The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Violet Crown Bldg Sold For $7.4M To Lissadell LLC; City Assessed Violet Crown Bldg At $6,258,900

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Violet Crown Bldg Sold For $7.4M To Lissadell LLC City Assessed Violet Crown Bldg At $6,258,900 Let’s Analyze The Violet Crown Real Estate Deal UVA Makes Deal With Trump Administration UVA Will Provide Details To DOJ, Trump Admin UVA Promises DOJ That DEI Is Done How Does UVA-DOJ Deal Make Sen Deeds Look? If You Need CVille Office Space, Contact Jerry Miller 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.

Welcome to the I Love Seville Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us in downtown Charlottesville on a Thursday. A lot we're going to cover, including the purchase price for the Violent Crown building at $7.4 million. A purchase price that shocked me. I said on yesterday's show, this would be below assessed value. And that assessed value in 2025, according to the Charlottesville GIS, $6 million. $258,900.

The land value, according to the Charlottesville, GIS, and the city assessment is $3,651,800. I thought the purchase for this building, Violet Crown, would be tied to land value with a little additional gravy, because I didn't see much utility for this building outside of a movie theater. Now we know, I think you're hearing this first locally, that the purchase price was $7,400,000. And it's been purchased by a nondescript LLC. I would guess the pronunciation of this LLC is Lissadel. Is that how you would have it, Chuda? Lisdell, yeah, something like that.

You think it's Lysidel with two S's? Okay. Either Lisa Dell or Lissidel LLC. We know that the registered agent is a known commodity. Richard Rasmussen, whose office is on East High Street. He's a mover and shaker in commercial real estate and in real estate in Charlesville, Almarrow, and Central Virginia, we don't really know who the buyers are. It's interesting that in the press release, upon further review of the press release,

the three ladies tied to the purchase, Rachel Baker, Annie Galvin, and Lindsay Meck. They used the term facilitated the sale of violent crown, facilitated the sale. I think it would be a jump to conclusions to say they're the buyers. I'm not saying they are not, but they used the phrase facilitated the sale of violent crown. I want to unpack this deal from a lot of different angles on today's show. I want to take a look at this deal, ladies and gentlemen, from did they overpay or did they not? I'm going to ask that question. I want to take a look at this deal from a, what are they getting if the movie theater does not have success?

And I want to take a look at this deal of how, us, the public, folks that have skid in the game downtown, folks that are taxpayers, folks that like to patronize the downtown or the region, how we should look at what just kind of transformed or transfolded before our very eyes over the last handful of days. I mean, really, this is an extremely fresh story. It's a new story. It's a new story that's what? About 72 hours in life cycle we're talking here. We'll have that conversation today on ladies and gentlemen, the I Love Seville Show. I also want to talk the Trump administration, Department of Justice, University of Virginia deal that's in play.

At least according to this deal, diversity, equity, and inclusion is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, done at the University of Virginia, and Judah's going to set the table on that. UVA is also going to provide the Trump administration quarterly data and details on how the university is following certain protocols in play. Now, from the university standpoint, they're positioning at UVA and its interim president that the university did not agree to the Trump compact in its 10 edicts or orders. From a perception standpoint, you're watching UVA and you'll watch the DOJ and the Trump administration manage this completely differently. From a perception standpoint, the University of Virginia is managing this through the strategy of we're independent, we're doing what we want, we got what we wanted here.

From a DOJ Trump administration standpoint, they're managing the perception as if they're flexing their muscles and boy, oh boy, This is another check in the win column for Donald Trump, who likes to tout victories. And we know he has a history of doing that. So I want to unpack that story on today's show. I want to highlight Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes. If there's a company, you should call for Hartscape Solutions, for Hartscape Execution, for Hartscape, you know,

making dreams into realities. It's Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes. Fantastic Office on the Downtown Mall, Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes. Tim Hess, your local point of contact. Tim is a great guy. Anything Hartscape related at your house or at your commercial operation, call Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes, and you'll find that there's ROI money-wise with fabulously executed heartscapes.

But the true ROI, especially at your house, is the quality of life improvement that you will enjoy with your wife, your husband, your kids, your friends, your extended family, life and memories on a beautifully executed design and envision heartscape. A lot we're going to cover on the program. We'll welcome Judah Wickhauer to the show here in T-minus 25 seconds. First, I'd like to go to the studio camera for you guys to get a feel

for what we're working with here in our downtown studio, where we are smack dab in the heartbeat of Charlottesville. You know, you may not want to admit this, but it's a fact. the most important eight blocks in our region are the downtown mall and the the mall's vitality the mall's momentum whether positive or negative the mall's heartbeat drives the region forward or backwards and currently i would say the the metronome needle is that is doing what it's not supposed to do it's either at a standstill dead in the middle or it's slightly in the backwards direction. But it's looking to move forward. And the mall has got a couple of things that have

