Near the end of 2015, as renters continued to swell into Tremont and demand rose for new townhomes and condos, Tremont West Development Corporation announced exciting news for residents who had a wealth of options when it came to restaurants and bars, but nowhere to shop for food.
It had “received a $742,699 Health and Human Services grant to bring a grocer to the neighborhood,” Tremont West announced in a newsletter. “Expected opening early summer 2017.”
Tremont West quickly settled on Constantino’s as the grocer, which seemed like a good fit for the neighborhood, bringing both a solid reputation as a family-run company along with praise for its operation in Warehouse District, which opened in 2005. (Its University Circle location opened in 2012 and closed in 2020.)
The chosen location, an empty mansion on West 14th Street and Fairfield Avenue owned by Grace Hospital, would, developers hoped, address Tremont’s food-desert status.
In the years following, TWDC worked with Constantino’s towards, as Cory Riordan, TWDC’s director, told Scene, “the realization of the project.” That meant “project-ready drawings, mechanical design, engineering, consulting fees,” in a total sum of $202,000. As those renderings evolved, build-out costs rose far above the initial estimate of $2.5 million, Riordan said. The hope of a 2017 opening, and maybe any opening date at all, evaporated.
“There was every intention of Tremont West to produce a grocery store,” Riordan explained in a phone call. But, “because of spiraling cost, we were unable to complete that in the way that we imagined.”
The problem seems to be that, according to TWDC meeting minute notes over the years, $444,000 of that federal grant loaned to Constantino’s for the purpose of expanding in Tremont was never paid back to TWDC, which had handed over the sum to an LLC for the Constantino’s Tremont location. (Multiple calls and text messages to Constantino’s owners seeking comment went unanswered. A lawyer for the company also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.)
In March 2019, the staff at TWDC appeared to be looking at second chances, according to meeting minutes. Riordan and two others acknowledged the “stalemate” the grocery plan had come to, and vowed to reassess possible second steps with grant managers come June of that year. While both sides wanted the project to happen, a lack of progress on the building itself, owned by Grace Hospital, along with the rising build-out costs, hamstrung most discussions.
By October of 2020, after the pandemic pushed back Constantino’s talks yet again, the teamat TWDC started to, it seemed, question the loan in a legal light. An audit of Constantino’s transactions was ordered. Riordan sent a letter to the grocery chain alleging that TWDC “reserved the right to review receipts from the project to confirm that amount that Constantino’s did spend on the project and, therefore, did not owe back on the loan.”
They did not hear back.
Six months later, in February 2021, TWDC hired an attorney who requested by letter a full repayment of the $444,000 loan by February 19th, threatening that TWDC “will pursue any unpaid balance through legal means.” Constantino’s responded, the minutes show, by lawyering up.
It was another year later, in February 2022, when Riordan looked to the state to solve what he knew was a complicated legal process, both with HHS and their loan recipient grocer. He petitioned Sen. Sherrod Brown for insight on possible “federal prosecution.” Though the CDC requested repayment “immediately,” Constantino’s did not budge. Instead, they countered with an eight-year payback plan proposal.
Riordan looked for guidance from the Feds, but didn’t receive any.
“As we have not heard back from the grant administrators,” he said, via meeting minutes in February 2022, “we have not been in a position to negotiate if we would like to accept these terms or take legal action, criminal or civil, to recoup costs.”
Which is the current status today. In an email, Riordan said that Constanino’s and TWDC have “not finalized an agreement” due “to timing and attempting to understand our obligations/responsibilities.” It’s uncertain whether or not Constantino’s will face any repercussions, as the CDC minutes last April suggested, or whether TWDC will move to have the grocer labeled “a non-trusted business entity for public funds,” which is another option.
As for when resolution will come, “I’m hoping in three months,” Riordan said, “and if we don’t have it in six months, I’m going to be hiding under my desktop.”
Currently in Tremont, residents have no medium or large-sized grocery within walking distance. If what they’re seeking isn’t at smaller convenience stores, like the Professor and Tremont Markets, residents have to travel to the nearby Steelyard Commons, Dave’s in Ohio City or to downtown’s Heinen’s for a suitable selection of produce and household goods. The Tremont General Store on Professor Avenue operated for some years, but closed due to the inability to turn a profit.
Hub 27, a residential complex planned for a western section of Tremont, is rumored to come with an on-site grocery, yet those plans have not yet been confirmed.
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This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.
