Portable retail stalls arrive in Utica, plaza is ‘getting there,’ mayor says

The Market on Mill retail plaza in Utica isn’t finished yet – there’s at least another month ahead for workers – but the portable retail stalls all soon will be in place.

Village President David Stewart said the last two portable retail stalls arrived Wednesday morning. Workers immediately set about installing the units into the outdoor plaza, and Stewart reported at 3 p.m. Wednesday that No. 8 of 12 is going in, with the final four soon to follow.

“It’s getting there,” Stewart said. “The end result is near. We couldn’t be happier with the way things are turning out.”

Stewart said he was not yet ready to identify a new target date for commencing operations. The village had missed its self-imposed goal of opening by the Burgoo Festival, and Stewart said several weeks of labor lay ahead for workers.

“We’ve still got some things to do,” he said. “There is electrical work to be done, and we need to install the criss-crossing lights overhead, but getting the buildings up is a huge, huge step in this process.”

Budget-wise, the project is “very close” to the village’s projection, and the $1.8 million project was buoyed recently by a spate of dry weather.

The area north of Church Street sits in a floodplain that has deterred brick-and-mortar construction. Utica officials brainstormed a solution and decided to build an open-air shopping venue with portable retail stalls modeled after Batavia and Muskegon, Michigan.

The village obtained a $1.25 million grant and committed another $250,000 to the project. Stewart has said the remaining $343,000 would be obtained later, and as the project progresses, likely from the tax increment financing and water-sewer funds. There will be no tax increase.

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