Deli may open at Arthur’s Market site in Stockade

Arthur’s Market may soon be open again, but two inventive uses for the popular gathering spot had to be abandoned for lack of funding.

A deli may open there next month. The operators are getting their licenses now.

“It’s not definite yet, but we’ve got someone that’s really interested in it,” co-owner Joyce Wachala said, adding that deli business was the most profitable part of her venture.

But it wasn’t enough for her — or for the deli that opened prior to her ownership.

“It’s a tough spot,” Wachala said. But residents will bring them business, just as they did for the last three failed efforts to use the market, Stockade Association President Mary D’Alessandro said.

“Anyone who puts forth that initiative has always had the support of the Stockade,” she said.

Wachala wants more. She tried to sell the market to people who would try new ways to use the property. But the greenmarket that one neighbor proposed won’t open there. And neither will a cafe with a country store above it.

Both developers needed money, and they couldn’t get funding from Metroplex Development Authority, which offers loans and grants to encourage economic development.

Wachala said the agency should help turn the historic store into a successful business.

After all, she said, Metroplex helped stabilize and reopen the Van Dyck, a restaurant and entertainment venue just a few blocks from Arthur’s Market.

“But when [market buyers] went to Metroplex, they told them, ‘We can’t help you,’ ” Wachala said.

That’s because Metroplex is strictly barred from helping create commercial space in the historic Stockade neighborhood.

It can support historic renovation and put money into entertainment venues like the Van Dyck.

County Legislator Robert Farley, who helped craft the legislation, said the rule was put in place to protect the Stockade’s historic atmosphere.

“The Stockade Association met with all of us at the creation of Metroplex and asked us to do that,” he said.

The Union Triangle historic district is similarly protected, at the neighbors’ request, he said.

And D’Alessandro said that’s the way it should be. She’s happy with the neighborhood just the way it is.

“It’s nice, what we have here. I think the Stockade is rich in what we have,” she said.

Categories: Business