The UVA Foundation, the real estate holding wing of the University, bought the 60-room Econo Lodge at 400 Emmet St. for $6 million. That news is unsurprising—the acquisition is a logical connector, right in between the sports facilities and the heart of Grounds.
What is surprising is that, rather than register the purchase under its own name, the UVA Foundation instead bought the property using the name “Meadow Creek II Corporation.” The Foundation, which also owns the Cavalier Inn and the Boar’s Head Inn, does not list the purchase on its website, despite the fact that the purchase was made in May (for more big purchases in 2008, see page 8).
Tim Rose, CEO of the UVA Foundation, confirms the purchase and says, by e-mail, that the Foundation has no plans for redeveloping the property and will continue operating it as a hotel.
“It was purchased because it is adjacent to UVA property,” says Rose. “So it is a long-term, land-banking acquisition, not one for immediate need.”
Almost all of the Foundation’s other real estate holdings are titled to “University of Virginia Foundation.”
Rose says that the use of an alternate name is a practice used with the hotels that it owns and that the name “Meadow Creek II Corporation” comes from the fact that Meadow Creek is the name of the corporation that owns the Cavalier Inn.
However, property records indicate that “University of Virginia” appears in the title of its other hotels. The Boar’s Head is titled to “University of Virginia Host Properties Inc.,” while city property records list “University of Virginia Foundation” as the owner of the Cavalier Inn.
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