Man who put a new grocer on Prospect Ave. gets the OK to do the same in KCK
The Kansas City man who opened a new grocery store at the site of a shuttered Sun Fresh off Prospect Avenue just got permission to do the same thing in Kansas City, Kansas.
The Unified Government Board of Commissioners approved a three-year management agreement that would allow Anthony Estrada of Santa Fe Grocers, LLC to run a grocery store where The Merc Co+op once operated before it closed late last year.
After that agreement expires, the government and Estrada may extend that on an annual basis. It also leaves the door open for Estrada to eventually buy the property from the Unified Government should he choose.
Estrada approached the Unified Government with plans earlier this year to reopen a grocery store at the site of the vacant Merc Co+op grocery store, which closed due to financial trouble five years after opening. Commissioners approved an initial letter of intent to open the store alongside Estrada before beginning negotiations on the management agreement throughout the spring.
Those plans included opening a new store under the name United Market, with a sibling location off Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, that had expanded produce and meat selections, improved to-go options and was staffed by people living in the surrounding neighborhood.
The store will not sell alcohol, something Estrada anticipates will have safety benefits and allow him to make room for more healthy food options. He expects the entire project to cost more than $570,000.
By approval of the consent agenda, commissioners approved the local government putting $150,000 toward helping to open the store. Those funds will come from community benefits dollars included in the government’s deal with the American Royal, which is in the process of building its new location in west KCK.
That $150,000 will go toward any needed demolition, construction or improvements required to help get the store, located in KCK’s downtown at 501 Minnesota Ave., ready for opening.
After one year of operating the store, Estrada will be required to pay the Unified Government $5,000 per month to continue using the building, according to the agreement. That fee will increase by 3% each year.
He’ll also be required to pay annual property taxes, and the Unified Government will use those funds to pay out remaining bond debt, totaling more than $6 million, taken out to initially build the property.
