Lease with city for Park Street grocery store nears completion, say parties

A lease will soon be finalized for a long-awaited grocery store on South Park Street. 

“I think we`re probably within a week or so, pending any legal jargon, of having a lease signed,” Kristie Maurer, the grocery store’s owner, said at an Aug. 19 Zoom meeting of the South Metropolitan Planning Council, a collection of south-side Madison neighborhood and business groups. 

Maurer’s Urban Market was expected to open by the end of 2023 on the first floor of Park Cedar Apartments. Maurer will lease the city-owned storefront and control operations. Maurer signed on to operate the grocery in 2022, after Luna’s Groceries pulled out in 2021...