Monthly Archive for April, 2011

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Kluge Vineyards’ Goal: “Most Visited Place in America”

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 10, 2011 in Business and Development. 13 Comments

From The Daily Beast’s interview with Patricia Kluge:

Rumors had swirled that the widow of her ex-husband, billionaire John Kluge, would buy the land, that a neighbor would take it over and destroy the vines, or another would plow up the Arnold Palmer golf course. But that is in the past. Now, “Donald [Trump] plans to open it to the public and make it the most amazing experience in the world. Hopefully it will be the most visited place in America.” A Disneyland, I ask? “Good lord,” she responds with horror, “nothing that vulgar.”

[…]

She is especially thrilled that she had her husband have been asked to stay on to oversee the wines, which have been served at the White House and at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. “We were monumentally relevant to the world of wine,” states Kluge. “Not just nationally, but internationally. London, Paris you name it. Donald has saved all that, now we are coming back, and we’re coming back with a vengeance.”

(Emphasis mine.)

For comparison, the nation’s most-visited place is Times Square, with 37.6M visitors annually. This woman is delusional. Like I said: this will end badly.

Trump Buys Kluge Estate Winery

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 7, 2011 in Business and Development. 14 Comments

Donald Trump has purchased Kluge Estate Winery at auction, Lisa Provence reports for The Hook. The 64-year-old New York billionaire and current presidential candidate bought the estate for $7.3M. Trump now owns a bit more than a square mile of Albemarle farmland about five miles south of town. Another 100+ acre chunk was bought by northern Virginia developer Sal Cangiano, who “thought it would be fun” to run a winery—he has a checkered history in acquiring historic rural properties in Virginia.

Trump’s bound to throw around some contributions to local organizations (I’d put money on him giving money to The Paramount) in an effort to get a little local respect, and while generally celebrities are welcomed to town with open arms, I think things will go poorly for this abrasive birther. This will end badly.

County Approves $304M Budget

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 6, 2011 in Government, Politics and Taxes. Closed

The Board of Supervisors approved a $304M budget that holds the real estate tax at its current rate, the Daily Progress reports. That’s a 74.2¢ rate—or 0.7% of assessed value—which, coupled with decreased property values, drops the average homeowner’s taxes by $36.

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