HARRISBURG, Pa. — Wednesday marks the somber one-year anniversary of a devastating fire that severely damaged the brick building at Harrisburg's Broad Street Market.
The 12 months since have been "really, really hard," according to Eric Hagarty, chairman of the Market's Board of Directors.
Dozens of vendors and small businesses were displaced, "people lost access to one of the only options for groceries in an area that's designated as a food desert," Hagarty said.
But thanks in large part to the help of the city's leaders, businesses and community members, Hagarty said Wednesday in a thank-you note to the Market's many supporters, "the Market's brightest days are ahead."
Hagarty's letter to the community recapped the months of hard work Broad Street Market's leadership has put in to keep the venerable venue operating. But, he said, it's the people of Harrisburg's refusal to let the Market close.
"In many other towns, a devastating fire like the one that took place a year ago, and all the terrible second-order effects it caused, would have been too much to overcome," Hagarty said in his letter. "But although this anniversary is a somber one, it is also a heartening one, because Harrisburg is not like many other towns: the people of Harrisburg simply refused to allow the Market to fail."
Last July's fire started when a ceiling fan inside the 145-year-old brick structure malfunctioned, sparking a blaze that heavily damaged the roof and interior.
Shortly after the fire was extinguished and the damage assessed, Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro both promised that the structure would be rebuilt.
Those promises weren't easy to keep.
While the Market enjoyed an outpouring of support from local community members and businesses and was back open on a limited basis within days of the fire, monthly revenue dropped by 70%, Hagarty said.
The vendors who remained open in the Market's Stone Building "endured a significant decline in sales at their own businesses due to reduced overall foot traffic following the fire."
And attempts to build a new, temporary structure as a substitute for the Brick Building to help Market's displaced vendors get back on their feet "felt like an insurmountable task at times," Hagarty said.
In December 2023, Market leaders announced that the planned temporary tent structure was delayed "for the foreseeable future." The delay lasted several months; the tent structure opened for the first time in May.
By January, Hagarty said in his letter, Market "was down to the last $14,000 in its operating account" and faced a growing operating deficit of more than $160,000. There was also more than $50,000 in accumulated delinquent and unpaid bills, he added.
At one particularly low point, Hagarty said, it looked like the only feasible way to keep Market operating would be to double the rent for the remaining vendors.
But then things began to turn around. In January, Market received a $30,000 donation from the William Penn Social Association that Hagarty described as "life-saving."
Other local businesses also stepped up to help, Hagarty said. Capital Region Water and PPL Electric Utilities agreed to provide deferred payment arrangements that allowed Market to "manage its challenging cash flow situation over the previous several months."
Midtown Property Management volunteered to provide free property management services to Market for a period of five years. Hornung's LED Lighting installed new, high-efficiency lighting in the Stone Building to help reduce utility costs. Members 1st Federal Credit Union helped with financial management, and Enders Insurance helped provide appropriate workers compensation and other services that were not previously in place. The Burg, Harrisburg's community news organization, agreed to waive Market's accrued unpaid advertising balance of more than $2,500 and donated additional ad space for free.
Additionally, several Market board members volunteered to perform their duties without payment until such time that Market could afford to hire a permanent manager, and Market's vendors voluntarily agreed to a 25% rent increase.
There were other bumps in the road, Hagarty said. In May, Harrisburg's City Council voted 5-2 to reject Alexander Building Construction Company as the construction manager for the restoration and reconstruction of the Brick Building, citing "equity" concerns in the process used to select the company. The council's decision drew criticism from Hagarty and Williams, the latter of whom called it "reckless."
Two weeks later, the issue was brought up for a re-vote, and the council changed course, voting 4-3 to accept Alexander Building Construction Company as manager of the project. Council members Crystal Davis and Ralph Rodriguez, who voted to reject the company the first time around, changed their votes on the re-vote.
Now, with a plan in place to rebuild the Brick Building and a temporary tent structure in place and open, Hagarty is optimistic about Market's future.
“It’s been really exciting for us to see vendors that people know and love and haven’t been able to shop with in quite some time, be back open for business," Hagarty said.
But the project is not out of the woods yet, he cautioned.
"The phased paying down of accrued delinquent bills has left us with little margin for error, but we are fortunate to have secured a $50,000 line of credit with 0% interest over the next six months, which will help us stay current on our bills as our fund balance starts to (hopefully) slowly grow again throughout the remainder of the year," he said.
"It will take time for us to figure out how to better control the temperature in the tent. It will take time for the restoration of the Brick Building to conclude. It will take time before any of us can really definitively say we have truly, completely recovered from the fire.
"But one thing is for sure: because of YOU, Harrisburg, the Market’s brightest days are ahead."