swung its way that will help downtown forward, at least in the short term. And certainly one of them is this violent crown deal. If this violent crown deal had not have materialized, I think the short-term future for that footprint, that parcel in downtown Charlottesville, which is a trophy parcel, which is an N-CAP or lynch-pin type of parcel, I think the short-term future was concerning a movie theater

in the short-term is better than construction in the short-term. Now, long-term, I said it yesterday, I'll say it again, having hundreds of young professionals are like folks that can afford $2,500 to $3,000 a month

rent in an apartment building that was built where the Violent Crown Movie Theater was, that's probably best for them all long term, but it would have taken 24 to 48 months of hardship to get to that point. And right now, you have three ladies who call themselves a facilitator of a sale who are clearly committed to the arts. And I want to unpack a $7.4 million purchase that, frankly, I had sticker shock with. I had sticker shock with this purchase and a lot of movers and shakers that I talk to that know real estate, you know, like we do, we're also shocked with this. I did speak to one individual who is very much in the game

that highlighted to me that these three ladies should be perceived and build as heroes, as rescuers of what could have been a vacant storefront. And this individual who I have a lot respect for, who is watching the program, I completely understand his position. Having a vacant storefront in downtown Charlottesville that is a movie theater type of vacancy would have been a major cause for concern. And right now, we will not have that. We're not going to have that. So these three ladies in some ways are heroes. But it's clearly, it's safe to say that these three ladies who facilitated this deal have cash to burn, either themselves or a founding. a charitable foundation, or philanthropy or nonprofit, that they are tied to family-wise or parent-wise or some kind of, you know, family tree or direct relationship with.

So we're going to unpack that deal on the show. Studio camera, two-shot, Judah Wickhaver, we're going to weave you in. I ask you the same question every single day to start the program. What intrigues you the most about today's show and why? well i'm glad that the uh that the violent crown sold and uh that it's now in control of people who are passionate about keeping it what it is and uh and you know not not thinking of it as a bunch of empty uh empty buildings empty rooms without without windows you on yesterday's show thought it would trade above assessment i thought it would trade below. You were right. I mean, I, Carol Thorpe also said it was going to trade above assessment. She was right. I believe William McChesney, there were three people on yesterday's

show. We had three or four dozen people leaving the comment section across all platforms, whether it was going to trade above or below assessment. Judah, Carol, and William McChesney said it was going to trade above assessment. They were the three, and they got it right. So props to you. I mean, it's not like I had any special knowledge I picked above because you were going below. I'm just being honest. I think we all knew that, Judah. I think okay. I think we all knew that.

That's fine. Yeah, I think we all knew that. No shade intended right there. You highlighted that in yesterday's program as well. You highlighted that in yesterday's show as well. I'm going to ask you these questions, okay? This is the first question. Do we build the three ladies moniker and brand the three ladies as heroes? Or is a group that has cash to burn? Or can it be both?

I think it can be both. I mean, they're not necessarily heroes to everyone. I'm sure most of the people of Charlottesville don't care about this deal. But to the people that enjoy going to the Violet Crown, to the people that appreciate the fact that Violet Crown shows indie movies that don't often make it to places like Regal or Alamo. I'm sure they are they are heroes

and yeah we can also say that they're they've got money as you mentioned before there are far more than five billionaires in the area I don't know if any of these ladies

are billionaires I don't know if they have access to that kind of money but I'm I'm heartened to see that there are people who are willing to put it on the line for something they believe in It reminds me of the former owners of Reed's supermarket, choosing to sell for what you indicated was far below what the property was probably worth to ensure that it became, what, I believe, a goodwill.

Twice as nice, a thrift store. Yeah, a thrift store, rather than getting torn down and becoming another 11-story, you know, another 11-story, you know, know student housing monstrosity like we've got on the on west main here here's something i find ironic you're ready for the irony viewers and listeners and i'll catch verbal arrows for this the same people that are championing three women facilitating the sale of a movie theater building for significantly above assessed value to the tune of i did the map this morning $1,141,100 above a SIS value

are the same people that are championing the new zoning ordinance, the need for more housing to stabilize price points, and the same people that are activists for density. Is it irony or hypocrisy

that the very same people that are saying, we need housing, rah, rah, rah. we need multifamily ra ra ra we need density to stabilize prices ra ra ra are the exact same people that are saying good job ladies for paying one million one hundred and forty one hundred dollars over assessment to preserve the arts in a movie theater in downtown charlesville is that hypocrisy now in this case i don't know if that's entirely fair oh please push back i i want the pushback i crave the pushback please well now that levin is is out of the picture in terms of this particular plot of land uh you're saying that it should have i mean the uh the movie theater the people that run the movie theater have a contract i'm assuming have a lease yeah a lease uh not a

particularly long-term lease but we don't know if it was extended or renegotiated i think it i mean I think it was going through to that 2027. I wouldn't say that's a long lease. That's definitely not a long lease. I'm not saying it's a long lease. But if the earliest that anyone could do anything in terms of construction on that site, I'm guessing that would be tearing the entire thing down and starting from scratch, would be sometime in 2027 or 28, are we really pointing to that as potential housing in the

your term? Well, the permitting process going through the bar, going through all the red tape of wording through city council would have taken them that long at least. So it's not like the construction could have started yesterday because they had to go through numerous hoops with City Hall and it's many bureaucracies and commissions and boards before a shovel was planted into the ground. So 2027 was very realistic. So I want to discount that point right there. Secondly, if you're looking at the downtown, you made your point. Now I'm my turn to make my point. we can go back to you. Secondly, if you consider downtown Charlottesville, it's eight blocks, the mall proper, what positions on the mall proper are suited for apartment or multi-family housing?

