A medical office developer just bought the Starbucks building on East Boulevard in Dilworth

Summit Healthcare Group bought the brick building at East Boulevard and Scott Avenue for $4.5 million, county property records show. Summit, based in Winston-Salem, is the same group that bought the Key Man Building a few doors down for $4.75 million last month. Records show Summit also bought the property next door that houses Theory Design Group for $2.25 million a few weeks ago.

All told, Summit has paid nearly $12 million for the prominent corner over the course of the last few weeks. According to the group’s website, Summit builds hospital-affiliated and private practice-operated medical buildings throughout the Carolinas.

A permit filed with the city last month suggests what Summit might have in store for the Starbucks site. It calls for the demolition of the existing structure, then “construction of a single new building with structured parking facility.”

Joe Joseph of Summit Healthcare could not be reached.

The Dilworth Starbucks has long been a popular spot for meetings, dates, and professionals working remotely. In early 2016, the coffee shop started serving craft beer, wine, and small plates like charcuterie from its new “Evenings” menu.

The Starbucks spot is in a busy stretch of Dilworth that will soon look a lot different.

Earlier this month, Abacus Capital purchased the ground-level retail stretch on East between Bakersfield and People’s Market for $7.075 million. The local real estate investor plans to make big upgrades to the block, with renovations and a new parking configuration. The parcel across East — where the pumpkins and Christmas trees are sold — is on the market for about $5 million.

The Starbucks corner is close to a 71-acre area that Atrium Health filed to be rezoned this summer to accommodate the expansion of its main campus.

The plans would allow Atrium to add a number of new buildings, including a hotel, a medical school, offices, and homes. Uncertainty over massive project, which would infringe on about two dozen single-family homes off East Boulevard, has Dilworth neighbors anxious, Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter reported this week.

In an email to the Agenda, Atrium spokesman Chris Berger said Atrium is still early in its plans, and that it continues to engage with the community about the project. Berger said Atrium is not involved in Summit’s plans for the Starbucks corner.

Local real estate investor Tim Brumm bought the Starbucks building 1999 for about $425,000. For years before that, an older couple operated an antiques shop out of the space.

The Starbucks was popular from the get-go, Brumm said. But parking was always challenge. So Starbucks started renting 18-20 parking spots in the lot behind the building from the Key Man Building, Brumm said. Anyone who knows that lot knows that the designated spots are hard to come by. It’s easy to get booted if you park in the wrong spot.

When Key Man decided to sell last month, Brumm learned the Starbucks customers would lose the few parking spots they had.

Starbucks has the ability to continue on for another 20 years if it wants, according to the terms of its lease, Brumm said. But it would be difficult to do so without the parking spots.

Regardless, Brumm decided it was time for him to sell the building.

It is unclear what exactly will happen to the Starbucks, which is a corporate-owned store. A Starbucks spokeswoman said in an email that the company had no plans to close any Charlotte locations “at this time.”

“When I talked to friends of mine … people said, ‘Tim this is a once in a lifetime buyout you’re being offered,’ ” Brumm said. “I saw the writing on the wall.”