I believe that it will become an annual event.
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The Raleigh Night Market is really reviving the City Market. So letâs keep supporting things like this. Itâs 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.
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I would like to see the main city market building better utilized. At present itâs only used for special events.
Except for the people attending the events, the general public is excluded. During the day itâs 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.
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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.
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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.
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Regarding City Market - there are currently quite a few vacant retail spots lining Martin St that Iâve been interested in (my dream is to open a store/art gallery downtown) - but Iâve 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 ownerâs 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. Iâm hopeful some of the new businesses will change his frame of mind on the property.
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Meanwhile Rum runners was one of the more successful business in City Market in the last 20 years.
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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 doesnât seem conducive to a vibrant area. Come to think of it, Royale is only open in the evening as well.
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Open at night and closed during the day sounds better than closed at night and closed during the day which is the current state of the Rum Runners space, Subway, Holy Rose, Zydecoâs, and the Tibetan place (name escapes me).
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My dream is to have several late night cafes in City Market. Heck, if I can get a micro business loan in two years I might consider taking the plunge. I donât want to work IT the rest of my life.
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I think City Market is ridiculously underutilized. When I moved to Raleigh a few years ago and walked around City Market for the first time I thought it had an amazing feel, and that it should be one of the signature areas in the city, like a Pikeâs Place in Seattle, French Market in New Orleans, or Eastern Market in DC. City Market does have a few good tenants, but IMO it is so much less than it could/should be. Iâve been to things in the Market Hall event space, and it is nice enough, but it is too bad that the space is not activated all the time and open to the public instead of just rented for special events.
I have also heard the owner is difficult to work with and kind of penny-wise/pound-foolish. I think City Market could use with a more ambitious/visionary owner who would invest some capital to make it the landmark destination it could be.
That being said, there are also places like this in some cities that have completely fallen apart and donât get any investment at all. I think it could be significantly better, but to be fair, I also think it could be much worse. I hope that its tenant base will continue to incrementally improve with the investment in Moore Square, and maybe one day either the current ownership or a new ownership group can take it to the next level.
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I really think if there is more residential development along the eastern side of Moore Square, it will only help to bring/keep more folks in the City Market area, making it better/busier for those businesses located within the Market. Fingers crossed for more proposals to start popping up as soon as the park is reopened.
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Youâll get a severe backlash from people that believe stopping gentrification means stopping development. East of Moore Square would be a lightening rod for these people.
Personally given the grid nature of East Downtown Raleigh. It should be where development should move next.
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But havenât several of the properties on the block directly east of Moore Square already been bought by with the City or a private developer? I thought this redevelopment was imminent as soon as the park was upgradedâŚ
The block between Moore Square and Lincoln yes but literally everything else east of Bloodworth street could be a redevelopers nightmare. Even if the property has recently been purchased by a developer.
From my experience living east of Bloodworth, the neighbors that Iâve met, I think, are more open to some infill development than other neighborhoods. What people are really itching for is more urban development along New Bern and Edenton. South of New Bern, you have a mix of pro-dev and cautious dev folks while I would say north of New Bern is more mixed, less so the closer you get to Oakwood.
What could really satisfy the pro-dev and anti-gentrification folks (ie slow down development) is the cityâs efforts to redo the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zoning, currently implemented nowhere. TOD zones could bring urban dev + affordable units so weâll see how that turns out over the next few years.
Swinging this back on topic. City Market needs more foot traffic as well as a more established âanchorâ in the City Market building. An event space wonât generate that much traffic so we need some kind of large, unique thing that takes up that space. I can imagine a mixed concept similar to Brewery Bhavana (flowers, books, food, beer) but on an even larger scale. Like a restaurant that also has a gift shop that also has a museum that becomes that âthingâ everyone has to see/do when they are in Raleigh.
Iâm not sure itâs their thing but imagine Videri turning into a chocolate powerhouse and they move everything into the City Market building. The coolest chocolate store in the South with a great coffee bar/cafe plus factory tours. Just throwing something out there.
If someone does that, and successfully, the other shops will mostly turnover and the area will really start humming.
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I could see a Brewery Bhavana type restaurant being very successful there and activating City Market single-handily.
Did anybody attempt to approach the developer (and city) with suggestions?
This is from 2013:
"City Councilwoman Mary-Ann Baldwin had some rare public criticism for a downtown landlord who she says isnât doing enough to develop the landmark City Market property.
Baldwinâs remarks came during a council meeting this month when Hakan Market Partners sought a permit for a new grease trap. The council approved the permit, but Baldwin had strong words about the companyâs work at City Market.
She said sheâs not happy with how the 1914 buildings alongside Moore Square have been managed as the rest of downtown has seen rapid growth. Sheâs particularly concerned about the former Greenshields Brewery space fronting Martin Street; itâs been vacant since a 2004 fire shuttered the popular night spot for good.
âItâs a totally underutilized property that really impacts the entire area where the market used to be,â she said. âItâs owned by out-of-town folks who really donât care. The developers involved in this have such a laissez-faire attitude. ⌠It has been disappointing, and at some point I hope they will step it up and really reenvision that market.â
Five of 24 retail spaces in City Market are currently listed as vacant on the propertyâs website. Hakan began renovations to the former Greenshields building in 2008, mentioning a Brazilian steakhouse as a possible tenant.
Gary Greenshields, who owned the brewery bearing his name, told The News & Observer that he never reopened after the fire because Hakan wouldnât fix a leaky roof.
Hakan bristled at Baldwinâs criticism and sent the councilwoman an email. âYou made comment to the public under the mistaken belief that I am an owner who cares not about the condition of City Market,â Hakan wrote.
Hakan noted that while he does live in California, heâs a Chapel Hill native who visits Raleigh monthly to oversee the property.
âIn the years since Greenshields closed, there has been no one more energetic in trying to obtain a suitable tenant for the central Market building than I,â he wrote. âI have been promised âresultsâ by more than one leasing company, and have consistently offered the property for lease on the terms these leasing professionals have given me as âfair market.â â
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/midtown-raleigh-news/article10287452.html
The problem is the landlord is a private owner and heâs weird about this property.
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