PROJECTS

Midtown Fresh

Midtown Fresh
About: Second Kalamazoo location of family-owned grocery store business
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Investment: $6 million financing as part of an $8 million New Markets Tax Credit transaction
Partners: Capital Impact Partners
Impact:

This project will re-open a previously shuttered grocery store anchoring a revitalized retail plaza. The entire retail plaza will generate 165 permanent full time positions.

The Shina family owns ten grocery stores in Michigan including Park Street Market in Kalamazoo, which opened in 2010 bringing fresh food and jobs back to the neighborhood. Park Street Market now has 48 employees and has grown to include a catering service and custom butcher, plus nutrition classes for its customers. In their next venture, the Shina family opened a second Kalamazoo grocery location on Howard Street called Midtown Fresh. The project reestablishes a previously shuttered grocery store offering fresh, affordable food for residents in the primarily low-income neighborhood. It also revitalizes a currently blighted retail plaza, bringing in six to eight additional shops and transforming the parking lot into a pop-up market with food trucks and vendors selling locally grown produce. Michigan Good Food Fund provided $6 million in financing as part of an $8 million New Markets Tax Credit transaction with Capital Impact Partners in 2017. Together, the project created an estimated 13 temporary construction jobs and 165 permanent full time positions with local hiring from the community. The store  opened on August 8, read more about Midtown Fresh.

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