“Today has been a long time coming,” said Rev. Donald Sterling, pastor of New All Saints R.C. Church, in marking the groundbreaking of what he called “an oasis in the food desert in Northwest Baltimore.”

That’s an understatement.

It has been 14 years since Super Pride closed its Howard Park store, leaving the community bereft of a full-service supermarket.

First came the snail-slow assembly of land for a new grocery store, followed by legal sparring between the city and Rite Aid Pharmacy over a restrictive covenant that was not expunged when the city had purchased one parcel.

Into this mix was a City Council ordinance seeking to condemn the disputed covenant. Plus a threatened community boycott of Rite Aid – and a real solo one by citizen activist Kim Trueheart.

In short, a situation akin to Chinese water torture, said Preston Greene, president of the Howard Park Civic Association, a few months ago.

But today, amid rain showers on a muddy open field (the site had been cleared long ago by “Demolition King” Pless Jones), local politicians joined supermarket executives and more than 100 residents to witness the groundbreaking of the new store.

Credit Seekers

There were plenty of others under the canvas tent claiming credit for getting the project going, including UpLift Solutions, a Philadelphia nonprofit, and BUILD, an interfaith Baltimore group whose members favor Windex-blue tee-shirts.

For her part, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake portrayed the grocery store as an outgrowth of her commitment to grow Baltimore by 10,000 families.

“This [was] a team effort. Everyone in government – all of us know how vital it was to get to this point today,” she said.

Multi-Purpose Store

The Klein family, operators of eight regional ShopRite supermarkets, are making their first entry into Baltimore City by promising a 68,000-square-foot shopping campus that will include a pharmacy, health suite staffed by a nurse practitioner, bakery, an extensive seafood section and a separate halal meat section.

The family has purchased the 6.6 acres, fronted by Liberty Heights and Hillsdale avenues, for $2 million from the city, with the actual payment deferred for eight years under an agreement signed by the mayor in 2011.

Financing for the supermarket will come through The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) of Philadelphia, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, federal New Markets Tax Credit program, and two commercial banks.

The purpose behind TRF’s investment, CEO Don Hinkle-Brown said today, is to bring “healthy food and new jobs” into the community.

The store’s development also has been supported by UpLift Solutions, a non-profit started by businessman Jeff Brown to provide urban neighborhoods with affordable and fresh food. The project has also been recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama as part of her “Let’s Move” initiative.

Despite today’s bonhomie and some spirited dancing by a troupe from the Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary School, the real date of importance is when the store opens.

If all goes as planned, that will take place in April 2014, according to Marshall Klein, chief operating officer of Klein’s Family Markets.