Belleville will soon have a full-service grocery store after the city’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) finalized the sale of the property at 458 Main St. to Sunset Holding for $725,000 at its Aug. 19 meeting.
DDA board member Whitney Beaubien clarified for those attending the meeting that Sunset Holding is the parent company of The Belleville Butcher shop, and owners Jim and Austin Nash are planning to move the butcher shop and fill out the rest of the building with a full grocery store.
“I think this is the highest and best use of this property,” said Mayor Kenneth Voight. “It’s the reason that we got control of the property was to keep it retail, and this is going to accomplish that.”
In a follow-up phone call after the meeting, Voigt said the DDA bought the property about two and a half years ago to make sure that it remained a retail space and to preserve parking for that address and other businesses nearby.
DDA chair John Winter noted that the DDA board “had to kiss a lot of frogs” before finding the right business to sell the property to.
The property at 458 Main St. was previously a hardware store for decades, starting out as Belleville Hardware, later becoming Hamilton Hardware, and then finally Pro Hardware before becoming vacant.
The Belleville Butcher Shop owners announce their intention to open the shop in the Lakeview Center in the 500 block of Main Street in late 2021 and opened for business in 2022.
The owners posted a note about the move on their Facebook page Aug. 20.
It said in part, “We’re excited to officially share that The Butcher Shop is moving to 458 Main Street, the former Belleville Hardware location! As we look ahead to Phase Two of The Butcher Shop, we’re incredibly grateful for all of the kind words, encouragement, and support we’ve received.”
The message continued, “We’re looking forward to growing, expanding, and continuing to serve the Belleville community from our new location.”
In other news from the Aug. 19 meeting, the DDA members:
- Heard a report from Kathleen Springer, founder of Springer Media, about the DDA’s social media numbers. Springer reported that views on the DDA’s Facebook page are up more than 65% from January, with the largest spikes being due to a scavenger hunt the DDA is sponsoring. Springer noted that there wasn’t much engagement on other social media channels. Board members discussed driving engagement on TikTok with a dance video.
- Heard from board member Valerie Kelley-Bonner, who is also founding director of Belleville-based nonprofit SOOAR, about the You Matter Belleville campaign to be held September 19. Activities included would be a walk, speakers and a banner people can sign. Kelley-Bonner asked for the DDA to pay for part of the costs of printing materials. The DDA voted to donate up to $500 for the event.
- Were admonished by board member Beaubien about needing to work harder to fill the paid part-time position of DDA director. The DDA has been operating without a director for many months, and City Manager Brady Peck has been fulfilling some of those duties while the DDA board seeks to hire a director. Peck reported that only two or three resumes had been received and only one looked promising.