The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Will E High Street Become A CVille River Walk?; Henrico Firm Buys AlbCo Condo Complex ($11M)

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Will E High Street Become A CVille River Walk? Henrico Firm Buys AlbCo Condo Complex ($11M) Villas At Southern Ridge On Old Lynchburg Sold Villas Sale: Rents, Workforce Housing, Inventory Villas Neighbor, Cav Crossing, Sold For $20.5M 5/24 CNBC Ranks Value Of College Athletic Programs UVA #45 W/ $506M Valuation, $141M Revenue Va Tech #53 W/ $474M Valuation, $121M Rev. Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Thursday afternoon, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's a pleasure to connect with you. We were off air yesterday due to a real estate closing. So we missed connecting with you Wednesday afternoon. But we have a lot we're going to cover on today's program, including what I think is going to be what I know is breaking news for you, the viewer and listener. The Villas at Southern Ridge, a condo and apartment complex, has sold. Jude, if you could, you need to reconnect. I love Seville food. We're going to talk about that today, an $11 million deal for the villas at Southern Ridge. That's a conversation that must be had as it applies to how this will impact rents, how this will impact workforce housing, how this will impact the future of the villas at Southern Ridge off of Old Lynchburg Road. Remember, in May of this year, Cavalier Crossing, a workforce housing apartment complex,

frankly, probably the most affordable housing in the city where you could rent in the area. Technically, it's in Almar County, right over the city line, where you could rent individual apartments for $500 or $600 a month. That sold to an Alexandria-based company for $20,500,000. So from May until end of November, you're looking at a span of six months. The Villas deal closed the 19th of November. We're just catching wind of it now. In a six-month period of time, two of the most affordable apartment or condo complexes in Charlottesville and Almar County have both sold to out-of-market firms. One, Cavalier Crossing, to an out-of-market firm in Alexandria, a $20,500,000 acquisition. The other, an $11 million deal, this one in a Henrico-based real estate firm called the John B. Levy and Company. I'm going to break down this villas deal because I think it's going to have significant impacts on this community.

I intimately know the villas at Southern Ridge. The first piece of real estate I ever personally purchased and currently still own is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium at the Villas. It is now a rental, one of our rentals in our holding company. I have seen the Villas at Southern Ridge intimately either through the Homeowners Association or through the seven years I spent in my 20s living there before moving to Redfields, then Glenmore, and now Ivy, and now holding that piece of property as a rental. I'm going to give you the flip book of the villas, and then I'm going to explain how this deal will impact our community. Another intriguing story. There's so much to cover today.

When you miss a day like we did yesterday for the real estate closing um the news backs up and stacks up um and and there's a lot i need to cover as it regards to a recent cnbc ranking which valued college athletic programs. The University of Virginia, in a recent ranking of college athletic programs, was ranked 45 in the nation, Virginia Tech 53. The valuation placed by CNBC after talking with stakeholders in the private equity space has the University of Virginia Athletic Department valued at $506 million with revenues of $141 million a year. Virginia Tech valued at $474 million with revenues of $121 million a year. A lot of folks in the PE space are getting, are wanting, or pursuing a slice of stake, an ownership position, or some kind of control position in athletic programs,

collegiate athletic programs, as we head to basically, and here comes a Charlottesville fire truck, humming by. I mean, they're going probably close to 50 miles an hour on a 25 mile an hour road right there. We're in the state of college athletics where college athletics are about to be professionalized. In fact, they're already professionalized. We broke the news on Tuesday that Anthony Calandria, a second-year quarterback at UVA, was earning $800,000 for football this past fall season. That was news that Jerry Ratcliffe relayed on the Jerry and Jerry Show Tuesday at 10.15 a.m. I was taken aback that Anthony Calandria, who had very mediocre numbers and was the leader of a team that finished 5-7 and did not make a bowl,

earned $800,000 to play football at the University of a team that finished five and seven and did not make a bowl, earned 800 grand to play football at the University of Virginia. That just shows you the professionalized nature of what's happening to collegiate sports. I want to talk about the CNBC ranking. The university athletic department here in Charlottesville valued at 506 million, ranked 45 in the country from a valuation standpoint on revenues of 141 million a year. I also want to talk about an article that showed up in the Daily Progress yesterday. Fantastic article. Fantastic article. I want to give props to our neighbor, Hawes Spencer. I hope Hawes hears this. This is a fantastic, fantastic story that you penned, Hawes Spencer. And he highlighted the perspective of Gabe and Sonia Silver,

who are the owners of the Rivanna River Company. And very quietly, Gabe and Sonia Silver, I first caught wind of this from Bo Carrington. Very quietly, Gabe and Sonia Silver have purchased a handful of buildings on East High Street, including the Hogwaller Brewing Building, the Sugar Bear Ice Cream Parlor Building. They have a holding company called Rivertown Circus LLC, and they're purchasing real estate along East High Street, most notably the Hogwaller Brewing Building and the Sugar Bear Ice Cream Parlor.

