Lynn Street Market closes fresh food gap in Downtown Danville
Borrower : SS Lofts LLC
Where : Danville, VA
Loan Amount : $300,000 for renovation; $1,785,000 to purchase the property
Project Type : Fixed-term and real-estate loans
Opportunity
Revitalization in Downtown Danville has transformed old commercial buildings into new retail and housing complexes. Included in this transformation is the former Smith Seed building, which provides 20 apartment units and two ground-floor retail spaces. Through C&J Properties LLC, owners Jason and Caroline Wilson purchased the building in part with a real estate loan of $1,785,000 from VCC.
However, the areas growing population was still in need of better access to fresh food.
Jason Wilson partnered with Steve Delgiorno to create Lynn Street Market LLC, a retailer that specializes in healthy foods under the slogan “Real Food. Real Simple.” The market brings a vacant storefront back to life in downtown Danville, providing fresh and healthy food.When fully developed with the completion of the market, the building is expected to be valued at more than $2.9 million.
Solution
Fixed-term loan
The funding package allowed the Wilsons to tap into additional sources of capital from the Virginia Fresh Food Loan Fund for part of the financing, allowing VCC to provide a lower, blended interest rate on the full loan amount.
Impact
VCC is committed to supporting business expansion and helping to attract future private investment. Since opening in July 2019, the Lynn Street Market – which operates in a local enterprise zone – is helping to close a food gap in an underserved area.
Not only does Lynn Street Market offer the freshest and best-quality ingredients for purchase, but it is also committed to carrying locally produced, minimally processed, natural, organic, clean foods. The market serves the community with a range of options from ready-to-cook selections to helping residents learn to cook in its teaching kitchen, The Central Kitchen.
Additionally, the market created new jobs while helping to improve the continued revitalized image of the downtown corridor.