An investor linked with Cape Fear Commercial submitted an upset bit on the property at Third and Chestnut for $1.7 million. The site formerly held city offices, which are now being demolished as the city moves into the former ThermoFisher building.
The bid came with a deed restriction setting the primary use for the property as a grocery store for at least 10 years. Staff recommended approval to city council, noting that the neighborhood qualifies as a food desert.
Council discussed how the presumably higher-end grocery store might impact the Northside Food Co-op, which plans to break ground about a mile drive away.
Councilmember Kevin Spears expressed concerns about the competition: "There's no other way to say it, the people on the Northside don't want to be slighted.”
Several other council members noted research and articles they had seen about co-ops and grocery stores operating harmoniously in the same neighborhoods, and suggested it would be a positive development for all of downtown. Mayor Bill Saffo said he'd thought about the co-op when he heard about the bid as well.
"I asked Christina Haley with the Wilmington Downtown Inc, who does a lot of evaluations, to determine: are there food co-ops in other communities that are close to grocery stores, and how do they interact," Saffo said.
Saffo said Haley shared numerous examples around North Carolina of co-ops within a similar radius of larger grocery stores, and the stores appear to coexist successfully.
"There is a Publix supermarket on Peace Street, this is in Raleigh, and then seven blocks away, there is a Weaver Street Co-op," he gave as one example.
Councilmember Salette Andrews similarly referenced a recent Atlantic article about the true origin of food deserts.
"The grocery stores moving out of neighborhoods is what caused the food deserts, not grocery stores moving in, and that they actually improve the whole economy of the area. So I think it's a good idea," she said.
Ultimately, the council voted unanimously to approve the upset bid process. Other investors can submit bids until December 19 if they want the property, otherwise the city will accept the $1.7 million deal.
The investor, Cape Fear Holdings, LLC, will then have a year to close on the sale while it works out zoning and permitting to determine whether the planned development is possible.