This couple, these entrepreneurs, are now significant stakeholders that have significant skin in the game on East High Street. And their vision, in a lot of ways, is what the Daily Progress has dubbed Venice on the Rivanna, what Hawes has dubbed Venice on the Rivanna. And we'll show, in fact, you have that photo we can show. Here's a depiction, a rendering. And this rendering is from a presentation that was made in 2000, so 24 years ago, Neil Payton, a former University of Virginia planning faculty member who now heads the West Coast office of Washington, D.C.-based architecture firm Tortigallus and Partners,

proposed a short stretch of shops and offices and residences near the Free Bridge to face the river. So the facing portion of the buildings will be overlooking the water. I've said on this program for an extended period of time that East High Street is one of the most underutilized corridors in all of the city. I've put it right there with Cherry Avenue as the two most underutilized corridors in the city. I mean, East High Street is

a gateway from Albemarle County into the city. That entire stretch has tremendous upside. And why it has tremendous upside is not only is it a gateway from Albemarle County into the city, not only its proximity to the downtown mall, but most importantly, it runs parallel to the Rivanna River. And if stakeholders like Gabe and Sonia, who are making a living on the Rivanna River with the Rivanna River Company, and now are doubling down, tripling down by purchasing the real estate along East High Street, you now have perhaps a passing of the proverbial torch. The torch in a lot of ways has been held by the Cosner family. The Cosner family, Cosner brothers, the Charlottesville Wrecker Service, they own that. They own that massive piece of property that currently sits underutilized where all the food

trucks park. Very generously, they charge the food trucks an extremely nominal amount. Kim Cosner, Mr. Cosner's daughter, is a real estate agent, and she undoubtedly understands the value of what her family has with the ownership of one of the most, I'll cut to the chase, a very important corridor in the city, gateway in the city. Now, Gabe and Sonia Silver, who have strong affinity and passion and ties to the Rivanna River, are buying up real estate along East High Street. And maybe you're seeing a proverbial passing of the torch. I want to talk about that on today's show. Speaking of East High Street, we'll give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, the Vermillion family. John Vermillion and Andrew Vermillion own Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, the Vermillion family, John Vermillion and Andrew Vermillion own Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. The Vermillion family own that parcel on East High Street where

Charlottesville Sanitary Supply sits. They're all around A-plus people. They're 60 years in business. This is the company you want to see stay another 60 years. And John and Andrew do it the right way. They do it the right way. Their team does it the right way. Online at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com. Judah Wickauer, studio camera, then a two-shot. Did you take a glance of that rendering? I find this rendering incredibly awesome. I don't know if you find this rendering incredibly awesome as well, but I think this has significant upside for East High Street. What did you make of the story? What did you make of the rendering? What do you see on East High Street?

Any commentary you have to offer? I got a lot I want to cover on this topic. I love it. It totally gives me... Savannah? Savannah vibes. The man loves Savannah. Savannah's a great little town.

Explain the Savannah vibes. Savannah has a riverfront exactly the same. Well, not exactly the same, but the businesses on the river all face the river. There's a, I guess you could call it a street, but I don't think cars can really drive down it. It's like cobblestone. And then on the other side of the street from the buildings, you've got kind of like a promenade. It's just like a brick walkway with

benches and planters and a railing that looks out right on the river. And this river is a little bit bigger than the Ravana, but I love the descriptions that they give. I love the idea that they don't want to put up just a strip of one giant building

that houses all the shops and businesses and restaurants that would go in there, potentially. I like that they want to keep the eclectic nature of the area. Well, that's something Kim Cosner mentioned. Kim Cosner at the bottom of this story said that whatever development happens on East High Street, and she knows development's going to happen. Frankly, she's in the cap, her family's in the cap or seat, that they should utilize the quirky character of East High Street and the warehouse-y type buildings. She highlighted that this could be a mecca for breweries because of the ceilings in the warehouse-y feel, the large

empty cavernous feel of some of these buildings right here. That would be great. Like a Scott's Edition on East High Street, brewery epicenter. You see this in Asheville. You see this in Scott's Edition in Richmond, overlooking the Rivanna River with a river walk of some kind. Put that rendering back on screen if you could. Very intriguing right here. Make sure you're rotating lower thirds here. We'll give you the breaking news

of the villas at Southern Ridge being sold to a Henrico real estate firm here next. That's the next story that we want to cover, an $11 million deal. But I want to dot the I's and cross the T's on East High Street. Look, it's a city that's 10.2 square miles, Charlottesville. It's not a large city, right? So 10.2 square miles, a very small city. So they need to utilize as much of the space as possible in the most efficient way. And if someone is able to, I found it intriguing that Gabe Silver in this story called, what did he call the Bo Carrington 245 apartments?

Was the word harrowing, I think he said? Yeah, pretty harrowing. The 245-unit apartment project, Wendell Wood, Bo Carrington's project. He said it was pretty harrowing. Then he said, on the record, we wanted to have a little bit more control over our future and the future of this place.

So they partner with investors to form a real estate company and are now buying real estate along East High Street. Yeah, smart. I would encourage city council. And remember, the city now owns, they bought that land from Wendell, right? They bought the land from Wendell.

