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West Loop Farmers Market at Halsted and Fulton Could Be Temporary

By Chloe Riley | July 22, 2014 5:31am
 The new West Loop farmers market will be held at Halsted Street and Fulton Market starting Aug. 2. The market will run from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through October. (file photo)
The new West Loop farmers market will be held at Halsted Street and Fulton Market starting Aug. 2. The market will run from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through October. (file photo)
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Jim Watkins

WEST LOOP — A farmers market at Halsted Street and Fulton Market slated to open next month could close by October, according to a city official who called the venture more of a "pop-up."

Announced earlier this month, the chef-driven market — which would start Aug. 2 and run from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays — will be managed by Lincoln Park-based Green City Market and feature 20 vendors, according to Mark Psilos, the market's associate director.

The recent push for a West Loop farmers market comes from the "key actions" of the Fulton/Randolph District plan — a land-use initiative that involves preserving historic West Loop buildings and setting design guidelines for the area.  

"Given the existing food focus and proximity to downtown and public transit, the area is an ideal location for a seasonal outdoor farmers market," the plan states, referring to Green City Market as "a potential steward."

Chloe Riley details why you may want to gather your ghords and stockpile your spinach at the upcoming market:

But the lease on the 12,000-square-foot parking lot that Green City has chosen for the market's location at Halsted Street and Fulton Market expires in October. According to the city, it doesn't matter.

"If it’s temporary, it’s temporary. That’s the arrangement for now," said Peter Strazzabosco, the city's deputy planning and development commissioner. "There’s very little city-owned land in that area where the city could commit to something like an outdoor farmers market." 

That parking lot is owned by West Loop developer Jeff Shapack of Shapack Partners — the group currently developing Soho House Chicago and whose past projects include Trader Joe's in Lakeview and Lincoln Park's Apple store.

The Fulton/Randolph plan also calls for an indoor "artisanal food incubator" that would potentially provide retail or wholesale food options for the neighborhood during the winter. 

Psilos wouldn't say whether Green City was in the running to lead that incubator. Strazzabosco said it's too early for discussion on the incubator, which he says will be one of the last parts of the plan to be implemented. 

But neighborhood group Randolph/Fulton Market Association has said it supports holding the market at a different location — at a publicly-owned parking lot on Racine Avenue between Randolph and Washington streets, an area that the group says has better foot traffic and is closer to the heart of the district.

City officials said the lot is currently used by the CTA, although Roger Romanelli, the group's executive director, said the lot appears largely empty on weekends.

Romanelli's group also opposes Green City Market taking control of the market.

"They’re not a community stakeholder. They don’t get to decide ultimately where a farmers market gets to go," he said.

Strazzabosco stressed that Green City's market isn't the only option — other groups could also start a West Loop farmers market, he said. 

Romanelli said he'll be meeting with 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. on July 29 to discuss plans for the farmers market, among other concerns over the Fulton/Randolph plan.

Burnett did not respond to requests for comment.  

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