In 1996, a dozen eggs cost $1.31, a gallon of regular gas was $1.23 and a first-class postage stamp could be bought for only 32 cents. It was 20 years ago, and it was the last time residents of the Avondale Meadows neighborhood on Indianapolis’ northeast side had easy access to a grocery store.
Since the area’s Cub Foods store closed in 1996, the Meadows has been classified as a “food desert,” which the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines as 500 people or a third of an area’s population living more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store.
The Meadows will shed its food-desert status within the year, after construction of a Save-A-Lot grocery store and a Goodwill store near 39th Street and Keystone Avenue. The grocery chain committed last year to bringing a store to the Meadows area, and dirt was finally turned at a groundbreaking ceremony involving several local politicians and community leaders last week.
Addison Simpson, a leader with the Meadows Community Foundation, said the project has been years in the making, with work spanning the tenures of three Indianapolis mayors — Bart Peterson, Greg Ballard and now Joe Hogsett — and continuing through the redistricting of City-County Council seats.
District 9 Councilman William “Duke” Oliver, whose district includes the Meadows, said he’s looking forward to the impact on the community’s health.
“The impact will be felt immediately upon the opening of that store. I welcome it, and my community welcomes it also,” Oliver said. “Healthy food choices in the immediate area of that community have been lacking for many, many years. We’ve seen results of that in all kinds of health problems … There are a lot of choices at convenience stores and filling stations, but they’re the wrong choices.”
Health-related data specific to residents of the Meadows is not immediately available, nor could it be directly linked to the lack of food access, but a 2009 USDA report to Congress links low-access areas to negative health outcomes like obesity and diabetes.
Simpson said in addition to the food access and potential health benefits, he hopes the new development offers economic opportunities for the community.
“It’s important we get minority businesses as well as residents to be a part of the process,” he said. “We are in a minority area; let’s make sure some of those folks get an opportunity to be involved either as employees or as businesses.”
Darrin Orr, president of the United Northeast Community Development Corporation (UNECDC) board, said fourth-generation Powers and Sons, a general contractor that is a state certified minority-owned business, is heading up the project. The company, which was founded in 1967, prides itself on its longtime commitment to minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
“I was very excited to see them at the groundbreaking,” Orr said.
Orr said he also expects there will be job opportunities at the new retail outlets for residents of the Meadows area. He is resident chair of the neighborhood’s Quality of Life Plan, which includes a job training component, and he’s made Save-A-Lot aware of the program.
“We’ve talked to Save-A-Lot about working with us, because we have hiring fairs where we vet candidates, they go through training,” he said. “They know they’ll get quality candidates who have come through our program. So we offered to be a resource for Save- A-Lot.”
In addition to Save-A-Lot’s receptiveness to Orr’s offer to help with hiring, Orr said the grocery chain has characteristics that make it well-suited for the Meadows area.
“Save-A-Lot has a different business model … they cater toward the type of shopping our residents will be doing,” he said. “When you’re walking to the grocery store, you’re not going to have $200 worth of groceries that you’re carrying back. It’s a totally different shopping experience…
“Another thing is they agreed to make it a flagship store, so the quality of the food, the upkeep of the store, all of that will be top-notch. That’s what has to happen over there, because that’s the momentum of Avondale Meadows right now.”
Orr said with the area’s quality schools, current affordable housing options and some other housing updates in the works, Avondale Meadows is quickly headed down a positive path.
“It’ll be like an ecosystem, a model neighborhood where you have retail, education, great housing options for seniors, students, young adults … all of those will be available right there,” he said. “The addition of Goodwill and Save-A-Lot will continue the momentum to show our community that we can be great and that people really do care about the legacy that’s being built there.”
Outlots are available at the Save-A-Lot development, and leaders are currently looking for tenants. Though no official announcements have been made about other tenants, Little Caesars Pizza and Dr. Tavel Family Eye Care have been mentioned as possibilities.
Oliver stresses the development is and should be a gradual process.
“(We’re) putting it in piece-by-piece, a piece at a time,” he said. “Many of us want everything at once — a shoe store, a dress shop, a wedding shop, a supermarket. Piece-by-piece is a best practice we’ve seen in other communities.”
Oliver, Simpson and Orr all three expressed hope that the new Avondale Meadows development, as well as new projects out by the State Fairgrounds, will spark a more widespread revitalization of the northeast side.
“It should be an epicenter that grows out from the Meadows into the surrounding area,” Orr said.
Oliver added, “I’m looking forward to other food deserts being eliminated in other parts of the city, because it’s needed in several places.”
