Community Development Case Study:
Seward Co-op Relocation and Expansion
Healthy communities don’t just provide affordable places to live. They also include a variety of services and retail opportunities that provide jobs, support a healthy local economy and create livable neighborhoods.
Since its inception, Ponterre has expanded its services to include financial and development consulting, project management and grant writing to community developers who are as critical to the success of their neighborhoods as housing providers.
Ponterre Group is very proud to have played a key role in the development of the new Seward Co-Op, a community asset with a 40-year history in this close-knit neighborhood of south Minneapolis.
With Ponterre Group and local CDC Seward Redesign acting as their developer, the Seward Co-op Grocery & Deli, expanded and relocated to the east end of Franklin Avenue from a site down the street that was inadequate for serving an increasing membership and meeting the community’s demand for programming in addition to retail opportunities. The newly constructed space qualified for LEED Gold certification and has a total of 25,600 sq ft of retail, office and community space. Environmental contamination was remediated from the site prior to construction. The project injected $10.5 million into the local economy.
The expansion has exceeded job creation projections within the first 18 months of operation with the creation of 70 new jobs, 60 of which were full-time positions.
Ponterre Group tailored a complex financing package that allowed the co-op to be built on time with excellent cash flow projections. Sources included:
- $10M in New Market Tax Credits.
- Tax Increment Financing.
- Public environmental remediation grant funds.
In addition to our traditional development consulting services, Ponterre Group also helped coordinate community meetings, negotiate alley vacations and the acquisition of adjacent properties necessary for site assembly, and preparation of grant applications that were subsequently funded.
By all accounts this project has been a smashing success. The 2010 fiscal year saw total co-op sales of $21.3 million. When financing on the new project was approved, sales were only $12 million. Thus far in 2011, quarter to quarter sales increases are approximately 20%. These figures are dramatically outstripping projections of $14.8 million in sales for the first year and $16.4 by the end of three years.
The Seward Co-op development took home the award for "Best in the Retail Development or Redevelopment" category at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal's 11th annual Best in Real Estate awards ceremony in 2009. The award honors businesses that are investing in and building up their respective communities.
An article in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal described Seward Co-op’s new development "a shining example of green design." Mary Bujold, one of the competition judges, said of the project: "Due to a significant interest in organic food and sustainability, it stood out as something that was timely.…Their expansion and redevelopment really spoke to who their target market is."
