Revamped City Market

The long-delayed remodeling project in the City Market was finally completed a few months ago, and the old Market building is filling with vendors. It’s nice to see some life back in the old building, and word is that they will work on remodeling the East wing soon. There is a slew of new vendors eagerly anticipating their next customer. Here’s a list:

  • Constantino’s. The most ambitious new tenant takes a decent-sized chunk of the western half of the market. Their sandwiches and salads have proven to be a hit; however, I wish they would have gone the Goose route and eschewed out-of-season items.
  • Lucia’s Italian Restaurant. It’s a decent step up from Enzo’s.
  • Herb and Tea. This place is a fine source of loose leaf teas. Pour yourself a prepared cup of tea and bliss out the rest of the day (make sure you pay the friendly attendant first, though).
  • Geri’s Fudge. I haven’t tried the fudge, but their lemon and chocolate cakes are pretty tasty. Hate the individual wrapping, though.
  • Moody Meats. I brought one of their shish kabobs to a tailgate. It was excellent. They also have Trader’s Point products.

There are several other new specialty shops as well. I’m concerned that there is not enough foot traffic to support many of these places. However, I have noticed a decent uptick in purveyors of quality merchandise. I’m hopeful that the proposed bakery and Indian food stand will continue this trend.

Comments 16

  • Man, I’m developing quite a back-log of recently finished projects I need to go see the inside of: City Market, Central Library and Campus Center.

    And specifically at City Market, I’ve been meaning to go to Moody Meats since they moved in pre-completion.

  • I’ll probably wait for warmer weather before making it over to the City Market.

  • Next time I have a meeting with City people I’ll try to schedule it around lunch and spend some time wandering the aisles.

  • Corr-Go to the Library first. But the market is improving. Constantino’s is pretty impressive.

  • I wish they would make City Market more of a toursit destination. I see something similar to a Faneuil Hall in Boston or Pike’s market in Seattle.

    The reason these are successful is that they are very evident as a place to browse. They have street performers, magicians, clowns, etc…

    I think that in order to acheive the same type of success, we would need to have a pedestrian street, maybe from the monument all the way to City Market. I can only imagine this would be a big effort, so I’m sure it will never happen.

    At any rate, I’m glad City Market is back. I walked through and it still has a little growing up to do, but hopefully it is vibrant and alive this summer.

  • corrnd, Campus Center isn’t quite complete, but it is in use while construction wraps up. It is a pretty good building and the interior space gives IUPUI a real university feel. Wait a few months and check it out.

    As for the city market, it really is a market and that’s great. I pains me to say it b/c I am a long time Claus’/Klemm’s supporter, but Moody’s is awesome and the have a better selection of meat than the aforementioned, and Joe Wurster is running the shop so it can’t really go wrong. Go city market.

  • Thanks for the comments everyone. People seem to like talking about food. I’ll make a note of this.

    Phil, you’re absolutely right. Although I haven’t been to either of those places, I have been to Reading Market in Philly and the Ferry Market in San Fran. Not really tourist destinations, per se, just chock full of quality local goods. I’d take that in a heartbeat. Market Street may be begging to be pedestrianized if the MSA ever gets built.

  • NO PEDESTRIAN MALL!

    Yes, I’m shouting. They don’t work. Philadelphia and Minneapolis each had one right downtown as part of 60’s-70’s “urban renewal” schemes, and later took them out.

    The “shared space” that now exists on Market between the City Market and CCB is just the right thing. It is very pedestrian friendly and it forces cars to share the space, partly because of its rough texture. A similar space exists at the Circle.

    One idea to increase pedestrian space would be to narrow the street to three lanes wide (allowing for center left turns, like BR Avenue) with no parking along the sides. Then build a Cultural Trail connector from Alabama to the Statehouse.

    But count me as a resounding NO to any move to create a pedestrian-only thoroughfare Downtown.

  • CDC, I understand where you’re coming from, and I know that they failed back in those days. Pedestrian malls are terrible ways to revive a place that is mostly dead.

    There needs to be a decent amount of foot traffic to sustain them. That is why I mention the MSA, because that could bring a good number of people to the area that may otherwise avoid downtown. If you see in this link, there are a ton more car-free streets than you might suspect. Pedestrianizing Market Street is just speculation on my part. I agree with you that it would not work at this point.

  • Here is a link to some folks who really understand pedestrian spaces (and markets)

    http://www.pps.org/

  • I actually have that page linked on here. Love the Project for Public Spaces.

  • I found a webpage once dealing with the European “shared space” concepts, and yesterday I couldn’t find it again. Our Circle is as close to the Euro concepts as there is anywhere I’ve been in the US.

    PPS especially is trying to re-train traffic engineers, and I’d love to get DPW on board with some of their concepts. While advocating for an urban trail from Fall Creek to White River on 38th St. years ago (when the Maple Road concept was in its infancy), DPW presented a stone wall: we will not reduce lane capacity to enhance sidewalks.

    Today, they seem more open to slimming lanes and changing curbside parking configurations (Exhibit A: Cultural Trail).

    Progress is progress.

  • I am typically an opponent of pedestrian malls. Most US version of this are total failure.

    There are some notable overseas successes such as Florida St. in Buenos Aires, but those situation are not applicable to Indy.

  • I agree U-phile. That comment I made was sort of flip, and now I’m paying for it.

    Just for the fun of it, I’ll list successful pedestrian streets I’ve visited:

    Niewendijk, Amsterdam
    Istikkal Caddessi, Istanbul
    Prince Arthur Street, Montreal
    Fremont Street, Las Vegas (and, in general, I really don’t like Vegas)
    Charles Bridge, Prague
    Downtown Kas, Turkey

    It’s obvious that Indy does not have the tourist pull or walking culture of any of these places. However, we do have our own car-free place: the Canal. Of course, is still underutilized.

  • Joe Wurster rocks!

  • I certainly hope you’ve had the opportunity to re-visit the City Market since you wrote your original post. There have been several new businesses open up there: Izo-Batik, The Amazing Potato Chip Company and my business, Dianbaar (say it john-bar) Art & Gift Gallery. I sell fair trade and recycled gifts from Africa. My business has been in the Market since January.

    After so many delays, the official grand opening will be the week of June 23rd. The Market will be open later and there will be festivities and other events that should draw people in. Please plan to re-visit or re-discover City Market.

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