Matthews Buys UVa Farm Land

By Waldo Jaquith
Dave Matthews has purchased 1,261 acres of farm land from Charlottesville's University of Virginia for $5.3M. The land was part of over 7,000 acres, located just south of Charlottesville in surrounding Albemarle County, donated to the university by area billionaire John Kluge early last year. UVa must sell the bulk of the land in order to finance the development of the core of it for a yet-undetermined purpose. Dave's purchase comes as quite a relief to Albemarle County officials and surrounding landowners, who were concerned that it might be sold to developers. In a statement, a representative said that "Matthews plans to preserve agriculture and forest land on the farms with an emphasis on organic farming." UVa's Cavalier Daily has the story.