The South End Grocery in early November: It closed near the end the summer after three lenders sent letters saying it had defaulted on its debt. In the background on the opposite corner of the intersection of Madison Avenue and South Pearl Street, the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region voted to dissolve in September; its board cited a lack of funds and the loss of its nonprofit status.
Will Waldron/Times Union
ALBANY — Travon Jackson had a vision for the intersection of South Pearl Street and Madison Avenue.
On the southwest side, he worked to add vibrancy to the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region and make it a place to celebrate the city’s Black community. On the northeast corner, Jackson in December 2022 achieved the long-sought dream of opening a grocery store to serve South End residents.
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But within nine months of the South End Grocery opening, both initiatives shut down. And one of Jackson’s biggest donors has unanswered questions about how tens of thousands of dollars were spent.
Jackson, 30, says he’s renegotiating the shuttered grocery store’s financing and rejects any suggestion that he used grant funding improperly. He blamed the closure of the Cultural Center on friction…
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