ST. LOUIS – What once was a dilapidated building is now in the works of being transformed into a culinary incubator and farmers market, all in hopes of revitalizing the Hyde Park neighborhood.
“It’s an incubator space for minority and women-owned businesses that are food purveyors, food truck operators. It’s a café that will house a barista stand, (and) it is a market,” Fatimah Muhammad, executive director of Be Well Café Culinary Incubator and Marketplace, said.
The project partners, MSD and Resource Environmental Solutions, are looking for property owners who are interested in turning their property into green infrastructure to help prevent flooding.
“We will have a garden, or what we call a rain garden, that allows the water to infiltrate the ground. The plants absorb the water, and some of the water goes into the ground. Anything that’s too much would overflow and go into an overflow drain,” Aaron Defenbaugh, project manager at RES, said.
The Be Well Café on N. 21st and Salisbury Streets will include housing above, and two adjacent lots will be used for the rain garden and farmers market, along with a patio on the side.
“This is one small step toward the economic revitalization that needs to happen on the north side of our city, which has been left to fail for decades,” Mayor Tishaura Jones said. “So, we have been intentional about our deployment of ARPA funds to neighborhoods that haven’t been invested in in decades.”
Mayor Jones said additional projects are in the works, such as the MLK development on Vandeventer, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and more.
The Be Well Café Culinary Incubator and Marketplace and the green infrastructure are set to be completed and open for business by summer 2024.
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