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An uptown farmers market has been on the city's wish list for years. Now, thanks to plans for a new park, it might be drawing a little closer to reality.
The city is surrounded by popular farmers markets. What uptown-market supporters have in mind is a year-round urban market more like Seattle's Pike Place where throngs of local shoppers and even tourists would buy local produce and foods.
The Yorkmont Road site of the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market isn't centrally located, they say, and can't be a showcase for Carolina foods for visitors. What market supporters envision is a building with easy access by light rail and cars, electricity for food storage, and longer hours for local foods than just Saturday mornings.
With the pieces of a deal falling into place for a First Ward park, the market could be built by Levine Properties and eventually handed over, along with the park, to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Parks & Recreation Department.
A group of public and private officials and local-food supporters is already talking about how to shape a market if they get one.
There's no solid estimate for how much the endeavor might cost or who would pay. All of that would be decided after a feasibility study on whether the location would work. But supporters say they envision a public and private partnership.
Lynn Shanklin Caldwell, the manager of the Tailgate Market in SouthEnd and a proponent of the uptown market, hosted a gathering over the summer to talk about an uptown market .
"I've gotten real mixed reactions," she says. "I've gotten the head shaking, 'Charlotte's not ready,' 'people just want fast and convenient.' And then I get, 'Wow, that would be really great - Charlotte's really ready for that.'"
The potential for a market is part of the discussions for the 2020 Vision Plan for uptown, now under way. By late November, supporters expect to know whether the market has enough support to make it onto the final list of potential projects.
Levine Properties President Daniel Levine has a rendering of First Ward park, a four-block section outlined by Brevard Street and the light rail line between Seventh and Ninth streets, that shows a market building, right behind Dixie's Tavern and facing the Lynx line. It would be across from ImaginOn and a block from UNC Charlotte's uptown campus.
"From a city-building perspective over the last 15 years, Charlotte's downtown has been for pioneers - people who chose the urban lifestyle," says Levine. "Well, they got the urban, but not the lifestyle. For almost all everyday living, you have to get back in a car.
"The evolution for our center city means we have to fill in what it means to have an urban lifestyle."
The vision
There are still a lot of "ifs," but a few parts have fallen into place. One big piece of the park deal, a swap that involved land owned by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, was approved in September by the school board. Final approval for the park is expected this month. If it all falls into place, a market could open in spring 2012, Levine said.
So far, the leaders behind the market are Levine, Lynn Caldwell, City Council at-large member Edwin Peacock III and county commissioner Dan Murrey.
Giving farmers an outlet to sell not only can encourage more people to farm, it can allow farmers to plant more, says Murrey.
"It's apparent to me and anybody who has thought about it that having a permanent place to sell is important to increasing production," says Murrey. "People don't change their habits if it's only available June, July and August."
Murrey and others have a vision for the market that focuses on local and regional food. Not only would it be a showcase for Charlotte visitors, but it also could act as an incubator. For instance, having a place to store and sell fresh milk could enable a farmer to get a grant for expensive dairy equipment.
"That's economic development," says Murrey. "That's not about government building a temple. Let's help that guy build something."
Paying for the market would depend on the form it takes, says Murrey. "Our concept now is to try to have a nonprofit corporation, a collective, that would run the market."
Levine says the kind of building he envisions would be between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet and could cost $500,000 to $1 million. Fundraising could be divided between a public and private initiative, including his company.
"We think it's a great idea, and we're willing to put in capital not only to make sure it gets done, but gets done right."
Location, location
What about all those thriving markets the Charlotte area already has?
Supporters of an uptown market insist that what they have in mind will help them, by increasing visibility and demand for local food.
There are no plans to close any current successful market, supporters for the market say.
"We're not looking to replace anything that's working," Murrey said. "We're looking to create something that's not there."
Most people agree that the regional market on Yorkmont Road, part of the N.C. Department of Agriculture, doesn't fit the city's needs. Its location near the airport is too far for many, and the mix of farmers and resellers confuses customers.
Manager Frank Suddreth says the market gets an estimated 600,000 visitors a year - far short of the 1million once predicted. It costs $40,000 a year for water and electricity.
To meet that budget and have enough vendors to keep the market open all week, he has to use resellers who buy produce at other markets.
"We're in a bad location," he says. "I bet you 60 percent of Charlotte doesn't know where it is and have never been here."
Still, vendor spaces are filled to capacity on Saturdays, and he had to stop accepting new bakers, sauce makers and flower sellers this summer to save space for N.C. farmers.
But Suddreth questions whether an uptown market will draw that many people or farmers. "You're not going to get the percentage of people to go down there (to uptown), because of parking. ... I don't go downtown for anything."
Much left to do
Planners have considered parking. Levine's plan for the park includes 435 spaces in an underground lot and access to a 900-car parking garage across Brevard Street.
But everyone recognizes there is a lot of thinking to do. Supporters plan to hold public forums this winter.
That sounds right to David O'Neil. An independent consultant for the New York-based Project for Public Spaces, he was brought in by Center City Partners to look at two earlier sites for an uptown market.
Successful markets need to reflect their community and have room for more than one kind of use, O'Neil said. He likes the idea of a market in a park, which could have scheduled events. Art shows and music could draw people to where the food is, while the food could draw people to where the city is.
