It’s been a full year since a fire broke out in the middle of the night on April 30 and destroyed the Eastern Market’s South Hall. A great deal has been accomplished in the wake of those dark days when hundreds of Hill residents made the sad pilgrimage to the burned out market to view what was left of the red brick 19th-century structure.

Chief among these accomplishments is that the market has risen Phoenix-like from those ashes, and today its East Hall businesses are back in business and flourishing. Things are not so rosy for the outside farmer’s line and arts and crafts vendors, which according to most, have never fully recovered.

Along Seventh Street, there is growing concern that after an incredible initial response, the subsequent progress has stalled.

Commitment
Beginning with a jointly held press conference by Mayor Fenty and Ward 6 Councilmember Wells on May 18, 2007, pledging that the market would be rebuilt, along with the subsequent outpouring of support from the community, the ravaged Eastern Market began the painfully slow steps of returning to its former place as the town center of Capitol Hill.

Wells was inexhaustible in his efforts on behalf of the market in those first critical days, facilitating a multitude of meetings and sitting in on hours of planning and coordination between residents and affected government agencies. With Fenty and Wells the driving political forces providing the muscle for the $20 million that was appropriated for the restoration of the market, it was a little more than 90 days later that the market reopened on Aug. 25 in its East Hall temporary facility.

The community response was nothing short of remarkable symbolized by the more than $400,000 raised by the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, CHAMPS and numerous efforts from restaurants who donated a percentage of their sales, to tee shirt sales and bake sales by neighborhood school children. Gary Peterson, CHCF’s public face, was tirelessly instrumental in his efforts to get the market merchants back in business. Hundreds of residents and businesses pitched in with time or financial support.

Closing Seventh Street
The initial decision to close Seventh Street on the weekends has grown increasingly contentious. Although the East Hall merchants have thrived in their new setting, many of the brick and mortar businesses along Seventh Street, as well as the arts and crafts and produce vendors who have struggled in the past year feel that the closed Seventh Street is a contributing factor to the decline of business. Seventh Street was closed by emergency order of the mayor. The rationale was to facilitate the movement of outdoor businesses during construction. An additional case was made that a closed street made the market safer for families and shoppers.

According to Matt Hussman of the Office of Property Management, plans are in the works to continue the street closure after its original order expires in May. The process for closing a street is cumbersome and requires community input. Hussman would not comment on how OPM intends to tackle this issue when the expiration date occurs.

Market Management
The Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, an appointed citizen advisory body that by law advises OPM on market issues, has pushed hard for a unified management structure in the wake of the fire.

Donna Scheeder, chair of EMCAC, feels that getting the market open in such a short timeframe was a huge accomplishment and that the District government deserves a great deal of credit. “The District understood the economic importance of Eastern Market because they got it back in business quickly,” says Scheeder. “The new unified management structure that is being put into place will allow the market to go forward.”

Scheeder continues, “We need to improve management. A rehabilitated building without strong management is not going to get us where we want to be. We have to have both.“

One disturbing note that concerns Scheeder is why there has been no “official report on the cause of the fire. It is not to point a finger,” she says, “but to know what happened and make sure that it will not happen again. Knowing the cause will allow us to go forward in our planning for the future.”

Bill Glasgow, owner of Union Meat and a merchant since the 1960s, has repeatedly warned that the East Hall’s AC cannot handle the coming summer heat and fears his warnings to OPM are falling on deaf ears: “I don’t know how we’ll get through the summer. The temperature last year when we re-opened was 105 degrees and remained so through October. We don’t want to go through that again.“

Arts and craft vendor Michael Berman, a long time exhibitor, contends that the yearlong drop in their business is a function of lack of management and advertising and having a plan which he insists is not currently the case. Berman adds that the many of the outside vendors have been the forgotten stepchild of the market and that some with long experience at the market are now looking for other venues.

One very successful 15 year farmer’s line vendor, Dan Donahue, has made a clear break from the market and now operates at the Courthouse Square Farmer’s Market in Virginia: “I will be back when they reopen the street,” says Donahue.

Contracts and Construction Falling Behind
While the commitment from Mayor Fenty and Councilmember Wells has not abated, the sense and speed of progress that characterized the opening of the East Hall last summer has clearly stalled. The roof’s completion, once promised for January, is now targeted for late June. The installation of the windows is also running behind its scheduled April completion.

The contract for the final stage of the South Hall’s extensive restoration – which includes its interior, the basement for greater use and HVAC – was scheduled for approval in January 2008. On April 10, the contract, awarded to Forney Enterprises with a bid of $8.1 million, was approved with no objections in the DC Council. All contracts over $1 million must meet this approval, putting this work five months behind schedule. Currently no information is available on the incentives or penalties for Forney with regards to meeting the timelines of the contract.

It is difficult to see the South Hall open for business on its projected schedule of January 2009. A more likely opening may well be midsummer. Repeated attempts to reach Forney were unsuccessful.

These delays do not take into consideration the planned disruption that the new and long delayed Seventh Street streetscape under DDOT supervision will contribute as the street is torn up in phases beginning in June.

RFP Delayed
An RFP for a new market manager was drafted on time by the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a nationally renowned consulting group whose expertise is public markets. EMCAC moved expeditiously and held a meeting for public comment in March. Since then the draft RFP has languished as lawyers in the Office of Contracts & Procurements review the final draft.

With a recommended tight schedule to meet a number of proposed deadlines in the search for a new market management group now having passed, there is little likelihood that a decision can be made on a new market management team to take over the market management functions when the current market managers, Eastern Market Ventures contract ($225,000 per year) expires June 30.

Of course, this assumes there are candidates for this contract. OPM, which owns the property, has not indicated what its plans are if there is no market management on July 1. One option is that OPM will manage the market. Another is that it will extend EMV’s contract as it did in September 2007.

Carole Wright who manages the Saturday Capitol Hill Flea Market at Hine JHS has suggested that the current liaison at OPM, Matt Hussman, manage the market whatever decision is made on hiring a new group and that this management period be for a duration of six months. Wright feels that this management experience will give OPM the required grasp of the market’s complexity.

OPM’s Hussman, who is the currently the de facto market manager appears to be a logical choice in this interim period. Hussman, who bid on the initial market management contract in 1999, would be precluded from securing the upcoming contract were he to leave OPM and bid on the market contract. His role in the shaping of the current RFP would certainly disqualify him because of his current government service and the potential benefit to him and make for a significant conflict of interest.

The Future
Much has been accomplished in the year since the fire. However, there remains any number of questions. Will DDOT communicate effectively with OPM, EMCAC and the impacted businesses to smooth the way for the new streetscape work that will be done beginning in June? How will OPM manage the continued closing of Seventh Street? What is the future of both the North Hall and the plaza and expired leaseholder, Market Five Gallery? Who will manage the market once EMV’s contract expires? Although not currently part of any public discussions, will the unified management proposal be expanded to include the site of both the Saturday and Sunday Flea markets on what is now Hine JHS school property since it is scheduled for closing as part of DCPS downsizing?