Posted on 08/02/2004 3:23:24 PM PDT by NautiNurse
CHAPEL HILL - Senator John Edwards, who just this month was selected to run on the Democratic ticket with Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in November, recently purchased 102 acres of farmland in Chapel Hill.
The vice presidential hopeful and his wife Elizabeth bought the land from Paul Guthrie, who inherited the land from his parents. The couple paid $1.32 million for the property.
Guthrie's parents used the land for farming and timber, but all that remains on the property now are trees and a dilapidated building. The land is valued at $766,000, according to the Orange County land data records.
Elizabeth Edwards said in an interview Saturday that the family plans to move there because she and her husband are interested in the school district there. The estate is in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district.
The property is east of Sesame Road and west of Phil's Creek Road. That places the land just over two miles from the Carrboro town limits.
County records state the mailing address as 190 Finley Golf Course Road in Chapel Hill.
Edwards, who is not running for re-election in the United States Senate following a popular but ultimately unsuccessful run for the Democratic Presidential nomination, was born in South Carolina and grew up in the town of Robbins, North Carolina.
Edwards attended North Carolina State University for his undergraduate work and law school at the University of North Carolina.
The Edwards have four children, two of whom are school-age. Emma Claire is six, and Jack is four.
Comments? Send them via e-mail: phillip.scott@newsoforange.com
Now how much money do yall reckon
this has cost the "man for the little people"?
How many doctors were sued to pay for this?
So Edwards paid $500,000 more than the land was worth?
Not a very bright guy, is he?
Was just told about the story--and with luck, it was posted online in the little weekly newspaper of Orange County.
He can always sue somebody else if he runs low.
So many ambulances to chase...so little time...
Which of the "two Americas" does John Edwards reside in? I need a refresher.
BTW, if Edwards is so confident that he and Kerry will win, then why does he care about schools in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. A show of confidence would be to check out the schools in the D.C. area. Of course, then they'd be looking at private schools, and they have to appear to be average Americans.
Howlin, Helms or mykidsmom will soon have the
amount of his monetary outlay for this latest
purchase.
Such hypocrisy.
The screwer got screwed.
LOL! The best question of the hour.
That's a lot of land for a hamster to run wild should they get one for the kids. Seeing as how Kerry will still only be a Senator come November (let's pray and vote), and that he never shows up to work anyway; maybe they could hire him as a full time paramedic in case any pets might need mouth to mouth.
Sure would hate to see a slip and fall on this property or people "squatting" in the building. Well, now he can build some affordable or free housing on it for some people from America #2.
Was thinking the same thing....if he and Kerry get elected....that land will be worth less soon
unless they plan on selling it to the Chi Coms intel service...
imo
It's cost a lot of women an affordable and available OB...
Oooh! That would be quite a mess if someone was hurt in the dilapidated building!
My county's property appraiser's site undervalues my home by nearly half - given current market prices. Not so sure why, but it does.
At least Edwards will be in a convenient area for all of the physicians at UNC and Duke to give him a smack for causing their malpractice premiums to skyrocket.
Ah yes the Postmodern Academic Elite community par exellance
( Duke's next door don't you know)
I can see their uberkids flitting about town, maybe even in an SUV with lights out, windows down and the smell of mary jane wafting in the air.
Rangerover Kids is what I like to call them.
Bingo!
That's some cheap land. In my area, five acres goes for $500,000.
There goes the neighborhood...
Proof this campaign is all a set up by the all mighty Hillary who wants the gate open in 2008.
None of us can say that this was the world we were brought up in and grew up in.
Yes Edwards is part of the RANK HYPOCRISY and a symbol there are "the haves" and "have nots" but Kerry is part of the "have allots".
Land around Chapel hill is premium, 102 acres cut up into 20
0r so 5 acre estates with perk tests and a few streets and a guarded gate with pool, tennis courts would probably bring $250,000 per estate, especially from Edwards political and legal in crime.partners
Property records indicate the closing occurred June 24, 2004.
Certainly has the "right" address, doesn't it?
We can expect an Arab business man to make a $2.6 million dollar offer on the site with a $100,000 earnest money deposit, only to walk away from the deal in six months.
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-505043.html
Mrs. Edwards down to earth looking at land
BY ROB SHAPARD : The Herald-Sun
rshapard@heraldsun.com
Jul 26, 2004 : 9:53 pm ET
CARRBORO -- Although he couldn't quite place her, longtime Orange County farm owner Gordon Neville knew there was something very familiar about the lady who pulled into his tree-shaded yard off Old Greensboro Road.
