As prime veggie season hits Eastern Market, the stalls are packed with
people picking out fruits, vegetables, herbs and other treats to grace
dining tables in Detroit and the suburbs. Enterprising advocates of the
market, however, would love to see business booming every day
throughout the year, not just on summer Saturdays and Flower Day.
The
Eastern Market neighborhood is also home to a greatly diverse group of
entrepreneurs and creative people: restaurants, food wholesalers,
antique dealers, artists and musicians. But the 115-year-old farmers
market was there first. After serving Detroit for so many years, a new
chapter in its history is about to be written.
The Downtown
Detroit Partnership's plan, recently given the green light from City
Council, would turn the market into a premier, year-round, and
eventually seven-day-a-week shopping destination. Through the support
of local foundations, Eastern Market business owners, the mayor’s
office and developers, the market will soon see a major facelift.
A
newly created nonprofit organization called the Eastern Market Corp.
will begin managing the market on August 1. While the city maintains
ownership of the property, the nonprofit has authority over management and
maintenance decisions.
“Moving to a nonprofit corporation
(status) allows for the market to be taken to a whole new level,” says
Jim Sutherland of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, which helped foster
the plan. Sutherland says that much-needed improvements to the market
would create new incentives for more farmers and vendors to join the
market, creating perfect opportunities for small businesses to open up
in the area.
The plans
Kate
Beebe, interim president of the Eastern Market Corp. and a principal
architect behind the plan to renovate the market, says a main goal of
the renovations will be to lure more food fanatics to the area.
“A survey that was done on Eastern Market shoppers found that the
number one reason for people coming to the market was that they like
the urban mix,” says Beebe. “Food was the number two
reason. ... We want to create even more reasons for 'foodies,' for
people who would drive 5 miles for that special item, to come to the
Eastern Market.”
The
plan includes major renovations of the existing market sheds. Shed 2,
located at the southern end of the market and now covered with a
colorful, kitschy painted bull made of vegetables, will be restored to
the structure’s original, late 19th century appearance. It will
continue to be an open-air market space for vendors of seasonal fresh
fruits and vegetables, but improvements to the stalls will create
easier access for shoppers and vendors alike. The renovation of Shed 2
is planned to begin in late fall.
Other plans include the renovation of Shed 3,
situated in the middle of the market just north of Shed 2. It
would be restored and winterized to become a year-round, enclosed
market space, complete with fresh baked goods and wholesale produce,
meats and cheeses. Considered by the planners to be the heart of
the market, Shed 3 would be well-heated in the winter months and
brightened up with new windows near the ceiling to let in lots of
sunlight. Permanent storage and refrigeration areas for vendors, as
well as additional electrical outlets, would be added to help keep the
market open all weeklong and all winterlong.
Walking north
out of Shed 3 would bring the shopper to a new open-air market retail
area, the yet to be built Shed 4. Surrounded by landscaped green
spaces, Shed 4 would also include the administrative building where the
market offices would be located. The building would connect to a
parking structure and include new restrooms, shopping carts and market
and community information.
The final existing structures,
Sheds 5 and 6, at the northern end of the market, would also be
fixed-up and updated for the creation of “Flowerland,” an open-air
space for the flower and gardening vendors. To the northeast, a
community agriculture center is being planned, where children and
adults in the community could learn about farming, and perhaps be
encouraged to try some urban farming on their own. Beebe says
community outreach programs will be at the top of the Eastern Market
Corp.'s agenda.
Funds are getting in place to handle the
restoration and renovation work. The Eastern Market Corp. was offered a
Kresge Foundation challenge
grant of $2 million, which it must match with $3 million from other
sources. Other funds raised include $2.5 million in grants from
the
Kellogg Foundation, a $100,000 Cool Cities grant and a $600,000
Michigan Economic Development Corp. grant to the city for market shed
renovations.
Luring the foodies
Many vendors welcome the renovation plans, but also look forward to more buzz about the market.
"We need to get the people down here; we need more promotion and
advertisement of the Eastern Market,” says Jim Decker of Decker Farms.
Decker’s
family has been selling their farm’s fresh produce at the Eastern
Market for three generations. Decker says that besides decreasing
sales, cleaning and upkeep of the market have also suffered. He
supported the plan to have the nonprofit run the market.
Local business owners in the market area also hope to
benefit from increased crowds if the market would add business days
beyond Saturday. With Midtown, the Riverfront and downtown areas
growing, Beebe hopes to see new downtown-area residents become regular
Eastern Market shoppers.
But can something as simple as a
market really be a destination? You don't have to look as far as Rue
Mouffetard in Paris, London's Borough Market, or even something as
touristy as Seattle's Pike Place. Beebe points to Cleveland’s West Side
Market http://www.westsidemarket.com/ as a successful indoor market
that’s open four days a week.
She says one of the first
priorities of the new Eastern Market Corp. is to add a Wednesday market
day for next spring, then eventually consider opening up all week long.
Forging a neighborhoodBob
Heide, president of Urban Life Development and owner of the Fire
Department Lofts just north of the market on Russell Street, supports
the proposed improvements of the market, calling it a win-win
situation.
"Having new management and increased funding for
the Eastern Market ... I can’t see a downside,” says Heide. “Overall,
it’d give the area a huge shot in the arm.
Heide and others are
involved in another aspect of the Eastern Market, promoting the area as
an urban-residential neighborhood featuring modern lofts for rent. He
is currently working on the construction of the 33-unit FD Lofts
building. Eight lofts are currently finished and already occupied.
Heide hopes that the creation of the EMC would further help the area
through improved street repair and lighting maintenance.
"People
in other cities would die for the infrastructure we have there; five
sheds, parking, freeway access, and how do you quantify over a hundred
years of history?” says Heide.
Click here to learn more about visiting, investing and moving to Eastern Market with Model D's neighborhood guide to the area.
Conceptual drawings of Eastern Market courtesy of Bondy Studios/JJR (streetscape and facade), and Gensler (Shed 2).
Eastern Market Photos Copyright Dave Krieger