Public Markets Conference - April 26

I’m 30,000 feet over Moab, Utah right now, flying back to Denver from the PPS conference. Yesterday, the PPS Conference sent us out on several tours of local markets. I toured the oldest continuously run market in San Francisco, the Alemany Farmers Market; the Oakland-Grand Lake Farmers Market; the Fruitvale Public Market (a new indoor market and market plaza within a transit-oriented development (TOD) right next to a Bay Area Regional Transit stop; and Jack London Square, a large mixed-use new urban community right on the bay near downtown Oakland.

All of these markets were vibrant communities in their own rite. The Alemany Farmers Market has permanent shelter structures and seller bays which are raised for direct access to trucks. This market was nearly entirely produce based although there were a number of prepared-food vendors, including an Afghani stand with the best grape-leaf nonn bread, cucumber-yoghurt sauce and chutney I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, this market was surrounded by freeways (it is California after all) and parking lots with virtually no transit presence and it is distant from the surrounding residential community.

The Oakland-Grand Lake Farmers market was the highlight of the day. It’s held in a park that was abandoned and nearly sold for private development a few years ago but was transformed by community activists into a park focused on the market as it’s major programmatic element. It was literally designed to house the market and very successfully so. There was great diversity of vendors, and they’re organized into specific areas based on their product. For instance, all the artist booths were together, near to the prepared-food vendors. A little farther into the market is where the produce vendors have their booths set up.

One thing that was discussed several times at the conference is the necessity for a group to organize and control markets. The responsibilities of the governing group includes limiting the number of vendors with the same products as well as marketing the market (!) to the general public. One market that was represented at the conference at one time had 55 wheatgrass vendors and 79 jewelers out of a total of 180 vendors! This had several negative affects, the most obvious being that unless you wanted jewelry or wheatgrass, you wouldn’t frequent this market. In order to survive and thrive a market needs critical diversity of products.

The third market we visited, Fruitvale, was an interesting social project where the city partnered with private developers to provide opportunities for people in a low-income neighborhood. Within the project, there are several places where people can start businesses with very little or no capital, all indoors. This is a true TOD site as there’s a BART station 50 feet from the plaza. There’s a second phase planned for a few of the surrounding parking lots and from what I saw of phase 1, I’m sure it’ll be successful.

The fourth market was perhaps the most ambitious and the most akin to our own potential at Denver Union Station (other than the obvious similarities to the hugely successful Ferry Plaza). Jack London Square, a 10-block project right on the waterfront facing a marina and working dock, includes a large 6-story market building. The first floor is planned to be a marketplace for local farmers, meatpackers, and fishmongers. Three anchor restaurants are planned for the first floor and also for the second floor, which would include indoor open-air movable seating for market-goers. The upper four floors are class AA office space with some of the highest lease rates in Oakland.

After the tour I had a couple hours to recuperate before the “Best of the Bay” tasting event at the Ferry Building. The conference hotel is at the border of Chinatown and the Financial District. The difference in excitement and activity between these two neighborhoods was remarkable. In Chinatown, there are countless shops and street vendors benefiting each other through their mutual draw. People mill about, shopping and bringing money into the district. The Financial District, by comparison, was sterile. The only people I saw were hurriedly moving through the district.

I’m still processing all the information from the conference, but here is one initial lesson learned: at DUS, a public market integrated into project could provide the essential excitement to bring people to the station to benefit the other retailers. Some of the vendors could become retailers themselves. For instance, an artisan bakery or butcher shop could be an ideal tenant for one of the wing buildings and could then sell wares within the market on the weekends.

I will post a few more thoughts from my time at the conference later this week, so check back. In the meantime, don’t forget our roundtable on the topic of public markets is tomorrow (Monday) at 5pm. I look forward to seeing you there! (details are in a blog post below).