COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Mid-Ohio Food Collective (MOFC) announced Monday the organization has purchased a former Kroger location to be repurposed to help serve the community once again.
The organization said exact plans for the 67,000-square-foot former grocery store are being finalized. The new center will offer food access and critically needed human-centered services.
“We want to come together with a lot of other partners,” said Mid-Ohio Food Collective president and CEO, Matt Habash.
MOFC will work with community partners and conduct outreach to learn what services are most needed in the area, according to the release. The organization says the neighborhood has high rates of food insecurity and evictions.
Habash said while the plans are not set in stone at this time, he hopes they'll be able to use this space to help people find jobs or medical care, all under one roof.
“We want to step into that space so we can truly talk about ending hunger from a place where they no longer need to get services but you've got to build the services around that,” he said.
The Kroger store, which shut down in May 2022, anchored several smaller businesses in a strip mall located at 4485 Refugee Road.
MOFC said talks to purchase the property began shortly before the closure and last week, Kroger sold the entire complex significantly below market rate to ensure food access for the neighborhood. Current tenants at the shopping center will not be affected.
“For us it wasn't about selling this building for a profit this was about us being able to make sure that we partnered with the right organization that's going to come in and provide a needed resource in this community,” said Amy McCormick, corporate affairs manager for Kroger.
A timeline for construction is not yet known.