It was in early June, and the lady was in the market for land. She came by the Neville place, known as Mount View Farm, to see some property that Neville and his wife Pat owned.
"When she got out of the car, I had no idea who she was," Neville said Monday. "I kept looking at her, and finally, I said, 'I think I've seen you around Chapel Hill.'
"She said, 'No, you probably haven't seen me around Chapel Hill. Maybe you've seen me in Raleigh,' " Neville said.
And then the name and the face came together.
His eyes lit up, and he asked her, "You're that Edwards lady, aren't you?" And so she was.
Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards, rode with Neville in his pickup truck for a quick tour of the farm that day, but she didn't end up striking any deals.
However, the Edwards family did buy about 102 acres of land next door, adding another item to the family's résumé -- Orange County taxpayers.
John and Elizabeth Edwards are listed in county records as the new owners of 102 acres on the northern side of Old Greensboro Road, as of June 24. They paid $1,316,500 for the land, which is just east of Sesame Road and west of Phil's Creek Road.
Along with the Edwards' names, the county records include a mailing address of 190 Finley Golf Course Road in Chapel Hill.
That's the same address as East-West Partners, the company headed by local developer and UNC trustee Roger Perry.
Perry returned a phone call seeking comment Monday, but a reporter missed his call and couldn't reach him a second time.
The land is about four miles from West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, and about 2¼ miles from the Carrboro town limits, which reaches almost to University Lake. The land purchased by the Edwards family is within the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district.
According to Neville, the location within the city schools district was one of the main draws for the family, which now lives in Raleigh and Washington, D.C.
"[Elizabeth Edwards] said they want to come out here and live, out in the country," he said. "The main reason she gave was the school system. That's what she told me.
"She was just as down-to-earth and pleasant as can be," he added. "She's like a regular gal."
Kim Rubey, a spokeswoman for Edwards, confirmed Monday that the family had purchased the land. But she said she would have to call back with any further details, such as the family's future plans for the property.
There was, of course, the small matter Monday of the start of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards are scheduled to speak Wednesday at the convention, along with their daughter, Cate. The Edwards also have two young children: Emma Claire and Jack, who are 6 and 4, respectively, according to campaign materials.
John Edwards graduated from N.C. State University in 1974, and went on to law school at UNC, where he and Elizabeth Anania met. They were married not long after graduating in 1977.
About 12 years ago, they set up a lacrosse scholarship at UNC in memory of Elizabeth Edwards' father, Vincent Anania, who was a former lacrosse player and assistant coach at UNC, according to campaign materials.
In 1998, John Edwards was elected to the U.S. Senate. He made a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in this election, but he bowed out as U.S. Sen. John Kerry opened a lead. Kerry asked Edwards to be his running mate this summer.
Neville said that beyond the comments Elizabeth Edwards made about the local schools, there wasn't any discussion of the family's long-term plans for the property. Neville said the lot is completely wooded, and home to a lot of deer.
The Guthrie family previously owned the land -- most recently, brothers Paul and Bobby Guthrie. Their father, Paul N. Guthrie, who was a well-known UNC professor, bought the land in the late 1940s, Neville said.
"Most of the old-timers out here remember that land as the Jesse King farm," Neville said. "He lost it all, plus a lot of land in Carrboro, during the Depression."
The story goes that in the late '40s, Paul Guthrie was getting his hair cut at the Friendly Barber Shop in Carrboro, which was owned by the Sturdivant family. By then, the Sturdivants owned the 102 acres, and Guthrie heard that they were selling the land. He bought it soon thereafter, Neville said.
Neville, 65, said that his land has been in his family since the late 1700s. He still raises beef cattle and runs a neat, well-mown operation, although he described farming as just a hobby these days. He also worked in the paper industry for many years.
In recent years, residential growth has crept westward down Old Greensboro Road from Carrboro and Chapel Hill, with the development of subdivisions like Sturbridge and Stoneybrook. But the vista heading west toward Alamance County still includes a lot of hayfields, farmhouses and ponds.
Neville said that he and his wife haven't heard any major concerns from other neighbors. And Neville said they didn't figure things would change too much if the Edwards family ever moved there, although he said the fact that the land sold for more than $1 million could put more pressure on him to sell some of his land some day.
