ATLANTIC CITY — Plans for a grocery store did not take a knockout punch Tuesday afternoon, but they sure seem to be on the ropes, as the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority rejected all four proposals that came in this year.
Thomas J. Meehan III, the CRDA’s director of project implementation and management, told the board at its Tuesday meeting that staff recommended all proposals be rejected. He said all four had sought a financial subsidy, which he described as “not in the best interests of the authority.”
No one from CRDA or Village Super Market ever confirmed it, but multiple sources said it was a request for a $500,000-a-year subsidy that scuttled the last deal for a supermarket operator.
That deal seemed locked up, including a groundbreaking ceremony in 2021 attended by Gov. Phil Murphy and multiple other power players from Atlantic City and Trenton. But the work never started, and eventually the Murphy administration announced that talks had broken down and the CRDA would start again with a new request for proposals.
People are also reading…
There was no discussion among board members at the remotely held meeting Tuesday afternoon, and no comments from the public about the grocery. The board did not discuss next steps, nor did any member ask about timing for a new proposal.
But Sharon Dickerson, the CRDA general counsel, said the plans were not dead yet.
“We have not abandoned the project. We are working diligently to move it forward,” she said.
State and local officials touted the previous proposal as an end to Atlantic City’s status as a food desert. The last full-service grocery left town close to two decades ago. There are numerous corner groceries and other food stores, but some community members have called for a national brand grocery for years.
In the latest setback to hopes for a full-service grocery store in Atlantic City, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is poised to reject all proposals submitted by the June deadline.
Dickerson said the CRDA would talk with stakeholders and work on what steps to take next.
“At this time, the authority is reconsidering all of its plans and has every intention of providing healthy and appropriate nutritious food to the residents of the city of Atlantic City,” she said.
But if subsidies are off the table, what will it take to get a grocery up and running in the city?
CRDA funding a new $18.7 million, 44,000-square-foot grocery on Baltic and Indiana avenues and leasing it for $1 a year was not enough to secure a new ShopRite, and none of the four proposals that came in this year were acceptable to CRDA.
The authority put out a new request for proposals in February and opened them in June. Those submitting proposals included Save-A-Lot under the company name Save Philly Stores and a new proposal from Village Super Market, which was set to open the ShopRite. Also submitting proposals were JAS Group Enterprise and Bailing International Firm. JAS Group’s plan included 120 apartments, along with a grocery store, while Bailing International’s plan called for a 55,000-square-foot facility.
Meehan told the board the Bailing International proposal was deemed incomplete before the vote, saying the company failed to submit additional information when it was requested.
There was no immediate response from an Atlantic City spokesperson to a request for comment on the CRDA decision.
A spokesman for the Murphy administration said Murphy is still pushing to get a grocery in the city.
“The governor is incredibly frustrated by this delay and believes the people of Atlantic City deserve a grocery store in their community,” said Bailey Lawrence, deputy press secretary for Murphy, after the Tuesday vote. “The administration will continue working tirelessly to ensure that a grocery store is established as soon as possible.”
Shawn Rinnier believes he has a strong case for his Save-A-Lot store to receive the contract for a new grocery store for Atlantic City from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
Whatever happens next, it will take time.
CRDA and Village Super Market were in talks for more than a year before the authority suspended negotiations. In that time, both sides indicated things were going fine, even as city residents could hardly fail to notice that the parking lot on Baltic where the new grocer was proposed stubbornly remained a parking lot.
If there is another request for proposals approved by November, a similar timeline would put any decision well into 2025. At the November groundbreaking, the stated estimate was for at least a year of construction, putting any supermarket opening off until at least 2026.