What positions you're saying? What other buildings would make? What are their locations? I mean, are we going to the assumption that we need to do housing on the downtown mall? I mean, that's what activists are saying. That's what housing advocates are saying. We need more housing. And the housing activists and advocates are saying, even if you bring expensive, this is what Nakaya Walker did not realize. Even if you bring expensive housing to the market, it alleviates pressure on the lower price points of the market because it creates a type of stock that people with money will go after, which will then free up stock that they were otherwise pursuing, which will create a trickle-down effect of housing options. having micro apartments, studio apartments, luxury apartments, whatever you want to call it on the downtown mall, there's no better suited position for luxury because of the live, work, play aspect of downtown. And I cannot, and help me viewers and listeners understand this.

Can you think of a parcel on the mall that is better suited for housing than the movie theater? I mean, maybe the code building, but Jeffrey's not going to tear that. down he just built it it's his trophy property it's not going to be at the omni right the arqueful lodger uh livery stable is going to be a hotel yeah there's not enough um uh assemblage possible to do it the violent crowns uh parcel had second street and water street it was on the corner of second and water right right there on second and water as an access point for construction i mean if you were going to do in the heart of the mall where there wasn't second street is a cut-through street it would be even more nightmarish labor intensive cost intensive rate red tape intensive to do the access point helps

you know i i i think it is a bit hypocritical that a people are going rah rah rah arts ra ra movies are also ra ra ra more multifamily now to the point to the point that that you know someone who's i'm not going to utilize his name This is not Deep Throat that I was talking to, although Deep Throat's offering comments and I'll get to in a matter of moments, a person very connected to this situation, said, in your show today,

you should be billing them as heroes. And they are heroes. They are saving what was a fragile business. That's not fair either. Oh, my goodness gracious. You're going to go back to making an argument that the movie theater business is not fragile. I'm not saying it is or isn't,

but you're acting like they're throwing them a lifeline by buying this property. Yes, they are throwing them a lifeline. They're buying this property with the sole mission and focus of preserving the arts and movies. How does that help the business make more or less money? Because you have a landlord that is forgiving, empathetic, kind who's purchased a building through a family foundation and nonprofit whose mission and focus is the arts, as opposed to a landlord that otherwise would spend more than $7 million, $7.4 to be exact, and would expect immediacy with ROI, and would be much less forgiving and empathetic of struggling business models and tenants.

But, so are you saying that they're not paying their rent? I'm saying there was a lease for negotiation and in times of difficulty, and if anyone doesn't realize that there's hardship in upcoming for movie theater businesses they're huffing glue you're making a lot of assumptions no I'm not making assumptions no I'm not

this is just common sense business mindset which assumption am I making here I literally we'll explain this to the viewers and listeners what you think are assumptions here do you have access to the financials of the theater the previous

owner of the business has said the business, the previous owner of the real estate had said the business is struggling. And the previous owner of the business of the real estate clearly wanted out. Why don't we do this? Why don't we do this? Google, are movie theaters struggling or performing well in the United States. are movie theater struggling or performing well in the United States? Overwhelmingly, the content is that they're struggling. Okay.

We know they are because of ubiquitous technology. Because of streaming services that are doing deals with producers and directors and studios where the content goes directly to streaming and not silver screens and box offices. I understand all that. Thank you. To make, to try to, to, you know, perk yourself on a hill that this business is bullish is assinine to me. I never said it was bullish. Okay.

So you agree it's not, the potential's not there. The upside's not there. No, I don't agree. Okay, so are you bullish or bearish on the movie business? What does me being bullish or bearish on the movie business have to do with Violet Crown paying their rent? Okay. Let me try it a different way. No.

Here's a different way. Let's try it this way. You're dying on a hill by yourself right now. Okay. Okay. Literally dying on a hill by yourself. Try it this way. Having a landlord that owns your building and that landlord is a nonprofit whose mission is

supporting the arts. Yeah. Is that a better landlord than the previous landlord who is trying to backroom deal his current tenant? Of course it is. Okay. So right there alone, there's a transaction that is better for the tenant. You're an agreement there.

Yeah. Okay. But we didn't have an argument about this. We didn't have a problem with. I agree that the previous owner was potentially making remarks about their business. Potentially was making remarks. Because they wanted to get out of the... That's an assumption.