But Elizabeth Edwards sounded sincere in wanting to build a home on the land at some point, he said.
"It probably won't change our lives an awful lot," Pat Neville said. "We'll probably just invite them to church, offer them lemonade and offer to watch their kids sometime."
That's the same address as East-West Partners, the company headed by local developer and UNC trustee Roger Perry.
Hmmmmm...
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/1472436p-7617550c.html
Vice-presidential candidate buys Orange property
John Edwards’ family expected to build home on 102-acre tract so children can attend city schools.
By Patrick Winn, Staff Writer
CARRBORO — Shortly before John Edwards secured a shot at the vice presidency, the North Carolina senator secured a massive chunk of forest just outside of Carrboro.
In late June, the couple bought 102 acres on Old Greensboro Road for $1.3 million. About four miles west of Chapel Hill, the property is on the 1300 block near the intersection with Sesame Road.
A spokeswoman for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, Kim Rubey, confirmed the purchase but wouldn’t release details.
In April, Elizabeth Edwards told a UNC-Chapel Hill state politics class that the family was interested in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. If that’s the case, the school system’s districting would put their 6-year-old daughter, Emma Claire, at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School when she hits elementary school. The property is also districted for McDougle Middle School and — in time — the third high school, according to a school system registrar.
The couple has a 4-year-old son, Jack, and a daughter enrolled in Princeton University as well.
“With such a great community, I think they’d feel right at home,” said Frank Porter Graham’s principal, Stephen Greene. “Hopefully, they wouldn’t get tapped too hard for PTA donations.”
Developer Roger Perry, who brought the Meadowmont neighborhood to Chapel Hill, helped secure the land. A friend and political donor to Edwards, Perry said the couple has been eyeing Chapel Hill “for some time.”
“My understanding is that they’ll build a home for them and their family,” said Perry, president of Chapel Hill’s East West Partners Management real estate firm. “I think they wanted some land, a place where their children could have some space to roam.”
The Edwardses bought the land from Paul and Robert Guthrie, two brothers who grew up in a farmhouse that has since been sold separately. Their now-deceased parents, who acquired the land in 1947, bequeathed the acreage to them.
Because the woodsy plot is so large, the land has been a tough sell, Paul Guthrie said. The brothers have been seeking a buyer who wouldn’t carve up or bring major development to the property, he said.
“We were certainly pleased to get this offer,” he said. “Both my brother and I felt this is a sale our parents would have approved.”
The Edwardses have not yet sold their North Raleigh home, which is in the upscale Country Club Hills neighborhood. Throughout Edwards’ career as a North Carolina senator, the lawn there would occasionally become a jump-off point for political moves. When he announced his presidential bid, neighborhood streets were crowded with TV broadcast trucks and other press vehicles.
Other than that, the family was rarely seen, said neighbor Lawrence Mays, who lives directly across the street.
“We never see them,” Mays said. “I haven’t seen any ‘For Sale’ signs either. We use the same yard guy as they do, and that’s the only person I’ve been seeing over there.”
Earlier this month, Edwards was picked to be presidential candidate John Kerry’s running mate. The duo’s November outcome could determine whether or not locals see much of the Edwards clan.
“Keep in mind,” Edwards spokesman Mike Briggs said earlier this month. “The job he’s running for comes with a house.”
Contact Patrick Winn at 932-8742 or pwinn@nando.com
or build the world's largest Wendy's hamburger stand.
In RE valued and appraised are different terms. For tax purposes a proprty may easily be valued at $750k but sell and appraise much higher. Tax assessments do not keep up with market fluctuations.
We have a connection...Perry shares the address.
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-505445.html
Perry 'straw man' in Edwardses' land buy
BY ROB SHAPARD : The Herald-Sun
rshapard@heraldsun.com
Jul 27, 2004 : 7:20 pm ET
CHAPEL HILL -- When they were scouting out land in the Chapel Hill area, John and Elizabeth Edwards turned to local developer Roger Perry to help them finalize the deal.
John Edwards, the U.S. Senator from North Carolina and Democratic vice-presidential candidate, and his wife closed last month on 102 wooded acres on the north side of Old Greensboro Road, about 2½ miles west of Carrboro and four miles from downtown Chapel Hill.
