Thank You Jeff Schwartz

February 8, 2014 by admin

How One Determined Urban Planner Built a Job-Generating Lefty Foodie Xanadu in New Orleans

New Orleans | 02/07/2014 9:47am | 0
Bill Bradley | Next City

wholefoodsschwartz
Schwartz speaks at the Whole Foods grand opening Tuesday Credit: MIT School of Architecture and Planning Facebook

Conversations abound, some of them perhaps in dark bars, about what to do with abandoned buildings in urban cores. It’s less common when someone like New Orleans native Jeff Schwartz takes a pipe dream — transforming a vacant, 60,000-square-foot grocery store in the Mid-City neighborhood into a food hub — and makes it a reality.

Schwartz, 32, is executive director of Broad Community Connections (BCC), a non-profit working to revitalize a neighborhood marred by decades of disinvestment. On Tuesday, Whole Foods, the anchor of BCC’s ReFresh Project, finally opened its doors to customers.

ReFresh, which occupies a part of New Orleans where the median household income is $27,826 and 22.6 percent of residents are on SNAP, has many goals, from providing better food access to education. For this latest project, Whole Foods, Liberty’s Kitchen (a non-profit program offering culinary training to youth and meals to local public schools) and Tulane University’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine will occupy a former Schweggman’s grocery store, which has sat vacant since Hurricane Katrina.

The site before the ReFresh project came to town. Credit: Broad Community Connections Facebook

Whole Foods was the linchpin and name brand that tied the whole project together. But it almost didn’t happen. The Austin grocer balked at first. So Schwartz, an affable graduate of the city’s beloved magnet public high school, spent the majority of 2011 courting a dozen grocers. Then, in late December 2011, he scored an interview with the company’s co-CEO Walter Robb.

“I got dressed up in a suit for the first time at BCC. They all walked in wearing jeans and fleeces,” Schwartz told me. “I was like, ‘Okay, they’re more approachable than I thought they would be.” Schwartz and BCC expressed their vision for not only a grocer in an underserved area — something Whole Foods has been bullish on — but a broader food education effort. They wanted to make it a food hub for the entire neighborhood. It was an easy sell.

“That day, Walter [Robb] was like, ‘We’re doing it,’” said Schwartz, an urban planner who returned to his hometown to help with post-Katrina recovery after completing his degree at MIT in 2008.

The Broad Street Whole Foods will be the chain’s second store in the city. The first opened in 2002 in the city’s posh uptown shopping district, not far from Tulane University.

Broad Community Connections used various financing methods to make ReFresh a reality. Like the recently reopened Circle Foods in the Seventh Ward, the group received a $1 million loan from the city’s Fresh Food Retailer Initiative, half of which is forgivable. Another $900,000 comes from the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority’s Corridor Revitalization Program. Various streams of private investment (including Goldman Sachs and Chase) and, like many businesses in low-income areas, New Market Tax Credits (NMTCs) made the deal possible.

It’s the latter where Whole Foods’ savvy helped BCC make the ReFresh Project work.

“Really, the biggest subsidy in the project was NMTC,” Schwartz said. (Goldman Sachs provided a $10 million NMTC allocation and Chase another $8 million.) “And Whole Foods, rather than keeping their money in their own sort of pot, they actually put their development dollars in with all of ours. That increased the amount of NMTC that we were able to get by over $1 million.”

Liberty’s Kitchen and the Goldring Center are set to open in the next two or three months. Liberty is already making 12 bulk food products daily for Whole Foods — part of the grocer’s focus on local products — which will drastically help increase revenues.

“Jeff has really built Broad Community Connections from the ground up,” said David Emond, Liberty’s executive director. “He’s been a real visionary and has been committed to this project from day one, when most people thought it would never really have a chance at all.”

Schwartz said he’s nut sure how heavily BCC might involve itself in future projects in the corridor — its hands are full with ReFresh — but hopes it will jumpstart other investments. “It’s going to have a significant impact in bringing people to Broad Street,” said Marla Nelson, associate professor and program coordinator of the Urban and Regional Planning Program at the University of New Orleans. That was Schwartz’s idea from the beginning

“We’ve always envisioned this project as being an anchor for small business development,” Schwartz said. “And we’d like to see some residential, preferably affordably or at least mixed-income development, in the rest of the corridor.”