Yes. That's an absolute assumption. You don't know. It's not an assumption. Yes, it is. You're talking about bad dealing. That is exactly what I just said, making deals to get out of it. You don't know.

Right? You don't know whether the business was struggling or not. You openly have said that. So we have to take the previous owner of the real estate at his word that his tenant was struggling because he would have an idea of potentially financials because a lot of leases are privy to financials. Okay. with tenants, that the business is struggling. You do any kind of eye test by going over there,

and you see empty seats everywhere. Okay. Do you not? I haven't been... Exactly. You've never been there recently. When's the last time you've been there, Judah? The last time...

I couldn't tell you when the last time was there. You're basing their business on whether or not I shop there? Ask anyone when's the last time they've been there. If that's the watermark, then a lot of Charles ville is going to go under. Okay. Well, we're going to have to agree with this one. Agree to disagree on this one.

Okay. This is all I'm saying. Having this landlord, a nonprofit, that is overpaid for a piece of real estate to the tune of $1,141,141 of overpayment, assessed at $6,258,900, purchase price of $7,400,000, shows you that you have a landlord that is well-capitalized and funded. Whether that landlord is a nonprofit or a foundation tied to one of the three ladies, most notably, Annie Galvin, that's for them to decide. There's certainly a paper trail on the internet, which Deep Throat has uncovered, that suggests that Annie Galvin is tied to a Galvin

foundation that is most likely the purchaser of this piece of real estate. And this purchaser of said real estate has so much money that overpaying, burning money, however you want to say it, is not that big of a deal to this foundation because they have their Scrooge McDucking gold coins right now. Okay? I'll get to that family tree in a matter of, I'll get to that paper trail that he's uncovered in a matter of moments.

My argument is this. I saw this and most astute real estate buyers would see this as land value. You go on the GIS 3,651,800. You know the GIS.

is probably below market with its land value, so you uptick it maybe a million more. Maybe you give it to five. You uptick it maybe a million four and change more to say the value is five. And you base it on a, of common sense, that a movie theater structure, the real estate, the building, has very little utility outside of putting pictures on big screens, slanted flooring, no windows, cavernous huge rooms what does that scale to in any other utility in the professional or or real life world except for movies no one has an answer for that no one is going to go to an event space that is in a dark cavernous slanted floor room with no windows no one is going to go to a

it has short ceilings okay it's literally only utility is a movie theater so if it doesn't work out with the movies you're then going to have to position potentially repositioned into another arts or theater type

of category I thought you wanted them to tear it down and turn it into apartments these people aren't but their whole mission is arts so if this movie business fails they then reposition into some kind of arts type concept are you then going to have a live arts right next to each other are you going to have a live arts building on

Water Street that backs up to live arts on on on the downtown mall are we now literally going to have two live arts that touch each other on the same block in in in downtown Charlottesville and then I'm going to ask the question here okay here's a very real and frank question question okay very real and frank question for you judah and for the viewers and listeners and then i'm going to get to the many comments that are coming in including deep throats paper trail are you ready for this and no Vanessa parker the Annie Galvin is not connected to former counselor Kathy Galvin I think we've uncovered the paper trail of connection which with some

investigation done by number one of the family deep throat which i'll get to in a matter of moments okay here's a very real conversation the real life world that we live in whether we want to admit this or not, is Darwinistic as hell. It's survival of the fittest. In this scenario, you have one of three people who facilitated a deal that looks like is tied to a filthy, filthy, filthy, unbelievably rich family. And this unbelievably rich family has so much money that they threw a lifeline to a business model that was struggling, basically propping it up. That is not really survival of the fittest. That is philanthropy and charity.

In a survival of the fittest world, a real life world, was Charlottesville better suited in the long term to have seen this concept fail, gone through 24, 36, 48, 5 to 10 months, or 5 to 10 years of hardship of having an anchor tenant on the mall be, vacant and dormant to then see an investor come in, purchase the dirt, and build multifamily on the site, which in the long run would have bettered the mall. That's a tough pill for people to swallow. That is a tough pill for people to swallow. Was short-term hardship of the closing business for the long-term upside of multifamily and this parcel and this land

and this piece of dirt what was best for the mall. Because I cannot think of a better spot in downtown Charlottesville except for Jeffrey's code and it's not ever going to happen there for a multifamily to take place. On the mall proper.

Okay. Anything you want to throw in? It's a lot of assumptions there. That's the difference between me and you. Right there. Okay. The assumptions that you call assumptions are what I call commentary-rooted and experiencing common sense. Now, let's get to comments. Okay, these are comments.

