LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- What started with a round of applause during a ribbon cutting ceremony with Louisville's mayor, has turned quiet.
Garden Girl Foods opened up shop at 501 W Oak St in Old Louisville last February. Now, store owner, Whitney Powers, says she has been left with no other option except to vacate the storefront after her landlord repeatedly failed to address growing mold.
"We came in and we were like this is perfect, it's a corner spot, there's a garden. You do a good job to make your customers feel safe and comfortable and think you can fix it," said Powers.
Powers says she doesn't want to leave the area but says after a doctor determined the mold was taking a toll on her physical health, she was left with no other choice.
A sign is now posted on the store's window, informing customers of the relocation. Powers says many of those in the Old Louisville community have expressed they don't want her to leave.
"Devastation is not a big enough word, but I am definitely devastated. I'm leaving heartbroken, traumatized and with mold poisoning," she said.
Powers says she first noticed the mold and contacted her landlord in June. Water leaks into the building each time it rains and fills up multiple trash cans inside her storefront.
Powers uses the basement beneath her store to hold gardening tools and other equipment. She says at times there can be four inches of standing water that eventually turns to mud.
Above the storefront are a few levels of apartments. Powers says her brother used to live upstairs but the mold inside his unit was so bad, he too moved out. She says it grew to cover the walls and ruined several items of clothing in his closets.
"I mean it's everywhere. I asked him in June and in November they still weren't fixing the mold. He said he would and I believed him because I thought, 'Who wouldn't want a tenant that's bringing up the neighborhood to stay," said Powers.
Instead of answers, Powers says her landlord then tried to raise her monthly rent by nearly $2,000. She says per her lease agreement, her landlord is able to renegotiate salary after her first year. However, she says he told her he would only address the mold after she agreed to the higher rent.
Powers says the mold wasn't her only issue with the location. She says some tenants were upset she got rid of stray cats when she and her team cleaned up the area by the store to create a garden.
Powers says they started calling her and her staff the 'N-word' and hurled homophobic slurs at them.
"They meant it because those comments were followed up by harassment. Someone starts to send kitty litter to my home address, like boxes and boxes at a time," said Powers.
WDRB News reached out to the landlord, who responded through an attorney working for Middleton-Reutlinger with the following statement:
"This is a landlord tenant issue. The parties’ rights are governed by a written commercial lease. Tenant is not being treated differently than any other commercial tenant who is in default of her lease obligations and who hasn’t paid rent for over three months, but refuses to vacate the premises which she alleges are uninhabitable. We are aware of our ethical duty not to try our case in the media. We will address tenant’s claims in the courtroom, if necessary. Until then, we caution tenant and her representatives not to defame our client or make any statement that places him in a false light."
While Powers says she doesn't believe her landlord has bad intentions, she says she has spent over $200,000 on her business and has hired an attorney to take legal action.
She says her plan now is to lease a space at the Louisville Central Community Center while she works to find a new permanent home.
"We'll be doing meals for seniors that will be Medicaid reimbursable and we'll also be doing food that will go to grocers and small convenient stores throughout the city," said Powers.
Eventually, Powers hopes she can reopen a brick-and-mortar location somewhere she doesn't have to rent.
In the meantime, the 'Garden Girl' has until the first of the month to get the rest of her belongings from her original location on Oak Street.
"I'm getting out of here and hopefully they fix it before anyone else comes in. The fight was too difficult so in a sense I'm glad it's over but it's unfortunate, it shouldn't have been like this," said Powers.
Powers says she has been able to keep paying her staff during the transition period thanks to a grant from Humana.
You can still purchase Garden Girl Foods products through the company's website, by clicking here.
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