A groundbreaking ceremony marking the official start of work on a new Price Rite grocery store at 611 South Ave. took place on Friday, June 17th. The ceremony was attended by many VIP employees close to the project, various local and state politicians, community leaders and many residents, as well as Neil Duffy, President of Price Rite. The new store is a partnership between Price Rite and the building’s owner, Jubilee Homes of Syracuse Inc., a nonprofit affordable housing organization that has been working for years to lure a supermarket to the South Avenue area. The current building standing on the property will be renovated and an expansion will be added. VIP will perform architectural and construction duties on the 35,000 SF, $3.5 million project. This is the second major project that VIP will complete for Price Rite. The store will open late this year or early next year. Price Rite operates stores throughout New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Virginia. This will be the 61st store in the Price Rite chain, which boasts that it offers customers an expanded selection of fresh produce and quality food products at savings of up to 50 percent compared with what traditional supermarkets charge.