Luna's Signs Letter Of Intent for Truman Olson Grocery Store

I'm very pleased to learn that Mariam and Joe Maldonado, owners of Luna's Groceries in Allied Drive, have signed a Letter Of Intent with Rule Enterprises to open a grocery store on S. Park St. 

This marks another important step in avoiding a grocery gap, one that a year ago appeared to be nearly impossible to avoid.

At that time, SSM Health had announced plans to build their new clinic at the site of the Pick N' Save, with a timeline that would have resulted in the store being demolished by this past November.  However, faced with neighborhood concerns about the loss of the only full-service grocery store serving the South Side, SSM made the decision to regroup and instead build their clinic on their own property adjacent to the current clinic on Fish Hatchery.

The City responded by issuing a new RFP for development of the adjacent Truman Olson property, and Rule Enterprises was selected.  Rule has since joined forces Movin' Out as co-developers of the site.  Movin' Out has a long history of successful projects providing affordable housing and assistance for people and famillies with disabilities.

Mariam and Joe defied expectations in making Luna's such a big success in Allied Drive.  While there's no doubt this will be a much bigger challenge, I have complete confidence in their abilities to succeed here as well.

There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done, but we are making progress!