Broad Street Market is a study in contrasts. Signs of hope coexist with signs of neglect. Posters announce “Coming soon: Cornerstone Eatery” at a prime spot in the stone building on N. 3rd Street. A pergola-style booth houses the new, pristine Harvest organic foods stand in the brick building that backs onto N. 6th Street.
But inside the stone building, the space is dim—maybe because so many lights aren’t working. Plywood is tacked over worn doors leading into the brick building.
The Broad Street Market is an old-fashioned market looking for new everything. New roof. New doors. New manager. New customers.
Renewal, say market officials and vendors, is around the corner. Envisioned changes in ownership and management, it is hoped, will restore stability, attract vendors and lure new customers.
Scrutiny of the 150-year-old Broad Street Market has intensified as the farm-to-table movement goes mainstream and Midtown Harrisburg cultivates its artsy identity. The Market once thrived, but recent troubles—two shutdowns for pest violations, manager churn, vendor turnover and vacant stands—have tarnished its reputation.
“It’s one thing for a city resident to say, ‘I don’t go there,’” said Broad Street Market board chairman Jonathan Bowser. “It’s another for them to say, ‘I didn’t know they were still open.’”
Still, the market has its assets and charms.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement,” said vendor Joy Gillette, of Simply Soup & Beyond Café. “A lot of foot traffic is starting to come back. This market is different. You really have to gain the customer’s trust.”
Some of the turmoil can be attributed to the market’s convoluted ownership and management structure. In short: Historic Harrisburg Association owns the Market entity. The city of Harrisburg owns and is responsible for maintaining the buildings, at least on the outside. The for-profit Broad Street Market Corp. board oversees operations and internal maintenance. A manager and facilities manager, hired by the board, run daily operations.
Got that?
“It’s like four carts trying to move along and pull things forward,” said Assistant City Solicitor Carlesha Halkias. “You look to the right, you look to the left, and you’re not really sure where the other is. We’ve worked hard the last several months to make sure that communication is flowing. I think that was a barrier before.”
Coming Soon
Anticipated changes could finally untangle the Gordian knot. HHA has removed its authority to amend the Market board’s by-laws and hopes to dissolve its ownership and become “a friend of the market,” said HHA Executive Director John Campbell. The city’s management lease expires at the end of 2013, and Halkias and Bowser say they’re working together on refinements that clarify responsibilities.
“We still want to have a very strong relationship and partnership with the city but a little more flexibility to manage the way we see best,” said Bowser. For instance, the ability to access funds more quickly would streamline daily operations, he said.
After the contract is finalized—Halkias said the mayor “has not advised me yet” on timing—the board expects an “internal conversation of what we want to look like as an organization,” said Bowser. One strong possibility is restructuring as a nonprofit or community development corporation, capable of seeking federal, state and local grants directly, without having to partner with the city.
Financially, the Broad Street Market earns just enough to pay the bills for its annual $350,000 budget, said Bowser and Campbell. But the market owes NRG an unspecified amount—Bowser said the details are confidential—for past steam bills that, due to an undetected leak, soared as high as $20,000 a month. Today, a gas system, funded by state grants, heats the buildings.
About $220,000 in grant money has been accumulated toward a “cooling mechanism” to remove hot air from the buildings, and Halkias said the city is consulting with contractors to determine the scope of a cooling project.
Vendor Energy
Bowser hopes that board transparency and stronger communications will improve vendor relations, and consistent enforcement of rules and regulations should simplify the manager’s job. Board member Amy Hill sees social media as a “gigantic untapped opportunity” to replicate, in electronic-age style, the word of mouth that once brought customers to the stands.
“It’s still that same sense of community that kept this market alive for 150 years,” she said.
Matthew Hickey co-owns the new Harvest organic foods stand. His co-owner, Joshua Kesler, is developing Stokes Millworks, located just across Verbeke Street, into a farm-to-fork restaurant.
“We know that there’s great potential in the Market, and we know there’s a need for good, healthy fresh food in the city,” Hickey said amid tidy displays of just-picked peaches and tomatoes. “It seems like there’s energy happening within the board, and everyone involved is very progressive. We all have the same vision.”
Vendor Leon Glick, of Two Brothers BBQ, racked up pans heavy with marinated beef and then meticulously cleaned the stainless steel counter while explaining that he invested in stand upgrades to be “courthouse compatible” for the day when a federal courthouse is built at N. 6th and Reily streets.
Some vendors don’t think appearances matter, Glick said, but “just because we have low- to middle-income customers, that doesn’t mean we have to look low class.” Besides, he said, the Market is attracting “a totally different, new clientele here. More people means more business.”
Glick and other vendors have bought joint advertisements, but the market “has not spent anywhere close enough of our rent dollars on advertising,” he said. The motorists zooming past must be convinced to stop.
“I think we’re going to have to spend a lot of money to make money,” Glick said.
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Addition to the print story: On Aug. 30, the Market announced the exit of HHA as part of its management. The press release follows:
THE BROAD STREET MARKET’S BRIGHT FUTURE
New Governing Structure Announced
HARRISBURG (Aug. 30) – “Fresh start” and “new beginnings” are not words typically associated with an organization with a history more than 150-years old, but that is how leaders of Harrisburg’s Broad Street Market described its new governing structure. The City of Harrisburg owns the landmark brick and stone buildings that make up the Broad Street Market at 3rd and Verbeke Streets in Midtown, but since 1996 the Historic Harrisburg Association has overseen the property and delegated the routine operations to a volunteer board of directors. The new agreement, announced today, simplifies the governing structure. HHA will step aside and a newly formed corporation run by community volunteers will assume direct control of the operational decision making. The city will remain the landlord.
“The change is one step forward in the very long process of revitalizing this community treasure,” said Jonathan Bowser, chairman of the Broad Street Market Board of Directors and Director of Economic Development, Corporate VP for Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation. “HHA has been a great partner, but the new structure is more efficient. We will be better prepared to leverage funding and other investments to improve the Market when needed.”
HHA’s executive director, John Campbell is equally encouraged by the change. “Historic Harrisburg is proud to continue as an advocate and neighbor to the Broad Street Market; but the time has come for the teenager to leave home and go out on his own,” he joked. “We do not need to be in the managerial position anymore.” Both Bowser and Campbell stressed that the reigns of the Market are not being handed over to a typical private corporation. The Market will be governed by people from the community committed to maintaining its benefit to the neighborhood. Both agreed that change was not getting rid of something that does not work. The mutual decision to restructure will allow the Broad Street Market to focus on meeting the community’s need for a thriving farmer’s market in the city and to free up HHA to pursue its mission of historic preservation and building a sustainable community for the City of Harrisburg.
The Broad Street Market boasts 34 vendors providing fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, cheeses, baked goods and other grocery items as well as diverse, ethnic and fresh prepared foods. It is located at 1233 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102 and hours of operation are Wednesday: 7a.m. – 2 p.m. (limited vendors); Thursday – Friday: 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.; and Saturday: 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. There is ample free parking surrounding the market. For more information, visit www.broadstreetmarket.org.
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NOTE: Jonathon Bowser and John Campbell are available for individual interviews and guided tours of the market. Contact Amy Hill at abhill@pacatholic.org or 717-343-9475 to arrange.
For more information, contact:
Amy B. Hill, APR
717-343-9475
