Developer breaks ground on new Ritchie Market

Beef, beer, bikes and brew.

This isn't your father's 'neighbourhood local'.

A tired old building, tiny craft store and some patches of dirt are all that hasoccupied the northeast corner of 96th Street. and 76th Avenue for years.

But that's about to change.

A new market and brew pub calledRitchie Marketis officially moving into the south side neighbourhood.

A groundbreaking for the new development was held Thursday morning. Construction on the 17,000-square-foot, two-storey building will stretch well into the winter months.

The market building will contain a brew pub and restaurant, and a Velocity Cycle bike shop. Acme Meat Market will move in from across the street.

An empty lot across the street has also been snapped up, and will be transformed into a community park that can act as a beer garden for special events.

The owner of Transcend Coffee,Poul Mark, has also claimed a spot in the new development. He'll open a new cafe, complete with a giant roaster for fresh beans.

Mark said he is confident the market will bring business back to a neglected corner of the neighbourhood, servingas a gathering place for locals.

"The idea was to create a community hub. There has been a lot of talk in Edmonton about this idea of infill and trying to rejuvenate a city.That's something we talked about a lot."

The market is scheduledto open next summer, but building owner and developerGreg Zeschuk saidthe timeline has been strained.

It tookeightmonths to get a development permit. That meantincreased construction costs, and a few hundred thousand dollars in lost revenue.

"That's the cost of doing business, unfortunately," said Zeschuck. "At the end of the day everything was good, it just took a while to work through the process."

Zeschuck saidhis neighbours are keen to see shovels in the ground.

"It's been great, the community is really supportive, everyone keeps asking when we're getting started, and today is the day."