For local residents, the vacant Foodland building at Jefferson Avenue and Interstate 44 has been a constant reminder of the neighborhood’s “food desert” status – a federally-assigned label for low-income areas with little access to a grocery store.
Almost 40 percent of the people in the U.S. Census tract where the vacant store sits have low access to healthy food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Food Desert” locator.
By February 2013, hopefully that will change.
At a May 22 public forum, Ward 6 Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett announced that Save-A-Lot has decided to lease the space and open a grocery store.
“The people in this community deserve access to fresh, quality food,” Triplett said.
The Save-A-Lot will inhabit 17,000 square feet of the Foodland space at 1601 S. Jefferson Ave., which has been vacant since 2004. The company has committed to employing 20 to 25 people from within the community, said Chon Tomlin, spokeswoman for the 1,300 Save-A-Lot stores across 40 states. The company aims to open in January 2013 or early February.
The Foodland lot was purchased in December by Green Streets Development Group, Inc., a Clayton-based company that specializes in green, sustainable redevelopment. Save-A-Lot stores are typical not as big as traditional grocery stores, such as Foodland or Schnucks. With the leftover room, owners will establish spaces for three to four other retail businesses. Triplett said a fitness gym and restaurant are potential options. According to the group’s website, the spaces still available for lease range from 1,500 to 12,950 square feet and at $12 to $18 a square foot.
Tomlin said the Foodland site was a good fit for the company.
“We mostly move into existing spaces,” Tomlin said. “We look for structures that can be converted. Very seldom do we build from the ground up.”
‘First person up the hill’
However two years ago, Save-A-Lot moved into a Pagedale building that was built from the ground up. The building’s owner, Beyond Housing, developed the site specifically for Save-A-Lot to move into the neighborhood, said Chris Krehmeyer, president and CEO of Beyond Housing. Providing access to a store fits into one of the nonprofit’s goals – creating “passports” to healthy lifestyles, he said.
Save-A-Lot has done a good job running the store in Pagedale, as well as providing access to fresh and healthy food for the community, he said.
“You don’t have to leave your community to find groceries,” Krehmeyer said. “It’s telling people, ‘There is something going on here.’ You need the first person up the hill. Save-A-Lot made a big statement coming here.”
As the owner, Beyond Housing does its part on maintaining the property to make sure the store runs smoothly, he said. For the Jefferson Avenue location, Green Street plans on providing new landscaping, parking, sidewalks, bike racks and pedestrian crossings on Jefferson, said Brian Pratt, vice president of Green Street.
“We plan to improve the overall connection to the surrounding neighborhoods,” Pratt said.
Save-A-Lot tries to provide foods that fit the community’s needs, Tomlin said. The store will take into account the demographics of the community and tweak the produce accordingly. In Pagedale, the store always has fresh greens. In stores where there’s a higher Hispanic customer base, they stock the shelves with different types of peppers, she said.
“We call them hyper-local options,” she said.
When Triplett was campaigning for the 6th Ward seat in 2007, she said one of the things that people were concerned about was the access to a grocery store. As part of her campaign, she promised that she would do everything in her power to attract a grocery store for her constituents.
“It’s a big blessing to be able to deliver that promise,” she said.
In January with Triplett’s support, the Tax Increment Financing Commission approved $1.7 million in funds to help Green Streets develop the site near Lafayette Square.
Green Street Properties will begin the $6.6 million first phase of the development in the next 45 to 60 days, Pratt said. Last winter, the company completed the LEED-certified building at the corner of Chouteau and Jefferson that house the new headquarters of Sheetmetal Workers’ Union Local 36 and DynaLabs.
