Eastern Market to expand with new Shed 4

• Two of the organization's biggest near-term priorities are redeveloping Shed 4 to expand its public market and opening Shed 7 for wholesale business.

Zoom in: The partnership has raised $4 million out of an estimated $15 million-$16 million for Shed 4, Katy Trudeau, president of Eastern Market Partnership, told Axios during the Mackinac Policy Conference in late May.

• The outdoor-only shed would get torn down and rebuilt for indoor, year-round access. It would become the only shed with two floors.
• Plans include more space for vendors, second-floor kitchen space for food businesses and nutrition classes, plus meeting and event space. Construction could start in 2027.
• See where Shed 4 sits on an Eastern Market map.

Behind the scenes: Eastern Market looked at ways to preserve the shed structure built around 1940, but it wasn't possible to design around it to meet the market's needs, Trudeau said.

• "The adjacent sheds are historic sheds, so you want it to fit with the neighborhood, but you don't necessarily want to create a fake historic building," she said of the new shed's design. "So it does a nice job of looking modern, but fitting in with the scale of the other sheds."

What they're saying: "When it comes to doing these projects, I believe all it really does is increase business, it increases awareness, it strengthens an infrastructure that is stressed in certain times," Mijo Alanis, co-owner of Beyond Juicery and longtime Eastern Market restaurant Vivio's, tells Axios.

• "It's moving forward and anticipating the future growth, and stabilizing what was there a long time ago and continuing to grow."

Between the lines: While more than 2 million people visit Eastern Market's public-facing markets a year, the extent of its wholesale food industry remains less visible to visitors. But the neighborhood sees $360 million in wholesale food business annually, Trudeau told city council this year.

• In a $16 million project to boost that industry, Eastern Market is renovating a building it bought last year to create a regional wholesale distribution center. Renovation work on Shed 7 starts in August, with completion expected in spring 2026.
• The area has wholesale offerings, but this will be a scaled-up version with refrigeration, storage and docking space to serve growers and smaller-scale grocery stores that rely on Eastern Market, Trudeau says.

What we're watching: The Eastern Market neighborhood was rezoned by the city in the last several years — a move to encourage more food production business while helping guide increased residential and retail development.

• As Eastern Market Partnership's plans unfold, we'll be looking at what developers do next.