With assistance from EDGE, a new grocery and retail shopping center will help lead the redevelopment of a nearly 20-acre parcel located in a blighted area of Frayser. With plans to construct a 97,300-square foot grocery-anchored shopping center at 2571 North Hollywood, the Frayser Gateway project was awarded a 15-year Community Builder Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) to G2 Venture Group.
The project developers expect to invest more than $16 million into the vacant site that was once home to a Treasury Department Store. The multi-phased development will include a 20,000 to 45,000 square foot full-service value grocer (containing fresh meat and produce departments), a 20,000 to 30,000 square foot apparel tenant, 10,000 square foot national value household goods retailer, and multiple smaller retail tenants. Three out parcels will also be developed for restaurant use.
Financial assistance was requested to help remove blight, provide food access, and improve the overall neighborhood quality of life consistent with the Community Builder PILOT policies. In addition to removing severe blight from a highly visible location, Frayser Gateway will provide significant benefits to an area of 25,370 households with a median income of $26,698. The grocery will benefit neighborhoods to the South, West, and East of the site that is USDA-designated food deserts. Jobs will be created for surrounding neighborhoods suffering unemployment rates of 15% to 30%. The project will create approximately 136 full-time equivalent jobs with an average base salary of $23,294.
The Frayser Community Development Corporation and Memphis Business Academy support the project. EDGE staff projects $7,745,475 in local tax revenues to be received during the PILOT term of this project and a $4,472,025 benefit to the Applicant.
“The property has been vacant for more than 20 years and a source of blight for the Frayser community,” explained Reid Dulberger, EDGE President/CEO. “Frayser Gateway is a quality development adjacent to one of the most actively used parks in the City of Memphis, Rodney Baber Park.”