San Diego Public Market Closes Book on Barrio Logan

In a letter sent to supporters of the San Diego Public Market's Kickstarter campaign and posted today on their Facebook page, the organizers announced with "great reluctance and a good bit of sadness" that the project, to repurpose a Barrio Logan factory into central San Diego food hub, is officially over.

The market took off in 2012 with serious momentum and local anticipation, raising over $135,000 through Kickstarter and more through outside backers. They started a biweekly farmer's market, held immensely popular community events, including a street food fest, and began to build the infrastructure for a market hall to house permanent food and farm vendors.

Now, the 91,000-square-foot site in Barrio Logan is back on the market and the partners, Catt White and Dale Steele, have gone their separate ways. Steele says that she and husband Mark Steele, a prominent architect, put together a new proposal for the original space, which incorporated a market element and 128 units of affordable housing, but the property owner was ultimately unwilling to move forward. White told Eater that she's continuing to run her current farmer's markets in Little Italy, Pacific Beach and North Park and will launch a program called Market Builders, which will offer services to start-up food-related businesses and connect shoppers and supporters with local businesses and organizations, later this fall.
· San Diego Public Market [Facebook]