Owner of Fredericton market wants to sell

The landlord of Boyce Farmers' Market in Fredericton is looking for someone else to take over the facility.

"The market is one of the crown jewels of the City of Fredericton, it has become an institution, a wonder place everyone just loves to go there," said Ken McGeorge, executive director of York County Properties. "But it really doesn't fit with our main mission."

The market opened in 1951 after William Walter Boyce left $40,000 of his estate for the construction of a market. York Properties now acts as a landlord to market vendors.

The company also operates York Manor nursing home, and the board has decided it should be concentrating its efforts on long-term care, McGeorge said.

Anna Love and her husband have been operating a meat stall at the market for almost 50 years.

It would be bad for Fredericton if the market were sold and turned into something else, Love said.

"The farmer's market has been a social event of every Saturday morning," Love said. "It's a really good tourist attraction, brings a lot of extra money into the city and a lot of people from outside areas come to market and also shop in other parts of the city. So why move a good thing?"

York Properties will try to find a buyerwho will continue to run the property as a farmers' market, McGeorge said.

"The board feels about as strongly about the market and its place in this community as any other person in this town," McGeorge said. "The board is incredibly proud of that facility and my read would be that [the sale will] be very cautious."

The company has already approached the city to see if it will buy the market, but so far the answer has been no, McGeorge said.

The board will be meeting before the end of April to further discuss the future of the market property, he said.