They're going to convert it into a park. The city has even more skin in the game. It has skin in the game. It has skin in the game from a tax revenue collection, and it has skin in the game now because it now owns a large portion of this river frontage where the apartments were going to go. I would encourage the city, in fact, this should be a topic that comes up in the election cycle. 2025 is an election campaign, is an election cycle. Brian Pinkston and Juan Diego Wade,

the mayor and vice mayor's seat are up for grabs. They're running for re-election. They should be asked, they should be asked, your plans, your future, your thoughts on East High Street, a river walk. Your plans, your thoughts, your future, your vision on what High Street, a river walk, your plans, your thoughts, your future, your vision on what East High Street and the Rivanna River and how they mingle

with commerce, with housing, with a critically important gateway. That should be a topic that is asked of anyone running for these two seats because those two seats, when elected again, will have four years of runway that very well could determine the future of East High Street. Very intriguing stuff here, ladies and gentlemen. James Watson, let us know your thoughts. Kelly Jackson, Lonnie Murray, let us know your thoughts. Lauren and Ivy, Holly Foster, let us know your thoughts.

Georgia Gilmore, Mr. DL. John Blair, Dave Warwick, Bellamy Brown, let us know your thoughts. Kate Shartz, let us know your thoughts. Georgia Gilmer, Mr. DL, John Blair, Dave Warwick, Bellamy Brown, let us know your thoughts. Kate Shartz, let us know your thoughts. I'll relay them live on air. This next story I think is breaking news for many of you. You ready for this one? Put me on a one shot and then I'll weave you in with some commentary. Okay. Um, uh, and a condo is, is LinkedIn need to be reconnected again there, J-dubs? Let me check. I believe LinkedIn needs to be reconnected again. Watch on YouTube, ladies and gentlemen. Goodness gracious. Um, the villas at Southern Ridge has sold. This is the apartment and condo complex off of Old Lynchburg Road.

It used to be called Country Green Apartments. Country Green Apartments in the early 2000s was a place that you did not want to go. It was crime-ridden. It was sketchy. Then a Virginia Beach developer named Bart Frye, in about 2006, 2007, Bart Frye purchased the Country Green Apartments. And Bart Frye's plan was to position the country green apartments and transition them into upscale condominiums. And Bart Fry chose to do this in

2006, 2007, 2008. And that was a real bad time for real estate. That was at a time of a recession that was led by a real estate bubble. So Bart Fry, who spent millions of dollars to buy the country green apartments and millions of dollars in converting the country green apartments into condominiums, he partnered with Jeff Gaffney's Real Estate 3. He created a sales office at the Villas at Southern Ridge. And Rick Spagoni, Amanda Spagoni, Mustache Dan Pettit, they all sold two-bedroom and three-bedroom condominiums with an asking price of $180,000 for the three bedrooms, two baths, and a den. The two bedrooms were a little bit less. But they said in 2007, 2008, they launched a plan, an aggressive plan, to transition

sketchy apartments into condominiums. And this was when I was roughly, I don't know, 25 years old. The only thing I could afford when I was 25 years old, anywhere in Charlottesville or the urban ring, was basically a three-bedroom, two-bath condo at the Villas. I bought it for like $182,000. And I even had to rent out a couple of the rooms to buddies to help cover the mortgage. It was a house hack for me. And I lived in this condominium for seven years, renting out rooms to help cover the mortgage,

lived there for seven years as I launched my business, which is going to be 17 years old in May. Intimately know this condo complex from an association standpoint and from actually having lived there for seven years. The breaking news for you today is a Henrico real estate firm, levy and company, acquired the bills at Southern Ridge and it's 240. Now, they didn't buy all the 240 units because some of those units are individually owned or owned by investors. But when Bart Fry brought this condo model to market in 2007, 2008, the bottom fell out. And when the bottom fell out, he said, Jesus, I am not going

to be able to sell these condos. Banks aren't lending on them. The real estate bubble has popped. I need to figure out something and figure out it quick. So he sold some of the condos to people like me who bought in phase one. There were five phases of sale and each phase was going to have a $5,000 increase in price. So those who purchased in phase one, like yours truly, would have equity built over the five phases of development, of rollout. I had terrible timing, like a lot of people, of buying in phase one, the market fell out and the condos lost dramatic value. A purchase in phase one of 182, $184,000. I think that's what I paid. The market dropped and what I bought for 182, 184,000 dropped to like 130 K because of this real estate recession,

literally lost 50 K in value off the top. Now, I didn't panic. I held it. The idea was to turn it into a rental property and try to scale up or level up with home ownership, never selling this one. That's what I did. Now, this $182,000 investment probably trades in the 235, 240 range. I also rented it while living there and rented it while not living there. So I didn't really have a ton of overhead associated with ownership. Not everyone was in that boat though. A lot of people were losing 40 and $50,000 on these transactions. It was very sad. Common denominator across America during the time of the housing recession. I remember this vividly. So Bart Fry says in 2008, 2009, I need to stop selling condos and I need to start renting these

condos. And he converts his sales office into a rental office and then he starts renting the units. When I first moved out of the villas at Southern Ridge, I moved to a neighborhood right next door called Redfields. Lived on Rockledge Drive. Purchased this house in December of 2013. I rented the villas in January of the next year for $1,000 a month to a single mom that had four kids, but one was going to college, so three kids. She was a long-term tenant. January 2014, the rent was $1,000 a month.

