Coming soon: Downtown Rockford supermarket will have beer, produce, UPS Store

Downtown Rockford will soon be home to a long-awaited grocery store.

According to a sign in the window, City Center Market will open this summer next to Downtown Discount Drugs at the corner of West State and North Church streets.

The store will be connected to the pharmacy and offer produce, craft beer, wine and liquor. There will also be a new UPS Store located in the pharmacy portion of the space.

Owned by Raj Patel, Discount Drugs and City Center Market are in the Nu-State Apartments building at 119 N. Church St., a building that Urban Equity Properties purchased in 2018 from Rockford attorney Greg Tuite.

The building is currently undergoing a multi-million-dollar renovation project that will create 35 loft apartments on the upper floors, commercial space along North Church Street and the 8,000 square-foot market and pharmacy at the corner of State and Church streets.

"This will be a great addition to downtown," said DuShawn Denton, who works across the street from the new market.

Rockford contractor Max Liebling built the Nu-State Building in 1951. An Osco Drug operated in the pharmacy space from 1951 to 1983.

Liebling also designed the Times Theater, which is currently poised for a $14 million renovation project that will turn it into an entertainment venue that seats 650 and 900 people.