people. Small population of people, activists.

The Kaya Walkers, Livable Seavills, bullying a small population of people planning commissioners and city councilors to push policy through that is negatively impacting the vast large population of people how does it negatively impact?

because it's providing the wrong source of what we do need. It's negatively impacting the community in the following ways. Landlords that currently own property in the city. I'm talking the onesies, the twosies, the threesies. They are going to face headwinds to fill their spaces. Yeah, because there's going to be a glut. There's going to be a glut of rental and not enough people to fill.

How's it going to negatively impact the community? An institutional movie theater gets torn down. And construction happens on a side of the downtown mall that's keeping the entire mall afloat. And the businesses on that side of the mall won't survive the construction that happens if the movie theater gets torn down and gets converted into an 18-story apartment building. How does it negatively impact the community? I want anyone to try driving down Ivy Road when UVA is going to build a project,

at the same time a private developer is going to build a project across the street, at the same time a data science school is being finished, at the same time an institute of democracy is being finished, at the same time an apartment complex is being built off an old ivy road next to St. Ann's Belfield. I want anyone to drive down that road at school drop-off time or school pick-up time or work drive-in time or work drive-out time. I want anyone to drive down that road the time an accident happens on the interstate and everyone uses Ivy Road as the backup way.

We're being manipulated. Bullied. We're being conned. It's a con game. I don't know. That doesn't make any sense, though. It is a con game.

What's the con, though? Somebody working a con gets something out of it. The activists get the levelization or the equalization of the wealth playing field. How so? The activists hate, hate multi-unit landlords. What is the best way to crush a multi-unit landlord? Create a glut of housing. So the multi-unit landlord.

Does not have anyone to rent. Their multi-units to. It's the socialization. Of capitalism. And whether they like it or not, the council is part of the con game. Whether they know it or not, I'm not even sure they know it. Do they even know the wool is being pulled over their eyes?

Do they know the wool is being pulled over their eyes? Do they know the wool is being pulled over their eyes? I think you're ascribing a level of intention on the activists that I don't know exist. I know that exists with certain activists. Do I think it exists with Zianna Bryant or Nakia Walker? Do I think it exists with Michael Payne? I do not. Do I think that intentionality exists with the economics professor, Stephen Johnson?

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Deep Throat makes the comment. One of the great ironies here, Zianna Bryant, with those metaphorical arrows to the chest of Chris Henry, probably did Chris Henry

a huge favor. That's the phase three project. I think he's wiping his brow. And he pushes on your comment that the livable Seville will rejoice if a glut happens and rents drop. But they will hate how that destroys

any ability to construct in the future. They will end up destroying the very developers who they will need to build housing in the future. They will end up destroying the very developers who they will need to build housing over time. And they will end up with a situation where banks see Seville multifamily as a dirty curse word. That will constrain elasticity much more than zoning ever did.

God, I love this man. Sincerely mean that. You've got to come on the show. We can do the bag over your head, or we can zoom you in and change your voice. Can you somehow disguise the man's identity on the show so he can come on the show? We could not point a camera at him.

Just because he's got a mic doesn't mean he needs a camera. He's got a recognizable voice, though. Get one of those voice changers. The ones you put up to your neck? I mean, there are other ones I think that you can just put in front of your mouth. We need to talk about this stuff. You can't fill apartments right now. Yeah. you can't fill apartments right now. You can't fill apartments right now in Stonefield

when you have parking, when parking is abundant, when you can walk to Costco, when you can walk to bars and restaurants, when you can walk to Trader Joe's, when you can walk to Regal Movie Theater, and when you can walk to some of the best shops out there. And they're more than 50% vacant. And right now we're planning to take second years

and to put them in UVA housing. We're talking a 10-story building in the old Truist Bank site, a potential apartment tower in the Violent Crowd Movie Theater on the downtown mall. We're talking a student housing provider building obscene amount of housing across the street from St. Ann's Belfield

off of Old Ivy Road. I mean, what the hell is happening here? We would happily host you with a Texas accent. Deep throat. Yeah. I'd put on a Texas accent just to

live in solidarity. I've legitimately asked the man 20 times to come on the show. Probably 20 times. Crazy times. Crazy times. Anything else you want to add to this before we go to the next topic?

