LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Metro government ended talks for a grocery store in a underserved area of Louisville and plans to restart the process in the coming weeks, Mayor Greg Fischer's office said Tuesday.Â
The city stopped negotiations with the Louisville Association for Community Economics Inc. and its partner, Louisville Community Grocery, on January 10, according to a letter from Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell's office, which represents Metro government.Â
The letter says the organizations failed to "meet key deadlines" in a letter of intent they signed last August, including having control of the store site by December 31.Â
But Cassia Herron, a LACE co-founder, said it's not that simple. In an interview Tuesday, she said grocery developers told city officials in their plan that they needed $500,000 to continue site selection work but never received a development agreement releasing those funds.Â
That money would have been part of a $3.5 million in bond funds the Metro Council approved for the project in 2020. Proposals were due in January 2021.Â
The letter of intent between the developers and the city's Department for Public Health and Wellness says the development agreement would be finalized within three months, or by early November 2021.Â
"We just simply needed Metro to be a partner," Herron said. "We needed the announcement that our local government is in partnership with a group of citizens to do something that local government hasn't been able to do."Â
Herron said the grocery developers are moving forward with other funding.
"We hope to secure options on a couple of properties sometime this spring," she said. "We're moving forward; Metro just won't be a partner."Â
Stephanie Mutchnick, LACE's interim executive director, said in an email on Tuesday that her group doesn't know why the Metro government decision was made.Â
"It is unclear why they would want to work with another developer over a local community organization," she said. "The Louisville Community Grocery is the perfect project for the city to show its commitment to the community by supporting a people-powered grocery in a neighborhood of opportunity."
In an op-ed published in the Courier Journal in January, LACE and the Louisville Community Grocery said "Metro staff refused to offer a mutually beneficial development arrangement, outline a reasonable course of action, or offer any city-owned sites for consideration."Â
Metro Council member Jecorey Arthur told his constituents in a newsletter last year that the proposed store was to be located on a vacant lot in Smoketown, a neighborhood in his district.
Arthur said through a spokeswoman on Tuesday that there are no intentions to rescind or reallocate that funding, and that it is the mayor’s responsibility to negotiate a successful deal.
Fischer told reporters Tuesday that a new, "more explicit" request for proposals will be released in the coming weeks "so the requirements are very clear."
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