Private Party Interested in Taking Over Market Hall

A private party has shown interest in taking over operations for Hercules Market Hall, which is scheduled to close Thursday, said Todd Olson, lawyer for Market Hall developer Red Barn.

Olson did not provide additional details on the interested party, but said that Red Barn is tentatively scheduled to go before the Hercules Planning Commission in the coming weeks.

Interim City Manager Fred Deltorchio said he has not heard about the possible Market Hall operations takeover, and has stated publicly that Hercules would not continue to spend money to keep Market Hall open.

Market Hall, a private project that opened May 1, 2010, was designed to be a temporary mobile shopping center—a placeholder until Red Barn developed a permanent structure on the site.

Red Barn, which owns the 6.6-acre Market Hall lot, was hired by the city as the developer of Market Town, a mixed-use project with 80,000 square feet of office space, 50,000 square feet of retail and 250 residential units. The dwindling economy put Market Town construction on hold, said a put out by Red Barn in January, and Market Hall has been around since.

The city was funding Market Hall at a cost of $100,000 per month, including a monthly $20,000 consultant fee and thousands in for Red Barn President Tom Weigel, said former Assistant City Manager Lisa Hammon in her public resignation . Payments, which were made out of a $12 million New Town Center primary project fund, lasted from 2008 until late November, when former interim City Manager refused approval of the payments, city documents show.

Weigle was criticized by residents and city staff for his monthly expenses, which included out of state travel and computer equipment.

Red Barn, which used up almost all of the primary project fund, has not developed the first phases of Market Town, and the city has explored recouping some of its losses on the project, city Spokeswoman Michelle Harrington said.