Walgreens is out at Ken Kopp's

By Doug Moe of The Capital Times

February 17, 2001

Walgreens will not be taking over Ken Kopp's grocery store on Monroe Street after all.

In a letter to friends and customers as well as a statement to be released today, Kopp -- who has operated the independent grocery at 1864 Monroe for two decades -- states that Semper Development of Minneapolis, which was developing the site for Walgreens, has elected not to submit its revised development plan. Kopp said he and Semper have agreed to terminate their development agreement.

That will be great news for many in the Monroe Street area who were disappointed and upset in the wake of Kopp's early December announcement that he intended to close and sell to Walgreens. The grocery quickly became a symbol of all that was right with the Monroe Street neighborhood -- with Walgreens looming as an impersonal monolith, a symbol of all that the neighborhood resists.

For Kopp, who at 71 is ready to retire, the news is more mixed -- in the release Kopp calls it "disappointing." But in his letter to customers, Kopp seems pleased with the opportunity now allowed for a local group or developer to step forward.

"Over the last few months," Kopp writes in his letter to friends and customers, "I have learned that this site will be a landmark development for this neighborhood."

While Kopp notes that "in some respects it is back to the drawing board," he is heartened by the tremendous local interest in the property. "There are several viable developers and development plans that are being looked at."

Kopp's Madison attorney, Timothy C. Sweeney, will entertain offers through March 20. "We will enter a contract with a new buyer by March 30," Kopp writes.

Citizen groups have been meeting on the near west side in hopes of coming up with an alternative to Walgreens. The night of Dec. 20, some three weeks after Kopp's initial announcement, 500 people packed the West High cafeteria for a meeting on the property's fate. Walgreens representatives Michael Frame and John Kohler were not warmly received -- lest you're partial to boos and hisses -- even though they said they wanted to work with the neighborhood on a design for the store.

Former Madison Sourdough owner Cameron Ramsey, meanwhile, drew loud applause when he said he and former Atlas Pasta owner John Taylor were trying to line up investors to make the property a specialty foods mall. At the same meeting the chair of Regent Market Co-op, Mary Rouse, said her board was also considering moving to the site.

Any new developers now have a month to make their case. Kopp notes, "The next buyer's willingness to work with the neighbors to ensure a new development as a positive addition to the neighborhood will also be an important factor."

One thing is certain -- it won't be a Walgreens.

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