Jack and Jake's Gets $1M Loan Toward Central City Market

Jack and Jake's, a "regional food hub" that's set to open on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, got a nice shot in the arm in the form of a $1 million loan last week, The Advocate reports. The loan, half of which may be forgiven, was provided through the city's Fresh Food Retailer Initiative, a program geared toward vendors who are bringing healthy eats and fresh produce to food deserts. Jack and Jake's will be a 23,000-square-foot, public market-style grocery store in the former Myrtle Banks Elementary School (née McDonogh 38) with 11,000-square-feet of office space and 10,000-square-feet of green space. The E.A. Christy-designed structure was built in 1910 and ended its school days in 2002 when it was just too wrecked to carry on. A 2008 fire obviously didn't help things any, but developers Alembic Community Development came to the rescue and paid $660,000 for the blighted Central City building in 2011. After a crazy-extensive makeover with the total cost "between $17 million and $18 million," Jack and Jake's is slated to open this fall.