Forest Park proposes Grapevine food terminal at former Rite Aid; board and URA staff discuss funding, leases and contracts

City of Forest Park staff on Tuesday outlined plans to convert the former Rite Aid on Forest Parkway into a mixed-use food terminal and business incubator called Grapevine and asked the Urban Redevelopment Agency board to consider using URA funds and an amendment to the URA boundary to help finish the renovation.

City Manager Daniel Clark told the board the interior renovation and site work have been bid and that the project ‘‘total cost is 2.8, million dollars’’ and that ‘‘100% of that work [to date] was funded by a CDBG grant, of which we still have funds remaining totaling close to $600,000.’’ Clark described Grapevine as a three-restaurant food terminal with flex office space, a conference room, a commissary ("ghost kitchen") to allow home cooks to operate legally, a drive-through coffee shop and a bakery.

Why it matters: city staff and the URA emphasized that the project is intended to activate Forest Parkway, address an area the city described as a ‘‘food desert,’’ remove…