Troy farmers market negotiating for daily indoor space (Albany Business Review)
This article was originally published online by the Albany Business Review on April 4, 2019.
The winter home of Troy’s farmers market could become a daily, year-round indoor destination with booths for 20 to 25 vendors.
The deal, if finalized, would complement the outdoor market that brings thousands of people downtown in the spring, summer and fall.
Leaders of the market are negotiating with David Bryce for the indoor space.
Bryce owns the Troy Atrium, the 1970s-era shopping mall-turned-office building where the market is held every Saturday in the winter.
“Our intent is to have a seven-day-a-week presence in downtown Troy,” said Zack Metzger, president of the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market.
The market fills the Atrium one day a week for six months, changing the otherwise quiet hallways into a lively scene of people buying local products and socializing.
From May to October, vendors set up along River Street.
Now entering its 20th year, the market continues to grow and expects to add 13 vendors when it moves outdoors on May 4, bringing the total to more than 100.
Market leaders for several years have wanted a permanent presence to complement the outdoor market. Plans to move into a large, mixed-used development at One Monument Square were dropped in 2015, and the land along the riverfront remains empty.
The city is preparing to seek developers yet again for the parcel.
The market hasn't given up on One Monument Square, but it could take years before anything is built there, Metzger said.
In the meantime, using the Atrium year-round would be a good testing ground for a daily, indoor market. Booth sizes would be flexible in case vendors need more or less space. Overhead costs would be affordable, unlike trying to rent a storefront downtown.
"As a small business owner, that's a small step," said Metzger, who raises meat and vegetables at Laughing Earth farm in Cropseyville outside Troy. "A lot could take that without breaking their business."
The outdoor market would continue on River Street in the warm weather months but with some of the vendors indoors at the Atrium.
The arrangement would also provide stability since the renewable lease with Bryce would be for five years, not annually as it is now for the Saturday-only market.
"We think we could expand this into something bigger ultimately but we want the chance to try it," Metzger said.
David Bryce would create new space for the farmers market on the Broadway side of the building, pictured here with a rendering.
There's a potential obstacle to the daily market layout in the Atrium because state workers fill the Broadway side of the building where Bryce would carve out space for a new corridor to fit 20 to 25 vendor booths.
The state's office lease runs through August 2020, but Bryce is talking to officials in Albany about accommodating the farmers market so it could potentially move into the corridor by this winter.
"I've been talking to them about participating in the redevelopment of the property, which means some portions would have to leave and some stay," Bryce said. "It's a big puzzle."
The state workers who are displaced by the market could ultimately move into new, third-floor offices that Bryce wants to build on the Broadway side of the Atrium.
The Broadway facade would be upgraded with a dedicated entrance to the farmers market and new storefronts instead of the long blank wall that's devoid of activity.
Bryce showed the conceptual drawings for the new facade to the Albany Business Review, the first time he’s shared them with the news media.
Bryce said the new design would correct a 40-year-old mistake. The Atrium's grand opening was on March 22, 1979.
"They built a suburban building in the middle of downtown Troy," he said.