The Know Book Store, which has called 2520 Fayetteville St. home for the past 18 years, will likely be moving out at the end of the year.
William McLaughlin, acting manager for the property owned by his mother Mozella McLaughlin, delivered a letter to tenant Bruce Bridges today, he said.
The letter asks that Bridges and his book store and restaurant be ready to move as soon as Dec. 31, so the McLaughlins could move forward with plans to turn the building into the Mok’e Jazz Cultural Center. Initially, the family planned to include The Know in the new center, but Bridges and the McLaughlins have been unable to reach a compromise.
We got the notion something was stirring today after reading this post by Jim Wise at the Bull’s Eye blog.
As of Thursday, The Know definitely isn’t part of the future plans for the cultural center, both McLaughlin and Bridges confirmed. There is a possibility The Know could linger a few months past that date if the McLaughlin family is not immediately ready to start renovation plans, William McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin also said he submitted a letter to the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development today, cutting the planned renovations by at least $200,000 by eliminating a rooftop garden. The reduced cost should help the feasibility of the project, which had been criticized for its large expenditure, but relatively small tax value.
The City Council is scheduled to vote Monday whether to give Mozella McLaughlin a $175,000 revitalization grant to help with the renovation, but the item could be pulled from the agenda. The new, smaller project scope would have to be reconsidered, and there’s a good chance the amount of the grant request will also shrink as the process moves forward.