This is the paper trail investigated this morning by Deep Throat. He says, Richard Rasmussen, which we know by a basic search, is the registered agent for the LLC. He says, at the registered address of the LLC, there's also a Mary Galvin Foundation. Then he finds the Mary Galvin Foundation through the Colorado Springs Gazette

is associated with philanthropist Marion Robert Galvin, known for their transformative impact on classical music and the performing arts, particularly through the establishment of the Strati-Vary Society in 1985. The foundation is officially designated a 501c3 nonprofit organization supporting charitable scientific literary educational religious or testing for public safety purposes then he goes on to find that this nonprofit has extremely

low assets of just five million dollars once he realizes that this galvin mary galvin foundation has a low assets of five million dollars he does even a deeper dig and that's where he finds there is a separate Robert Galvin Foundation that has 50 million in assets. Then he finds that Galvin is the name of the founder of Motorola. And he guessed that's the family. And he puts two and two together. You would call these assumptions, what he's doing here. Those are wise assumptions. You would call these assumptions. You just said they were wise assumptions. No different than the wise assumptions that I offered. He then says, so I think that's the story. a family that's into performing arts wealthy has a foundation daughter may live here family member may live here parts of the art community so they do a nice thing for seville they overpay because they're not real estate experts and the VC lease the violent crown lease with the tenant is a triple net lease so taxes paid utilities insurance upkeep is taken care of and the foundation gets some kind of 2% 3% net return on a year over year over year lease collection

Then he goes, if the VC goes belly up, then probably these ladies decide to do something with performing arts related in the space. And the romance of this story, here's the romance of this story. Three ladies facilitate a deal to save a movie theater that was struggling. Pay $7.4 million,

easily two to three million, if not more, above what market would suggest. To save a business that didn't have a lot of customers to begin with. And if the business, which has headwinds at a macro and micro level fails, they reposition into a performing arts venue. And that's a romantic, a romantic story. But that is not a story that's necessarily long-term,

best for the most important eight blocks in the region. Okay. And no one wants to, you know, a few people want to hear that. He also says, and I'll get to other comments, I would be very curious to know what the Violent Crown's lease extension looks like. Is it a cheaper rate than before? Is it at the same rate? And he says, we also need to make the distinction between whether Violent Crown Charlestville

struggling versus the parent brand EEG of Violent Crown. EEG, the parent brand seems to be expanding and they do things other than movie theaters. Will EEG continue to support Violent Crown in Charlottesville? He has no idea. But if

EEG, the parent company, sign the lease, that should provide at least some downside protection to the buyers of the property. Then he includes another link to the Galvin family and my Twitter DMs, which I appreciate you making the program better. This link is the Galvin Tower interactive experience at Illinois Tech.

Oh, my God, these people, a whole cornucopia of content about Paul Galvin, the founder of Motorola. I'm going to share that link for the viewers and listeners in the comment section of my personal Facebook page. I'll props deep throat on this. I'll share it in the comment section of my personal LinkedIn, FYI, shared it on my personal LinkedIn right there. I'll share it in the Twitter stream that this show is airing on. I'm going to share it in the I Love Seville Facebook page in the comment section. So you can read what we're talking about.

I haven't even read this yet. I'm scamming it on air. Jeremy Wilson's watching in Eastern Tennessee. he thinks we're absolutely hilarious. Caffeine, Jerry, melaton, and Judah from Jeremy Wilson. I think that's about right.

100%. I'll put it into the group section of I Love Seaville. James Watson's photo on screen. He says, does anybody know how much money the film festival week brings in over the five to seven day event and may bring in as much money

as a football game for the community as people love to come to the area and shop, eat in restaurants, check out the leaves during this time. That's not to say that movie theaters are viable anymore, but film festivals are huge tourism draws. Could you do a Google search over there? Virginia Film

Festival, Charlottesville, Economic Impact, that's what I would search. Virginia Film Festival, Charlottesville, economic impact, and see if anything shows up. I would bet there's not a ton of data on that. I'm sharing this in the comment section of I Love Seville Food

for you guys to read. The link that I just shared literally got positioned on five social media platforms, that have collective following of more than 100,000 people. John Blair's comment, we're going to get to that here in a matter of moments. John says, if you recall Jerry this summer, I predicted that UVA would enter into a legal settlement with the General Assembly.

He's talking about the DOJ. John, I'm going to get to that and the DOJ in a matter of moments. I promise that story is coming up. Any other day, the DOJ agreement, the UVA DOJ agreement would have been the lead of the show. I'm going to share this in the comment section. of the YouTube channel that this is airing upon that has more than it's approaching half a million in views. Any economic impact data? That's a challenging one to find.

Yeah, nothing specific about how much money it actually brings in just general information about tourism spending and a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It's a good question by James Watson. I would say this, James, that there's no that a Virginia Film Festival Week is not in the same category of economic impact for a home football game that's sold out. And the last two UVA home football games have had a attendance north of 50,000 per game, which is the first time in forever that's happened. It's not a sold-out.

