A new full-service grocery store is headed to Church Hill, it was announced Tuesday.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, City Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th District, and T.K. Somanath, executive director of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, issued a joint statement about the planned market that is expected to bring about 25 full-time and 22 to 30 part-time jobs to this employment-starved area of the city once it opens — likely a year or more from now.

The new supermarket is to be part of a potential $10 million to $20 million mixed-use development that is to include residential units, offices and retail shops in the two-block area bounded by Fairmount Avenue, Nine Mile Road, 25th and 26th streets.

The first new supermarket in this area in decades, the store also would complement plans for the $175 million redevelopment of the Creighton Court public housing community over the next few years. That includes the $50 million first phase that is to begin next year with redevelopment of the 20 acres where the former Armstrong High School building stands, on North 31st Street near Nine Mile Road, and where new homes and apartments are to rise.

The new store would be Richmond’s first Jim’s Local Market, an urban-focused operation that opened its first store last week in Newport News and is owned and operated by Jim Scanlon, a former Martin’s Food Market regional vice president.

According to the statement, the project is outlined in an application to rezone the RRHA-owned property that was submitted to the city on Monday. The application is considered the first step in the lengthy approval process that must take place before construction could begin, likely in 2017.

The design and layout of the grocery store and the accompanying mixed-use development are still a work in progress, with details yet to be released.

Mr. Scanlon, though, is betting he can create success in an area that other supermarkets long ago deserted after losing money. The last, locally owned Sunny’s Supermarket, closed in 2008.

“We believe we have a business model that’s right for urban areas like the East End of Richmond,” Mr. Scanlon stated, promising the new store would combine “quality products, affordability for all customers and a level of employee engagement that creates great customer service.”

The investment dollars for the development are largely coming from Steven A. Markel, vice president of the Richmond-based Markel Corp. insurance and investment group. Mr. Markel and his wife, Kathie Markel, have played significant fundraising roles for Virginia Commonwealth University and the Maymont Foundation.

In the announcement, Mr. Markel stated that he got involved in the project after “seeing what Jim has done in Newport News and seeing the commitment of the city, the housing authority and so many community partners. That has convinced me that this is the right thing to do.”

Still, this store will test how much this area has changed. Currently, the only full-service grocery stores sit on the fringes, independently owned Community Supermarket at Mechanicsville Turnpike and Cool Lane and the Market at Tobacco Row, a Farm Fresh outlet at 25th and East Main streets.

While many drive into Henrico County to shop, residents without cars either walk to those stores or rely on the specialty shops, convenience and discount stores that dot Church Hill. In the past few years, the city Health District and others have worked to get such stores to add fresh fruits and vegetables to their shelves.

Despite the current boom in the grocery stores in the Richmond area, Jim’s Local Market is the first business announced to enter the East End. No other chain, not even the new ones like Aldi’s, have been interested in developing a store in this area, where working- and middle-class families bump up against high levels of poverty, primarily in four public housing communities.

There have been plenty of signs of renewal. Begun 30 to 40 years ago south of Broad Street, the tide of change is spreading into once decaying areas by the housing authority, individuals and nonprofit groups.

A new grocery store, though, has been envisioned ever since the city began pumping in new investment, in partnership with RRHA and the Bon Secours hospital chain, to try to stimulate growth along the Nine Mile Road corridor and the north end of 25th Street.

Mayor Jones’ administration has been out to lure a grocery store to the area since 2011, when the East End Initiative planning process was launched.

“I am thrilled that this proposal is finally advancing,” Mayor Jones stated. “The East End has needed healthy groceries and good jobs for a long time.”