WOODLAWN — Jewel is planning to open a new grocery store at 61st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced late Monday that the grocery store Preservation of Affordable Housing said it was negotiating in March will be a 48,000-square-foot Jewel with a drive-thru pharmacy.
The grocery store is expected to bring 200 jobs to the neighborhood.
It was Emanuel's third scheduled visit to Woodlawn in a week. He was in the neighborhood Monday to detail planned improvements to the nearby Cottage Grove Green Line station. He was scheduled to appear at a groundbreaking for a new residential and retail project last week, but was unable to make it.
"Jewel, when they see that public investment, they want to be a part of that," Emanuel said.
Preservation of Affordable Housing will sell the land to developers DL3 and Terraco.
Leon Walker, managing partner at DL3, said the project is the pivot point towards better days for Woodlawn.
"It's been a long time coming, but change is coming to Woodlawn," Walker said.
Unlike many larger projects in Woodlawn or other grocery store projects on the South Side, DL3 is not pursuing tax incentives to fund the project.
Developers have been in negotiations for three years to attract a grocery store to Woodlawn as options have increased in Hyde Park, according to Walker.
Though Woodlawn’s population is now growing at rate faster than Hyde Park's, Whole Foods and other grocers have chosen to locate in the middle-class Hyde Park, while Woodlawn has only one full-service grocery store, an Aldi at 6621 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
The new Jewel is expected to open next year and have 180 parking spots.
