City agrees to explore its influence in Pig negotiations

Albeit faint, there is a ray of hope Piggly Wiggly could remain in Crestline.

On a rumor that negotiations could be possible between the City of Mountain Brook and Piggly Wiggly landlords, the Mountain Brook City Council informally agreed to examine its options. A special called meeting, requested by Mayor Terry Oden, could occur sometime this week if the Council uncovers a concrete path to opening the talks.

“We’re going to look into it,” Council President Virginia Smith said.

Elisabeth Lyman, a pharmacist at Harbin Pharmacy in Crestline Village, presented the rumor to the Council during its regular meeting Sept. 23. Lyman announced the information at the close of the meeting. She said she had been informed that legal counsel for the Scott family, who owns the property currently occupied by Piggly Wiggly, was open to talks with the City.

The Council, which had spent the previous hour listening to impassioned pleas to intervene in the Piggly Wiggly’s departure, was quick to point out that — like many in the audience — it had been unable to contact the Scott family. Members added they had been trying since news first broke the Piggly Wiggly was negotiating the terms of its lease.

Smith said on multiple occasions that the Scott family likely would have informants among the more than 200 in attendance, and the results of the meeting would be passed along with haste. However, Council members didn’t spare the feelings of the standing-room-only audience.

“Our information says this deal is done,” Council member Jesse Vogtle said.

Led by Lyman, the crowd’s purpose in attending the meeting was to provide the Council with options for intervening in the Pig’s departure. Lyman began the discussion with a slideshow that encouraged the Council to consider incentivising Piggly Wiggly. She focused on a chart that listed four other grocery stores in Mountain Brook and the incentive packages the Council provided to each.

Confirmed by Vogtle, the City provided more than $500,000 for the development of the Publix shopping center on Overton Road, nearly $688,000 for the development of the Piggly Wiggly shopping center in River Run, $4.9 million for the Whole Foods in Cahaba Village and has planned to invest $14 million in the Lane Parke development.

Lyman used these figures as reason to for the City to expend revenue in order to prevent the Piggly Wiggly from leaving.

“We only want what the other villages got,” she said.

But the Crestline Piggly Wiggly’s situation involves a rent negotiation, and the Council has never subsidized rent, Smith said. In addition, she said after the meeting that Council’s decisions to provide incentives for those developments returned substantial infrastructure improvements or developments in each area. Essentially, as stated by council members, those incentive packages weren’t solely used to bring anchor retail to Mountain Brook.

Another rumor brought to the Council during the meeting focused on the presumptive new tenant for the Pig’s space. Two residents stated they had spoken with a representative from CVS from Tennessee who confirmed to them the company was interested in Piggly Wiggly’s spot in Crestline Village.

Council members reported they had no evidence CVS was interested in the space currently occupied by Piggly Wiggly. CVS has declined comment on both its current lease situation and any future plans in the area.

Piggly Wiggly owner Andy Virciglio announced earlier this month the store will exit its space in Crestline Village.

“We did our best to make this work,” Virciglio’s statement reads. “We tried and tried to work out our lease agreement. We agreed to the landlord’s fair market rent increases. We have been good tenants in the space for 30 years, but the landlord chose to go another route with another tenant and unfortunately we cannot do anything about that.”