Flint, MI—The soft opening for Foodie Commons at the Flower Shop—a future community gathering space and current “food truck park” at 402 W. Court Street—has ended.
The property owner, Communities First, Inc., confirmed it plans to reopen the space in May 2022, but the extent of renovations to the site by that time will depend on resolving Flint’s continuing zoning code troubles.
“Progress towards the entire redevelopment hinges on the city approving the zoning code,” said Glenn Wilson, CFI president and CEO, in an email.
City officials recently acknowledged that zoning code articles it adopted in July 2021 aren’t valid— an issue that halted the city’s permitting and site plan approvals and caused ongoing frustration for other commercial property owners as well.
Fortunately, not all of CFI’s plans for the property require modifying the site’s former flower shop building.
“The location will be a local-serving commercial building that offers food options through the food trucks, activities, and events on the adjacent land,” said Wilson. “We intend to have local bands and musicians, programming, games and activities on a regular basis.”
The soft open was a test for that concept, and one that seems to have been a success for current vendors.
“As soon as we found out about (Foodie Commons) we started coming,” said Stanley Wright, owner of Soul Goode Food Truck, which launched in August 2021 and recently began traveling out from its usual spot on Davison Road in Burton, Mich. “We’ll definitely be back.”
Wilson said Communities First would like to see all of its” food truck park” vendors return in the spring, adding that he also hopes the community will support them before then.
“Food trucks often struggle in the winter, and it would be great to have them sell out,” he said of the final days for CFI’s food truck series.
An earlier version of this story indicated the last date for Foodie Commons at the Flower Shop’s “food truck park” was Wednesday, Nov. 24. That event has since been cancelled.