All but one tenant of a Tremont Street strip mall got a blunt message from their landlord this past week: You've got 30 days to pack up and leave.

TAUNTON — All but one tenant of a Tremont Street strip mall got a blunt message from their landlord this past week: You’ve got 30 days to pack up and leave.

“They’ve all been great tenants. It stinks for everybody,” said Estele Borges.

Besides working as a Realtor, Borges works as a client relations director for Dallas-based Epic Health Services — which for more than a year and a half has rented a corner spot in the commercial building known as One Tremont Plaza.

Borges, who is also a Taunton city councilor, said the tenancy termination notice from landlord Mark J. Sweeney won’t necessarily adversely affect her employer’s standing in Taunton.

She says the site was listed on the market for sale shortly after Epic Health Services moved in.

“We’ve already secured a new location,” Borges said. “But (the 30-day notice) is a lot quicker than we thought it would be. I feel horrible for her.”

The woman to whom she refers is Bernice “Bunny” French, proprietor of Bunny’s Restaurant, a breakfast-and-lunch spot with an official address of 3 Tremont St.

French’s work history in the small plaza — which sits near the busy intersection of Washington and Tremont streets — dates back more than 10 years when she was co-owner with Laurie Zanoni of Laurie’s Country Kitchen.

French says she has no idea where she’ll go or how long it will take to find a new location. And she says her staff of three full- and two part-time workers are looking at a real possibility of being unemployed.

“My people were crying in there,” French said. “They said, ‘Where will we go, Bunny?’”

French said she was blindsided when Sweeney walked in Thursday and literally handed her the bad news.

Identifying himself in writing as “your landlord,” Sweeney's letter states “the intention of Mark J.Sweeney, Trustee of One Tremont Trust, owner of 1-11 Tremont St., to terminate your tenancy."

It also says that French should “quit and deliver up the premises” by midnight July 31.

"He said it has to be in broom-swept condition," she said.

French was particularly taken aback, she said, because Sweeney the day before called and asked in a friendly manner if he could stop by Thursday to discuss something.

When she asked why she was being evicted Sweeney allegedly told her he needs to make "structural repairs."

And when she asked why she would not be welcomed back as a tenant once the repairs were made, French said, Sweeney brusquely claimed it was none of her business.

One of her employees, she noted, walks to work, doesn't own a car and has a wife who has been ill.

French said she's contacted a lawyer, who she said might file a temporary injunction requesting she be allowed 60 or 90 days to move out and find some other spot.

The sole vacancy in One Tremont Plaza is a storefront next to Bunny's Restaurant that at one time was a temporary pharmacy site for Walgreens, which has since relocated to a new store at High and Winthrop streets.

French said laborers recently have been working in the space. But she says when she asked them about it they said they'd been instructed not to comment.

Attempts to reach Sweeney were unsuccessful.

A man who answered the phone number listed on his property's pylon sign refused to identify himself, and told a reporter he didn't know anything about a commercial property in Taunton.

A message seeking comment left at the same number the following day was not returned.

French and the other tenants being evicted — including Epic Health, Sisskind Chiropractic and Heads Up Hair Design — all were month-to-month, tenants at will.

French and the owners of the Heads Up hair and tanning salon, Joseph and Dianne Balmain, said they previously asked Sweeney if he would consider a lease agreement but that he rejected the idea.

The Balmains and French said they could not confirm if there is any truth to speculation on social media that Sweeney intends to knock down walls to create a single, large space for a company or entity that would offer casino training — in anticipation of the opening next year of the Mashpee Wampanoag's First Light Resort & Casino in East Taunton.

The only tenant not being evicted is E-Z Clean Laundry Center located in the building's north-corner space.

Owner Brian Andrade, an electrician whose business interests in the city include two other laundromats and a car wash, said unlike the tenants facing eviction he previously insisted on a long-term lease.

Andrade said he has close to 15 years remaining on his lease with Sweeney.

One Tremont Plaza is listed online with commercial real estate listing provider Loopnet.

Asking price for the nearly 12,000-square-foot building on 1.33 acres is $2.2 million, which breaks down to $188.97 per square feet.

So-called highlights include an average traffic count of 20,000 cars daily; a new pylon sign with digital reader; renovations to fencing and the front of the building; and a newly paved parking lot.

