Seward Co-op's new store will bring jobs and food to grocery-scarce Minneapolis neighborhood

The Seward Community Co-op of Minneapolis plans to open its second store in October at 38th Street and 3rd Avenue S. in what will be a significant economic development in the working-class neighborhood, as well as a locally owned grocery that will employ about 90 people at base wages of at least $12.82 an hour.

Seward Co-op, which posted $32 million in retail sales last year, is bursting at the seams at its flagship store on E. Franklin, Seward marketing manager Tom Vogel said.

"We want to alleviate some pressure on our Franklin store and about 20 percent of our current membership of 13,000 households live closer to the [38th Street] store," he said. "A lot of our owners already live in that neighborhood. And we expect to gain many new members and customers."

Seward's research showed that neighbors wanted a full-service store with fresh food. There is no walking-distance grocery, beyond convenience stores, in the Bryant-Central Neighborhood, a few blocks east of the upticking commercial hub of 38th Street and Nicollet Avenue. Seward Co-op bought the land from relocated Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

The $11.5 million project, including acquisition, development and construction costs, will boast 10,800 square feet of retail space, plus offices and preparation space, and a parking lot. More than 115 of the co-op owners raised money to invest in the new store. The financing includes about $3 million in Seward-owner equity, $5 million in debt from Anchor Bank and Sunrise Banks, and $3.5 million in federal tax credits earned over several years by accredited investors that invest in the project.

The neighbors supported a rezoning of the property from residential to commercial two years ago on the promise of a thriving grocery store and good-paying jobs, including salaried store managers. Seward is committed to hiring employees from the neighborhood. And the Central Neighborhood group plans to hold Seward to that commitment.

Seward Co-op, which employs more than 225 people, in 2009 moved its flagship store to a larger, renovated building on E. Franklin Avenue. Last year it purchased and refurbished the old Franklin Creamery building on 26th Street and Franklin, a couple of blocks away, for office and food-production space.

Entrepreneurs Salazar and Wadi honored

Two restaurant entrepreneurs have received the 2015 Immigrant of Distinction Award from the Minnesota/Dakotas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. They are Enrique Garcia Salazar of La Loma Tamales and Sameh Wadi, owner of Saffron.

Salazar, a Mexican who immigrated in 1993, and his wife, Noelia Garcia, started La Loma as a small coffee shop at Bloomington Avenue and E. Lake Street in 1999. Today, 70-employee La Loma operates six restaurants, a catering business and a manufacturing-and-wholesale plant.

Salazar serves as board chairman of the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), which is dedicated to economic opportunities for Latinos in Minnesota. And in 2013, Salazar and his wife pledged $50,000 to the LEDC's Latino Scholarship Fund.

Wadi is a Palestinian-American born in Kuwait who fled to Jordan during the Gulf War of 1991 and immigrated to the United States in 1997, where his family started the Holy Land restaurants-and-foods business in northeast Minneapolis.

Immigrants and their children refresh our tables, our culture and help build our economy. That's why business organizations support immigration reform. We're also going to need more workers as baby boomers retire. Hats off to these immigrant entrepreneurs and workers.

The April 24 article about the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) assessing Minneapolis-based RBC Financial $1.4 million, including customer restitution, for inappropriately selling derivative securities called "reverse convertibles" to hundreds of individual clients, failed to mention that RBC was not alone in getting spanked by the industry cop.

FINRA fined Wells Fargo $2 million in 2011 for "unsuitable sales" of reverse convertibles.

And Santander Securities, Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc., H&R Block Financial Advisors and other financial-product sellers paid $200,000 to $2 million in fines between 2010 and 2015.

RBC sold the product to clients deemed unsuitable for the investment between 2008 and 2012.

The 40,000 people who live downtown in the North Loop, Central Business District, Loring Park, Mill District and other loop neighborhoods constitute a growth engine that has reversed a generations-old Minneapolis population decline to the suburbs, and attracted grocery stores and service businesses that serve residents and workers.

Downtown's population has risen by nearly a quarter over the last decade.

The Downtown Council, the business association, has gotten behind the trend with a new website. It is designed to showcase downtown's specific neighborhoods, ownership-and-rental residencies and options; parking, biking, car-sharing and transit options, and more.

"Downtown is the only place where jobs, retail, grocery, entertainment, culture, recreation, and living all come together," said Mike Ryan, chair of the Downtown Council's 2025 Plan Development Committee and director of architecture and engineering at Ryan Companies. "Explore Downtown Living is all about showing off the great variety of neighborhoods and living options that exist, so people can see and find what fits them best."

On May 16 and 17, Explore Downtown Living will offer a tour of 22 residential communities. See www.exploreDTLiving.com for more information.