10 years later, the rent, ladies and gentlemen, is $2,600 a month. The rent has two and a half X, more than two and a half X at this condo complex that is showing some wear and tear. This Henrico buyer, Levy & Company, purchased for $11 million and they have said they're going to invest $1 million into upgrading, rehabilitating, and improving the amenities of the complex as a whole. This Henrico company, Levy & Company, will own the lion's share, will own more than 50% of the units, of the 240. So they're going to control the association. A little bit of exposure there for individual owners like myself. But individual owners in the villas, this is good news for you.

Because they're going to pump a million dollars into the complex to make it look nicer. Then they're going to take the apartments and rehabilitate them inside, which is going to create a comparable, a raised rent comparable. And they're going to try to exit within five years and make a nice return on their 11 million, 12 million when you include the 1 million they pump into rehabilitation and part of their exit strategy is taking the rentals that they're going to acquire and converting them into individual units that they can sell. After they've spent 11 million to buy the villas in Southern Ridge and $1 million rehabilitating it, they are going to take the rental properties and convert them into condos for sale. They're going to have an asking price of those converted condos that is going to be higher than market value today because of the million they put into rehabilitating the complex and improving the amenities.

And before they do that, they're going to raise the rents on the individual units. They'll roll this out in phases. So if they have like 130 or some units that they own, they're going to do a phase one where they convert, improve, sell. And they're going to keep the other ones. They're going to roll these out slowly so they don't flood the market with inventory. And as phase one, they're going to price them at something. Phase two is going to be priced a little bit higher. Phase three is going to price a little

bit higher. So anyone who owns in there now, someone like me, is going to ride the coattails of this Henrico firm that's pumping millions of dollars into the complex and ride the coattails into, frankly, better rents and increased market value. That's the upside. Here's the downside. Here's the downside, ladies and gentlemen. Judy, you should be rotating the lower thirds tied to the villas and cab crossing on screen, please. Here's the downside. That's right, Bob Yarbrough. It is your backyard. The downside is the villas at Southern Ridge, and it sounds scary, the $2,600 a month rent for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom condo. That is the entry point in Charlottesville and the urban ring. The monthly rent entry point is somewhere between the $2,000 for the two bedrooms and the

$2,500 for the three bedrooms. And when an out-of-market firm buys the villas, they have to raise the rents to get return on their investment. And this is happening at exactly the same time that Cavalier Crossing, the neighboring apartment complex, was purchased in May of this year for $20,500,000 by Bonaventure Multifamily Income Trust, a REIT out of Alexandria, Virginia. That's a real estate investment trust. That's what REIT means. Bonaventure Multifamily Income Trust is following a similar model, not an identical model, to what the Henrico firm is doing with the villas. Here's what's similar. Bonaventure purchased Cavalier Crossing where you could rent individual rooms for $560 a month, the most affordable renting scenario in

Charlottesville and the urban ring, the $560 a month at Cav Crossing. Bonaventure said, we're going to pump money into Cav Crossing. We're going to improve the amenities. We're going to put the proverbial lipstick on the pig, putting stainless appliances in there and granite countertops and giving them paint jobs and new cabinetry. And we're going to take the rents from $560 a month and we're going to try to 2X our position. So a three bedroom or a four, let's take a four-bedroom, easy math. A four-bedroom, let's just call it 500 a month in room. You could rent by the room at Cav Crossing. You cannot at villas. Only an owner can rent an individual room

at the villas. You can't just rent an individual room if you're a non-owner. At Cav Crossing, we'll say it's 500 a room. We'll call them four units and a suite. Right now, they're running for $2,000 a month. Four strangers can live in one suite. Bonaventure wants to take it to 4K a month, basically charging 1,000 a room instead of the 500 room currently available. This is taking a significant amount of workforce housing

out of the ecosystem. A significant amount of workforce housing coming out of the ecosystem at Cav Crossing. And a significant amount of workforce housing is about to come out of the market, come out of the workforce market at the bills at Southern Rich. What do I mean by come out of the market, come out of the workforce market at the bills at Southern Rich. What do I mean by come out of the market? Well, once these out-of-market real estate firms

get their hands on these two massive complexes, I mean, you're talking, ladies and gentlemen, Cav Crossing has 144 three- and four-bedroom apartments, 520 total bedrooms at Cav Crossing, Judah. 520 total bedrooms at Cavalier Crossing, Judah. 520 total bedrooms at Cavalier Crossing. At the villas at Southern Ridge, there's 240 units. 240 units of two and three bedroom. You're talking, ladies and gentlemen here, I'm going to do some quick math. I'm going to say of the 240 units at the villas, I'm just going to use back of the napkin arithmetic. I'm going to do some quick math. I'm going to say of the 240 units at the villas, I'm just going to use back of the napkin arithmetic.

