guaranteed loans to supplement Wilkinson's $1.15 million investment. Wallace's Book Stores was given 95% ownership in the hotel, allowing the company to shield $2 million in assets from federal income taxes and claim over $400,000 in tax credits. Despite playing a major role in the Lexington real estate market, Wilkinson was fiercely protective of his privacy; for a time, he even refused to allow newspapers to publish pictures of him. His public profile began to rise when he announced plans to construct the 50-story World Coal Center on the corner of Main and Limestone streets in Lexington. When completed, it would be the largest office complex between Atlanta and Chicago. Wilkinson hoped that all the major coal companies in the state would relocate their offices to the center, making it a hub for the international coal market. Shortly after Wilkinson demolished the historic Phoenix Hotel to make way for the building, the coal market experienced a pronounced lull, and the empty lot where the proposed coal center would have stood was derided as "Wally's Folly" and "Lake Wilkinson". In 1984, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government secured a lease from Wilkinson to develop a temporary municipal park on the site. Wilkinson conceded that he would not be able to develop the proposed World Coal Center in the near-term, and Lexington mayor Scotty Baesler wanted to improve the property before the city hosted the finals of the 1985 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Rupp Arena. In early 1985, Wilkinson struck a deal with the state and urban county governments to retain the park and build a public library and parking garage while allowing Wilkinson to construct and operate a 21-story apartment complex above the garage. Critics claimed that the city-county government bailed Wilkinson out of a bad investment by purchasing the property from him and by giving him a government-subsidized, low interest rate on his $12 million mortgage for the apartment building. Alleged kidnapping by Jerome Jernigan On April 10, 1984, Wilkinson was allegedly kidnapped by a man named Jerome Jernigan. In 1977, Wilkinson had provided Jernigan with start-up money for Jernigan Export Timber, Inc., a company that manufactured and exported wood veneers internationally. The company went defunct around the time of Jernigan's divorce from his wife, the secretary-treasurer of the company, in December 1980. Jernigan's son, Victor, continued to work for Wilkinson in another capacity until 1982. According to Wilkinson, in