Founders Hall urban market expected to open this summer

Port Charlottetown is one step closer to completing its plans to transform the former Founders Hall into an urban market after receiving $786,500 from the federal government. 

The new funding will go toward infrastructure upgrades and construction costs as the project moves forward, said Mike Cochrane, CEO of the Charlottetown Harbour Authority, at the announcement Thursday. 

The project, which has been in the works since last year, will involve the renovation of the main floor of Founders Hall into an urban market and food hall that offers Island culinary, artisan and craft products. Cochrane said the new market is expected to open by this summer.

"We'll have a combination of culinary offerings and marketplace offerings, a social place where people can come, Islanders can come and just enjoy," Cochrane said.

Cochrane said the project is in the final stages of the design phase and tenders have been sent out for the first phase of construction, which is set to begin this month. 

"I think by the end of the month we should see some hammers flying," Cochrane said. 

Culinary experience

Throughout the design phase of the project, creating a unique culinary experience was a top priority, he said. 

"P.E.I. is just the garden of the gulf, there's no question about it," Cochrane said. "This is the emergence of the food halls — basically taking the product you have and making it available to visitors and Islanders alike in a central location. This is the perfect place to do that."

He said the market will operate throughout the year, giving traditionally seasonal vendors an opportunity to expand their business into the winter months.

Cochrane said maintaining the historic integrity of the building in the new design was also a top priority.

"The biggest change is really no change, because look at the building itself," he said. "We are going to put in a mezzanine area, where people will kind of be above some of the food vendors … but overall we want to maintain the look of the building."

Vendors signed on

There are 11 vendors that have signed on to operate in the hall once it's complete, including Receiver Coffee Co., Upstreet Craft Brewing, Holy Fox and Famous Peppers. The Harbour Authority is currently speaking with at least a dozen more, Cochrane said.

Another one of those vendors is Truckin' Roll, an ice cream food truck that got its start in Charlottetown last year. Owners Amanda Beaton and Jalen MacLeod say they're looking forward to the chance to keep their business running year-round and to work with other vendors. 

"We plan to use a lot of different vendors in different flavours. There's a donut company, there's a coffee company and different people so it's going to be cool to have kind of a collaboration effect I think," MacLeod said.

Beaton said they are now looking at ways to adapt the food truck experience to a market setting.

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