CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Pizza is something Todd Martinez will never get tired of eating. 

“I eat it once a week, so I do enjoy it actually,” he said. 

After 30 years of working in the automotive industry, Martinez left Detroit and came to Charlotte for pizza. 

“We got three stores,” he said. “One in Huntersville, one in Mooresville, and this store is about 6 and half months old.” 

Earlier this year, Martinez decided to bring a Jet's Pizza to the Historic West End. 

“This is big,” he said. “This is big here.” 

Being in this location is pretty emotional for Martinez because many didn’t see the vision. 

“I mean it looked so bad that there was just really like, hey you know what, I’m going to buy this and I pray that it’s going to work out,” said Dianna Ward.

In 2018, Ward’s company Sankofa Partners purchased the building that Jet's Pizza currently operates out of off of Rozzelles Ferry Road.

For three years she worked to transform this building, receiving much needed help from the City of Charlotte and groups like the Knight Foundation and LISC. 

“They made it possible for us to do this on a faster timeline,” said Ward. ”Big developers are waiting to see a sign of life, and they weren’t coming here for years and many of them told me that.” 

Ward says close to $600,000 in grants and low interest loans were provided to help with this project.

With the gold line near by and the city working on the new Five Points Public Plaza, Ward knew it was important to have the right tenants in this building. 

“We were very intentional about only selecting owners who wanted to be a part of the community, who wanted to hire people from the community and wanted to have events that promoted unity,” she said. 

The majority of Martinez’s staff are high school students and students from Johnson C. Smith University. 

“We’re here in the trenches,” he said. “So we expect them to work. If I’m working, I expect them to work too.” 

And while Martinez loves a good pizza, his long-term plan is to retire and pass this location onto one of his hardworking employees. 

“The plan is for my sister and I to back down soon hopefully,” he said. “'Cause I’ve been running pretty hard for eleven and a half years.” 

Ward says The Knight Foundation was able to give nonprofit LISC a $450,000 grant that they were able to use to help provide low cost financing and technical assistance for Ward and her property. 

LISC plans to continue working with Ward to help her move this property forward so it can benefit this community.