Twenty-Five Years and Stop Counting

    First, the good news.  Next week marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of my store, Booknotes.  Bad news.  It might be the last anniversary the store ever has, at least in its current location. It has all but been confirmed that Pikeville Medical Center has bought out the shopping center where my store is located.  No public announcement has been made, but enough people in the know have been saying things, including some board members.  The sale is still being finalized, it seems, but no one on either side is allowed to say much yet.

    There is much conjecture about why the hospital wants the center.  At first, it was believed that they wanted the space where the Super Dollar Food Center is as a day care center for the staff and patients. That was quickly shot down, as the hospital tried that once before, and it did not go so well.  Another prevailing thought is that it is going to be used as the new warehouse center for the hospital, as the current one is fairly far away from the main campus. If they go this route, they might be taking over the unit of the fun zone next door to the discount food store.

    As to the rest of the shopping center, no one knows. Most of the units, including mine, are being rented on a month-to-month basis. The majority of the tenants here are service oriented, including some that also have a retail side.  The remainder of the tenants have multi-year leases, including the fun zone above who may have renewed their lease while negotiations were going on. There is also a church in the center. (It took over a unit vacated by a dialysis clinic. This center has had an unusual history.) I have no idea about their agreement.  However, the hospital has had some court cases involving churches in the past, mostly about where the property of one encloses in on that of another. 

    The hospital might want the rest of the center to become some sort of off-site medical center. They already have an emergency care center away from the main campus, but who knows what else they could put here. Possibilities include a scrub store, but any such idea is pure rumor.  The only current tenant who would be safe would be the dental office, as they already have connections with the hospital. Considering that the shopping center already has multiple empty units, some going back well over a year, the hospital wouldn't need to buy the entire center to achieve some of these goals.

    Supposedly, the hospital has to give notice about major changes to the current tenants, such as if they want us to leave. I don't have a good guess about the amount of time that could be given, but it seems to range from one to three months, and possibly up to six months. Regardless, I have already been looking for a new location. Because of the flood from earlier this year, there really isn't anything available around Pikeville.  Prestonsburg might be an option, but finding somewhere within my price range for rent and lots of parking (a major sticking point for my mother) isn't easy. Other tenants are looking for new places as well, but the Food Center appears to be going out of business permanently. There doesn't appear to be any place it could move to.

    Things are developing quite rapidly, so I hope to have more information next week.