URBANA -- A grassroots effort to build a new grocery store in Urbana's Ward 3 has the support of city leadership, who plan to not only provide a funding match for the project but also a possible site near the corner of Lincoln and Bradley avenues.
"I'm amazed and grateful for it, honestly," said Angela Bradley, who is applying for a $2.4 million grant from the Illinois Grocery Initiative. "It's a wonderful site. It is an incredible blessing for that to be offered to us."
Bradley seeks an $800,000 local match from the city in order to meet the grant program's requirements. While the city council voted to remove a proposed ordinance on the subject from its Nov. 18 agenda, aldermen expressed support for the project and will vote on a resolution to provide the match at their next meeting, set for 7 p.m. Monday.
Bradley "is enthusiastic and extremely committed to trying to make this happen, and I appreciate that," said Alderwoman Shirese Hursey, who represents Ward 3.
While the project does not yet have an official site, city officials suggested that the grocery store could be located on the current site of Fire Station No. 3 and a neighboring city-owned parcel to the north. Together, the two parcels total a little over 1 acre.
City Administrator Carol Mitten said the city had considered making an in-kind donation of the land but was told this would not count towards the required local match. However, this led them to consider another possibility.
"The city could, in the next (Capital Improvement Plan), fund the demolition of the fire station to free up the site," she said. "I'm not suggesting that we've done any kind of true drawings or anything. We did a literal test fit of 'Could you fit a 10,000-square-foot store and the parking, could you fit that on the site?' ... It could fit."
She said that the city would like to offer to lease the property, potentially for $1 a year for 25 years, after the fire department moves out.
The city is building a new fire station near the corner of Bradley and Goodwin avenues to replace the current one, and Mayor Diane Marlin told The News-Gazette that construction on that is estimated to be complete by May.
"It's a perfect timeline," she said.
Council members were also supportive of the idea.
"I think it also shows the commitment of the city," said Alderwoman Jaya Kolisetty. "So in terms of my experience with grant-writing, if you can show that there are other vested parties that want the project to succeed, that matters."
Will Kolschowsky, senior management analyst and assistant to Mitten, wrote in a report to the council that the cost of demolishing the station and "related environmental testing/abatement" will be included in the next request for an omnibus budget amendment, which will likely go before the council next month.
Mitten noted that construction on the old site would not be able to begin immediately, as if the city decides to demolish the fire station, the work would "take months," and any needed environmental work would add to this timeline.
The fire station and adjacent parcel are south of a Circle K gas station and convenience store.
"Please, nobody say that I said there was any environmental contamination," Mitten said. "However, sometimes there is when you're proximate to a gas station. So there's things that are unknowns."
Alderman James Quisenberry advised that the council should state in its resolution that it is offering the lease if it "makes sense" for that location.
"We're making the offer; it may not pan out that way," he said.
Whether she ultimately leases land from the city or goes another route, Bradley's plan is to build the new grocery store in Ward 3, as she said the area is a "food desert" with little access to fresh food. The fire station site is within the ward.
The state expects to award $11 million to about five projects in the latest round of the Illinois New Stores in Food Deserts Grant Program, which is part of the Illinois Grocery Initiative. Grants are expected to range from $150,000 to $2.4 million.
In October, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced that the first round of funding awarded $6.9 million to four projects in Chicago, Peoria, Rockford and Carlinville.
The program criteria states that, rather than being big-name retailers, applying businesses must have fewer than 500 employees and no more than four existing locations.
Bradley plans to name her new business HeartStrong Grocery.
"The City strongly supports development of a new grocery store in north Urbana," Marlin told The News-Gazette. "City staff have been actively pursuing leads for the past six years. Angela Bradley's proposal seeking $2.4 million in state grant funds to build a grocery store through the Illinois Grocery Initiative is the closest we've come to reaching this goal."
However, she also acknowledged during the council meeting that there are challenges with Bradley's request, mainly due to the "extremely short time period" that the council has to make a decision about funding, as the grant application is due Dec. 2.
Normally, the city would have more time to evaluate such a proposal, Marlin said.
She noted that the city received some of the required financial documents the night before the meeting, and requested to delay its decision by one week in order to do "at least some of the due diligence that we normally do for a proposal of this magnitude."
Bradley told The News-Gazette that the reason she did not present her request earlier was due to the limited application window; the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity began accepting applications Oct. 3.
"It's an incredibly short window for all of us," she said.
Assuming the council approves the resolution to commit up to $800,000, it will eventually need to decide how to source the funds. However, Bradley said that, according to a consultant she's been working with, the funding source does not need to be stated in a letter of support, so the decision doesn't have to be made right away.
While the ordinance presented by Kolisetty and Alderman Chris Evans originally proposed using dollars from the general operating fund to provide the match, Mitten said doing so would require the council to waive one of its fiscal policies in regards to the minimum balance for that fund.
Other possible funding sources include reallocated American Rescue Plan Act money, Community Development Block Grants or interest the city earned by investing its federal funding, she told the council.
While council members were generally most supportive of using either the block-grant funds or the interest from the federal funds, they ultimately decided not to name a specific source in the resolution and take more time to identify the best option.
The resolution states that that funding match is contingent on Bradley being awarded the grant by June 30. Additionally, the city will provide up to $800,000, depending on the grant amount, as the program requires a 1-to-3 match.
Furthermore, the city will offer its land at 1407 N. Lincoln Ave. for a long-term lease "at a nominal rate" and also plans to request that the council waive "building-permit and other construction-related fees" for the project.
However, Bradley will be required to hire a contractor that the city finds "acceptable."
The resolution also states that both parties will enter into a formal agreement prior to the issue of funds.
Assuming the resolution is approved, the city will then draft a letter of support for Bradley to attach to her application, Marlin said.
"Hopefully this can be a seed for other resources to come to the area," Bradley said. "That's the big vision."