Theo Armstrong, a market vendor, addressed the market’s board of directors at a meeting on Wednesday night.
A packed room cheered Wednesday night after the Broad Street Market temporarily halted a plan that has received significant community opposition.
The market’s board of directors voted to pause a rent hike that was announced by the market last week, after hearing pushback from frustrated vendors and community members at a board meeting.
“We got some wins for us and some wins for the market,” said Theo Armstrong, co-owner of Zeroday Brewing Co., a vendor at the market.
Early last week, the market’s stone building vendors were given notice from management that the board had voted to nearly double their rents, from $2.67 to $5.25 per square foot, on Feb. 1. According to the market, the raise would help make up some of the market revenue, which has dropped by 70% since the July brick building fire and closure.
Vendors reacted strongly to the news of the increase, stating that the change would further hurt their businesses, which were already suffering due to less market foot traffic following the fire.
“How does this get put on our backs as vendors? We’ve lost 70% of our business too,” said Josh Longo, owner of The Cheesesteak Guy.
A packed room of market vendors and community members at a board meeting.
At Wednesday’s monthly board meeting, dozens of community members and market vendors piled into a small room in the Historic Harrisburg Association building to share their concerns and ask questions.
Ultimately, the board decided to put the rent increase on pause to give them time to explore alternative fundraising efforts. Members discussed options such as temporarily cutting out marketing, public relations and special events funding. They also said that they would reach out to the city and utility providers to ask about deferring payments until the market is financially stable.
“There is a scenario, I guess is my question, in which we could make all of this balance and walk out of here with a plan to at least try to avoid the worst case scenario,” said Eric Hagarty, a new market board member.
Six market board members were present at the meeting, all voting in favor of the pause. Executive Director Tanis Monroy was not present at the meeting due to “personal reasons,” according to the board.
“Fundraising shouldn’t be left all to the vendors,” said Kevin Hancock, another new board member.
The board also voted to reinstate annual leases with vendors instead of month-to-month leases, after hearing input from vendors who were afraid that their leases could suddenly be terminated or altered.
Board members and vendors also discussed the need for vendors to elect two board representatives from among them to sit at meetings.
Currently, there are nine board members, including two who were elected on Wednesday.
The board also took input from vendors on possibly adding additional hours or days to the market’s current operational hours. Vendors were generally open to both ideas, stressing the need for consistent hours from vendors. However, no decision was made on Wednesday.
Dennise Hill, the city’s director of building and housing development, shared an update on the temporary market structure for displaced vendors. She said that the city has received a bid for electrical work, but none yet for plumbing. That bidding period for plumbing will remain open until Jan. 25.
After the three-hour meeting, Armstrong was tired and overwhelmed with information, but generally feeling better about the situation, he shared.
“The increase was put on hold, so I’m interested to see where that goes,” he said. “I think our main points were addressed.”
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