PAXTON — The owner of Paxton’s only remaining pharmacy has purchased a building across the street in the city’s downtown — a building that until this year contained a compounding pharmacy.
Andy Hudson, owner of Hudson Drug & Hallmark Shop at 108 N. Market St., said he closed on the purchase of the former Doug’s Compounding Pharmacy building at 137 N. Market St. on Thursday, Dec. 7, for a price of $175,000.
Hudson said he did so without having any specific plans for the 5,500-square-foot, one-story building other than to eventually put it to use as a business other than a pharmacy. Hudson said that could take some time, as both an interior and exterior renovation will be done first.
“My intention is not to have a ‘coming soon’ sign on there for 30 years,” Hudson said, sarcastically referring to the signs posted for months on the windows of a derelict building three doors to the south of Hudson’s newly acquired property. “But (the timing) all depends on when … I can get people to do (the renovation) and come up with a plan (for the building).”
Andy Hudson poses with a “sold” sign in front of the former Doug’s Compounding Pharmacy building at 137 N. Market St. in downtown Paxton. Hudson, who owns Hudson Drug & Hallmark Shop across the street, closed on the purchase of the former compounding pharmacy building on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 7.
While Hudson said he has no “definite plans” for the building, he said “it will not be a pharmacy or a compounding pharmacy,” adding that he plans to reconfigure the interior space for a different use.
“It’s going to take quite a bit to reconfigure the building to make it ready for any type of retail or other operations,” Hudson said. “If you look in there now, inside it’s set up for a compounding pharmacy … and there’s just a lot of stuff that’s left behind that’s going to have to be addressed before anything can happen. That will take place when I can find someone to do it over the next few months … and I’ll use that time to make some decisions on what could go in there.”
The building has sat vacant since last winter, not long after a foreclosure complaint was filed against its then-owner, Jenna L. Vogel, her corporation 137 North Market Street LLC and her company Vogel’s Compounding Pharmacy PLLC by the Arkansas-based First Financial Bank, which secured judgment in its favor last summer.
At a Sept. 25 foreclosure sale, no bids from the public were received after the auction opened with a starting price of $199,500, leaving the bank owning the building and with the task of selling it. Shortly thereafter, the building was listed for sale for a price of $220,000 by Ron Lenington, owner of Lenington Realty, whose office is directly south of it.
Hudson said he decided to buy the building to ensure it would be owned by someone local — someone who is invested in the community.
“With all of the positive momentum downtown and throughout Paxton, I wanted to make sure that whoever owned the building — since it’s been such a vital part of the downtown — would be someone local, so it would be under local control,” said the 50-year-old Hudson, a Paxton native and 1991 graduate of Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School. “That was a big part of it.”
In time, Hudson said he expects to have at least one tenant in the building, which he hopes to use “for something that will compliment our growing downtown.”
“I’m not looking to, like, run (another business there) myself,” Hudson said, “but a tenant or two or more is a possibility.”
The steel-frame building was built in the late 1960s and was originally a dime store and then a True Value Hardware store before it became Doug’s Compounding Pharmacy in 1997 under the ownership of Doug Higgins, who later sold the pharmacy to Vogel in 2019.
“The building’s in really good shape,” Hudson noted. “When Doug was there, he made a lot of improvements on the HVAC and a lot of things, so it’s a nice building. It’s got good bones to it.”
The building still has the Doug’s Compounding Pharmacy sign on its front facade. Hudson said he will be redoing the facade at his own expense.
“I think the windows are in good shape,” Hudson said, “but some of the facade I definitely will look to improve upon.”
In addition to owning the Hudson Drug & Hallmark Shop building and the former Doug’s Compounding Pharmacy building, Hudson owns the former PBL Eastlawn School property on East Center Street, which he has been renting — free of charge — to the Paxton Park District for its recreational programs. Hudson also owns a building north of Paxton Hardware & Rental that contains a hair salon.
In addition to owning a local business and several properties, Hudson is heavily involved in the community, serving as a member of Paxton Masonic Lodge No. 416, as president of the United Methodist Church council and as a board member for the Paxton Area Chamber of Commerce, Gibson Area Hospital and The Frederick Community Bank.
Hudson, who became the third-generation owner of Hudson Drug & Hallmark Shop in 2007, said he just wants to do his part in seeing Paxton thrive.
“Our community and the surrounding communities is what has made our business what it is today and allowed us to expand and provide a good product,” Hudson said, “and I think I take the retail part of our community to heart and want it to grow and want everybody to be successful.
“It’s sort of like your house — when you drive up to your house, you want it to look nice and take pride in that. I feel the same way about the town, especially our downtown. When people visit our downtown, I take pride in hearing positive comments from people from outside the community about how nice it looks and how well they were treated and how they enjoyed all of the businesses and services down here. I take a lot of pride in that and hope that … I can give back and contribute to even improving upon that.”