Article courtesy NEXT CITY –> http://nextcity.org/equityfactor/entry/whole-foods-new-orleans-refresh-jeff-schwartz-project-refresh?fb_action_ids=10153791252005137&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.UvU9A1kdsjI.like&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[625662207469569]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[%22.UvU9A1kdsjI.like%22]

 

 

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: bayou st john, broad street, equity factor, faubourg st john, food access, hurricane katrina, jeff schwartz, main street, mid-city, New Orleans, nmtc, refresh project, underserved neighborhoods, whole foods

Broad Community Connections

September 26, 2013 by admin

 

 

S E P T E M B E R   N E W S L E T T E R
ReFresh Project Community Mapping
Healthy Lifestyles Committee Develops ReFresh Project Programming

The ReFresh Project construction is moving fast, and a group of food- and health-oriented organizations from around the city have been working together to form partnerships and develop the innovative programming that will occur at the site.  The group is open to individuals and organizations interested in working together toward building programs that will support the health, wellness, and economic vitality of the surrounding neighborhoods, and has focused on areas including community outreach and programming, workforce development, local food purveyors, public assistance outreach and registration, and community farm space on site.

The committee has made plans in these areas in order to make the ReFresh Project as accessible, usable, and impactful as possible in promoting food access and health.  As seen in the photo above, the group recently met to do a community and project mapping exercise to discover new partnerships and ways that people will access and use the ReFresh Project.

Meetings are held monthly, and current partners include: Liberty’s Kitchen Tulane Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine Whole Foods Market FirstLine Schools The Berger Group Brinton Family Health & Healing Center Friends of Lafitte Corridor Grow Dat Youth Farm Harambee Community Farms of New Orleans Latino Farmer’s Cooperative of Louisiana Louisiana Public Health Institute Providence Community Housing Ruth U. Fertel/Tulane Community Health Center Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana Share Our Strength Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center SPROUT NOLA Tulane Prevention Research Center

Send us an e-mail at [email protected] if you are interested in becoming involved in this unique collaboration of organizations working toward food access, health and wellness.  We look forward to seeing the innovative programs and partnerships that evolve out of the committee and its work.

100 Trees on Broad and Bayou Road

Broad Community Connections has partnered with the Broad Street-Bayou Road Merchants Association in 100 Trees on Broad and Bayou Road.  The project was formed with the goal of planting 100 street trees along Broad and Bayou Road, beginning with the fall planting season.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed more than $1400 in donations since the project’s launch a few weeks ago, and to Grow Dat Youth Farm for their generous donation of trees.  In addition to individual donations, BCC has applied to several council districts for grants to support the project.  We expect to start planting in early November. Find out more at BCC’s Web site!

Broad Gets Trash Mobbed!
Broad Community Connections partnered with NOLA Trash Mob to do a clean-up starting at Broad and Canal on August 25.  Merchants and neighbors all came out to support the event and help to promote a cleaner Broad Street.  Keep an eye out on BCC’s Facebook page for more information on future NOLA Trash Mob events around the corridor!

Upcoming Events

9/28 Community Book Center Open House Community Celebration 2523 Bayou Road Family fun, children’s activities, door prizes, silent auction, and more Free admission, refreshments sold 10 am-3 pm 30th Anniversary Celebration Gala 2523 Bayou Road Food, drinks, reflections, performances, silent auction, photo exhibit, and more $30 adults/ $15 children 6 pm-10 pm

9/29 Sunday Jazz/Gospel Brunch at Indigo 2275 Bayou Road $30 adults/ $15 children 11 am-2 pm Congo Square Preservation Society hosts A Tribute to Community Book Center for 30 years of literacy and civic service! Congo Square, Armstrong Park Open to the public, donations accepted 3-5 pm Ice Cream “Sunday” at Indigo 2275 Bayou Road Cool treats, facepainting, storytelling and prizes $10 per person 5-7 pm

9/30 New Orleans Saints Monday Night Football Party Community Book Center, 2523 Bayou Road Donations accepted, refreshments sold 6:30 pm

10/1 Broad Street-Bayou Road Merchants Association Meeting The Icehouse, 2803 St. Philip 6:00 pm

 

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