Perry said Tuesday he's a friend of the Edwards family, and he and his Chapel Hill-based firm, East West Partners, served essentially as stand-in agents on the land purchase. Perry also serves as a trustee at UNC-Chapel Hill.
"I basically acted as a straw man in the contract, until they decided that they were going to buy the land," Perry said. "They've been friends of mine for a long time. They came to me a number of months ago because they wanted to find some land in Chapel Hill."
As it turned out, Elizabeth Edwards actually found the 102-acre parcel during an Internet search, Perry said. But he helped with work like getting the survey and environmental assessment done.
Perry said there wasn't any kind of future business venture for his company at play in the deal.
"I was just acting as a friend in helping them manage the process, since they weren't in town," he said. "And obviously, they are quite busy," Perry added about the Edwards family, which is in Boston this week for the Democratic National Convention that will nominate the senator for the vice presidency.
Perry said he believed the land purchase was for the Edwards' own use, not for any larger purpose.
"I think their only intention at this time is to build a personal home there," he said. "I don't think they have any designs on development or anything like that."
The connection to Perry appeared on the Orange County land records for the 102 acres. Along with listing the Edwardses as the owners as of June 24, the records include a mailing address that matches the address on Finley Golf Course Road for East West Partners. Just down the road is the Meadowmont development, for which Perry and his firm were the lead developer.
Perry said he met John Edwards, an attorney in Raleigh, right after Edwards announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate six years ago. Edwards beat Republican incumbent Lauch Faircloth in 1998.
After he announced his Senate bid, Edwards went to lunch with several people invited by Ken Broun, mayor of Chapel Hill at the time, Perry said. Perry was part of that group.
"We hit it off, and we have gotten to be friends since then," Perry said. "I helped him in [the U.S. Senate] election, and some when he was running for president, and we kind of stayed in touch."
Forgoing a re-election bid to the Senate this year, Edwards was a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination until John Kerry built a solid lead. Edwards dropped out of the race, but was tapped by Kerry this summer as his running mate.
Edwards is scheduled to speak tonight at the convention.
Out on Old Greensboro Road, farm owner Gordon Neville said this week that he had given Elizabeth Edwards a brief tour of his farm in June, when she was considering land in addition to the 102 acres. But the family didn't end up buying property from the Nevilles, whose farm is next to the 102 acres.
The Edwards paid $1,316,500 to buy the 102 acres from the Guthrie family, according to county records.
The Edwards family has two young children, and Neville said Elizabeth Edwards told him the family wanted to build a home on the land at some point, and that they were attracted in part by the quality of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system.
"I don't think they have a timetable," Perry said about the prospects of the Edwards family actually building a home on the property. "I think a lot of it depends on the election, and where they are next year.
"If [Edwards] is vice president, which we all hope he is, who knows when they might do something? But if not, and he's back in private life, they might do something sooner rather than later. But they certainly have not shared any of their plans with me. My bet is that they don't know their time line at this point."
This is the mailing address:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=ZjUis.p_0ToVlQ75Z_XojGHzZlgu3sSkGMijj0hPhHEg4rjF&csz=Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=
This is the location via the above description:
http://maps.yahoo.com/dd_result?ed=R0agOuV.wim6GhW4BLy4lEYcAdwn5KDmcUbEXnoxGfElyx1jgAd6h4SCr7g-&csz=Chapel+Hill%2C+NC+27516-5442&country=us&tcsz=Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&tcountry=us
Doesn't seem to match.
Me thinks that current zoning laws prohibiting development in that particular area are going to be lifted. Buy hey, I'm just a fly-over-dweller so what the heck do I know.......
I read somewhere last week the property is three or four miles from downtown Franklin street.
Seems ideal for another Governor's Club type development.
There are a couple of farms around Chapel Hill that have been bought and developed into high-end neighborhoods.
This is rich!
He got a bargain that close to Chapel Hill imo. ripe for development.
I'm thinking subdivision.
Anyway, better there than here; he'll fit right in over there.
I bet this infuriates the people of Raleigh though.....har!
ROFLMAO! New address to be Golf Course Rd. Tournament Course..........
**The couple paid $1.32 million for the property.**
He really represents the two Americas, doesn't he?
Along Hwy 54 just east of the old Slugs Restaurant.
Me too see #26
The Lilipitian's are dumb.
I wonder if he got his local buds to condemn the land, declare eminent domain, then sell it to him for pennies on the dollar.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.