The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved $885,000 in incentives in the hopes of attracting a grocery store to the former Save A Lot at the Heritage Park Towne Center in Titusville’s Woodland Park neighborhood.

It’s the third such package city leaders have approved in the past four years as they have struggled to get or keep a retailer that can offer fresh foods to local residents with few choices nearby.

Coreata’ R. Houser, interim director of the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, presented the measure to the council, saying the agreement is a targeted, performance-based incentive that aligns with successful structures previously approved by the council for grocery stores in Birmingham.

“The severity of food access in Birmingham is a real challenge, and it spreads across the entire city,” Houser said. “The majority of Birmingham’s population is in a census tract food desert. And that is not a statistical metric but it is defined daily reality for our residents.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines areas as food deserts if they have poverty rates of 20% or higher and at least 33% of the area’s population lives more than 1 mile from a supermarket or large grocery store, 10 miles in the case of rural census tracts.

The agreement approved Tuesday is with Carver Jones Market, which will lease and remodel the 10,000-square-foot site that Save A Lot left in 2023. The firm will get $300,000 90 days after completion of the agreement as well as $300,000 30 days after the store’s grand opening. The remainder of the package will come in the form of tax abatements, which Houser said will be performance-based and paid in arrears.

Carver Jones Market recently operated a location in Fairfield. The store opened in July 2024 but closed and re-opened Sept. 1 as a ministry of Urban Hope Community Church, which owns the building.

Councilor Crystal Smitherman asked Carver Jones CEO James Harris why the Fairfield location didn’t work.

“Well, there’s not a one answer to that, but I will give you kind of a big picture of it,” Harris said. “First of all, we went into that operation as a prototype store. In other words, you’re testing your systems. You’re trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. The second thing is, the city (of Fairfield) could not help at all. We asked for 2% tax abatement. They couldn’t help us in any other way, in startup funds.”

Smitherman said the council wants to make sure the grocery store will be there in the years to come.

“What’s starting to happen with that location: We got Save A Lot; we lost it. We got it back, then we lost Save A Lot, and then we had Dollar General, and that fell through. So I just don’t want to keep building up this momentum to the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods, and then we’re failing them every time,” she said.

Harris told the council that there are no guarantees in the grocery industry, but he believes the venture is viable given the willingness of city leaders to support the effort.

“Let’s be honest, we all have to be on the same page in terms of effort. I can’t do this without you. I can’t do it without the people. Otherwise we’re just throwing money out there. There’s not enough profit in this business to just do that if you don’t care about people,” Harris said.

Councilor Darrell O’Quinn said he is encouraged at the project’s chances because of Harris’ experience in the grocery sector. According to a profile from The Birmingham Times, Harris worked as vice president of sales and marketing for Belle Foods, which had purchased the Bruno’s Market franchise. He also founded Harvest Community Charities, which works with area churches and food pantries to combat food insecurity and generational poverty.

The measure approved Tuesday is part of a longstanding effort by city leaders to provide more access to fresh produce for Birmingham residents, In December 2021, Mayor Randall Woodfin announced a $2 million grocery store recruitment plan focusing on west Birmingham and other underserved communities. In April 2022, the council agreed to provide $640,000 from the plan to help open a Food Giant in the Five Points West area.

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The Route to Groceries in Woodland Park

2007: Food World closes its location at the Heritage Park Towne Center.

2010: Birmingham leaders offer $650,000 in tax rebates over six years to get the Save A Lot in the former Food World location.

2021: The council approves a loan and incentives program to keep the store from closing as Save A Lot locations throughout the country shut their doors. The package includes a $1 million, 24-month loan at 3% interest as well as up to $750,000 in tax rebates over 10 years.

2023: Save A Lot location in Heritage Park Towne Center Closes.

2025: The council approves a $600,000 incentive to bring a Dollar General DG Market into the empty spot at the Heritage Park Towne Center, but the deal falls through.