That’s correct. I went on a tour of that edge of Dix and the Farmer’s market director gave a talk about their future plans. They’ve been looking at how to synergize that edge and take advantage of the new prominence that will come with the development of Lake Wheeler Road and the Southern Gateway.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, like adding an entry to the park from the farmer’s market, and encouraging park users to park at the farmer’s market and stop and buy food either before or after their time at Dix.
They’re also working with NCSU on their shared border. There are some exciting ideas floating around at the Farmer’s Market.
The feeling I got from the talk was that the Farmer’s Market is a state facility and that it serves a much greater regional purpose for shipping and distribution. It seemed like the FM master planning was overdue and that they put it on hold for the Dix master planning. There is clearly a great concern for security and not interrupting commercial traffic, and they’re wary of people migrating from the park into the shipping and distribution areas.
Since they’re a state property they don’t really have to go through the typical processes for a local development. I don’t think they’ve published anything, but they did meet with MVVA and the City to work out the shared borders, explore cross access, shared parking, entrance towards Dix, etc. Just having one of the Dix tours start with the FM and having them talk to the workgroups was a pretty good indication that they’re willing to work together.
I think the FM could certainly do more than what they talked about, but it’s first and foremost about serving ag functions for points east and they don’t want to compromise that. Maybe the distribution center will move someday. The local food market could be expanded to the whole site with more restaurants, educational functions, a tractor museum, etc., but that’s a long, long way off in the future.
Gotcha, glad to hear that the farmer’s market people are at least willing and open to working together with Raleigh, Dix Park etc. Now to hope they start speeding things up, now that the Dix Master Plan is complete…
That makes total sense. It’s also why I brought up the Tsukiji/Toyosu example earlier. The Tokyo fish market is also primarily for fishermen/distributors but has a solid tourism side gig, too, and I think they balance both of those needs pretty well. Since Pike Place (as @Francisco suggested) is a bit more tourist-centric while daily markets in European city centers are more buyer-focused, Tokyo’s example might be one of the more relevant ones for us.
If anything, this sounds more like a niche that the new food halls in DTR proper could fill, instead?
The current problem I see with the two existing food halls is that people are generally not interested in non-prepared food products/produce. Farmer’s market should primarily be a place to buy produce and foodstuff with some restaurant/prepared services sprouting from it. Wholesale is important of course–the current layout just needs to optimized and modernize so that it works for all people. Business, wholesalers, restaurants, and the general public. Separate entrances for business/truck/wholesale business and the general public.
Trust me if someone gave me a concept artist I could draw you up the most fantastic farmer’s mecca.
From an outsider/general view - yes. Easy of pick up for the truck, wide area for the gutter to run free, doesn’t infringe on the sidewalks and it will never be blocked by parked cars. That specific block - I couldn’t say.
I remember that a few months back that the music festival Dreamville took place in Dorothea Dix and that would help bring in more people as several of those who went were from different countries and half of all attendees were from out of state. This would help the economy of the area if each year this festival took place!
The Raleigh Night Market is really reviving the City Market. So let’s keep supporting things like this. It’s just too bad it happens once a month since the restaurants all looked jammed pack with people and I heard a few French tourists. This event will only improve once Moore Square opens, too.
It just needs more street food vendors (city allowing and encouraging street food sellers) and we need a downtown commissary kitchen. Probably in or near the City Market.
I would like to see the main city market building better utilized. At present it’s only used for special events.
Except for the people attending the events, the general public is excluded. During the day it’s usually closed and could be a real catalyst in reviving the city market. When city market was originally revived, the main building was a food court, then Greenshields. There was always traffic in and around the area. I just think public access would be a winning solution.
I wholeheartedly agree. I was just at the night market over there and it is open to the public for that. And usually First Fridays. But that always makes me wish it was still a brewery.
I was thinking they could make parking underground and expand the market into the current parking lot. Surround the parking lot with skinny buildings and add a small square in the middle you can access from the current alley way in the middle. You can make one of the larger new buildings into a second floor event space to replace the current main city market. The main city market building can then be converted to something that is used by the public daily.
Regarding City Market - there are currently quite a few vacant retail spots lining Martin St that I’ve been interested in (my dream is to open a store/art gallery downtown) - but I’ve heard the owners(?)/leasing office(?) of City Market is absolute garbage with no vision. Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions/info on this?
I have always heard secondhand that its specifically the owner who is difficult to deal with. (For example, Cortez tried to sublease the space on the corner after Batistellas closed, but the City market owner shot it down because El Rodeo was already the Mexican restaurant for the area). His father bought the property as an investment which he then inherited, but lived in California so meeting with him is difficult.
That being said, I have a friend who has a LOI to open a business in city market and has had a very different experience with the owner. The owner’s been engaging and flexible as plans have had to change. Apparently the owner got burned by Rum Runners. They were supposed to be more of a restaurant/tiki bar with a full kitchen, but obviously devolved into essentially a frat party with dueling pianos. That experience seemed to have soured him on a number of things. I’m hopeful some of the new businesses will change his frame of mind on the property.
Rum Runners was only open at night and closed during the day. Along with the city market building these were two establishments not serving the public during the day. This doesn’t seem conducive to a vibrant area. Come to think of it, Royale is only open in the evening as well.