"We thought she was going to buy the building, and we were going to have to carve out that portion," Waltrip says, "but she was the one that withdrew."
Barron, however, says that she did everything in her power to try and purchase the house, but that the landlord only made offers that would be financially impossible.
"I tried for three years to buy this property," she says. "I could not get a bank loan to save my life.... I tried and I tried and I tried."
She adds, "It was obvious I wanted to keep the building, but they would not give me any way to do it."
She says that she will find another space for the Book House and is already looking at options in Webster Groves, Maplewood and Kirkwood.
But it won't be easy, she adds, saying she will have to "decimiate every dime I've got in savings to get us to move and even then, I'm not sure how we are going to pay three times the rent."
At this point, it seems clear that the historic house will be demolished despite campaigns petitions to save it, Barron says.
"I think if another developer wanted to do something with this property, they could step in and buy it right at this moment," she says. "Nobody has come up with any other solution."
Still, she says, "The Book House is not closing down."
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