Gdansk's 19th century Market Hall will change its function. The new investor, who plans to buy back the beautiful monument from the merchants, announces that the interiors will be converted into a food hall.
The Market Hall stands in Gdansk's Main Town. Erected in 1894-1896 according to a design by architect Kurt Fehlhaber, the building was supposed to make street commerce orderly. And so it did, with its opening, the markets in the Main and Old Town - with the exception of the one in the Fish Market - were closed.
The building, which is in the hands of the Kupcy Dominikańscy company, still serves its function today. About a hundred merchants of various trades have stalls here; on the first floor they sell: baked goods, fish, meat and other foodstuffs. The two upper floors, on the other hand, mainly house clothing and shoe stores (struggling with the decline in the number of customers who have drifted away to shopping malls or buy on the Internet) and small services.
monument will soon change hands
Rumors of a change in function had been circulating in the city for three years. Despite this, the chairwoman of Merchants of Dominica assured A&B as recently as December that for the time being the function of the historic building would not change. It turns out, however, that there are plans to create a food hall - and quite advanced. HAGAP, a company owned by the Apsys group, known for its transformation of the devastated 19th-century Manufaktura textile factory complex in Lodz, has applied for a building permit for the Gdansk hall. The building is still in the hands of the Dominican Merchants, but this too is likely to change soon.
development concept for gdansk hall
© Apsys
Obtaining a building permit is one of the conditions for finalizing the preliminary agreement [sale - editor's note] between Apsys Polska and Kupcy Dominikańscy concluded in March 2022, Apsys informs.
Not only that, but the investor has already even obtained a permit for the revitalization of the building from the Pomeranian Regional Monument Conservator. The talks lasted more than a year and a half. Restaurants and food stands in the form of a food hall are planned in the renovated interiors. The historical kiosks inside the hall will be restored, and the museum section is to be better displayed - as the hall contains the foundations of the apse of the oldest Romanesque church in Gdansk. The cost of the investment was estimated at nearly 141 million zlotys.
Fortunately, the Market Hall was not erased from the city landscape by the war, the building did not suffer much damage, and today it still serves the same function
© Apsys
The author of the interior design is Boris Kudlička, a stage designer, architect and designer, for years associated with the Grand Theater - National Opera in Warsaw.
Local suppliers - fortunately - will not go out of business
We want to give the residents a beautiful, historic building in a new guise. A meeting place where the theme will be food, but we are also planning an attractive cultural program," says Katarzyna Dziurnikowska, investment director at Apsys Polska. This includes exhibitions and performances, workshops and meetings with people of culture and art.
Very good news for market lovers is that the sale of fresh produce from local vendors will be maintained on level -1 and in the Green Market. It would be a big loss if the original function of the building were completely lost.
The Market Hall will become the sixth food hall in the Tri-City. Just three days ago we reported that a food hall - next year - will also be built on the first floor of Sopot's Krzywe Domek.
About a hundred merchants from various industries have their stands here, and there is also a Green Market on the square
© Apsys
