Mid-Ohio Food Collective and the City of Columbus plan to turn an abandoned shopping center into a 67,000-square-foot resource center with food, city services and more.
Columbus plans to invest $4 million in city funds into the project that would transform a former Kroger store on Refugee Road in the Eastland Area – into the MOFC’s Eastland Prosperity Center.
The Kroger, which was the area’s main grocery store, closed in May 2022, leaving many residents without easy access to food. Now, the large store is empty along with most of the plaza it's located in. A Dollar Tree and a barbershop still remain.
MOFC purchased the building at a reduced cost in a deal with Kroger in March 2023 with the intent of creating a center with collaborative services. It'll be about five times bigger than MOFC's other community centers, according to MOCF spokesman Mike Hochran.
During an event at the site Wednesday morning, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said the loss of the Kroger store and the closure of Eastland Mall was a blow to the community.
"This wasn't just a few shops. It was jobs, it was resources, it was medical care, a place for the community to engage with one another," Hardin said.
Mid-Ohio Food Collective President and CEO Matt Habash said hunger remains at record levels across many communities — including the Eastland area, which has some of the highest unmet needs in central Ohio.
"We realized that most of the people that were getting food were driving all the way to our market in Grove City," Habash said. "You know, not convenient by anybody's stretch of the imagination."
Both eviction and infant mortality rates in the Eastland area are among the highest in Franklin County, according to MOFC. About half of area residents qualify for food assistance.
The new center is expected to open in 2026. Renderings show a dedicated entrance to a Mid-Ohio fresh food market and a larger entrance to the main facility, which is set to include a community health center. Services and programs like the Far East Neighborhood Pride Center and a WIC (women, infants and children) nutrition program are set to be located in the building.
"Co-locating is one thing. Building a collaborative model that leads to community impact is what this space is all about," Habash said.
MOFC anticipates the center will serve more than 100,000 people each year.
Construction on the center is set to begin in 2025 and is estimated to cost $13.5 million. The city’s $4 million investment is the largest single contribution to the project so far. City funding will come from the capital budget and proposed Community Development Block Grant funds.
Habash said the federal government also committed around $2 million and the state of Ohio put about half a million dollars to the project. The rest of the funding for the center is expected to come from private donations.
