FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — A blighted shopping center near Missouri City is in need of a major facelift and a Black-led non-profit is attempting to answer the call.
But it still needs a lot of help to make it happen.
"This shopping center is blight, it is vandalized, it is graffiti,” said Edison Arts Foundation President Charity Carter.
Carter has a plan for the strip mall which features a long-closed Kroger and numerous other empty stores.
It's located near the corner of West Fuqua Drive and Blue Ridge Road in the area known as Fort Bend, Houston. It's within the City of Houston but in Fort Bend County.
"We're working to have affordable homes, affordable arts, affordable lifestyle,” said Carter.
Edison Arts Foundation is a nonprofit Carter started with seed money from her own father through which federal funding and other sources helped build a 126-unit housing development dedicated just last year.
It's part of a 12 ½-acre master plan that includes the once-thriving shopping center.
"The foundation is here," said Carter. "But we need a rehab, we need a revitalization.”
About $4 million additional dollars will help turn the old Kroger into a cultural center with a venue named after famed ballerina Lauren Anderson. A health clinic, small business incubator, educational components and greenspace round out the plan.
"This project is hopeful project,” said Carter. "It represents hard work and it represents the fruit of hard work."
It seeks to transform what was an amenity in years past into a new source of pride.