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SHARON L. BONDA nonprofit group and a developer hope to build a center with Kash n' Karry as a possible tenant.
ST. PETERSBURG - A nonprofit group will team with a local developer in hopes of building a Kash n' Karry in the heart of Midtown, an economically deprived area long in search of a major grocery.
Urban Development Solutions Inc., which includes local NAACP leader Darryl Rouson, and the Sembler Co., developer of BayWalk, plan to submit a bid today to build a chain grocery and shopping center on the northeast corner of 18th Avenue S and 22nd Street.
The bid is a response to the city's request a month ago for proposals to develop 3.7 acres it bought earlier this year for $1-million.
The block, now almost completely empty, is across the street from Perkins Elementary, a popular magnet school for the arts that draws students from across South Pinellas.
Larry J. Newsome confirmed that his group, Urban Development Solutions, planned to submit a bid by today's noon deadline.
Craig Sher, president and chief executive officer of Sembler Co., said his company is part of the deal and would act as developer.
Although the principals are talking seriously with Kash n' Karry, they say they have no written commitments yet. The project also may include a branch bank.
Sher played down Sembler's involvement.
"We are just part of this. We are not going to own it," he said. Urban Development Solutions would own the shopping center, and Sher described the group as "good guys."
Newsome said he would not talk about his company's bid until after today's deadline.
He is the registered agent and a director for Urban Development Solutions, which was formed in early 2001. His wife, Bettye J. Newsome, is treasurer. Rouson, president of the St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP, is a director. His wife, Angela Rouson, is secretary.
Earlier this year, the nonprofit group added two other well-known local names to its roster of directors: Askia Muhammad Aquil, executive director of St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services Inc., and the Rev. Louis Murphy of Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church.
Urban Development's incorporation papers say the group was established to boost commerce in "inner city areas of Florida, which currently suffer from lack of development."
Some of the players are connected through various efforts to improve living conditions in Midtown. Sembler has been working on downtown redevelopment.
Downtown boosters had also been after a chain grocery for some time, and that will bear fruit next month when Sembler's University Village opens with a Publix at its core.
When the shopping center got under way earlier this year, Sher said it was time Midtown got the same sort of thing.
Thursday, he acknowledged that his company's involvement with Urban Development in the Midtown project was a natural progression from his thoughts about Midtown's need earlier in the year.
"Absolutely," he said.
Newsome and Rouson already were involved in the area of the grocery store site.
When Rouson returned to town about five years ago, he started a crusade against crack houses and blight caused by drug dealing. His nonprofit group Community Benefit Network Inc. sued Queensboro property owners, who gave the network eight pieces of property to stay out of court.
Newsome joined forces with Rouson and by the end of 2000 they owned 11 lots between 18th Avenue S and Queensboro Avenue just east of 22nd Street S.
Bringing a grocery to Midtown has been a topic for years. The area has only one chain store, a Winn-Dixie on its northern edge. Mayor Rick Baker made getting the grocery a priority this year, and the city assembled a block of land to make the deal easier.
The city bought the property from Aracle Realty LLC, owned by the Newsomes and in which Rouson was involved.
Whether the newest combination, Urban Development Solutions Inc., would repurchase the land for the grocery store project from the city or lease it won't be known until the bids are opened after today's noon deadline.
The plan for a grocery is on a fast track. Within a week, city staffers expect to choose a developer from today's bids. The city has said it wants a commitment from a nationally recognized grocer to operate a store of at least 22,000 square feet and to build it within 18 months of closing the deal.
A development plan for the site will be ready for the City Council to consider by Nov. 20.
- Times staff writer Mark Albright contributed to this report.