Summit Real Estate Group, as developer and consultant to area community leaders, is pleased to announce that a 8.7 acre re-development site has been acquired in Dellwood / Ferguson, Missouri just north of St. Louis. The $16 million re-development of Springwood Plaza, a 90,000 square foot shopping center, will be known as R&R Marketplace. The non-profit, community-driven initiative endeavors to be the cornerstone of the community and holistically address gaps in services, equity, education, and reverse disinvestment to heal and empower the surrounding area. A website introducing the project can be found here. Recent press on the project and its groundbreaking ceremony can be found here.
R&R Marketplace is the vision of Pastors Ken and Beverly Jenkins who founded the non-profit Refuge and Restoration in 1999 as a transitional home in St. Louis for men who were homeless, under-employed, unemployed, or previously incarcerated. Dedicated to providing critical support, businesses, and services to the local economy, R&R Marketplace will serve individuals and families in the region through workforce development, early childhood education, financial empowerment, entrepreneurial advancement, and a multi-plex facility that will host community structured opportunities. The project, including its re-developed spaces, seeks to engage the community through a five-pillar model:
· Brilliant Angels Academy – The academy is an early childhood learning center that will offer a quality education to pre-school aged children, while fostering inquisitive thinking, intuitive perception, and innovative concepts. The center seeks to teach and develop a minimum 90 children annually which would allow for access to a state-of-the-art creative and compassionate learning environment
· Employ St. Louis – Workforce development center that will provide access and a pathway in the surrounding communities to underutilized labor pools to be a bridge between future employees and local corporations. The center looks to train hundreds of people annually through the Jobs for Life Curriculum, with a focus on trade, medical, geospatial, and technology careers pathways
· North County Innovation Center – An entrepreneur co-working center that will facilitate ongoing relationships, support services, and an environment for unlimited growth. The co-working space itself seeks to house established, successful local businesses
· R&R Multi-Plex – The facility will host community structured opportunities, including but not limited to a church, health and wellness, events, and the arts. In addition, the facility will have space for community meetings, counseling, a computer lab, media production, a theater, and event venue space
· Banking Center – The center will host financial literacy classes as well as second chance programs for housing and credit readiness. In addition, the center will focus on access to capital for home ownership and micro-lending to entrepreneurs within the North County Innovation Center
Summit, in collaboration with local community leaders, is helping lead aspects of the re-development (site acquisition, raising equity, debt procurement, and managing construction) as wells as further supporting the project through participation on its Board of Directors and Advisory Board.