A physical therapy clinic with a gym tailored to older people had its lease terminated at its longtime site at Marin Country Mart, leaving elderly clients worried they’ll have nowhere to go.

Select Physical Therapy, previously called the Asher Clinic, consisted of a physical therapy clinic and separate gym, and exercise program catering to seniors. It’s been located at the Larkspur mall for 38 years. The clinic moved to 200 Tamal Vista in Corte Madera. But the gym and senior exercise program might be closed for good. When this month’s lease wasn’t renewed, the company that owns Select Physical Therapy severed all ties with the gym, training center director Suzanne Romanowicz said.

The program serves about 200 seniors, she said.

“I’m worried about my older clients, especially the ones in their 90s,” Romanowicz said. “Right now, I have a man who’s had several strokes and his wife is distraught over what is to become of him now. It’s not like (clients) can afford personal trainers just to guide them through an exercise if they’re not able-bodied.”

Romanowicz said parent company Select Medical, which bought the Asher Clinic in 2016, is not returning calls and emails. The company did not return calls for this article.

Landlord James Rosenfield said the company’s inaccessibility is the very reason he did not renew the lease.

“When people hear about a change like this, they may think, ‘There he goes, the greedy landlord,’” he said. “They might be surprised that I’m not leasing it for more money. That’s not the motivation.”

Since the former Asher Clinic is no longer independently owned, “there’s no one to talk to about remodeling, modernizing the signage, where the business is going,” he said.

“I’m not saying they’re not excellent people on site,” he said. “But when I say, ‘Can I speak with owner or owners who represent them,’ they give me a lease administrator in Texas, a third-party company. There’s no one to speak to. It’s owned by a financial entity. It’s basically just radio silent.”

Romanowicz said she’s encouraged by the seniors who want to help her go into business for herself and reopen the gym somewhere in Marin but she’s uncertain if she will. Some have even written business plans and looked at real estate, she said.

Vera Gaudiani, 95, said her poor vision prevents her from adjusting equipment at other gyms and she doesn’t like the atmosphere. “Go into another gym and you see all these big body builder types, and there’s crazy music.”

She said she appreciates the specialized attention seniors and people with disabilities get at Select Physical Therapy.

“I’m so heartbroken about it,” she said. “I come here twice a week. I don’t see or hear as well as I used to. But the rest of me is in good shape. I don’t use a walker or a cane, and I’m much stronger than I was five years ago. Working out has been a tremendous help to my health. Asher is a very unique place. No other place does what they do for people over 50 and over.”’

Goodbye, fountain

The seal fountain called Fifi that has been a fixture on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near Bon Air Shopping Center for decades has been removed, and its future home uncertain.

Jeffory Morshead, 88, said he sold the building at 505 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. a few weeks ago, and did not include the fountain in the purchase.

“We love her. We asked to keep her. We will miss it every day,” said Evelyn Shapiro, administrator of Marin Specialty Surgery Center, which has leased the building for about 18 years.

But Morshead said he excluded the fountain from the sale because “the tradition of having it there had gone away” after selling the building.

In 1969, Morshead bought the lot for $25,000 from Niels Schulz, the developer of Greenbrae. It became home to Frank Howard Allen’s headquarters. Morshead later bought the company from Allen. In 1974, Allen’s son, the late artist Peter Bishop Allen, designed the seal fountain, and as a tribute to Frank Howard Allen, Morshead bought it and had it installed to honor the family.

“It has a personality,” Morshead said of the fountain, which was nicknamed “Fifi” because it sounds something like the building’s address, 505.

“It was lovely there and a wonderful tribute to Peter Allen. But my nostalgia is now gone because the building is owned by someone else. The seal doesn’t seem right there anymore.”

Morshead is having the fountain refurbished — it is deteriorating from the water’s chlorine — and is still deciding on its new home.

He said he offered to donate it to the city of Larkspur, with hopes it would be installed alongside the Corte Madera Creek walking path in Larkspur. He also offered it to the Marine Mammal Center at Fort Cronkhite and to the Cape Marin neighborhood association in Greenbrae, where he lives.

But “each one has its own bureaucracy,” he said. “When you start, they are very cooperative but then they want to know, ‘Will you pay for insurance, liability, moving it, continuing to polish it and having it maintained?’ All of those are logical questions.”

The Marine Mammal Center didn’t want it because “they said it wasn’t an authentic representation of a seal,” he said.

Will Fifi stay in Greenbrae?

“The best I can say is it’s uncertain. It’s not for sale. I’m going to keep it, that’s for certain.”