Doctors Demand Yet to be Honored

A Northwest Arkansas physician is questioning the business practices of a former tenant, and demanding payment of unpaid rent.

Dr. Jonathan Parker practices at MANA’s FirstCare Family Doctor in Tontitown. He also owns the 6,330-SF building, with his practice occupying about half the space.

In July 2010, Parker leased the other half of the property — for three years — to an LLC led by Hunter Burroughs, a Rogers businessman involved in several business interests of late in the medical field.

The business operating in Tontitown was Feet Plus — later changed to Prevention Plus — specializing in diabetic foot care and neuropathy treatments. It was one of six Northwest Arkansas locations.

It was a “ginning” business, as judged by Parker. When the lease was signed, Burroughs provided financials showing a net worth of $1.44 million, which was one of the reasons Parker didn’t require him to sign a personal guarantee on the agreement.

Fast-forward to October 2012. Parker showed up to work one day, only to learn from his office manager that Preferred Plus was gone.

“No notice, no nothing,” Parker said. “The place was totally empty. There one day and gone the next.”

When MANA administrators contacted Burroughs for some clarity about the remaining nine months on the lease, Parker said Burroughs explained that the Feet Plus LLC was to be bankrupted, and Parker could collect the remaining rent through that process.

“The last rent payment we got from him was October 2012; they walked away from nine months rent,” Parker said.

Unsettling

Parker said he suspects Prevention Plus went south in 2012 as a result of changes to Medicare reimbursements.

The company’s website redirects to a brief message that says Prevention Plus has closed, and a Bentonville post office box address is listed for medical requests and all other written inquiries. No phone number is listed.

Parker said he is owed about $21,000 for the remainder of the lease. Through his attorney, J.R. Carroll of Kutak Rock, he finally sent Burroughs a demand letter for the money in early April.

A real estate brief in the April 1 issue of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal was Parker’s final straw.

An LLC led by five businessmen paid $925,000 for a 9,800-SF building in Bentonville — coincidentally, one that also housed a Prevention Plus location.

The new owners converted part of the space and opened an independent pharmacy called Infinity Pharmacy. Burroughs is part of the building’s ownership group.

“That just doesn’t sit right, when I see that they bought a damn-near million-dollar building, through a separate entity altogether,” Parker said. “If you’ve got the means to slip up there and buy something for a million dollars like nothing ever happened. Yeah, you can do it because the LLC is protected and all that, but it’s not right. To me, it indicates that’s their business strategy.”

Eating It

Carroll said Burroughs had until April 25 — after our press deadline — to respond to the demand letter. Without a response or payment, Carroll said the next step probably will be litigation.

And, Carroll said, there has been no bankruptcy paperwork filed by Burroughs, but “just the threat of it.”

When reached by telephone, Burroughs indicated he wasn’t sure how to bankrupt an LLC, because he’s never had to do that.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, Burroughs heads nine LLCs in Arkansas.

He added he still plans to let the dispute “play out” in the bankruptcy process.

Parker wonders if he is the only landlord dealing with unsatisfied leases tied to Prevention Plus, which operated in Bentonville, Springdale, Bella Vista, Eureka Springs, Harrison and Mountain Home, as well as a handful of locations in Oklahoma.

“I suspect they probably rented,” Parker said. “But I would love to find out. They just kinda cleaned up and walked away because they weren’t getting the same Medicare dollars as they were before and told everybody to eat a turd sandwich.”