From Park-n-Ride to Market Hall
— by Mike Bowermaster — 12 February 2010 — 4 comments below »
The site of the old park n’ ride will have a creative temporary use called Market Hall. For the next two years before the permanent Market Town begins construction, a fabricated installation of food and entertainment options will activate the corner of Sycamore and San Pablo Avenues.
The Main Hall currently being assembled at the old park and ride.
The idea is that the various venders will be very flexible and ever changing because they all motor in and out every day. Market Hall will be a testbed to see the economic viability of differing merchants. If sales take off for a shop, they could likely be a candidate to become permanent tenants of the actual Market Town when it gets built.
Site plan showing temporary new uses (Lynx bus formerly stopped at I & H).
The goal is for the site to be open all day. Imagine it offering up coffee for the early bird commuters, breakfast, lunch, afternoon munchies, dinner, and late night fireside chats. After 10pm when it finally does close, a fence will lock closed, an around the clock security guard will be present, and an onsite camera system will secure the area like any shopping mall.
Viewpoint of future Airstream trailer park from same point as shown in rendering below.
There are three uses of Market Hall that I’m the most excited about. Moving the farmer’s market here would make it almost walkable, save for the suicidal crossing of San Pablo Avenue. In the hall itself, the dining tables could be moved aside for evenings of dancing, or even dance lessons. Also, car shows could be held in the open areas displaying anything from vintage Model A’s, Fast n’ Furious tuner cars, or perhaps testbed plug-in stations for alternative powertrains.
Airstream trailers open up to reveal shops inside.
This fluid and pliable style of market place will be first of its kind for the Bay Area. It has already been successful in L.A. with the advent of social media. If a gourmet Korean BBQ truck shows up, for example, the owner broadcasts a text message, tweet, or facebook post stating the day’s location and menu. This will be used in Hercules letting the thousands of workers in the North Shore Business Park as well as the rest of the city know what’s fresh and who’s got it.
Stylishly reconfigured freight containers become storefronts.
Market Hall is a very unconventional yet exciting addition to Hercules, and I have but a few concerns. This is not an environmentally friendly way to do business. Because it started in car-centric Los Angeles, all the venders drive in and out every single day. Every restaurant and store packs up and motors off to a home commissary for inspection and refueling. This dependence on the internal combustion engine is a very Southern Californian mentality, which is where the developer Red Barn is based.
Current example on site of tasteful architectural details used to dress-up a portable.
It’s great to see our town moving forward with projects of this kind, but it only emphasizes the troublesome fact that nothing physical has happened with the Hercules Bayfront land on the waterfront. Escrow closed on the old park n’ ride just a few months ago (Aug ’09) and already the Market Hall site is buzzing with activity. Other than dirt being moved around, nothing physical has happened on the waterfront for over a decade.
The Hercules area is a finite economy. If the rest of Hercules gets overbuilt with shop, stores, and restaurants, by the time construction starts on the waterfront, the only remaining economically viable building type will be residential and office spaces. I salute the Market Hall project, but too bad it’s not happening on Bayfront Boulevard.
[Editor's note: This post was not edited for content (language, links, etc.) to maintain its commentarial integrity. -Jeff]
I wonder if alcohol will be allowed????
I could see my wife and I having a cold beer
or margarita with dinner on a nice summer night hanging
around the lawn while the kids played….
Looks like a nice project. I look forward to something, anything being there.
As for the waterfront and its lack of moving forward, I don’t believe that the waterfront slowdown nor the moving ahead of other projects is a coincidence. It believe it is by design and there are development forces at work making things work out this way regardless of the perception some of us have had about the waterfront initiative.
Thank you Mike B. for an incisive overview of our impending ‘Hercules Village’ hub, new social spot.
Big Mike, you might appreciate how I can round-up mid-century cool cars along with kids and couples social dancing to my record hops. Imagine our old social halls, barndances or park gazebo gatherings.
As Phil S. asserts, ‘anything’ is so long overdue culturally for some of us Westside ‘upstarts’. However I do appreciate Phil’s bespeaking of old crony and nepotism relationships among Hercules civic and developer entities who do not practice the greater-good concept of sunshine. The covert posturing and maneuvering does not resonate with my Westside dreams. I will not roll-over while acts of commission impact my future. Our neighbors, our citizens of Hercules deserve better, if not the most noble best, from our public servants and these commercial hacks. I do not dance to their tunes anymore. I have my own muse. It’s called old-fashioned neighborhood.
And what the Hades happened to my iconic, beloved ‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud trees at our Village crossroad, San Pablo Ave., the Lincoln’s Highway, our Old Hwy 40 and Sycamore Ave.? Tangible to me, like old friends, all four graced our major crossroad waving, welcoming and greeting us with their seasonal delights. Friendly nodding to the Shell station’s ‘Dynamite Detonator’ art. Mature and healthy, three were savagely cut down: boom, boom, boom. One was spared. Why? Who’s brash decision was this? I want answers. These natural beauties need our protection. I applaud the thoughtful ones who planted them there. I’m not surprised anymore. But I demand accountability. It’s ironic to see full, mature trees in the above architectural renderings. And low, we are stalling as a town that behaves as ‘car centric’ at 47, a low ranking profile. We need wholistic leadership, smart, brave individuals who have a solid footing in both our glorious past and our future. After all, this is the Golden State.
The lawn would be a perfect place for one of those
inflating movie screens like Pinole does at Fernandez Park in the summer.
i went to a couple movies last year and it was a VERY family oriented type of
gathering. I can see it now….Korean BBQ and the movie American Graffitti!!!!