Belz
Southgate renovation rendering
A new grocery store could soon take the place of the former Kroger in South Memphis that closed in February.
The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) for Memphis and Shelby County awarded Belz Enterprises a tax break to redevelop the shopping center where the vacant grocery store sits.
Belz is proposing to lease the 31,000-square-foot vacant grocery store to a new grocer and to attract five businesses to the smaller vacant retail spaces in the shopping center.
Belz plans to invest $6.8 million into the property to pay for exterior renovations, grocery store equipment, and other finishes. To revitalize the Southgate Center and open the grocery store, EDGE gave Belz a Community Builder pay-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) incentive.
The goals of the project are to provide the approximate 55,000 individuals living within a 3-mile radius of the shopping center with access to food, reduce blight, and attract new businesses to the area, the group’s application to EDGE reads.
During the 15-year term of the PILOT, it’s estimated that the shopping center will produce about $4.5 million in local tax revenues.
The new store would provide the equivalent to 92 full-time jobs with an average annual salary of just under $25,000.
