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Local business partners hope to manage City Market
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Two well-known local entrepreneurs are negotiating a 25-year lease with the city of Charleston to manage the four-block area along North and South Market Street and give one of the city’s signature places a $4 million redo.
Businessmen Hank Holliday and Steve Varn, who between them own about a dozen market-area properties, have been selected by Charleston city officials to become the new management company for Charleston’s City Market.
The market’s current management group, credited with restoring what had become a rundown, dilapidated lair for drunks and homeless people to the vibrant, bustling commerce center it is today, has been under contract with the city for more than 30 years.
Final documents have not yet been signed and city officials have not yet commented on the arrangement. Holliday expects negotiations with the city to be finalized within about 90 days, he said.
“We have met with the existing merchants recently on more than one occasion and I believe we have unanimous support from them,” Holliday said. “We think a sense of community is missing in Charleston’s public market. We think it has vast potential and we think we can help the existing vendors make a whole lot more money than they make today. We also hope to draw Charlestonians back to the market as well.”
Under the newly formed Market Preservation Trust LLC, Holliday and Varn have proposed a 25-year lease with the city to manage the public market, which spans four city blocks and is one of the city’s most prominent tourist attractions.
Under their proposal, the partners would invest $2 million into the project in the form of an interest-free loan the city would pay back, and the city will match the $2 million investment for a total of $4 million.
Last renovation in the 1970s
The Christopher Co. had leased most of the buildings from the city and managed the area for more than 30 years after completing the first major renovation of the area in the late 1970s.
When the company set about reviving the area, it had grown seedy and dismal, and the cleanup involved the disposal of thousands of wine and liquor bottles and the removal of a dead body.
Maintaining the market has not been an easy task either. For the past 30 years, The Christopher Co. has dealt with pigeon droppings, constant painting and roof repair following hurricanes. The management company also raised the floor of the market in areas to contend with Charleston’s frequent flooding problems.
The City Market became a center of commerce in 1792, when a brick market was built near Meeting Street. A “Centre Market” consisting of separate sheds for meats and vegetables opened on the site in August 1807.
Since then, the area has been through good times and bad, transitioning from a popular meat and produce market in the 1940s to a deserted, less-than-savory part of town by 1950. It was beyond dreary when The Christopher Co. proposed a makeover and leased it from the city in 1974.
The Christopher Co.’s lease expires in April. Frank Lucas, one of the company’s founders, said the company had made a business decision not to submit a proposal to the city for a new contract.
Holliday and Varn were selected from among four companies that offered the city a management proposal.
“I can’t tell you what it means to me and Hank to have the opportunity to do something like this for our community,” Varn said. “We realize this is a public market and always will be, but we really feel it needs some revitalization, renovation, professional management, special events and things that will attract locals. We think we can make our market one of the better markets in the country.”
Priority: Cleanup and repairs
Holliday said an immediate priority is an initial cleanup of the area including painting, renovating restroom facilities and starting repairs.
“We don’t feel it’s headed in the right direction,” Holliday said. “We have seen some of the better tenants depart, we have begun to see a bit of vacancy on Market Street, but when we step back and look at it, we see the most valuable commercial real estate in the southeastern United States and perhaps the most underperforming.”
Before making further changes, Holliday and Varn plan to travel to public markets around the world, including in Lyons, France, and Barcelona, Spain, as well as to U.S. public markets such as Seattle’s Pike Market and Boston’s Faneuil Hall. They also will be working with David O’Neil, a marketing consultant who has specialized in the revitalization of public markets for 27 years and led the revitalization of Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal.
Holliday and Varn both have a vested interest in the City Market area. The two are partners in the Mercato restaurant on North Market Street and Varn owns the Andrew Pinckney Inn as well as 10 rental properties in the area. Holliday owns the Planters Inn, Peninsula Grill, Hank’s Seafood, the Doubletree Inn and the Hayne Street Inn as well as a corporate office building and parking garage in the area.
“It’s the heart and soul of our historic district,” Varn said.
The partners on March 19 received the endorsement of the Downtown Market Association. Vendors who feared new management might immediately raise rents and replace tenants seem pleased with the proposal.
David Forbes, owner of Market Street Bakery & Café, attended a presentation Holliday and Varn held for City Market merchants and is excited about their plans.
“These are local entrepreneurs, and they only want what’s best for the community and the city of Charleston,” Forbes said. “They’re putting their own money into this, so I think it speaks volumes about their intent.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer at the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@scbiznews.com.
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