Basilica sends eviction notice to St. Mary’s Health Center after lease offer rejected

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — After several months of uncertainty, the St Mary’s Health Center has been given just a handful of days to leave the building it called home for almost 30 years.

For 28 years, Dan Phelps has worked as a volunteer dentist at the health center, a clinic that Phelps said has become a staple in the local dental community.

“I mean, we are an institution,” Phelps said. “Everybody knows St. Mary’s Clinic, you just mention it to anybody in the dental community, anybody in the general public is going to know it as well. There’s some Facebook groups where people are asking where can I get a tooth out, where can I afford it? Everybody’s on there, hey you should go to St. Mary’s. I mean, we serve anybody who really needs it.”

In April, the Basilica of Saint Mary sent a letter to the health center, giving them 60 days to vacate.

The deadline was extended to July with conditions, including obtaining $2 million in total loss coverage for the building, which would have extended the lease until December 31st.

Health Center executive director Laura Vinson said they rejected the offer, calling the conditions impossible to meet within the given time frame.

Last week, the clinic received an eviction notice from the church.

Vinson said the notice surprised her and is saddened the center’s relationship with the church is ending.

“Part of me wanted to think that there was a small glimpse of hope that they would sort of drop this and work with us and say hey, you know what, this is nonsense,” Vinson said. “Let’s show a good faith and show the people that we’re going to collaborate and work together because eventually, essentially, we all want to do good in the community.”

Phelps said the center has been in talks with another church to move there, but they are asking St. Mary’s for a grace period to move out, due to all of their equipment.

“This is not just moving out an apartment with a couple of couches,” Phelps said. “This is hundreds of thousands dollars worth of equipment that has to, we have to raise funds in order to move it. We can’t just throw it out the door. It’s got to be moved carefully, its gotta be re-hooked up in the new clinic so that new clinic is ready to go.”

The Basilica posted a statement about the center on its website which reads:

“Dear St Mary Parish and School families,

As was shared earlier, our expanding St. Mary Catholic School needs the additional space in the Tileson Building Gym Annex where dental services have been provided. 

Our efforts to slow this transition and formally allow the clinic to continue to operate in that space through the calendar year were met with inadequate response. Therefore, we have decided to accept the end of the parish relationship with the clinic altogether and move forward with our repairs and expansion as planned. 

Our Diocese has been in negotiation with the Dental Clinic’s legal representative but, the only apparent activity on their part has been to get the insurance coverage that was one of the items we needed for them to stay through December. Because of those negotiations, I told our parish staff to refer all questions in this regard to the Diocesan Director of Communications, who has been a great help as we navigate the best and safest solutions for our school and our parish. The dental clinic declared its independence when it moved off campus and procured their IRS tax exemption identity. When they decided to return to our campus, paperwork should have been pursued to define relationship and ground rules on our church-owned property. Sadly, it was not and, though I asked about this two years ago, nothing has been done.

Our parish has supported the dental clinic for many years by providing the premises rent free as well as paying for all utilities (water, electricity, etc.) We will continue to encourage any dental patients who have utilized the clinic to visit the nearby MedNorth Health Center at 925 N. Fourth Street which has received funds to carry on health and dental outreach to those in need.

May God bless those in need and all who work together for safer, healthier and better lives.

(Rev.) Thomas R. Davis, Pastor.”