I'm going to say 120 are two bedroom. That's 240, right? Remember the number 240, Judah, okay? 120 of them are three bedroom. That's 360. Write down 360 as well. And then there's 520 bedrooms at Cav Crossing. You got that, J-Dubs? 240, 360, and 520. Thank you. So 520 plus 240 plus 360. 1,120 bedrooms or doors. 1,120

bedrooms or doors that were otherwise geared for workforce housing have now been acquired or purchased by out-of-market real estate firms in an $11 million deal and a $20.5 million deal. Both firms are going to pump millions of dollars into both complexes, approving the amenities, approving the look and feel, and then once they're done with the pumping of the money to remodel and reimagine, they are going to increase the rents at Cav Crossing to the tune of 2x, and at the Ville's at Southern Ridge, they're going to roll out a phased selling structured concept where they're going to sell small batches of units and phases over a period of time with the plan to exit the Henrico firm in about five years at the Vills and Southern Ridge. This is a significant story. It's a significant story that you will see in Sean Tubbs' newsletter, you will see in the Daily Progress. You will see here on the radio

stations and TV stations. At a time where our community is already starving for housing, at a time when our community is thirsty for affordability, begging for affordability to the point they revamp the zoning ordinance. And speaking of the zoning ordinance, Jack Dudu has happened with that. I'll give you some details on that as we enter the close of the year. At a time when all this is happening, 1,120 bedrooms are about to get significantly more expensive. Significantly more expensive. And both these complexes are right next to each other. Interestingly, both these complexes are in Mike Pruitt's district. Supervisor Pruitt, are you watching the program today?

Are you watching the program today, Supervisor Pruitt? This is in your district, Supervisor Pruitt. Supervisor Pruitt floated the idea of rent control because of the Bonner Venture sale earlier this year, the Cav Crossing sale. How is Supervisor Pruitt going to respond now that the bill is at Southern Ridge? The neighbor of Cav Crossing is going through a similar trajectory as Cavalier Crossing. F-ing bananas, ladies and gentlemen. So much to cover on today's show. So much to cover on today's program. So much to cover on today's program.

Bill McChesney says, are you going to have to upfit to compete? Perhaps, but they're condos. So upfit with these. I can turn the condos over. There's a construction crew that, I have a construction crew that does all our real estate. It's a father and son,

and they have some helpers. I can turn the Villa Southern Ridge over in between tenants for under $3,000. Under $3,000 to turn it over. And sometimes it's less. What I'm basically going to do, Bill McChesney, is frankly speaking, is I'm going to ride the coattails, that investment property of this Enrico firm. And I'm going to watch as this Enrico firm takes that rental office. And after they put the lipstick on the pig, they're going to redo their rate card. And the rents are going to escalate significantly.

And I'll just ride those coattails. And then when they start selling them, I won't sell while they're selling their units. I'll sell when they've exhausted the sale of their units, if I choose to sell. The problem with selling, and I'm going through this right now with some clients, if you sell an investment property, you get put in a tough position because then you have to Starker exchange or 1031 exchange immediately into some other property. And if you don't do it in a set amount of time, if you don't identify the property that you want to buy in a set amount of time, or you don't acquire something in a set amount of time, your tax

exposure is obscene. It's obscene. That's why a lot of the investment property, a lot of the commercial real estate in the community does not trade. Because if you do choose to sell and you can't 1031 buy something else, roll the gains into another purchase, you're on the hook for massive tax exposure. So investors just choose to hold the property for decades, if not generations, and pass it from one family member down to another family member. That happens quite a bit. There's just not a lot of inventory to buy. I mean, look at this Henrico firm. Look at the Alexandria firm and the Henrico firm. They're going hours and hundreds of miles away from their headquarters to make acquisitions.

Bonaventure is based in Alexandria. They sold a stake at a Norfolk apartment complex in 1031 into Cab Crossing here in Charlottesville. There's just not a lot of deal flow. A lot we're going to cover on today's program. Elliot Harding says, I love Elliot Harding. How's the office, Elliot Harding? Helped Elliot find an office on the downtown mall. He's a fantastic attorney. Pretty sure the Cosners have only sold one parcel in their history and told that buyer they'd never do it again. Elliot would know. Elliot would know. Elliot, is your cousin Brent Harding of Harding Auto Sales

and Tire on East High Street? Is that who they sold it to? Was it your cousin? I'm spitballing here, Elliot. Is that who they sold it to right there, to your cousin? He does a hell of a job. Elliot's family owns a fantastic tire company in Fork Union, Virginia. Bill McChesney, so the city bought the fair circus grounds between the city and Cosner's. how could that vision come to fruition without Kosner selling out? The city bought the property from Wendell Wood, from Mr. Wendell Wood, Mr. McChesney. Nora Gaffney, this is the vision many of us have hoped for on our river. This is why we didn't want other housing built that would ruin this possibility. I understand that.

I understand the floodplain concerns, Nora Gaffney. I understand the environmental concerns and the traffic and infrastructure concerns. I will say that if you own a piece of property on East High Street right now, you're sitting on a pretty penny, a pretty, pretty, pretty penny. Just like the Woodards saw it with Cherry Avenue when they started buying much of Cherry Avenue during COVID. The Woodards saw it with Cherry Avenue when they started buying much of Cherry Avenue during COVID. The Woodards were smart when they bought much of Cherry Avenue during COVID. They did that when commercial real estate was headwind riddled. Remember during the pandemic, we were saying commercial real estate's never going to rebound. Commercial real estate's effed. Commercial real estate's about to crash. There's a bubble with commercial real estate. It's rebounding just fine, ladies and gentlemen. But the Woodards were smart. They's a bubble with commercial real estate. It's rebounding just fine, ladies and gentlemen.