Sold-outs around $63,000. It's not sold-out. But I would think that if Virginia keeps winning, the remaining home football games would be at almost capacity. Janice Boyce Trevillian has some good intel. I saw this as well. The toy store that just closed,

that just closed, someone posted on Facebook, it's up for rent for $6,000 a month. I'll add a little color to this. This is not me. speaking at a turn. This is our business. The Commonwealth Sky Bar space that was previously

home to Hunter Smith's Passiflora is currently for rent at 11,000 a month. 11,000 a month for the sky bar space. I also said on yesterday's show you're starting to you have three vacant storefronts on the downtown mall tied to one entity and one man, Stefan Freeman,

Bonnie and Reed, old Metropolitan Hall, and draft tap room. So, you know, do what you want with that. And I also am trying to be empathetic for a small business that is clearly facing some hardship right now. I'll dot the eyes and cross the tease

on the violent crown story with this. And you offer some closing arguments as well. I appreciate you taking the counter position. I love that on the show. Crave that. Genuinely crave that. This is my position, and you can have some... Do you want to go first or you want me to go first?

go ahead first the three ladies that facilitated this deal props in the short term you are absolutely heroes because downtown's struggling right now and having another empty storefront especially one that is as noteworthy as violent crown

would have been very concerning no doubt props even having Jeff Levine buy it to have it be 24 months 36 months or 48 months of construction zone during next year's

50 year anniversary of the mall would have not have been a good look so yes Rachel Baker Annie Galvin and Lindsay Mack you are heroes you facilitated this deal further color I want to offer here the Galvin

Any Galvin in this deal seems to be linked to the Paul Galvin family, Motorola, and a very well-to-do foundation that has tens of millions of assets at their disposal, a nonprofit, whose mission is preserving the arts.

You couldn't have a better landlord for this business that is clearly struggling. Two other points I'd like to make if the movie theater business doesn't work out, perhaps it turns into some other theater or arts type of epicenter. It would be a curious position for it, considering live arts is almost directly behind it on Water Street.

And then the last one I want to make, maybe it's the most controversial, but it's one rooted in honesty and reality. in a Darwinistic world, the closing of a movie theater business and the shuddering of a trophy property for some time in the downtown mall would have been hardship and harmful in the short term. But if that hardship and harmful

materialized into hope and upside with an apartment building, perhaps that was best for downtown Charlottesle. And I would add it would also be good for the Regal and Alamo. Another great point. The closing of that would have fortified and strengthened the two other positions locally, the Stonefield, the Stonefield Regal, and the Alamo and Fifth Street Station. Fantastic point.

Because this market is too small for three of them. Potentially, yeah. Too small. Clearly too small for three of them. I test tells you that. Great point by you. I should have made that point. Excellent point.

They got a lifeline from folks who have money to burn. You disagree with that. Because if there were some evidence that the lease had been reworked so that they're paying less, then I would 100% agree that that was a lifeline. But if it's just a matter of one owner, of owners switching hands, and, you know, you've got a business that was paying its rent and will continue to pay its rent with the new ownership, unless they are actually giving some help to the business, the only real lifeline is not forcing them out and tearing the building down. The previous owner, will you give me this? the previous owner wanted to sell the building, right? Yeah.

Obviously, because he sold it. And now they did. Okay. The previous owner wanted to sell the building. You know when a building is sold that a lease conveys with the sale, right? I would imagine. It does. The lease conveys with the sale.

Yeah. So if the previous owner who wanted to sell the building and knew that the upside for the building was not movie theater, was he going to renew the lease that was going to, expire in 2027? You're saying they probably had some lease extensions. If they had sold to someone else.

If the lease had come up for renegotiation of any capacity, he would not have been empathetic in any lease renegotiation because he didn't want the tenant there. Because the easier sale for him was not having a tenant that conveyed in the deal.

That's fair. He was not a good landlord for this business. he didn't want them there I agree that literally was airing their dirty laundry that's what I was trying to say earlier and you disagreed with me how did I disagree with you I literally just made that point

because you were talking about the fact that you talked about the fact that they were trying to sell and that they were saying bad things about the theater and I was like yeah of course they're saying bad things about the theater they want to get rid of the property they want to sell the property they don't want to sell the property They don't want the tenant to convey in the deal.

They know that the property is easier to sell if there is no tenant in play. Obviously, I didn't make those exact points, but essentially that's what I was saying. They didn't want the theater there. And so it's no surprise that they were bad-mouthing the theater and saying that they're on the rocks. Right? I don't think the bad-mouthing of the theater was not accurate, was in. inaccurate. I think it was... You still can...

I don't know. You're still of the mindset that this business is doing well, which I find so odd. I don't, Jerry, you're... I find that so odd. I just, I find it odd. I just don't, I don't understand the mindset of someone that thinks that the movie business is doing well. I don't, I never said that at all. You're putting words in my mouth. No, I'm not. But I'm remembering from the, the newspaper article when this first hit the papers that the company that was behind the, you know, that was managing the business, running the business, was excited to continue. Yeah, right.

They said, we're going to do our best. There are words. We're going to do our best to carry out this term of the lease. Their words. And keep going. Their words. Yeah. Right.

