17th Street Farmers Market revamp, last meeting to discuss its future

Stop by and check out the final design proposal.

January 8, 2016; 10:47 AM • by Richard Hayes

Update #2 — January 8, 2016; 10:44 AM

You are invited by the City of Richmond to the FINAL public meeting for the redevelopment of the 17th Street Market.

The purpose of the meeting is to present the final proposed design to the community through a community engagement effort.

Following this meeting, the City of Richmond will incorporate the comments and pursue a final design approval from the Urban Design Committee and the City’s Planning Commission for this project so it can move towards construction of a new 17th Street Market public square/plaza.

January 13th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Meet at Main Street Station

1500 E. Main Street, RVA 23219

2nd Floor of the Train Station

FIRST HOUR FREE PARKING on the east side of the train station and the plaza across Main Street. Follow directions on the kiosks.

To RSVP or for more information contact: jeannie.welliver@richmondgov.com / (804) 646-7322

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Update #1 — August 10, 2015; 10:28 AM

The city released a press release today announcing that they will begin taking down the existing structures at the 17th Street Farmers Market.

Demolition crews will begin removal today of the sheds at the 17th St. Market (Farmers’ Market) in the first phase of planned improvements to open up the space into an expanded public market. The work is part of the Shockoe Bottom Revitalization Strategy – a process which included public engagement and recommended removal of the existing sheds to position the space as an open urban square conducive to flexible programming.

The City’s Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) has engaged Pryor Hauling, Inc., for the removal of the sheds. While fencing will be placed around the project site, no streets are scheduled for closure during the shed removals. Existing produce vendors at the 17th Street Market will be moved to the Main Street side of the market where they can continue to set up stands. Plans include salvaging and repurposing the sheds, which will be coordinated by Enrichmond.

The Shockoe Business Neighborhood association is holding a special meeting on the improvements planned as part of this step and how this initial renovation fits into the final renovation plan. That meeting is being held today, Monday August 10th, 3:00 PM at Rosie Connolly’s Pub.

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Original — April 10, 2014

For over a year there have been discussions about re-vamping the 17th Street Farmers’ Market. The talk has now moved on the the next phase of looking at pictures of what could be and talking about those pictures. The city worked with local design firm Baskervill and showed off their concept last night.

As you can sort of see from the picture above the city envisions a football field sized plaza that will be home to trees, seating areas, water features, public art and expanded outdoor dining spaces for local restaurants or food trucks. Streets around the market will be covered with a combination of pavers and brick. The yellow dots you see are lanterns but those could be changed out depending on the season and/or event.

RTD has more details on the meeting.

The city has been weighing a potential revamp of the site since last year. Wednesday’s meeting was the first of what officials say will be a robust public input period before the plan moves forward.

Officials have said the market project is separate from the Shockoe Bottom baseball stadium development plan, though the new plaza would lead right up to the proposed ballpark.

“It’s happening independent of anything else,” said Jeannie Welliver of the city’s Department of Economic and Community Development.

Officials hope to complete the project before Richmond hosts the UCI Road World Championships in 2015, but Welliver said the timetable for removing the existing structure is still unclear. The name of the new plaza is also undetermined, she said.

Concerns raised according to the article include the loss of parking, handling the transformers, and lack of any thing kid focused. Overall the designs were said to have been well received.