But the Woodards were smart. They got greedy when everyone else was scared, and they jumped all over Cherry Avenue and made a boatload of purchases over there. It's the Warren Buffett strategy. Greedy when people are scared. Be scared when people are greedy. What do you make of the billsas at southern ridge news judah it's a significant story over 1100 bedrooms now in the hands of out-of-market developers

who've spent 20.5 million and 11 million so that's 31 and a half million dollars just on acquisitions and are pumping millions more into outfitting, remodeling, and improving. Is it 36? 20.5 and 11. You could call it an even $35 million with the remodeling that they're going to put in. What do you make of this story? I mean, what are you going to do? Commerce, baby. I mean what are you going to do commerce baby

any more any more insight in there I mean deep throat you're on deck are we going to are we going to stop people from out of the market from buying into our market

Mike Pruitt tried to go rent control John Blair you're in the hole. I mean, Charlottesville is a hot property, so it's hardly surprising that people would be coming in and buying up what they can. This is another thing that I find intriguing. Bonaventure out of Alexandria and Levy & Co out of Henrico are spending tens of millions together combined on multifamily housing at a time where last week we highlighted that there could be a softening or perhaps a bubble forming around multifamily housing in our community. We highlighted the 750 to 800 second-year students

that will be taken out of the rental ecosystem in 2027 as UVA builds housing on Ivy Road for 750 to 800 second years to live on grounds. That takes them out of the local rental market. Who is reading it correctly? Is it the bankers that are hesitant to lend on multifamily purchases? I told the story of how I'm meeting with bankers at the mill room some time ago, trying to buy a six-unit position off of East High Street. I mean, let's cut to the chase. If you can't tell right now, I'm extremely bullish on East High Street, and I've been extremely bullish on East High Street for about 24 months on this program, if not longer, 36 months on the program. When I say it's one of the most underperforming sector

quarters right now, it's a fact. But I say that in a bullish way because I see the upside. And I meet with the bankers, and they say, we're not lending on multifamily. Any multifamily that's above two-unit purchase, we're not lending on. And find a bank that will. And we were well-financed. Me and a partner, well-financed. Who is right and who is wrong? Or can both be, can the bankers be right and can these real estate firms also be right? That's a deep throat question right there. I think they can both be right.

Can they both be right? Because the lenders are saying just right now, they're not saying forever. And the real estate firms are saying, we're going to get in now. The real estate firms are not building. They're buying pre-existing properties. That's what I wanted to do.

Okay. But they don't need – they probably didn't need a bank to give them a major loan. They did not. They did not. And so perhaps they know that the banks are not going to be giving anyone else loans to build or buy these places, and they're cornering what's left of the market. Viewers and listeners, your thoughts? Let's go to Deep Throats on deck.

John Blair, you're in the hole. Really curious of what these two gentlemen have to say. Deep Throat says, most American cities in the 20th century turned their backs on riverbanks, but more and more cities are embracing their riverfronts now. That would make sense here in Charlottesville. He also says, do wonder how they deal with the flooding risk, though. Doing the Justin Schimpf giant wall approach is probably not a great idea to prevent the flooding. He says, on the villas, there are split between condo

and sponsor-owned rental units, right? What's the split? Do you think the new owner just wants to renovate and sell off the sponsored-owned units? I can offer some insight into this with knowledge of the association. The new owner, Deep Throat, has a majority, has more than 50% ownership in this 240-unit complex, controls the association.

And yes, the new owner wants to spend a million dollars on rehabilitation and do a slow, phased-out role of selling the units that they have acquired. They don't want to hold them as rentals. They're going to keep them as rentals to help them cash flow as they sell units in individual phases. And know those that are asking this question, they are not going to flood the market with 120 plus units at one time. That's not strategic. How you do this is roll it out in very small stock by increasing the asking price every phase, every rollout.

I would not be surprised if these units due to Wickhour, once this real estate company is done, units that today are trading in the 235, 240 range, I would not be surprised if these three bedrooms, two baths, when this real estate company is done, are trading in the mid 300s or higher. Mid 300s or higher. And there's a lesson learned here. When the Great Recession happened and the real estate bubble popped and I lost 50K of paper value on my unit, the first piece of real estate I ever bought, I was demoralized. I was down on myself. I was bumped. But I knew it was about the long game and the long play. And I knew I was cash flowing by renting out the individual rooms. So I held. Holding is the key. If you're in a hot

market like Charlottesville that has the university of virginia has tourism the university tourism is a one just under one billion dollar economic impact on charlottesville and almar county we learned that recently we know the defense sector is a 1.3 billion yearly impact we still don't know the impact of the University of Virginia. I would bet you it's probably two or three billion if the defense sector is 1.3 billion. UVA has got to be two billion plus. When you have those kind of economic drivers in your community, holding real estate is a wise move. A couple more from Deep Throat, and then i'm going to get to uh john blair and here's another question related to the new zoning ordinance he says if there

are really profitable opportunities to build commodity and multi-family housing why is the buyer not trying to add units same with cab crossing that's a great question. That is a great question. Why are cab crossing owners and villas owners not looking to add additional properties? Damn good question. If they are getting 100 sponsor units for 11 million, tells you stuff is trading way below replacement value. So both the buyers and bankers are right. Price on this project is cheap and so cheap that bankers are right. That new build makes no no sense that's a hell of a comment right there i'll rebuild 11 million let's say they're good let's say they're at 100 and i think i think it's 130 11 million divided by 130 damn they're getting a deal on these 84,085 this is how the rich get richer you have a company from Henrico

back of the napkin there's 240 total units I know Bart Fry of Fry Properties in Virginia Beach has controlled the association and has more than 120 let's just use the number 130 is what Henrico is buying

