Mr. Jefferson Would Approve

by Steven Geoffrey Gieseler

The University of Virginia is in the midst of an expansion of its famous grounds.  Several of the parcels needed for the project are private residences.  We all know how this story usually winds up.  Except that this time, there was a different ending:

The school simply offered the owners enough money to entice them to sell the property, and moved along with its project.

The main topic of the article recounting these events is whether the price paid for the parcels was "fair," considering that much of the properties' values owed to their proximity to the school (and the expansion) itself.  Despite the headline asking whether the situation amounts to a "rip-off," every authority cited in the piece concludes it does not.  Location, location, location…