Let me, this is a bet we should have here. Okay. the bet. And this is an impossible bet to track. This is we're going to need some time. Do you think that this is going to be operating as a movie theater after the year? I mean, what are we? We're at the end of 2025 here. Do you think this is a movie theater? Do you think this is a movie theater business in 2028? You're right. It's impossible to answer, but yeah, I think they will be. You really do. That's, well, you would, I'm shocked by that. And you're really being true, and not just doing this for the sake of being argumentative?

No, think about it. You've got a company that wants to stay in the business, wants to continue doing what they've been doing. You've got now an owner who is a landlord, a landlord who wants the same thing. They're both in alignment that they want this business to keep going. Unless something drastic and disastrous happens to either the downtown mall, the business or something,

Yeah, I don't see why the business... It doesn't be drastic or disastrous to the downtown mall and the business. It's just technology. Okay. It's just streaming. It's just 72-inch TVs or $300 now. I mean, you keep making that argument, but we still have movie theaters. And until we no longer have movie theaters, I think this one makes it at least another two and a half years.

Okay. You're right. Tough to tell. Appreciate your argument there. Very good stuff. Done that one. Let's go to the next topic. Excellent work by you.

Next topic. UVA makes a deal what's your stance on this one because we got spin doctors on either side of the story the UVA spin doctor is they didn't cave to the Trump DOJ pressure that's how UVA is spinning it Mahoney the interim president

and his quotes I think I read it on the Associated Press is spinning it why don't we give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply 61 consecutive years in business Charlottesville Sanitary Supply is who you contact for any sanitary needs. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply online at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply.com located on East High Street, John Vermillion, Andrew Vermillion, Charlesville Sanitary Supply is who you contact for vacuum cleaners,

pool cleaning, repair, pool cleaning, repair, robots, any sanitary needs. And they have in-market delivery day off for free. They're the best. UVA strikes a deal with the Trump administration. This isn't the DOJ. This is UVA doing a deal with the Trump administration. And today... You can use this name all you want, but the articles all say the DOJ.

Who runs the DOJ? I mean... Donald Trump. Was the DOJ investigating the University of Virginia prior to Donald Trump being voted President of United States? No, I don't think so. The only time the DOJ started investigating Ivy League schools, USC, the University of Virginia, Michigan, was when who got elected into office for a second time? Trump. His entire platform for running for president this past term was in part this.

Yeah. He wins. And then soon thereafter, one of his divisions, basically a division, one of his departments, is investigating the University of Virginia. This is Trump. Everyone that's listening to the show knows that this is Trump exerting his influence. So UVA has done a deal

with Trump. Now Mahoney and UVA are in Spin doctor mode or damage control. Spin doctor mode or damage control on this side is this. We didn't cave to the Trump compact. We maintain our Jeffersonian freedom and independence.

This allows us the rights to run our school as we see fit. We won. That's what UVA is saying. If you read the story and understand the deal on a quarterly basis, and this is viewers and listeners if you haven't seen the story, on a quarterly basis, quarterly every 90 days, the University of Virginia is going to be providing reports and data and information and intel to the DOJ. Yeah, through 2028. signed off and approved, verified by the president of the University of Virginia. Intram president, Paul Mahoney, is going to be signaturing John Hancocking

documentation that says, this is what's happening at our University of Virginia according to what you want. Paul Mahoney and the University of Virginia are John Hancocking, that diversity, equity, and inclusion are eradicated from UVA. The DEI, the diversity, equity, and inclusion, was the whole thing. It was the whole thing to begin with. There were other aspects to it in the compact, but the main aspect of the compact,

the most important, most controversial one, was the DEI. And what is in the agreement? Do you have it in front of you? as it applies to diversity. UVA agreed to adhere to the department's, quote, guidance for recipients of federal funding regarding unlawful discrimination, unquote, which the DOJ says ensures the university won't engage in unlawful racial discrimination, quote unquote, in hiring admissions or other processes.

It's gone. and the president every 90 days has to prove to the DOJ that it's gone and has to document it with his signature it's no smoking mirrors like Jim Ryan was doing with the shell game and the three card Monty and the rebranding of DEI it's gone so now you're watching an institution

by many accounts the top public one the nation, a new Ivy League moniker for UVA. That's the moniker, new Ivy League School, spin-doctoring that we did this to maintain our Jeffersonian independence. And we came out as

victorious. And on the flip side, one of the top spin doctors, whether you like it or not, he's one of the top spin doctors, not just in the country, but in the world, Donald Trump, He's a spin doctor. Yeah.

Master of spin doctoring is using this as a checkmark in his column that he pursued one of the public universities number one in the nation. And got them to bend the knee. And got them to eradicate diversity, equity, inclusion, and provide quarterly reports through 2028, through 2028 that they are honoring what they promised me. So now we are left with this question. Who won this deal?

who's the better spin doctor, the Trump administration, what kind of influence do they have in Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, and what does this do for Senator Cree deeds? Who had, how many questions? Was it 48 questions? 46 questions? 64 questions?