Who's going to lend money to the person to build the apartment, the group building the apartment tower where the truest bank is? What bank is going to lend money on that? When the private equity group who owns the Elysian and Stonefield can't fill its apartments?

So, is there a reason that we've that we have less uh less actual single-family dwellings being built is it because the is there some is there some reason beside the zoning ordinance? Where are you going to build them, Judah? And look at what happened with the Evergreen people with the Lewis Mountain neighborhood. They bought a piece of property in Lewis Mountain and they want to build six luxury brownstone townhomes. Yeah. Look at the political outcry they received from Yes In My Backyard people.

They're bringing housing to market, but it wasn't the type of housing the Yimbys wanted. So they're trying to scarlet letter them. So the Yimbys just want multifamily dwellings the yimbis don't just want multifamily dwellings the yimbis the act i'm gonna i'm gonna call them the activists here the activists don't just want multifamily dwellings the activists want multifamily dwellings and the historically wealthy areas. There's nothing more the activists would want. Look at it.

The activists didn't want the multifamily dwellings on 10th and Page. Activists, Sihana Bryant, proverbial arrows to Chris Henry's chest at the forum, at the town hall. The activists didn't want the multifamily by the river on East High Street because of environmental concerns on the river. The activists didn't want

it at the freaking trailer park. They wanted to save the trailer park. You know where the activists want it? They love those 24 units on Barracks Road by the rich people. They love them there. What was the problem

with the townhomes that were going to be built? The Lewis Mountain ones? Yeah. They're bitching and moaning that it's million plus townhomes, that the project could have been executed in a much more dense way or a much more multifamily way. It wasn't that they didn't want it done. They just wanted it done differently. Done differently. They didn't want a million plus townhomes. And here's what it's all said and done. You know what these multifamily luxury units, the problems they face? Here's a very straightforward problem.

Three to four thousand, five thousand dollars a month in rent. Finish my sentence. 100%. That's not what people need. Finish it in a different way. Okay. That's too expensive for the people that we want to house.

$3,000 to $4,000 to $5,000 a month in rent. If you can afford that, you're going to buy an effing house and pay a mortgage. You're not going to pay three to four or five thousand a month in rent. You're just going to pay a mortgage and buy a crib. Put some roots down. Wait two years. Minimize some gains exposure if you're two years. What is it? Two,000 if you're a single person? 500,000 if you're a married couple? That's what we did. Keswick, Glenmore, March 2020, 700.

May 2024, 1,000,002. 500 gain over the two-year marker. John Blair, LinkedIn. The problem with the housing discussions in Charlottesville is that none of the policymakers are talking to the people who matter even more than builders or developers, the finance people. Real estate is always decided by the bankers.

Did the city council or board of supervisors ever meet exclusively with bankers or finance people about a housing policy before enacting their inclusionary zoning policies? John Blair, chest bumps all around. Great questions. Your son's getting fantastic at squash. Chest bumps all around. I sat down with the guys from Fulton for an hour. And they said, we're not doing this.

And the project that I was talking about was less than a million dollars with 30% down. Great credit, awesome debt to equity, and a partner that's been doing this for decades. They said, we'll keep buying you bascadipas and pass it on charcuterie to you here at the mill room, but we ain't financing that deal. Georgia Gilmer,

they are cutting their nose to spite their face. Mr. McChesney, very taken aback by activists who spoke at city council and said, these older homeowners need to sell their homes and move out. That would insult the hell out of me. I'm with you there, Mr. McChesney. Vanessa Parkhill, do students really want to live in university housing?

I feel like most would be eager to get away from RAs and enjoy more freedom living off grounds. I'll add this, Vanessa Parkhill, my second year, my best friends and I lived in Lambeth Commons, Lambeth Commons, right off of Rugby Road. There are no RAs in the second year living. We had an apartment to ourselves, bedrooms. We partied like effing rock stars. We were all underage. We drank so much natural light second years that we cut the cases out and turned it into wallpaper, and we wallpapered our entire main area with natural light.

