St. John Providence May Purchase Borders Building

St. John Providence Health System is planning to purchase the former Borders building in the Village but they want to hear from the community first. Officials are hosting an open house Thursday May 2 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. inviting the community to attend, ask questions and share feedback.

The plan, according to a flyer being distributed in the area, is to have two retail stores on Kercheval Avenue and for the health system to use the back side of the building to provide medical services to Grosse Pointers.

Construction on the building would begin immediatley following closing with the goal of being operational by spring of 2014.

The building, which formerly housed Borders Books, has been vacant since the Ann Arbor-based chain closed many stores across the nation in a failed attempt to restructure. Ultimately the company closed all stores. 

The Grosse Pointe location closed in April 2011, about two months after it was first announced it was slated for closure. The building at 17141 Kercheval Ave. is 19,800 square-feet with a full floor to ceiling loading dock. The building is primarily an open space located on Kercheval Avenue between Neff Road and St. Clair Street.

The building has been listed with Stokas Bieri Real Estate. While the listing does not divulge a price, it highlights the development of the Neighborhood Club as well as the now gated parking lot behind the building. 

The space has been of concern to some businesses in the Village and to city officials because of its large size, which has potential to have a good draw or may simply seem too big for the type of businesses that want to locate in the Village. 

Patch has a call into a St. John Providence spokeswoman for additional information. 

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