The Grand Opening Celebration for the Five Points Village Plaza was held on Friday, May 5, 2006. HUD representatives joined others in speaking at the event, encouraging area residents to patronize plaza stores in Knoxville's newest shopping center. Metro Village Market IGA is its anchor tenant, located at 2410 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

LeRoy Thompson, developer and majority owner of the Five Points Village Plaza, takes a piece from the ceremonial ribbon-cutting. Seated at right is community icon Sarah Moore Greene.

The five-acre site was prepared with the use of federal, city and county dollars to turn a blighted piece of property into a place that provided jobs, training opportunities, goods and services. The project will serve as a catalyst for future development that will result in increased property values and spending within the heart of Knoxville. The project used $1.75 million in Empowerment Zone funding, which leveraged $4.3 million in other funds. PNI (Partnership for Neighborhood Improvement) is the lead agency selected by the city to improve Knoxville neighborhoods. Developer LeRoy Thompson's company, BDT Management & Development LLC, and a partnership formed by Thompson and veteran grocery store operator Norman Cox invested nearly $2 million. The project also received funding from the City of Knoxville, Knox County, Knoxville Utilities Board, and a federal grant awarded to PNI.

Metro Village Market IGA, anchor tenant, located at 2410 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave - less than two miles east of downtown.

City officials offered encouraging remarks in regard to the development. Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam told the crowd of more than 400 residents and businesspeople that "All this doesn't work unless we shop here". Congressman Jimmy Duncan (R-2nd Dist) called the shopping center "representative of the good things happening in Knoxville."

The grand opening was held on a Friday night on the lawn outside the grocery store, with a variety of food, booths and entertainment. After the ribbon cutting and speeches, groups of local teenagers performed; girls did traditional African dances; boys played with synchronized drums; a choir sang gospel music, which had older folks from the community in tears. The community bond was evident.

Knoxville's local Metropulse weekly publication recently captured the area's rich history and personality and sense of pride that abounds in this East Knoxville community:

"It seems a neighborhood on the brink of reclaiming its identity, one that only some old-timers remember. In the center of the neighborhood at Five Points stands the shiny new Metro village Market, an IGA food store. The attractive brick and stucco shopping strip also houses a gas station, a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a Knox County Clerk's office and the forthcoming J-R's House of Fashion.

Weeks after the grand opening, LeRoy Thompson stands at the deli counter inside Metro Village IGA, surveying luscious vats of macaroni and cheese, green-bean casserole, fried chicken, catfish, and other Southern specialties.

Wright, who actually came out of retirement to join Thompson in the venture, has been in the grocery biz all his life; his family owned the old Cox and Wright grocery from 1947 until the early '90s. "I've known LeRoy since he was raised coming to our store," he says. "It's a great neighborhood. It gets a bad rap sometimes, but 99 percent of the people are just honest, hardworking people."

The majority of the shoppers here are black, with a few whites interspersed, but both Wright and Thompson see the grocery as a venue for breaking down Knoxville's racial barriers. "I love seeing black, white, Latino and Asian shoppers together, and there's no sense of fear," says Wright. "We want that Andy Griffith-type store. We're friendly and we carry your groceries out to your car. Cashiers will say, 'Hey Miss Jones' and 'Hey Brother Charles.'"

That sense of community is almost always on display outside the store, where two patio tables function as an informal meeting place. On any given day you can see Knox County Commissioners Tank Strickland and Diane Jordan having lunch from the deli with coworkers. "I come here for lunch all the time, and for my groceries. I'm here pretty much every day," says Strickland. "It's really a gathering spot."

At the grand opening, a man named Alan J. Milton, Jr. shut his eyes and rubbed a hand across the chest of his white sweater "I need you to survive!" Later, he explained that he's a part-time preacher who takes his ministry into (nearby) Walter P. Taylor public housing, where he once lived. "We're only in the middle of the beginning. This is one blade of grass in the scheme of what needs to happen in East Knoxville," he says. "Now we have the Metro Village, but we need a skate rink and some more places for youth to go." "I believe it is a challenge and it can be breathing hope into this area," he says. "The next step is to get into the heart of the people. It's a culture unlike any other culture."

"I don't like the word 'projects.' I like a neighborhood." �Sarah Moore Greene.

It would seem that the current development is an effort to uplift the neighborhood, to revert back to the days of economic vibrance. Thompson is a firm believer that if the community can support the grocery, ti will act as a catalyst for other improvements. Thompson has big dreams for the community he grew up in. He'd like to be able to get a scholarship program started if the grocery does flourish. "This is an opportunity for African Americans and our community as a whole to collectively work together".

While a mix of rental and owned housing can be healthy for a community, the redevelopment concept seeks to increase home ownership to create more of a balance. Knox Housing Partnership continues to encourage and aid first-time homeowners in the area. The theory is that people take a more vested interest in the community and the property when they own a house. "One of the reasons we got Wells Fargo as a tenant is that they are looking at emerging markets where renovations are happening," says Thompson.

For Thompson, it's more than just a grocery store. He says "It's about a total social redevelopment. To me, it's kingdom building."

Metropulse article: www.metropulse.com/articles/2006/16_22/cover_story.shtml