Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993 TAG: 9310090191
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At one end of the block are the offices of Crisis Pregnancy Center of Roanoke Valley - a Christian-sponsored program set up to counsel women about alternatives to abortion.
At the other end is Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, which - though it doesn't provide abortions - advises women of their availability and is an advocate of abortion rights.
Now, the two agencies are landlord and tenant - until the end of April, when Crisis Pregnancy Center's lease expires.
Several weeks ago, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge bought the $320,000 tract next door, which includes the building where the Crisis Pregnancy Center leases office space.
Though the real-estate transfer was published in the Roanoke Times & World-News two weeks ago, neither agency made a public statement about their new relationship.
The transaction "was carried out in a very businesslike way," said Tyler Pugh, president of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge. "We were sensitive to the philosophical concerns" the Crisis Pregnancy Center might have about the relationship, and "hadn't seen a reason to make a public statement."
Ruth Fielder, executive director of the Crisis Pregnancy Center, said letters began going out this week to center supporters explaining the situation.
Center officials have known since late August that a new location was going to have to be found and had hoped to have made arrangements for a move before making an announcement, Fielder said.
"We didn't know whether we would be renting or buying," she said, which would make a difference in the kind of appeal for funds that would be made to potential donors.
They agency is considering purchasing a site, but details "are too tentative to disclose," Fielder said. "Time is short," however, and the results of an upcoming "urgent fund-raising campaign will determine whether or not we can buy" the property.
Fielder said the center particularly hopes to avoid confusing clients by having to move into temporary quarters for a matter of months before getting settled into a new location.
Planned Parenthood hired a property manager to oversee the newly acquired buildings. Consequently, the Crisis Pregnancy Center doesn't have to write rent checks directly to Planned Parenthood, but to the property manager, Pugh said.
Although acknowledging the "philosophical differences" between Planned Parenthood and the Crisis Pregnancy Center, Pugh insisted the purchase was based "100 percent" on the space needs of Planned Parenthood. His agency did not decide to buy the buildings simply to displace the Crisis Pregnancy Center, Pugh said.
"We are literally out of space," Pugh said. Some employees don't even have permanent desks and have to work "moving from table to table," he said.
After examining several options for future growth - including moving, buying nearby residential property and buying separate office space - the board of directors earlier this year unanimously decided to buy the commercial property next door, Pugh said.
The Crisis Pregnancy Center rents offices on the second floor of a building on the corner of Liberty and Williamson roads. Because of the relatively long notification period required by its lease, the center was told within a matter of days of the purchase that its lease would not be renewed when it expires at the end of April, Pugh said.
The Crisis Pregnancy Center was not aware the property was for sale until it was already under contract to Planned Parenthood, Fielder said.
Even if she had known, the center couldn't have afforded to buy that particular property, Fielder said. The center has had a long-range goal of finding a "more attractive, lower-level location," though.
"It's frustrating to have to move so quickly," she said. But, "as awkward as this situation is, we see it as an opportunity to move on" to the next stage of providing more services for her clients.
by CNB