Friday, March 14, 2014

From $17,000 to $340,000 in three decades.


From the Russell Veggies web site comes this unattributed history of the farmers market in New Albany. Among the more interesting nuggets unearthed therein:

History of New Albany’s Farmers’ Market

The current Farmer’s Market building, located on the Southeast corner of Market and Bank Streets was designed by local architect Jim Rosenbarger and built in 1984. The construction cost of $17,000 was funded by the City of New Albany, Floyd County and the Chamber of Commerce.

Yesterday's column, ON THE AVENUES: I’ll take “Farmers Market” for $108K, Alex ... or maybe I won't, scored quite well in the ratings and drew comments like these:

" I would have to agree to most of your objections, other than the current location being a bad one ... as for the market, personally, I think the current location is a great one, and Councilman Gonder's idea of locating it in the parking garage is another bad idea in a long list of bad ideas" (JB)

"I'll stick with my original comment when similar numbers were put forth as a farmers market estimate a few years ago: Are we actually buying a farm? Regardless of where, if no one in city government can figure out how to build a shelter house and restroom on property we already own for less than $300K, we have problems that a location decision isn't going to solve. If nothing else, we desperately need a new spec writer/bid list." (JG)

"We have farmers' markets in local parks. Vendors bring their own pop-ups. Effective. Cheap." (DH, a friend from Arizona)

2 comments:

w&la said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
w&la said...

Lest folks quickly blame "inflation" as a reason for the 2,000 % increase (!) in estimated construction costs, according to the US Inflation Calculator , the $ 17,000 spent in 1984 would now be a reasonable $ 38,273.07.

The inflation rate over the past 30 years was a compounded 125%, not 2,000%.