Welcome to About Town, where we take a deeper dive into one neighborhood each week while also highlighting the latest news, developments and back stories from Memphis’ neighborhoods. This week’s focus: Binghampton
The Binghampton Development Corp.’s search for a new grocer is a reminder of the challenges certain neighborhoods face in retaining or finding food stores in the first place.
When Save A Lot opened at the Binghampton Gateway Center in 2018 that initially ended a decade-long search for a grocery store. More importantly, that meant Binghampton no longer could be classified as a food desert.
Three years later, Binghampton is firmly a food desert again and there are no immediate plans to find a replacement following Save A Lot’s departure in June 2020.
That doesn’t mean the BDC is letting the vacant space at the Gateway Center remain that way. It recently secured another tenant Junior Achievement of Memphis and Mid-South.
The BDC went before the EDGE board this week and successfully received an exemption removing the requirement from an existing PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) that required a grocery as the Gateway Center’s anchor.
While the BDC is confident Junior Achievement will benefit Binghampton, that signaled another moment of disappointment in its goal to create quality food access for its residents.
It’s an unfortunate reality in many Memphis neighborhoods right now. What happens next is unclear, but the BDC plans to keep searching for another grocer.
If/when there are any updates, we’ll have them right here for you.
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