MPDC in the News: Parcel 10 Project with Tropical Foods in Banker & Tradesman and Boston Herald

Madison Park Development Corp. and Tropical Foods International have filed plans with the Boston Redevelopment Authority to build a $44 million mixed-use project on a 2.75-acre site known as Parcel 10 in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, Banker and Tradesman has learned.

The Madison Tropical team plans to construct a 40,000-square-foot supermarket on the property bounded by Melnea Cass Boulevard, Shawmut Avenue, Washington and Williams streets. That will allow Tropical to relocate its existing store, currently at the edge of the site on Washington Street, to the new development.

The proposal includes construction of a 54,000-square-foot building for retail and office space, and the rehabilitation of the existing 44,000-square-foot Tropical Foods property into apartments and retail space, according to the development team's filing with the BRA.

The developers hope to start construction in July. Bank of America has offered a full New Markets Tax Credit allocation for the construction of the new suparmerket, but that financing will only be available if the construction loan is closed by July, according to the filing signed by both Jeanne Pinado, CEO of Madison, and Ronn Garry, president of Tropical.

The project will provide Roxbury residents "with meaningful economic development opportunities, greater access to healthy, affordable foods," and replace a long-time blighted property with attractive commercial buildings and mixed-income housing, the filing states.

The team will submit an expanded project notification form to the BRA in "the near future," the filing said.

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Roxbury grocer aims to triple size with $44M plan

article by:
Donna Goodison
Boston Herald
March 14, 2013

(Roxbury, MA) Madison Park Development Corp. and Tropical Foods International hope to start construction by July on their $44 million mixed-used project in Roxbury’s Dudley Square.

The companies have filed a “letter of intent” to the Boston Redevelopment Authority for the 2.75-acre development. The $14 million first phase will be a new home for Tropical Foods, an urban supermarket that has operated in Dudley Square since 1974.

“It’s only fair to our customers that we get that new store so we can give them the shopping experience that they deserve,” co-owner Ronn Garry Jr. said. “It’s also a good sign, in this day and age — when independent (grocers) such as Johnnie’s Foodmaster and Hi-Lo are going out of business — to see an independent that’s willing to expand and build new.”

Garry hopes to open the “long overdue” store by late 2014, with offerings including a deli, bakery, fresh seafood and prepared foods.

The developers say city and state approvals are time-sensitive. Bank of America’s financing is contingent on the phase-one construction loan closing by July.

The new Tropical Foods, with 27,000 square feet of retail, will be more than triple the size of the current market, which draws 14,000 shoppers weekly.

“People call us the ‘United Nations,’ ” Garry said, noting Tropical Foods’ Caribbean, black American, and Central and South American customers. “But we’re not just an ethnic store; we’re a full-service supermarket.”

Bordering Melnea Cass Boulevard, Washington Street and Shawmut Avenue, the project covers four parcels owned by Tropical Foods and vacant land, called Parcel 10, owned by the BRA and state Department of Transportation.

The project’s estimated $17 million second phase will be a 54,000-square-foot building with office and retail. Madison Park scrapped a wing of 36 residential units there.

“Part of the reason for some of the design changes was that the city is widening Melnea Cass Boulevard because they’re planning a bus lane down the middle,” Madison Park CEO Jeanne Pinado said.

The nonprofit has yet to secure financing for the building or the third phase — a $14 million rehab of the Tropical Foods building into 30 subsidized apartments and first-floor retail.