Staff Report
Published June 19, 2012

The Hub City Co-op announced Tuesday that it chosen a site at 176 N. Liberty St. in downtown Spartanburg for its grocery market.

The site is across from the Chapman Cultural Center and University of South Carolina Upstate’s George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics, or The George. It is the former site of the Frank Hall Tire Store.

The cooperatively owned store signed a lease June 8 with property owner Champion Investment Corp. The lease allows for six months to raise startup funding from the community and to finalize build-out designs and costs. After a fundraising campaign in the fall, construction will begin with an anticipated opening date in 2013.

“The look and feel of the store will truly reflect our community's interests and provide the local, wholesome food items we travel out of town to purchase,” said Hub City Co-op Board Chair Erin Ouzts. “This is an important milestone in our quest for Spartanburg to be the first community in South Carolina to organize and open a cooperatively owned retail food store.”

The Hub City Co-op has leased the top floor of the building, which comprises 7,800 square feet of the 12,000-square-foot building. The location is walkable from many downtown landmarks and residences.

“Over the past year, the Hub City Co-op Site Development work group and Startup Board took the necessary steps to ensure the site selected offered the highest potential for success,” said Tim Meade, Hub City Co-op board member and site development work group member. “We evaluated potential sites, coordinated preliminary design plans with McMillan Pazdan Smith, collected up-fit estimates from Clayton Construction Co., commissioned a market analysis from G2G Research Group, received legal advice from Nodine Law, prepared numerous pro forma financial statements and negotiated the lease with the site owner.”

An architect will soon be selected for exterior design work.

The Hub City Co-op currently has 480 owners. Ownership units cost $150.