On the corner of Fourth Street and First Avenue East you can buy fruit, coffee, tacos, money orders and, as of last week, a building.
The 140-year-old building housing 4th Street Market is for sale, putting the future of the Central Hillside staple into question.
"We're going to go down fighting and do everything we possibly can to stay in this building," said Matt Potter, who with his father, Tom, owns the corner market that leases space in the building.
The two have long planned to purchase the building and have made several offers. Potter said it will take about half a million dollars to buy the building at asking price and rehab it.
"We're in a tough position," Potter said. "We not only need money to purchase the building but also to renovate it."
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The building at 102 E. Fourth St. is owned by the Hurlbut-Zeppa Charitable Trust, which is owned by the Zeppa family. Alan Zeppa spent a great deal of his multimillion-dollar inheritance in Duluth, including the development of the Zeitgeist theaters and cafe seven years ago.
"Obviously there's a deep interest in this community from the Zeppa family, so as we go forward in this process, I think they recognize having access to a retail food option in the Central Hillside is a good resource for the community," said Tony Cuneo, executive director of Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community, an organization born of the Zeppa Foundation.
Cuneo said the decision to sell comes from the family and was likely financially motivated.
"It's a different trust - it's not this organization that owns it," he said. "We're the local folks that help manage aspects of that trust."
Though a sale has been in the works for some time, Potter said the active marketing of the building last week was somewhat surprising.
"We didn't expect this to happen as quickly as it did," he said.
Commercial real estate broker Greg Follmer is representing the sellers and said there has been "strong interest" in the building locally.
"We hope and are confident it can be purchased by a party that will be a great contributing community member," Follmer said.
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The Potters are working fast to get money together, and they have reached out to Duluth Local Initiatives Support Corp. for help.
"We're trying to move on this before someone slips in and buys the building," Potter said. "We're open to anything and everything."
As 4th Street Market is on a month-to-month lease, there is no guarantee the store would continue under new building ownership, possibly leaving the neighborhood without its corner market for the first time since 2009.
"People don't realize what a service this place is and how much the community really relies on it," Potter said. "We're here as much for the community as to run a business too."
