Gov’t eyes launching of Iloilo Central Market Redevelopment Project this 2012
The redevelopment of the Iloilo Central Market, a heritage building at the heart of the metro, was first proposed in 2008 as part of the city’s central business district revitalization project. Three years after, it seemed that the project was already shelved due to lack of progress on its implementation. But this December, the City Mayor’s Office floated the idea of formally launching this redevelopment plan by first quarter of 2012. The government looks into a public-private partnership to finance the project.
So what’s exactly the Iloilo Central Market Redevelopment Project has in store?
IN PERSPECTIVE:
Iloilo Central Market Redevelopment Plan
Iloilo Central Market Redevelopment Plan Perspective
Since there’s not much update on the proposal, I did some research and found some of the basic features of the plan. To summarize, here’s the gist of the proposal:
The Iloilo Central Market is a proposed building construction project with a heritage restoration feature for its front facade. The present structure occupies 1.37 hectare and is bounded by major avenues in the city such as Iznart, Rizal, Aldeguer and Guanco streets.
Once completed, much of the area of the central market will be occupied by a 3 five-storey mixed-used structure that will be leasable to private establishment and businesses. It will also include a parking building and internal roads to improve traffic and accessibility.
Land use components are the following:
a) Commercial arcade for the existing Heritage building;
b) Office/residential towers and a parking building linked by a podium for the main area behind the Heritage building;
Wet Market Section
c) Wet market and dry goods area under the podium;
View of the Open Promenade from the Podium
d) Open public promenade adjacent to the Heritage building; and
e) Miscellaneous commercial stall strip along Aldeguer and Guanco strips.
The beautiful art-deco 2 storey V-shaped facade of the central market will be preserved and restored. Between the retained facade and the main complex will be a promenade that will include open spaces, restaurants, and possibly an activity center.
And my personal favorite: If applicable, green architecture shall be included in the building design so that natural light and ventilation, access innovations, public visibility features and promenade greeneries would become efficient and sustainable parts of the project.
The project also calls for another effort to take the welfare of present vendors into consideration. The pre-feasibility study suggested the creation of training and organization programs with the help of NGOs, including microfinance mechanisms, in order to enhance business practices and consumer services of local vendors or “hawkers”.
It is important to note that the basic concepts of this project is to improve infrastructure and utility to make the present market an interesting and convenient urban consumer area while preserving the city’s heritage. By making the heritage feature an integral part of this redevelopment effort, the city hopes to attract more tourists and foster a pride of place for Ilonggos in general.
Tags: Calle Real, development updates, Iloilo City, Metro Iloilo - GuimarasEditor’s Note: Iloilo I LOVE! shall monitor the progress of this project and update this post of any developments regarding the Iloilo Central Market. As for the pedestrianization of Calle Real, no word has come yet from the city government. Hopefully the CBD Revitalization project will go into full swing soon.
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I would like to suggest… if the redevelopment seems remote why not just sell this area to SM kapag pinasukan ng SM yan maaaring magpatayo pa sila ng high-rise hotel jan.
Agree ako sa’yo Tadeo. Its now or never for the city. To reactivate the old Iloilo CBD it would be better to sell this area to SM and preserve that Art Deco as the diversion road they say is owned by few old famlies who seem to just wait and see, so that place might just stagnate and just like saying waiting for what, when Christmas time comes?
last time i read about this was sini sang april lang. Mayor Jed is already preparing for the bidding of this project. I would clearly support the city program because they took into consideration the livelihood of our kasimanwas in central market. let’s give our all out support for this one. the central market must be owned by the people, for the people, and by the good people of Iloilo City.
If Iloilo city is trying to preserve the stall owners, by all means the central market could be relocated say at the seaside at the end of Univ. of Iloilo. Wet markets are prone to exposing foul odors and messy garbage at that at the center of the city. Hindi na uso yang mga public market in the middle of the city. By all means poor people could always buy at the Terminal Market.
The Central Market surrounding sites looks deteriorating already and even the once-busy Guanco St. is devoid of shoppers because household are no longer prone to buying at the dilapidated Central Market. Some stalls inside the CM are now converted as beerhouses with vices.
If this site is to be sold, plenty of investors would be interested the likes of Injap, Gaisano SM etc. and even Puregold which is also selling fish meat and vegetables.
Better still if the city could build the biggest Coliseum for PBA and even bigger international events thereby adding to the city’s coppers.
Salamat sa pagposte nito.
Tani nga sundon na lang ang ginhimo sg Gudalupe-Makati Market nga sa idalom sub-underground na maintain ang Market and the 2nd up to the next storeys they have this mall called the ABC Tri-Cinema.
I suggest that we have this Market Central Mall with mini stalls affordable to small-scale entrepreneurs.
Salamat guid as they say there are 101 ways to skin the cat!
if indi mabutangan sg building inang bakanteng lote sa jm basa kg sa rotonda, this alone could be leased or even be bought by 168 mall. nahan ba ba ang mga owners nito? kung malaw-ay man guihapon ang lugar nga ini, paano mag-asenso ang mga negosyo diri sini?
Let’s face it, it seems so long a project, na kapag hindi napaganda ng Heritage site na ito ang Iloilo at kulang din ang pagsasaayos nito then we dont need to linger most of the times on Heritage thing as the young generation would just shrugged it off as something old, passe at napag-iiwanan na ng panahon. Iloilo visitors would also say the same way.
The best thing for the Heritage site is to now fill in the vacant lots around it and build something like Plazuela de Iloilo. JM Basa’s street should be tiled and add promenades in the theme pedestrianization.
what happened now to this redevelopment?
hi Hurry_Iloilo! Still no news from the city hall when will they start bidding this project. this is a very complex project which will greatly affect the livelihood of hundreds of Ilonggos at the Central Market during its implementation. i hope the coming elections won’t deter the city government in pushing for the realization of this project.
If this materialized, Iloilo will have a version of Farmer’s Market in Hollywood , Los Angeles. well , others might copy it , we have rival copycats around us.
Iloilo City’s Calle Real Revitalization Update:
Iloilo City Government opens up the bidding process for this very important project. it will have three components:
1. the central market redevelopment;
2. the aldeguer street market and pedestrianization; and,
3. the j.m. basa street(calle reeal) pedestrian walk improvement.
a pre-qualification conference will be held on aug 13, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at bac conf rm, 7th flr, iloilo city hall, plaza libertad, iloilo city, philippines.
source: http://www.cdia.asia/wp-content/uploads/iloilo-cbd-ad-pdf.pdf
uswag ILOILO!!!
So ano na ang matabo sa area nga ini? We are now heading to the last quarter of 2012!
Any news from people in the know about this project?
It was opened for bidding last August. I believe its still with the Bids and Awards committee level.