SitemapThe city received two proposals for reuse of the vacant former Bottom Dollar supermarket at 2649 Glenwood Ave., one from a business and the other from a church.
Hand-delivered to the city finance department at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday was a proposal from Big Dipper Food Co. Inc., 50 Superior St., Youngstown.
Marty Seidler, who founded that company in 2005 with John Cayten, declined to comment on the company’s proposal Wednesday afternoon. The company supplies handmade, gourmet peanut, almond, cashew and pecan brittle items produced in small batches.
The other proposal came from Valley Christian Church, 5500 Market St., Boardman. The church’s proposal arrived at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday by priority mail.
“Our vision is to turn it into a worship center and a community center,” said the church’s pastor, Len Derico.
The church hopes the city will donate the building to the church, and the church expects to spend $100,000 to renovate it, he said, adding that five other churches have agreed to cooperate on this project.
Pastor Derico said the plan calls for a flexible main space that can be transformed from a worship sanctuary into a gym or theater as needed.
Plans call for an Internet cafe in the front of the building and for a counseling center, said Derico, who is a pastoral counselor.
Possible future uses of the building include establishment of a homeless shelter, soup kitchen and free clothing-distribution center for needy people, he added.
“This is only the beginning in our minds. We desire to establish this worship/community center and then begin other ones in other parts of the city very much like it,” the pastor said.
The proposals were not immediately opened in the finance department, but they were to be evaluated by T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s community-planning and economic-development director.
Noon Wednesday was the new deadline after the city extended the proposal acceptance period one month after receiving no proposals by the original Feb.1 deadline.
The city sought proposals from those interested in buying the 18,000-square-foot, city-owned Glenwood Avenue building, with preference to be given to plans to reopen it as a grocery store.
The city did not establish a minimum sale price.
The Glenwood store, built on 5.1 acres in 2011, has been unused since Bottom Dollar closed in January 2015. ALDI Inc., which acquired 66 Bottom Dollar stores, including this one, turned this store over to the city last year after removing the equipment from it.
Mayor John A. McNally has said he wants to see a full-service grocery store, not a convenience store, in this location.
The Fosterville neighborhood around the store remains a food desert without a grocery store, according to Sarah Lown, public finance manager for the Western Reserve Port Authority and a former economic-development specialist with the city.
The other former Bottom Dollars in the city are at Mahoning Avenue and Meridian Road on the West Side, owned by a private landlord, and at Midlothian Boulevard and Zedaker Street on the South Side, owned by ALDI.
To read the whole story at Vindy.com, please click here.