Harrisburg outlines Broad Street Market rebuild, prioritizing brick building and vendors

HARRISBURG — City officials on an update at Harrisburg City Hall presented plans to rebuild the Broad Street Market campus and said the brick building — damaged in the fire — will be the first priority, with bid packages expected between June and August 2025 and construction targeted to begin Sept. 1, 2025. Mayor (name not specified) and members of the project team said the work will include accessibility upgrades, full heating and air conditioning, and fire suppression systems.

The reconstruction plan matters because the Broad Street Market is a longtime local landmark and because its vendors have been displaced since the fire. City officials said they have $8.25 million available now and are pursuing additional funding from state and other sources to complete the campus-wide work.

David Baker, a project team member who spoke at the presentation, said the team is “focusing on that first” — meaning the brick building where the fire caused a total loss — and showed renderings intended to guide design and contractor outreach. An architect from Murphy & Denton Hafer described the design intent to “fully restore the exterior of the brick building so that, it preserves the historic integrity of the building,” and said the interior will be reorganized to maximize vendor space. The architects said they plan a roughly 1,300-square-foot mezzanine for public seating and a below-grade central mechanical plant to free up vendor area within the brick building.

Officials gave a funding breakdown for the project so far: $5,000,000 received from the city’s insurance reimbursements to date (city officials called this reimbursements), $2,000,000 from the city economic development/MoAD fund, $500,000 from a host municipal fee, and $650,000 from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding — a total of $8,250,000. City staff said the general fund was budgeted for an additional $5,500,000 in 2025 to support the brick building reconstruction. The city described the general fund as paying upfront costs and then submitting reimbursement requests to its insurer for eligible expenses.

Officials said they plan outreach to contractors in April to explain the bidding process and to encourage both local small contractors and larger firms to participate. City staff indicated they are balancing the speed of construction with efforts to avoid prolonged vendor displacement; they said phasing could increase the total displacement time and that getting vendors back into the brick building quickly is a priority.

The mayor said the city will provide monthly updates to the news about progress and additional renderings. On insurance, the mayor told attendees that the market’s own insurance had lapsed before the fire, saying, “they let the insurance lapse, and I did not know that. I was not made aware of that till at the last moment.” City officials said that insurance reimbursements will cover some costs but not all, and that they are preparing a funding request to the governor’s office and expect to ask the state for additional funds — officials mentioned roughly $9 million as an initial target and said they might seek more depending on project needs.

Project leaders acknowledged some criticism from vendors and community members about the number and pace of design renderings, and said renderings are evolving as the project advances. City staff and the project team said they have met with Eric Hakady of the Broad Street Market Alliance and with market vendors to share available information, but that detailed structural plans are not yet finalized.

The presentation also noted that the stone building on the campus has roof deterioration and that the Broad Street Market has secured funding to replace that roof; the city said a timeline for work on the stone building is not yet set and will depend on securing funding and coordinating logistics so vendors are not further displaced.

Next steps identified by city staff and the project team include completing drawings (city staff cited a June 1, 2025 target for completed drawings), issuing bid packages between June and August 2025, beginning construction Sept. 1, 2025 (with the brick building first), hosting contractor outreach in April, and continuing monthly public updates. City officials also said they would continue pursuing grants and other funding sources to cover remaining costs.