it was operated by the university, a tax exempt entity. In 1977, the state Board of Tax Appeals ruled that all three bookstores should have been paying the tax, but by this time, the statute of limitations had expired, and none of the three were required to pay any back taxes. Wallace's Book Store continued to expand rapidly, opening retail stores in twenty-eight states and becoming one of the country's largest book firms. In January 1971, he considered issuing more stock to raise capital to buy Providence, Rhode Island-based Barnes & Noble, but the executive committee of Wallace's was averse to purchasing a company so far away and blocked the move. In April 1977, Wilkinson was cited for false and misleading advertisement in conjunction with claims made in radio ads for Wallace's Book Store claiming they were offering the first discounts in history on new college textbooks. In a court filing, Wilkinson admitted the claims were untrue, promised to stop airing the ads, and agreed to refund any money overpaid by customers. With the success of his chain of bookstores, Wilkinson pursued other business ventures in the fields of real estate development, farming, transportation, banking, coal interests, and construction. He purchased several private aircraft to help him tend to his diverse interests throughout the state, and in 1973, created Wilkinson Flying Service to keep the planes busy when he wasn't using them. After investing in the unfinished Bluegrass Commerce Center in Lexington in early 1977, he purchased one-third interest in the Purcell building on Lexington's Vine Street later that year. The building was only partially occupied, but had become more valuable because of the opening of nearby Rupp Arena in October 1976 and a new Hyatt hotel in May 1977. Developers Donald and Dudley Webb developed plans to construct the Vine Center on the block; by May 1979, they had options to buy every property on the block except Wilkinson's interest in the Purcell building. Unwilling to meet Wilkinson's asking price, they instead formed a partnership with him to co-develop the Vine Center. When Wilkinson eventually sold his interest in the venture at the end of 1981, he turned a profit of at least $1.3 million on his investment. Next, he formed a public-private partnership with the city of Lexington to construct the Capital Plaza Hotel in 1983. The city provided $3 million in capital and another $8.5 million in