Hurley receives grocery store grant

HURLEY - The city of Hurley overcame a major hurdle in bringing a grocery store to the city as it was one of six communities to receive a Community Development Investment Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

According to a WEDC news release, Hurley was awarded a $250,000 grant to assist in redeveloping the site of the former Super One grocery store, located at 10th Avenue.

"I'm very, very happy and excited that (the grant) has finally come through," Hurley Mayor Joe Pinardi said. "We've been without a store now for two years last March."

According to the release, the plan calls for a 25,000 square-foot grocery store and a 5,000 square-foot hardware store to fill the 30,000 square-foot building.

Pinardi said the inclusion of the hardware store is a possibility and while he hadn't seen floor plans, his understanding was it was considered if they felt the grocery store couldn't fill the whole footprint.

He also said that he understood it to be a small size, offering a limited range of goods, and not a threat to Giovanoni True Value Hardware.

"I think it's going to be an enhancement to the store we already have," Pinardi said, saying he envisioned it as a way to keep shoppers in Hurley if there was something Giovanoni didn't have in stock. "It's not designed to hurt the store we already have at all."

The WEDC grant was a key part of the project that could see as much as $2.5 million invested in the site from a variety of sources - including project developer, Menominee-based Kendall Building, according to information presented when the Hurley City Council decided to pursue the grant.

To receive the grant, the city had to demonstrate the project would "lead to measurable benefits in job opportunities, property values and/or a 3:1 leveraged investment match by local and private partners," according to the release.

While the timeline for the project moving forward still needs to be confirmed, Pinardi said he heard the tentative plan was to have the store open "before the snow flies."

He said he was planning to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony sometime in the first two weeks of June.

"We're going to have Great Lakes Food, and the people from Pat's IGA - the two Campioni brothers (who own the grocery chain) - I think we're going to invite the whole world to come there."

Pat's Foods IGA, the grocery chain expected to move into the store, has one other Wisconsin location in Florence. The chain also has locations in Ontonagon, Calumet, L'Anse, Hancock and Houghton.