GRAND RAPIDS, MI —A new affordable housing development in Grand Rapids has been completed on a site that once housed a Black-owned grocery store, marking a new chapter for a location once central to the Madison Square neighborhood.
ICCF Community Homes hosted a ceremonial ribbon cutting Thursday for the Tate & Thomas Apartments, named for Wilson Tate and Frank Thomas, the late owners of Madison Food Center. The $18 million low-income housing development includes 45 units across two buildings at 1309 Madison Ave. SE and 415 Adams St. SE.
Michelle Covington, ICCF’s vice president of advancement, said Madison Food Center — opened by Tate and Thomas in 1983 — was “more than a place to buy groceries.”…