11 million divided by 130 are Are they getting these for like $85,000 a unit? I want you to think about the business model that they're doing. They get these for effing $85,000 a unit. Well, I'm going to add the 1 million in rehab. So I'm going to go 12 million divided by 130, 130 units they're buying. They're getting these for 92,000 a unit. Now you're going to have to hire a sales team and you're going to have to keep maintaining them with a property management company and a maintenance crew. But if they go and start selling these for 300,000 a unit, let's go 300,000. If they sell them for minus 92,000

leaves you 208,000 of Delta 208K times 130 units $27 million $11 million to buy $1 million to rehab there's a Delta of 15 million now that's not straight 15 million cash in pocket because they're going to have the property management,

they're going to have the maintenance crew, and sales staff crew. But you see the effing business model has a lot of meat on the bone. Supervisor Pruitt, this is all happening in your district right now. Unbelievable. Average rent on my unit, three bedroom, two bath is 2,600 right now, a month deep throat. And that number has gone up from January, 2014 to today, 10 years. It's gone from a thousand to 20, 25, 2,600 a month. John Blair on deck. No, John Blair in the box.

I think you know, and I know that the Villas and Cav Crossing are headed for a large upgrade. Look at Oak Hill as well as Winnington and the redevelopment of Southwood in the same area. Plus, I believe that the county wants to open up Sunset all the way to Fontaine. That area's property owners are going to start minting money when they sell, 100%. 100%. John Blair knows this. John Blair lives in this area. I'm not going to start minting money when they sell. 100%. 100%. John Blair knows this. John Blair lives in this area. I'm not going to say where, but John Blair lives in this area. He's 100% right. That's a comment that I, Bob Yarborough, you've been done the king of Redfields on this show here. You're in the same position, Bob Yarborough. Same position for you, Bobby Yarborough.

I'm going to read John's comment again. I think you know and I know that the villas and Cav Crossing are headed for a large upgrade. Your parents live in this area. I think you know and I know that the villas and Cav Crossing are headed for a large upgrade. Look at Oak Hill as well as Whittington and the redevelopment of Southwood in the same area. Plus, I believe that the county wants to open up Sunset all the way to Fontaine. That area's property owners are going to start minting money when they sell. It's a damn good comment from Blair. He makes the program better. Kevin Yancey says, who's going to buy those condos when they come to market? Are you nuts, Kevin Yancey? If someone can sell a type of inventory in the threes, those sell all day, every day,

and twice on Sunday. Find me something with a three handle. Find me something with even a low four handle that you can buy in the city or the urban ring right now. You put something in the mid threes, hey, Henrico, I'm going to send them, they have a contact form on their website.

I'm going to contact them. I'm going to form on their website. I'm going to contact them. I'm going to say, here's what I think your sales strategy should be, and I think you should come out of the gates selling these units starting in phase one at $350,000. Obviously, that was a little reason to suggest that. They've done their homework. We should send them this show. Let's clip this portion of the show

and Google Drive it to them. Well, Google Drive it to the principal, the head of acquisitions. I swear, we're going to do that. We're going to clip this part of the show and send it to the head of acquisitions for Levy & Co. and Henrico. I think you asked $350,000 in the first phase.

Kevin Yancey says, who can afford them? Do you want to answer this question for Mr. Kevin Yancey? I love that he watches the program. Do you want to offer him some insight of selling housing in the mid-threes? You're the one that's been touting the fact that multifamily is... Multifamily is rental. I'm talking for sale. Okay. A for sale purchasable type of housing in the urban ring in a fantastic school district, Kale. Well, it's not Kale anymore. It's Mountain View. Mountain View, in a fantastic school district, well, it's not Kale anymore, it's Mountain View.

Mountain View, 10 minutes from UVA, 10 minutes from downtown, on the bypass and on the interstate, in the low to mid threes. You're telling me that doesn't sell all day, every day, and twice on Sunday? Not my bailiwick. It's my bailiwick, and I'm telling you it does. All right. Deep Throat makes the point. And once again, why didn't the county or the city tried to buy them? That's a great question. That would be the county. That's a great question.

Does Albemarle County look bad in that a six-month period of time, a six-month period of time, they have had 1,120 bedrooms that were rented to workforce housing sell to out-of-market, deep-pocketed real estate firms? I mean, should they have known that that was coming? Should they have blocked it? They could have bought them. Yeah, but they're not looking forward. They're reactive.

Well said, Judah Wittkower. Bob Yarborough, the king of Redfields. Condos on Sunset sell in the $450,000 range and last less than a week on the market. Bob Yarborough. God, I love you, Bob Yarborough. And he says that pretty much just leaves Eagle's Landing. Eagle's Landing, not Eagle Ridge for workforce housing. Eagle's Landing in that area. And he's 100% right. The Sunset. Sunset is where... Sunset, I haven't been down

there in a while. Sunset is... Bob Yarborough. Sunset is where Oak Hill Farm is, right Judah? Oak Hill Farm. Sunset is right off of 5th Street. And Sunset is the, is the road that you can take. You're going down 5th Street, Bob Yarborough. I take a right on Sunset. There goes Chief Cautious. I take a right on Sunset and then I go, and I go to Redfields, right? Those condos, you're talking about the townhomes there, Bobby Arborough? I think he's talking about the townhomes. Is that what you're talking about? King of Redfields?

