Rebuilding One Aisle at a Time

Release Date: Feb 19, 2009

The recent announcement that a Kuhn’s supermarket is being proposed for Pittsburgh’s struggling Hill District has enhanced the real-world impact of a Heinz College economic development case challenge.

In October, six teams of students from various Heinz College degree programs participated in a competition that challenged them to research and evaluate grocery store concepts for underserved neighborhoods. The project was sponsored by Landmarks Community Capital Corporation (LCCC), a nonprofit organization that provides capital and development assistance to low- and moderate-income communities in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and West Virginia.

“We thought this would be a great opportunity to involve the students in a real-life project,” said Michael Sriprasert, manager of real estate finance for LCCC and a 2006 Heinz College alumnus. “This was not a typical case study. Like most of the projects we work on, there wasn’t a lot of data, and the decisions made have an impact on entire communities and involve taxpayer dollars.”

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, several community partners and government agencies have committed to the Kuhn’s Hill District project, which is estimated to cost $8.4 million. The store, scheduled for a 2010 opening, will be located at Centre Avenue and Heldman Street.

“Every community needs amenities to help it grow, and grocery stores by and large are one entity that can help springboard a community,” said LCCC CEO Dr. Howard B. Slaughter, a 1995 Heinz College graduate. “Statistics will tell you that when you bring a grocery store to a neighborhood, other businesses will follow.”

For the challenge, the students first met with representatives from the Hill House, a community development organization that is involved in the grocery store project. Students then traveled to a Save-A-Lot supermarket in Pittsburgh’s Wilkinsburg Borough to see firsthand the positive change accessibility to fresh, nutritious foods can bring to a community.

“I found the LCCC challenge to be especially satisfying and motivating because there was a whole community and real people involved,” said Biotechnology and Management student Sruti Mohandas, a member of the challenge’s first place team. “We had to consider not just the business aspect of the case but also the mood of a community that had been deprived of benefits for years.”

The culmination of the case competition was a presentation by the teams to a panel of community leaders and economic development experts. Supported by data from financial institutions and transcripts of interviews with grocery store owners in other low-income neighborhoods around the country, each team offered its ideal supermarket concept for the Hill District.

“Interacting with residents of the Hill district and presenting to a panel of community officials who gave us encouraging feedback on our work was indeed an extremely satisfying experience,” Mohandas said.

Public Policy and Management student Emily Burnett, Mohandas’ teammate, said Heinz College projects like the LCCC competition offer students an opportunity to apply classroom theory to tangible experiences.

“I am extremely happy that the Hill District’s need for a grocery store could finally be realized,” said Burnett.

Sriprasert said the work of all the Heinz College students involved in the challenge should prove to be of value for years to come.

"We now have great examples from all across the country that will benefit future projects of this nature.” said Sriprasert. “Heinz College has the future leaders of the policy world and to be able to bring these students together and get very creative ideas is extremely beneficial.”

(Photo: The LCCC case challenge students with Sriprasert.)

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