Halifax Port Authority Seeks Retail Businesses For Former Farmers Market Building
HALIFAX – The Halifax Port Authority is looking for commercial operators interested in running retail outlets at the former Seaport Farmers Market.
Expressions of interest can be submitted to lease space on “The PIER” as it is now known. There is a total of seven ground-level retail spaces ranging from 450 square feet to 3,200 square feet in size.
The PIER’s main focus, when it reopens, will be to operate as a “living lab” for the transportation industry. Some of the partners that have already signed on for the living lab include CN, PSA Halifax, Accenture, IBI Group, OMC International, Saab, and the Halifax Port Authority itself.
For nearly a decade this building was home to the Seaport Farmers Market, which also had vendors stationed there all week long. While the market was popular on weekends and with cruise ship visitors, it was much slower on weekdays.
“For years and years, that market was always a successful weekend market…but it really struggled to find its footing as a full seven-day-a-week destination,” said Lane Farguson, media relations manager for the Port of Halifax.
“Before Covid hit, we started to look at different options for that building and one of the things we explored was bringing in tenant operators to manage the whole building and create an urban hall.”
This latest call for expressions of interest is a continuation of the planning that started last year before it was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We even had an expression of interest go out February of last year…it was actually getting a lot of interest, and then Covid hit and that really pulled the rug out from under us,” said Farguson.
“We wanted to figure out a way we could take what works, which is the weekend farmers’ market, and find some sort of use for that big waterfront building that was really underutilized.”
Part of that plan was already put into motion earlier in 2021 when the farmers market was moved to Pavilion 22 and became a weekend-only operation. In the future, the market will operate at the Pavilion most of the year but will move outside in the summer months. The Pavilion is needed for cruise ships during that time of year.
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