Something like that. Something like that. Four dozen plus questions investigation to the BOV rector and vice rector, who basically snubbed him. your thoughts on those topics 46 questions 46? Yeah

I mean my first impulse is that whether you call it lipstick on a pig or renaming the flower this is roughly the same thing either way but in this version UVA gets out of it without

UVA gets out of it with the, I guess, the self-respect of being able to say we didn't sign the compact. There are some slight differences, but yeah, essentially they're exceeding to the DOJ's demands and getting rid of DEI. which a lot of us don't think is a bad thing. Senator Creedes. Senator Creedes, hopefully he'll get his answers soon. I kind of feel for the guy. Feel for him, why? Because he's kind of like been left swinging in the wind,

continually asking for answers and not getting them. And now that the, Now that all of the investigations with this agreement are supposed to be ended, there's no reason for him not to get the information he's been asking for. Does he get it? Eventually. You think he will? Someday.

I don't know. I don't know when. But yeah, I think you'll get the answers eventually. I think it makes credids look inconsequential. this is making creedids look inconsequential yeah i mean i don't know that he had to push at this as the way he did but yeah him not getting uh responses is it doesn't doesn't look good it doesn't look good creedes doesn't look good the the uh trump administration clearly is getting what they want the eradicated

of DEI, verbal arrows coming to both Judah and I for this, is for the betterment of higher education. Students should be admitted into four-year colleges and universities, whether public or private, based on merit.

100%. Based on performance. That's how it should be done. That's how life is. It's how life is. I'm going to say that I think in terms of the Trump administration, I wouldn't be surprised if the compact was just a...

100% of a different form of tariff, leverage, negotiating. Tariff. You threaten, he threatens 100% tariffs and then ends up with a lesser deal. He threatens, he does this a lot with the stick and the carrot. He'll threaten with something. like the compact and then when it looks like oh nobody's going to nobody's going to sign the compact they you know the DOJ whether you want to call it Trump or or the DOJ they throw out they throw out a

lifeline saying hey you're not going to go for the for the compact but what about this instead of it's not a compact you don't have to sign anything like instead a tariff I would call it negotiating ploy yeah I'm just saying leverage point. I'm just saying the tariff is another leverage point, another negotiating point. It's another leverage point or negotiating point. These were tariffs. I was just saying he's, the compact could have been used very similarly to how he uses. Yeah. Yeah. Another negotiating tactic. John Blair, if you recall the summary predicted that UVA would enter into a legal settlement that the general assembly could not touch. I haven't seen the settlement by imagine that it says that the settlement can't be terminated unless both parties UVA and DOJ agreed to terminate. If DOJ doesn't agree to terminate, then there's nothing the General Assembly Spamberger can do about the settlement, even if the B.O.V. is completely replaced. Again, I haven't seen the settlement, but I would not be surprised if such a clause is within the document. And he also says, I wonder about this. Could the ownership group attempt to boutique the movie theater?

Vinerger Hill was one of the last art house boutique theaters in the country when it closed years ago. If there's a path to profitability in movies, I think it is a boutique. unique experience in which there are events that accompany the film, i.e. talk about the original Dracula with others after the film during a Halloween weekend. And what he's doing there is intelligent. He's creating an experiential version of movies. Yeah. Something that you can't necessarily get at your house yet, the community that comes with viewing movies, the fellowship. I thought that's what watch parties were about. What? That's when you watch a movie and You guys are streaming yourselves while talking over it?

I don't know. Interesting idea. No doubt. But we will highlight that he caveated that comment by saying Vinegar Hill closed, the boutique movie theater. Yeah. You're way more bullish on movies than me. Okay. I mean, just pointing to the Vinegar Hill Theater and saying that they closed isn't an indicator of anything.

They closed. people won't close businesses that are successful okay somebody just closed tubbies and it reopened what a month two three months later i'm very curious about that too i took pictures did you go i drove no i drove by yesterday and it was uh it had uh it had what do you call um what do you call those lights on the under carriage of a car uh ground effects oh it had those except around

the, uh, around the eve of the building. It was interesting. I don't know if I'd call it cool, but, uh, I've got a picture if you want to see it. I hope it does well. I'm very curious of a business that closes, that has to have an auction. Yeah. The day after it closes. Very curious.

For its equipment for pennies on the dollar. And then opens again under the same name and the same location with the same people. Yeah. weeks later definitely weeks later curious that's the talk show

it's the Thursday edition in the I Love Seville show Judahwick Howard did great today my name is Jerry Miller I've got emails coming in about the Vinegar Hill

about the Violent Crown deal literally as we speak two of them in my inbox specs on the deal so we'll try to get those potentially for tomorrow's show if i'm allowed to talk about them let me open them read them and we'll find out so long everybody take care Thank you.

Thank you.