Harrisburg Business Administrator Dan Hartman (right) and Communications Director Matt Maisel discuss the Broad Street Market at a press conference on Tuesday.
Harrisburg officials have confirmed that people soon will be able to shop again from many Broad Street Market vendors at an indoor facility.
City officials told TheBurg, last week, that they were weighing a plan to construct a temporary, tent-like facility for vendors, following a destructive fire that heavily damaged the market’s brick building and displaced vendors last Monday.
At a press conference on Tuesday, city Business Administrator Dan Hartman said that Harrisburg will move forward with that plan.
The city plans to construct the tent in the grassy lot at N. 3rd and Verbeke streets, next to the market and across from Midtown Scholar Bookstore. The structure would include flooring, electricity, running water and heating and cooling, Hartman said.
The city has proposed building a temporary structure for market vendors in a lot at N. 3rd and Verbeke streets.
Harrisburg expects to select a company to provide the tent in the coming days and estimates that the structure will be in place by early August, according to Hartman.
“It would allow vendors and customers and the public to shop, not outdoors in the courtyard, but in a climate-controlled environment that offers pretty much everything they had and then some,” Hartman said. “What we want to do is give them a great workspace […] that is safe, secure and allows them to do their business that they need to do.”
City officials have also proposed moving some of the seating out of the market’s stone building, which was untouched by the fire, and into the tent, to make room for additional vendors in that building.
For the first weekend that the market was open after the fire last Monday, many vendors from the brick building set up shop in the market’s courtyard, and the community came out to shop and support them.
Currently, the city is working with its insurance provider, which is investigating the damage at the market. That process will likely conclude in early August, Hartman said. After that, Harrisburg can move forward with procuring contractors to restore the building.
Hartman is confident that the city’s insurance will cover the cost of restoring the building. He also believes that it may be possible to restore and reopen the building in phases, as the side near the courtyard was far less damaged than the other end of the building.
City officials know it will be a lengthy process to rebuild the market building, especially with the regulations that come with it being a national historic site, but are hopeful that it will be restored as quickly as possible. Hartman said that they are working with state and local partners, as well, to make that happen.
Even Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro pledged his support for the market last week at a press conference.
“Part of the reason we are working as fast as we are is because people need groceries, people need produce, they need meat, they need food,” said the city’s Director of Communications, Matt Maisel.
Friends of Midtown has put together a spreadsheet with donation and purchase opportunities for the market and its many vendors. Click here to see how to help.
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