You see, watch the Redfields neighborhood. A home goes on the market in Redfields, and it sells within days. It is one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city, in the county, is Redfields. Redfields is a gold mine, an absolute gold mine. Gosh, so much to cover on today's show. I missed yesterday's show. We had a real estate closing. Yes, thank you, Bob Yarbrough. Bob Yarbrough, you're making the program better. He's talking to those townhomes on Sunset selling the mid-450s. Oak Hill Farms started in the upper 800s. Love you, Bob Yarbrough.

This is a significant story. This is a significant story. 1,120 total bedrooms now going to 2x minimum and rent. And 120 apartments potentially converted 130 apartments potentially

converted to condos and sold in the low to mid threes it's a big time story i'm very excited can you tell i can't that's that's breaking news for you it's breaking news for the viewers and listeners it's a 126-minute marker. I didn't have a chance to talk about this. What's the next headline? The CNBC? Yep. Oh, man.

Should we save this for tomorrow? Put the lower third on screen. These are the last headlines. You can rotate those lower thirds. Give me a one shot if you could, please, sir. CNBC has valued or put a value on college athletic programs. And they worked in conjunction with private equity firms and stakeholders in the space that are trying to monetize and value and get involved with the business of college athletics.

And they did a ranking of athletic programs across the college landscape. The University of Virginia was ranked, and I'll talk more in depth about this tomorrow. There's a show tomorrow, the I Love Seville show at 1230, and there's a show on Monday, the I Love Seville show on Monday at 1230. Then I'm taking off until Monday, January 6. I'm going to go up to Long Island, up to Southampton and Long Island. Judah is going to get some gravy over here as some love for working his tail off, and is going to have some time to himself

with very limited work and total compensation, where he's going to be able to bronze his body at the pool, work on his pectorals with bench pressing, and go to martini and cocktail hour at the Clifton with the Piggies up while eating strawberries and cream. Sure. You don't like doing that stuff?

So show tomorrow, show Monday, and then the show is off until Monday, January 6th. The CNBC ranking put UVA 45 with a valuation of $506 million. There were 75-day ranks. UVA came in at 45. Revenues of $141 million a year. Virginia Tech valued at 53, ranked at 53, with a valuation of $474 million and revenues of $121 million. The top-valued program according to the CNBC ranking. What do you think it is, Judah?

I know this isn't your bailiwick, but what do you think the most valuable college athletic department is in the United States of America? I don't expect you to know this. I don't know. Duke? Duke is not a bad guess. No cigar, not a bad guess though. Ohio State University, number one, at $1,320,000,000. So almost three X UVA, 280 in revenue, 280 million in revenue. University of Texas, 2, 1.28 billion. Texas A&M, 3, 1.26 billion. University of Michigan, 4, 1.06 billion. University of Alabama, 5, 978 million. Notre Dame, 6, 969 million. University

of Georgia, 950 million. University of Nebraska, 943 million. Number nine, University of Tennessee, 940 million. And number 10, University of Oklahoma. Vanessa943 million. Number nine, University of Tennessee, $940 million. And number 10, University of Oklahoma. Vanessa Parkel, your Penn State University is number 11 at $942 million. This is on CNBC. I'll take this link, this link, and I'm going to share it in the comments section

of my personal Facebook page. If you want to read this, I encourage anyone to find me on Facebook, follow me on Facebook. I'm putting it in the comments section of my personal Facebook page. I just published it. This will be a hot topic of tomorrow's show. We'll also dot the I's and cross the T's. My phone is absolutely blowing up right now with real estate brokers and folks in the development space as I'm talking about the villas news.

Mike Pruitt's watching the program. Supervisor Mike Pruitt, we had some breaking news on today's show. Cavalier Crossing, you know, sold to an out-of-market buyer. The villas at Southern Ridge, which is in your district, Supervisor Pruitt, has now sold to an out-of-market buyer, Supervisor Pruitt. The villas at Southern Ridge, 240 units, has sold to a Henrico-based real estate firm called Levy & Co. They purchased it for $11 million, Supervisor Pruitt. They're putting a million dollars into rehabbing it, Supervisor Pruitt, and then they're going to take the units that they own, they're going to Supervisor Pruitt, and then they're going to take the units that they own,

they're going to increase the rents dramatically, and then Supervisor Pruitt, they're going to convert the rentals into sales, condo sales, and they're going to do them in probably the mid-three range. Early threes, mid-threes. And the Scottsville district, your district, 1,120 bedrooms. 1,120 bedrooms have been acquired by out-of-market real estate firms who are now repositioning them out of a workforce housing option into a luxury-based option,

2X-ing rents, and in one case, chopping them up into units that are going to sell in the mid-threes, if not higher. A significant story. Significant story. I'm Jerry Miller. It's the I Love Seville Show on a Thursday. Back tomorrow at 1230. Take care. Thank you.