We had people at UVA walking to ask to take pictures of themselves on their flip phones. This is when flip phones were relevant in our natural light university housing. We would go to balconies, buy eggs from the food lion. I'm going to use a bad word. We called it the shitty kitty. And we would take those eggs and we would throw them from the balcony and nail other Lambeth Commons apartments. People would come running out and we would duck and hide and they'd see yolk all over their doors or windows. We'd stumble home from coops, from the Biltmore and from the corner when it was greenskeeper in orbit to our Lambeth. We had no supervision. This second year, 750 to 800 beds will have no supervision either. Only the first years will have the RAs, the resident advisors.

Deep throat. To John Blair's point, a neighbor of mine is a commercial banker locally. He tried to get the ear of city council when the new zoning ordinance was being debated. They did not listen or respond to him, John Blair. So deep throat in direct message capacity, responding to John Blair's comment. He says, my commercial banker friend, neighbor, tried to tell city council what was up and they didn't respond to him. They're only responding to the activists. Why is that? Ginny Hu still has not watched Elf. And she says, here's a topic we should talk about. The Jefferson Council releasing the legal fees UVA has paid in July, August, September alone.

And those are just fees, not what they paid in settlements. Ooh, that's a great topic. Let's put that on the hit list. I'm going to retweet that one so we remember that. I'm going to respond to her. That's a great topic. Tomorrow it's Joe Plantania and Chief Mike Kochess. Great suggestion.

I'm tweeting back to Ginny Hu. I think you're a double Hu. Are you not, Ginny? I think Ginny's a double Hu. All right. Closing topics here at the 128 marker of today's show, which I think has been pretty good. Blue Moon Diner had enjoyed 18 years of being in business, Judah. Yeah. Mooses 10 years of being a business Mel's cafe, 39 Lumpkins, 54 combined 18 plus 39 plus

10 plus 54, 121 years of combined business. Those businesses closed this year. Yeah. Each with iconic branding. A rooster, moose antlers, a spaceship-looking building in Mel's. Blue Moon lost a little bit of the character when it got remodeled by Jeff Levine, the Big Apple developer. But still, it had that greasy spoon feel. Yeah. 121 years.

It didn't change a whole lot on the inside. It didn't change a whole lot on the inside, right? 121 years of collective business. That is precious and priceless and cannot be replaced. No. And that's the charm and the chutzpah and the charisma and the personality, the branding, the lifeblood, the DNA of a community that's called Charlottesville and Central Virginia and Alamo and Scottsville that was lost. I will be able to talk with my

children about a rooster on the side of the road that was as big as a house. I will talk with my children about the hog wall or hash and how damn good it was. I will talk with my children about the fried catfish. And I will talk with my children about taking selfies in front of antlers and banging my head on their antlers as I'm taking a picture with my wife at Moose's. But that's all I'll be able to do is say, one time I did this. Or sweetheart, you remember this. I'll never be able to take them there. And that's disheartening. And I'll close by saying this. The University of Virginia, its athletic department,

is in an absolute crossroads right now. Its arch nemesis, Virginia Tech, tells the entire world we are going to max the revenue sharing allotment with our athletes. 20,500,000 in the year 2025, 2026. And every year it's going to go up 4% and we're going to max it out. And we're going to pay football and basketball stars the money. Because we want to be badass in these sports. The University of Virginia does not have

a similar plan in place. The University of Virginia has a half-empty stadium. The University of Virginia's football program has the most losses of any program over the last three years of any of the power conferences. The University of Virginia's basketball program is in absolute peril with the loss of Tony Bennett. The football coach, I'm not even sure he's the guy, has half a roster he's got to replace. Half a roster he's got to replace. And he's trying to replace that roster by giving scholarships to athletes from Elon, North Texas, the University of Pennsylvania Cal Poly what in the hell is going on giving contract extensions to coordinators that stink

losing quarterbacks because he plays the backup in the last game of the season the quarterback with two years of eligibility he lost to play the quarterback that only had one game of eligibility left make it make sense the Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show he lost to play the quarterback that only had one game of eligibility left. Make it make sense. The Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show, Jerry Miller. Thank you.