CINCINNATI — It was like watching the numbers on a months-long Kickstarter campaign.
A hand-drawn sign, mounted on a corner column of the former Keller’s IGA in Clifton, tracked the progress of fundraising for the plan to open a co-op grocery in the building at 319 Ludlow Ave. From the fall into December, the posted percentage climbed from the mid-80s to 99, then finally 100 before the sign came down.
The achievement at last sets in motion the end game that is expected to return a full-service grocery to Clifton and the Ludlow Avenue business district. Work is set to begin Feb. 1 on this timeline:
- Construction on the building is expected to last 60 to 90 days.
- Equipment is to be installed beginning in May or early June.
- Staff training should start in June.
- Market officials said they could be open as soon as early July.
Turnbull-Wahlert Construction is the contractor.
Work at Clifton MarketThough hiring won’t begin officially for a month or two, Clifton Market is accepting resumes by email at info@cliftonmarket.com.
The market is expecting to employ about 90 people, which is about 50 percent more than Keller’s.
Keller’s was closed late in 2010 by the state of Ohio after the owners had failed to pay sales taxes they owed or to reach a payment deal with the state. The grocery had been a neighborhood fixture for more than 70 years.
The grassroots effort to open a co-op at the site was launched early in 2014. It followed on the heels of a plan by Steve Goessling, who at the time owned three independent groceries, to remodel and reopen the store. His effort stalled as costs rose.
The successful funding drive chronicled on the store column won’t get hammers swinging on its own. What will ultimately be more than a $5 million project, according to Marilyn Hyland, Clifton Market’s director of marketing, is dependent on about $3 million in loans — $1.88 million from the National Cooperative Bank and $1.1 million from Shared Capital Cooperative, formerly known as Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund.
The local funding was one of the dominoes that had to fall to secure those loans. After signing in April to purchase the store building for $1.5 million, including the assumption of about $600,000 in debt owed to Keller’s suppliers, Clifton Market still had to cover the remaining gap in the plan’s projected cost. Of that estimated $700,000, about $550,000 was expected to come from a low-interest loan from the city of Cincinnati.
Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black rejected issuing the loan, categorizing the market as a startup and too risky an investment for the city. In response, the Democratic majority on Cincinnati City Council, led by Vice Mayor David Mann, voted instead to approve a $400,000 grant to the project, but that was quashed in July in rancorous budget negotiations between council and Mayor John Cranley, who opposed the grant.
Cincinnati City Council in early December did unanimously approve a 12-year tax abatement on improvements to the property. That’s worth an estimated $1 million in savings.
It’s that gap in funding which Clifton Market finally raised. The effort now has more than 1,200 shareholders, Hyland said. Many bought more than one share at $250 each. Shareholders also lent the market effort more than an additional $1.1 million, according to Charles Marxen, the group’s field manager. That money went largely toward buying the store building.
Clifton Market’s loans came through Dec. 22.
“First we seeded, then it sprouted, and now it’s in the blooming phase,” said retail development analyst Keith Wicks. Wicks, president of Keith Wicks & Associates, has been part of the team of industry experts advising Clifton Market. He has 40 years’ industry experience.
Wicks is enthusiastic about Clifton Market’s prospects. In addition to the relatively dense population in Clifton proper, he cited statistics of more than 50,000 people working within a 1.5-mile radius of the store. “It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.
The market also is expected to be a catalyst for the Ludlow Avenue business corridor, which has struggled since IGA closed.
The store, Wicks said, will serve a broader segment of shoppers than many co-ops, which have traditionally focused on natural foods. “The community has told us they want a mainstream market.”
Hyland said shoppers would be able to get routine items like pet food and canned goods as easily as high-end produce, acknowledging the wide range in Clifton’s financial demographics.
What will set Clifton Market apart, Wicks said, is homemade, handcrafted food, much of it sourced locally. Market leaders are banking on that fresh fare to draw shoppers to Ludlow Avenue rather than big-name competitors, especially the Kroger marketplace store being built at University Plaza in Corryville. That store, at about 70,000 square feet, will be more than twice the size of 31,000-square-foot Clifton Market. The new Kroger is expected to open late in 2016.
Wicks said the two stores will attract different kinds of different shoppers. He compared it to fears about Kroger’s prospects when Wal-Mart expanded into groceries. “Not everyone is a Wal-Mart shopper,” he said, “and, even if you do shop there, you don’t go necessarily go there every trip.”
He said he’s actually encouraged by the construction of other stores, including Kroger and Apple Street Market, a co-op grocery planned in Northside. It’s a sign that the tier of city neighborhoods north of the central basin is “coming up to standard,” reflecting a renewed appreciation of and vitality to urban life.
He can add to that Sav-A-Lot, the discount grocery chain owned by Minneapolis-based Supervalu. It was reported Wednesday to have signed a letter of intent to build a store in Avondale as part of redeveloping Avondale Town Center.
Wicks said he expects Clifton Market to turn an operating profit by the end of its first year.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years,” he said, “and I’ve opened thousands of sites. Once in a while you find a gem in the rough. That’s what this is.”
Hear the latest
Clifton Market will hold a free, public information session from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Ludlow Wines, 339 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. No reservation is needed.
Attendees will hear more details about the timeline for the store’s completion and what the store will offer.
Follow news from Clifton Market online at www.cliftonmarket.com and Facebook.com/cliftonmarket.
