"This project will provide fresh fruit and vegetables to hundreds of needy people unable to get to [other] grocery stores," said Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, who represents the Tremont neighborhood.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood has received a $742,000 federal grant that city officials hope will bring a Constantino's Market into an empty mansion at West 14th Street and Fairfield Avenue.
The nonprofit Tremont West Development Corp. plans to use the money to convert the structure into a full-service Constantino's, the family-owned retailer's fifth grocery store. The project is expected to employ 30 full-time workers.
"Additional funding for the $2.5 million project has been identified, and the plan is to open the store within two years," said Tremont West Executive Director Cory Riordan, in a written announcement.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the grant as part of larger efforts to plant grocery stores in "poor urban areas that have little or no access to freshly grown produce," the statement said.
Low-income families in federally-defined "food deserts" are forced to rely on corner convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, which may not be very affordable, fresh or nutritious. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 2.35 million residents nationwide live in such "food deserts."
The Lincoln Park farmers' market in Tremont, open once a week from April through September, has the highest sales in food stamps among farmers' markets in the region, according to Tremont West.
Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, who represents the Tremont neighborhood, said in the same statement that: "This project will provide fresh fruit and vegetables to hundreds of needy people unable to get to [other] grocery stores."
"Tremont is and always will be a neighborhood of tremendous diversity," he added via email. "With some of the newest market-rate houses and the largest free meal program in the city at St. Augustine Church, it is a place that embraces everyone."
"To have this grocery store in some of our most historic structures will be a real stride toward food security for everyone. It's a great example of what makes Tremont so strong: Collaboration, care for one another, commitment to the best. With some of the best restaurants in the city and the farmer's market with the highest use of food stamps, this store is at the intersection of Tremont's need and Tremont's realizing opportunities," Cimperman said. "I'm so proud of Tremont West for going after this grant and getting it."
Constantino's, founded in 2005 by Constantine "Costas" Mavromichalis, has two neighborhood grocery stores in Downtown Cleveland and in University Circle's Midtown neighborhood, and operates a Convenient Food Mart on Cleveland's West Side.
Mavromichalis' family just opened a fourth store in the College Town district in Rochester, New York, near Strong Memorial Hospital and the University of Rochester, on April 9.