City of Florence hopes to bring $1.6M investment with potential grocery store
FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – The City of Florence is moving forward with a $1.6 million dollar investment named ‘Project Leopard Orchid’. News13s Kiahnna Patterson received Council documents that say it will bring “grocery items and local produce” to the area.
Jerry Muldrow lives near downtown Florence. He said a new grocery store is a great idea.
“I’d be nice. It’d be nice right here. So we won’t have to go any further,” said Muldrow.
Muldrow explains he has to ride his bike more than one mile to the nearest grocery store.
“They don’t have that much stuff there,” described Muldrow.
Downtown Development Manager Ray Reich said the grocery store will not only serve new developments in downtown but also the North Florence area. North Florence is considered a food desert (or area that does not have healthy food options available) by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“It’s been many years since there has been a true grocery store in that area,” explained Reich. “That’s particularly bad because some of those people have transportation issues. So, for them to have to pay a taxi cab or take public transportation to go to a grocery store is a hardship.”
Florence Mayor Stephen Wukela said Monday city council approved an incentives package of $300,000.
“We actually did two things; 1) we granted some real property that we own. That will serve as the footprint of this project. And 2) we also made a cash incentive grant that will be used to purchase [interior] fixtures,” explained Wukela.
Wukela said the incentives are based on how much the money the project will bring to the city. Council hopes to bring more food based businesses to the area.
“We like to tie the grants to the benefit we know that will directly come to the taxpayers,” said Wukela.
Wukela anticipates the developer will close on ‘project leopard orchid’ by the end of the month.
Reich said the downtown area hopes to develop a food hub in the area where farmers can sell fresh food every day instead of just on Saturday mornings.
