Might city move its market?

Area residents might be going to the City Market at a different spot in the future because of the growing popularity of Charlottesville’s Saturday event and a desire to make it more aesthetically appealing.

The city government is looking into the market’s future and whether that entails moving to a new place. The City Council briefly discussed the matter Monday, after Councilor Satyendra Huja said he thought the market needed a bit of a makeover.

“It’s very successful, but not very attractive,” Huja said in an interview Tuesday.

Where the market could move is still being bandied about, but councilors agreed that Court Square should be explored as a possible location.

“I think it’s definitely worth looking into,” Mayor Dave Norris said, adding that having the market there would be a “nicer experience.”

In Charlottesville’s early days, Norris said, “Court Square was market central.”

Huja also said that parking lots on McIntire Road might be another possibility.

City Market Manager Stephanie Anderegg-Maloy said the city has entertained moving the market for years, “but nothing’s happened.”

“It’s been one of those things that’s constantly been kind of like, we’re looking, but we can’t find it.”

Officials say there are several reasons to move the market. Anderegg-Maloy said apart from the market possibly outgrowing its plot, there are no trees or restrooms nearby. It has become more and more lucrative with each passing year — since it moved to the city-owned Water Street parking lot in 1993, it went from garnering $193,262.39 that year to nearly $1.1 million last year.

So far this year, $764,725.50 has been made at the weekly event. The number of vendors has generally remained in the low-90s, but the market has seen anywhere from 82 to as many as 100 cram into the slanted lot off the Downtown Mall.

“It really is too small,” said Sheila Cervelloni, owner of the Baker’s Palette, which sets up at the market every week.

Court Square would be one of the best places to move, Anderegg-Maloy said, because of its beauty, big trees and parks.

“I think, logistically, it would be a nightmare,” she added.

Norris agreed that several things would have to be ironed out before Court Square was considered seriously — how streets would be closed, where people could park and if those things might hinder traffic going to and from nearby businesses. Not to mention that the courthouse is Albemarle County property, and Anderegg-Maloy said that the city would probably need more parks and recreation staffers to help vendors set up in the morning.

If the parking and traffic issues were sorted, Cervelloni said, “then I think that would be pretty cool.”

Every Saturday, the bakery staff walks their goods over to the Water Street lot because it is so close by. Despite that perk, Cervelloni said a flat space would make going the extra blocks worth it.

“If it means we have to drive our product over somewhere, that’s a small price to pay,” she said.