JACKSON, Mich — The City of Jackson says it's one step closer to bringing a grocery store to Jackson's South Side.
- A deal to acquire land from Consumers Energy for a grocery store site is ready for City Council approval later this month.
- Private efforts to bring groceries closer to South Side neighbors are moving forward, as well.
"Sometimes I go to Walmart, sometimes I go to Kroger — it depends on what I'm shopping for, says South Side Jackson neighbor Anna Huston.
For Huston, grocery shopping means two buses in each direction, carting her groceries as she criss-crosses town.
For years, South Side neighbors have been pining for something closer. Now, efforts to solve this problem are moving forward.
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We told you earlier this year about the City's plan to get a full-service grocery store to set up here on this land at the corner of Biddle and Cooper Streets.
I asked Anna what she thinks about that.
"Oh, that would be wonderful," she says. "It's closer. 'Cause I can walk from where I live to that and back....I think a lot of people would go down there and shop."
The City of Jackson's Chief Equity Officer, John Willis, says that plan is now one step closer to reality: "We have an agreement for the property…we're in a position where we can move it forward to our City Council. They get the land deal, then we can move it to our developer to get the development deal done."
If Council approves, Willis says the land back here will be sold to the City by Consumers Energy along with a donation from the company for environmental clean-up. A grant for that from Michigan’s Department of Energy, Great Lakes, and Environment is also in the works. The lot will be combined with land already owned by the City for the grocery store.
"We have a developer standing by, and we know that there's already been some grocers that have expressed interest in the property."
As for when a grocery store might open its doors here, Willis says it's still too early to say.
Here on the corner of Greenwood Avenue and First Street, Vittoria Jimerson says her Welcome Home Organization's plan to put a fresh food market in the back of the building it owns is also in motion.
She says multiple grants are funding the conversion, and is promising:
"May 1st, we will be open — the Flatiron District Forage and Grocery Company. We will have a full-blown garden, our greenhouse will be full of fresh fruits and vegetables….we will sell it in there along with specialty dry goods, as well."
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