Landmark gets long-awaited rehab

The owner of the cobblestoned City Market this week began renovating a vacant historic building as part of a $750,000 remodeling of the market's shops and offices.

City Market was once regarded as the jewel that would spark downtown Raleigh's urban renaissance. But investment and development bypassed it, going to other parts of the city.

Now, after years of grumbling by area merchants, owner Michael Hakan said he will renovate the 1914 farmers market building and remodel surrounding storefronts into a showcase historic district. The market building, a landmark on the Register of Historic Places, has deteriorated into an eyesore: Pipes and nails jut out of odd places, and metal bars prop up a sagging overhang to keep it stabilized.

"The story of that building is that it's been an underachiever," said David Diaz, president of Downtown Raleigh Alliance, a group of businesses and property owners.

Business owners say they are paying the price for the neglected landmark, which could be a magnet for daytime business and catalyst for nightlife, as it was in the '90s when Greenshields Brewery & Pub was in the building.

Hakan hopes to include an Argentine steakhouse with cafe-style dining al fresco, but he is only in talks and hasn't signed a deal. He is also renting part of the building to a special-events business that will use the space for wedding receptions, business meetings and private functions.

"I hope people's patience will be rewarded," Hakan said by phone from his home in California. "People want something there -- and we do too."

As part of the renovation, Hakan Market Partners has applied for $135,587 from Raleigh's facade grant program, which would pay about a third of the cost of sprucing up 31 storefronts around the former farmers market building; Hakan Market Partners would be reimbursed upon completion of the renovation. It would constitute one of the biggest facade grant awards from the Urban Design Center, a division of Raleigh's planning department.

The renovation would restore the central building, which includes about 12,000 square feet, to pristine condition, said Julie Montague, project manager at JDavis Architects in Raleigh. The innards of the building will be gutted, removing makeshift conduits to restore original rafters and beams. Outside, fluorescent strip lights would be replaced by turn-of-the-century brass gooseneck lamps. Window and door sashes would be stripped and repainted, and building and storefronts outfitted with matching awnings.

Hakan, who has owned City Market for about 15 years, expects the renovated building to open for business in early 2009. He agreed that the center is ripe for renovations and said the project cost may well exceed the $750,000 he has committed.

"Our goal is to continue to pull pedestrian action to the City Market," Hakan said. "With things obviously tightening up in the economy, now is the time to put ourselves in the best competitive position."

Showtime Events, the special events venue headed to the now-vacant building, hopes to host 100 to 200 events a year, drawing business from the new Marriott hotel and the convention center, company Vice President James Auerbach said.

'They need more shops'

Grant Jennings, a computer programmer who works two blocks away, goes to City Market about twice a week for lunch, drinks or appetizers. He doesn't shop there, even though the market has a smattering of boutiques, such as Dechen Collections Tibetan Store and a few art galleries.

"This little area is fine if you want to eat, but if they want to get more people in here they need more shops," Jennings said. "You feel like you're going on a sight-seeing tour of this historic area, rather than a shopping trip."