The real estate agency marketing the property is Boston-based Parsons Commercial Group. When contacted by phone, the agent handling the assignment, Marci Alvarado, declined to comment.

French says she's spent $50,000 out of pocket for necessary improvements since she assumed full ownership of the restaurant nearly three years ago.

Most of it, she said, was spent to overhaul the heating and air conditioning system.

French says she's always tried to improve her surroundings. She said she closed down last week to allow workers to install new closet-space flooring and so she could give the restaurant a thorough cleaning.

She claims she was about to hire B & G Carpet and Flooring of Taunton to install new carpeting: "I only use local businesses," French said.

French says she also just paid computer software consultant Raymond Hampton to install two security surveillance cameras in her rental space.

"This causes trouble for me too," said Hampton, noting that he will have to remove the equipment and possibly reinstall it at a different site.

Referring to Sweeney's 30-day notice, Hampton said "something like this does not help encourage new business."

"This is outrageous to do this to people," he added.

Kerrie Babin, president and CEO of Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce, said she spoke to tenants of the plaza on Friday.

"My main concern is to keep them in business and to keep them in Taunton," she said.

Babin said Sweeney's eviction notice doesn't seem altogether reasonable: "It's not enough time. It takes more than 30 days to move a house never mind a business with all that kitchen equipment," she said.

Babin said she's made calls to a couple of real estate attorneys who might known of a suitable place for French's business. She said she's also spoken with downtown property owners.

"But not every storefront wants a restaurant," she said.

Babin said French, who "loves cooking and cares about making her customers happy," returned to work this year after recovering from a serious medical problem.

"She's busting her hump and actually enjoys it. She's not making a million dollars, and I applaud somebody like that," Babin said.

Dianne Balmain said she's been a hairdresser for 30 years and rented space in the Tremont Street building the past 23 years. She said her client list now numbers about 220.

The eviction notice, she said, is nothing short of "a heartbreak."

Balmain said she's grateful to onetime hair-salon competitor Billy Mastriano for offering her and her employee Rita Copeland salon chairs in his Hair'm salon on Bay Street.

Balmain said she and Copeland, who was previously friendly with Mastriano, would work there as independent contractors. But she cautioned there's no guarantee it will happen.

"I hope it works out. He's a wonderful man," Balmain said, adding that she regards her customers as her "family."

Joseph Balmain, 71, said he and his wife in recent years have easily spent more than $20,000 to replace two water heaters and to repair an aged air conditioning and heating system.

"He (Sweeney) said, 'This place better be in brand new condition,'" said Balmain, who insisted that he and his wife have never been late on a single rent payment.

Jonathan Sisskind says he moved his chiropractic practice into 9 Tremont St. seven years ago.

"I'm calling leasing companies. I'll find a place," Sisskind said.

He added, "But Bunny's situation is worse. She's invested so much money and is facing a very substantial financial disaster."

Former Taunton assistant city solicitor Jordan Fiore stopped by the plaza on Saturday to do some laundry.

Fiore said he regards Sweeney's 30-day eviction notice — and his apparent unwillingness to allow tenants to return once structural repairs are done — as "very strange."

And although Sweeney is within his rights to order any tenant renting space on an at-will basis to vacate premises in a month's time, Fiore said it doesn't sit well with him.

"There's right and there's ethical. I question his ethics," Fiore said.

Joseph Balmain produced a typed letter dated Jan. 19, 2000 signed by Mark J. Sweeney and Kristin Beggs Sweeney. The letter notes the transfer of ownership of the plaza to the Sweeneys from Kristen's brother Kevin Beggs.

The mailing address on the letter for Mark Sweeney was a post office box in the town of Berlin.

Sweeney, according to registry of deed records, in 2000 paid $225,000 for the 1-11 Tremont St. plaza.

He subsequently, from 2006 to 2008, took out mortgage loans on the property totally just over $1 million, records show. His business addresses for those transactions were listed either as being in Worcester or Fitchburg.

French says after being served the eviction notice she called Andrade and proposed they pool their resources and offer Sweeney $1 million for the property. But Andrade wasn't interested, she said.

A woman who says she works per diem for Epic Health Services as a registered nurse was shocked when told about the eviction notices.

"Holy cow," said the woman, who would only identify herself as Brenda.

"These are people's livelihoods. It's just nuts that you would have to pull up all your roots (within 30 days)," Brenda, 42, said. "It's completely unbelievable."