Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: The old Pearlman’s Super Furniture Store on Page Avenue downtown has something going on — the sidewalk is closed out front and a plywood barrier is up. What is going on with that building?

My answer: A new walk-up bar? Sorry, that was sort of a reflexive answer.

Real answer: "So, the owners are going to redevelop the retail part of the building, about 7,000 square feet of retail," said Jay Lurie, a broker with the Real Estate Center, which is handling the leasing. "They’re going to kind of redo the facade of that building to bring back the old historic character. The goal is for small boutique operators to come in."

The retail spaces will range from about 1,000 square feet to 1,800.

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The first floor of the building is empty now. Kimmel & Associates, the executive recruiting firm, utilizes the upper floors for its offices.

The iconic Pearlman's sign will remain, by the way.

"It’s part of the art deco restoration of the facade, so it is part of the character of the building," Lurie said. "So yes, the sign will stay."

Pearlman's Furniture, a mainstay in downtown since before World War II, closed in the 1990s. Hattie and Barney Pearlman opened the furniture business at the urging of Ed Broyhill, one of the founding brothers of Broyhill Furniture.

"Fred Pearlman, and his son, Skip Pearlman, would continue to operate Pearlman's Furniture store in Asheville until it closed in the 1990s," according to a Citizen Times article from 2012. "Fred Pearlman's other son, Lowell, went on to operate Pearlman's Carpets."

The building is owned by Kimmel Page LLC now and valued at $2.9 million, including the land, according to tax records.

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With the recent openings of the Cambria hotel just down the street and the AC Hotel a couple of blocks away, Lurie said the timing is right for more retail downtown. They're advertising the spaces at $25 a square foot.

"Work on the outside has already started, and we expect people to occupy the space by the end of this year, the first quarter of 2020," Lurie said.

For more information on the spaces, visit recenter.com

Question: If through education a child or adolescent wishes to be vaccinated for various communicable diseases, can they do so prior to their 18th birthday without parental or legal guardian consent? And if this is possible, what is the procedure?

My answer: Only if they have more sense than their parents.

Real answer: "Yes, this is possible," said Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, Buncombe County's medical director, citing North Carolina General Statute 90-21.5, which authorizes a physician to accept the consent of a minor for medical health services for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of venereal diseases or other reportable communicable diseases. "This enables minors in North Carolina to consent for vaccines for sexually transmitted infections (HPV, Hepatitis B) and reportable vaccine-preventable diseases."

Chickenpox is not covered here, though.

"Because varicella (chickenpox) is not a reportable disease in North Carolina, a minor is not able to consent for that vaccine," Mullendore said. "There is no age limit established in the law. The decision of whether to accept a minor’s consent for vaccination rests on a conclusion by the medical provider about the minor’s capacity to make decisions."

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The process is relatively informal.

"The minor just has to ask to receive those services," Mullendore said. "There is no special form that must be completed by the minor or provider."

This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com.