City Envisions Larger, Newer, Shiner Essex St. Market

Last night, at a Community Board 3 meeting, reps for the city and its architectural firm spoke with community members and vendors about the future of the Essex Street Market, which is in danger of being demolished as part of a much larger Seward Park Urban Renewal Area redevelopment. According to The Lo Down, the city sees a number of possible options for the market, a decades-old staple of the community that has grown to hold restaurants including Shopsin's, butchers, specialty stories, and the cultishly loved Saxelby Cheesemongers. One option is to let the market stay in its current 70 year-old building, albeit with some space removed, an option many vendors and, oh, probably 100 percent of the neighborhood nostalgists seem to prefer.

Another option, represented in the rendering above and the rest over on TLD, includes constructing a new building on the southeast corner of Delancey and Essex, which would double the size of the market. This new market would include an open courtyard and would encompass two stories of a mixed use building.

The meeting was just one part of a very long and involved marathon of talks about the development, and no decisions have been made at this point. A formal SPURA plan isn't expected until the end of 2012. Read more details from the meeting over on Bowery Boogie.
· Architectural Renderings: Envisioning a New Essex Street Market [TLD]
· All Coverage of SPURA [Curbed NY]
· All Coverage of The Essex Street Market [~ENY~]