CLEVELAND — With more than 100 years of history and space for 100 unique vendors to sell their tasty wares, Cleveland's West Side Market is a longtime staple of the Ohio City neighborhood, and means a lot to regulars like Bea Delpapa.
"It's also a social time," Delpapa says. "We know the vendors by name, they know my name. I can give them a call, I can order ahead."
Inside the historic walls is infrastructure that needs overdue repairs, according to vendors, and a planned renovation is looking to tackle electric, elevator, and HVAC upgrades, as well as the more cosmetic side of things.
"It's very important for the area, for the region, looking around at this neighborhood, how it's grown off the market," vendor Don Whitaker with DW Whitaker Meats stated.
Proposed upgrades announced include adding a teaching kitchen, a commercial kitchen for vendors, a food hall that will offer prepared options from a wide array of ethnicities, turning a current alleyway into a courtyard, and the edition of event spaces.
PHOTOS | Proposed West Side Market renovations
The estimated price tag is more than $44 million, according to the community presentation Thursday by Market Ventures Inc. Currently, the city has approved $10 million for the market, so officials will be looking at a variety of options for funding.
"For so many years, people say the market could be so much more and want to see so much more from the market, and I think this plan really puts those visions and ideas and hopes for the market down on paper," Jessica Trivisonno, senior strategist for the West Side Market in the Mayor's office, told 3News.
It's a piece of Cleveland people like Bea are proud to show off, and would be even more so with some, as she puts it, "gussying up."
"It's a must for me to take people to the West Side Market, you know?" she said. "Even if they're not interested, they have to go, because that's one of my favorite places."
Watch Thursday's full presentation in the player below: