The push to quench the grocery food desert in east Kankakee has intensified.

And while Mayor Chris Curtis is not in need of a cash register or shelf stocking jobs, he is upping the efforts to bring a grocery store to city areas underserved with a full-service grocery.

At Tuesday’s Kankakee City Council meeting, the council, by a 12-0 vote, approved a resolution authorizing the administration to enter into an agreement with Wheaton-based Mallon and Associates, Inc., a real estate and development company, to conduct a feasibility study and implementation plan for a full-service grocery store.

The city has targeted east Kankakee, which has been officially labeled a food desert, as in need of a grocery store.

The study has also been expanded to also include the Shoppes at Meadowview shopping center as part of the study.

The $29,500 study is expected to be completed in May or June.

Curtis is hoping to have the completed study or at least the bulk of the study in hand when he attends a retail convention in late May.

When Curtis announced his bid for a second term in 2024, one of his top priorities was bringing a full-service grocery to east Kankakee.

East Kankakee has been without a full-service grocery store since the early 1990s when Kmart, which housed a full-service grocery and was one of the country’s first Super Kmart sites, left the location which the Ricky Rockets Fuel Center now occupies.

The most recent grocery store in Meadowview was Ultra Foods, which abruptly closed in 2017 when its parent company, Central Grocers, filed bankruptcy.

In its proposal, Mallon and Associates noted they have been involved in the analysis and development of more than 225 food and drug stores during the past 40 years.

They have worked with such brands as Dominick’s, Jewel/Osco, Food Lion, Whole Foods, Tony’s Finer Foods, Meijer’s, Kroger, 4less, Aldi, and DOM’s Kitchen & Market, among others.

“Mallon and Associates, Inc., understands that selecting the right site is only the first and perhaps the easiest part of building a successful retail center. Our team’s diligence, hard work and attention to detail – combined with creativity and passion – results in successful retail ventures that benefit retailers, shoppers and the community," the company stated to city leadership.

The “first step” will include:

· Assessing the Kankakee East Court Street and Meadowview markets to determine what grocery store format would be appropriate and/or successful.

· Determining sales projections for differing store formats, sizes and operators.

· Estimating what type of sales the store could produce.

· Identifying potential grocery store users.

· Evaluating the market potential and site selection for the Kankakee Market.

Curtis has been upfront with the likelihood that the city would need a substantial incentive package to bring about this opportunity.

The mayor also noted the Mallon report could determine a full-service grocery can not be successful in either east Kankakee or Meadowview.

“I would love to see a large service grocery on the east side or Meadowview,” he said.

To do so, the city will need to convince a retailer this is a viable location.

Curtis noted this may be his most difficult undertaking as mayor.

“This will take incentives. I will have to have to incentives the heck out of it,” he said. “... The study will tell us whether this makes sense.

“... This will take every bit of my sales, charm and wisdom to pull this off.”

Curtis said the city has reached out to some businesses, but to no avail.

“But we have to prove this can be successful.”