Grocery for Bronzeville

Roundy's plans supermarket at 39th and State

There's an oasis coming to Chicago's food desert.

Roundy's Supermarkets, based in Milwaukee, has signed a letter of intent to build a 68,000-square-foot, full service grocery store at 39th and State in historic Bronzeville.

"It's a great opportunity to serve an underserved area," said Robert Mariano, the former Dominick's chief now serving as chairman and CEO of Roundy's. "People will be able to stay in their community to do their food shopping. They won't have to drive, take the bus or shop where they work and schlep their groceries home."

Planning and Development Commissioner Arnold Randall said he's working with the developer of the proposed shopping mall anchored by Roundy's on an unspecified subsidy from the Bronzeville tax increment financing district.

The vacant 8.7-acre site is one of 45 parcels identified by the city as possible sites for new grocery stores. It's also one of the best locations because it's near the CTA and the Dan Ryan Expy. and it's sandwiched between mixed-income communities being built on sites of two former CHA developments: Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens.

For local Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), Roundy's letter of intent is the first step toward delivering on her most important campaign promise.

"If you really want to do comprehensive shopping, you have to leave the community or go to a corner store," Dowell said. "And the corner store just doesn't have the choices and high-quality products."

Roundy's ambitious expansion plan, announced earlier this year, calls for opening 15 to 25 grocery stores in Chicago over the next few years.

At Dominick's, Mariano spearheaded construction of new grocery stores at Roosevelt and Canal and Division and Sedgwick.

"It's a complex thing that's going on here. If you go back 30 years, you see how it un-did itself. You had lack of investment. You had people fleeing to the suburbs. Now, you have people coming back to the city," he said.