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After launching their bi-weekly(Wednesday and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.), indoor farmer's market in last September, Catt Fields White and business partner Dale Steele are now gearing up to take the San Diego Public Market to the next level.
Fields White, who also runs San Diego Weekly Markets, which manages the Little Italy, Pacific Beach and North Park farmer's markets, has received her first round of proposals from local food artisans and restaurants who are interested in setting up permanent shop space in the Market Hall, which will be modeled after some of the world's best year-round marketplaces. The letters of intent aren't binding, but are detailed enough to ensure a strong commitment. So far, they've come in from Bread & Cie, Venissimo Cheese, Julian Hard Cider, Alchemy Restaurant in South Park and Crows Pass Farm. Organic Pastures Dairy from Northern California has even expressed the desire for a San Diego hub.
Other local business who have expressed interest but have yet to send in their LOI's include Temecula Olive Oil Company, P Balistreri Salumi, Suzie's Farm, T&H Prime Meats and Stone Brewing Co.
In the next month or so, the public market will begin construction on the infrastructure for the shops as they continue to lease space; Fields White is confident that all spaces in the Market Hall will be spoken for when they it comes time for their projected launch in late spring and says, "92,000 square feet sounds like a crazy amount of space, but when we start looking at all the wonderful businesses that we want to include it fills up fast".
In the meantime, the San Diego Public Market will host a Martin Luther King Day event on January 21 and is in the process of setting up Market Maker dinners — these dinners are rewards for select donors who contributed to market's wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, but there will be seats available to the public too, and movie screening nights are in the works for February and March.
· San Diego Public Market [Official Site]
· All Sneak Peeks on Eater [~ESD~]
