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Price Rite opened its first Syracuse store at the northwest corner of Teall Avenue and Erie Boulevard East in 2012. It plans to open its second Syracuse supermarket at the southeast corner of South and Bellevue avenues later this year.
(Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com)
Syracuse, N.Y. — Price Rite is going ahead with plans to open a supermarket in an impoverished southwest side neighborhood that community leaders have called a "food desert" because of its lack of grocery stores.
Dennis Bachman, manager of real estate for Price Rite, said the discount grocery store chain expects to begin construction at 601 South Ave. early this spring and open the 35,000-square-foot store in late summer or early fall.
Price Rite plans to build a 10,000-square-foot addition onto an approximately 20,000-square-foot vacant commercial building at the southeast corner of South and Bellevue avenues.
The building on the property housed a Loblaws supermarket until the store closed in 1970.
Community leaders have been trying to recruit a grocery store to the site for years so that residents of the area who do not own cars would have a food store close enough to walk to. The neighborhood has a high concentration of poverty and no full-line grocery store.
"I would call it a food desert," said Bachman. "The opportunity for us to provide healthy, affordable food is great."
The store will create 10 full-time and 75 part-time jobs, according to Price Rite. Bachman said a majority of the people hired to work at the store will be residents of the local community.
Price Rite plans to open a discount grocery store in this former supermarket at the southeast corner of South and Bellevue avenues in Syracuse.
It will be Price Rite's second store in Syracuse. It opened one at the northwestern corner of Teall Avenue and Erie Boulevard East in 2012. The company operates 59 stores in eight states, including many in urban areas.
The development on South Avenue has been in the works for several years. Jubilee Homes, a private nonprofit organization that promotes affordable housing and economic development in the southwest section of the city, bought the vacant building on the site in 2009 using public money in hopes of attracting Price Rite.
The project is getting lots of government help. The state is providing $1.4 million in grants. Onondaga County is providing a $200,000 grant as a reimbursement for the installation of permeable pavement that will keep rainwater runoff from flowing into the county's sewage treatment system.
The Syracuse Urban Renewal Agency has acquired 18 other parcels on the corner for the project. It plans to transfer the land to Jubilee Homes, which will then lease the site to PRRC Inc., a company affiliated with Price Rite.
On Tuesday, the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency voted 5-0 to approve tax exemptions for the store. The project will cost and estimated $5.3 million. PRRC will receive up to $272,000 in sales tax exemptions on construction materials and
$30,000 in mortgage recording tax exemptions.
In addition, the property tax assessment on the building will be frozen for seven years. The exemption will phase out over the next three years. The property tax savings will total an estimated $329,140 over 10 years, according to the National Development Council, which analyzed the project for the agency.
Approval of the exemptions brought cheers from the approximately 20 people who attended the agency's meeting to support the project.
"Finally, a good day for the south side," said Rich Puchalski, executive director of Syracuse United Neighbors.
Among those who came to the meeting to praise the project was County Executive Joanie Mahoney. She said the benefits of having a store that sells fresh produce and other healthy foods are even greater than the economic value of adding jobs to the neighborhood.
"We're talking about a grocery store in an area where there isn't one," she said.
She said the government assistance was necessary because the project probably would not happen without it.
Price Rite says on its website that it saves its customers up to 50 percent off their everyday grocery bills while offering most of the popular grocery items from leading national brands. It said it keeps its costs low by not advertising regularly — it has no weekly circulars — and by operating stores that are smaller than traditional supermarkets. Customers must bring their own bags or buy them from the store for 10 cents each.
"Price Rite's philosophy is similar to that of the warehouse clubs — no expensive store decor, just a clean, convenient and friendly place to shop — without a costly membership fee or coupons to clip," the company says.
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