YOUNGSTOWN Mayor says grocer is negotiating to open at Market and Midlothian

A church coalition recently conducted a letter-writing campaign to city officials.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mayor George M. McKelvey is optimistic that there will be a deal soon to reopen a grocery store at Market Street and Midlothian Boulevard.
McKelvey said Tuesday that Giant Eagle, which owns the building, and a grocer he declined to name are close to reaching a lease that would reopen the South Side location. He said the store would be a full-service grocery.
McKelvey said Giant Eagle has been accommodating with the terms of a deal. The proposed lease recognizes that the site is in a struggling city neighborhood, not a thriving suburban location, he said.
A Giant Eagle spokesman in Pittsburgh didn't respond to a message seeking comment.
Shut down
Giant Eagle closed at Market and Midlothian in 1998.
Phar-Mor opened in the building in June 2000 after intense lobbying by a coalition of city and suburban churches. The store closed, however, after Phar-Mor filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and liquidated its assets.
The church coalition -- ACTION, or the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods -- renewed its public lobbying efforts in recent weeks with a letter-writing campaign to city officials. The letters ask the city to use whatever power it has to bring a grocery store to the closed location.
ACTION leaders said last fall that re-establishing a grocery store on the South Side was one of the group's top priorities. An ACTION spokesman could not be reached to comment.
McKelvey said the city has been talking with Giant Eagle since Phar-Mor closed. The city is ready to offer incentives to any grocer that wants to operate there, he said.
rgsmith@vindy.com