Stand and Deliver

Jeff Baskin and Lisa Berger Baskin are bringing a new kind of market to East Falls.

by Elisa Ludwig

Outside the future home of the Marketplace at East Falls, a man on a hydraulic lift is pressure-washing the white paint off the brick facade. He's part of a crew of contractors steadily working at the historic Ridge Avenue site where the first UNIVAC commercial computer was built, converting it into a multivendor market that owner Jeff Baskin hopes will become a permanent and vital part of the East Falls community.

Inside the newly renovated building, Baskin is hammering the wood frames for the first of the market stalls. A general contractor and developer, he's a tall, bald man with clear blue eyes and a direct manner of speaking. While he had planned to open the market this summer, it's still several months away from being completed.

NOT SO QUIET ON THE EASTERN FRONT: Jeff Baskin aims to convert the old UNIVAC building in East Falls into a burgeoning marketplace. : Michael T. Regan

As he explains his vision, he conjures heads of lettuce, piles of carrots, bunches of flowers, shiny fish laid out on ice, specialty meat and cheese shops and a winery. "There will be no cooking on the property itself," he says, but he points to a windowed area facing Ridge that will be lined with tables and chairs for takeout from some of the city's best restaurants.

If Baskin is dreaming big, it's because the dream is a deeply personal one. Born in Columbus, Ohio, he grew up in Bala Cynwyd, then moved to Seattle with his family in the late 1970s. As a teenager, he worked in Pike Place, the 9-acre, 100-year-old market that continues to thrive on the city's sound-side waterfront. He eventually bought his own produce stand at that market before moving to Los Angeles in the 1980s to start his contracting business. "Ever since I left Seattle, I've wanted to recapture that atmosphere, but I never had the venue or the resources to do it," he says.

On a visit back, he reconnected with Lisa Berger, a high school friend who is now a commercial real estate broker. They later married and settled in Rosemont.

The couple soon found the UNIVAC site, which housed a printing company in recent decades. The firm had gone bankrupt, and the building stood empty for two years before the Baskins purchased it, a process that took a year and a half. They sectioned off the behemoth 95,000-square-foot area, renovated it and leased it to tenants. The market space, which sits on the south end of the lot, has been gutted and rewired. Baskin and a construction crew painted the interior, and replaced windows, doors and plumbing. Practically the only thing left from the previous occupants are the vinyl chairs that serve as a temporary office, set up by a folding table near the garage doors he installed, which will be open during warmer months.

As with any major construction project, the Marketplace has been subject to a number of delays, though most of these were due to Baskin's ever-expanding vision. "We keep adding to the scope," he says.

Baskin anticipates opening by the beginning of next year. The Marketplace will total 22,000 square feet and will be unveiled in two phases; It'll start with as many as 18 vendors and expand to include up to 16 more in the second phase. Because Baskin is hoping to create a unique, dynamic atmosphere, he is working with each vendor on the design of their stalls. On the second floor, he hopes to lease work and gallery space for artists.

Unlike Pike Place and other similar markets around the country, the Marketplace at East Falls will be privately held and operated. "We've brought in other people to help us, but pretty much everything, from the construction to the leasing and securing vendors, is being handled by me and my wife," says Baskin. Still, the arduous construction and complex logistics of opening a private market have in no way dampened his enthusiasm. If anything, he has become more certain about what the market will and won't be.

Though signage and photographs will document the building's historical significance, the Marketplace will not be a major tourist destination. "This is not going to be Reading Terminal Market," he says. "What differentiates us is that we are not a farmers' market that's only open a few days a week or functions mainly as a destination for lunch. You can drive by here after work and stop for a loaf of bread." Most of all, he says, the market will serve as a gathering place for residents of East Falls and its neighboring areas.

Baskin won't give any names, but he's confirmed that several vendors have signed on, including a flower stall, a produce stand and a coffee purveyor who will roast beans on-site. Numerous others, including the takeout restaurants, are in various stages of commitment.

Even with the delays, the Marketplace is generating excitement in a neighborhood where grocery options are scant. As the Chelsea, Hill Top at Falls Ridge and Sherman Mills housing developments bring new residents to the area, Baskin knows he has a captive audience — and that includes his own household. "When my wife wants to entertain, she has to go to six different places: one for the wine, another for the bread, another for the produce. Here, it'll all be in one place. People can depend on us, because everything will be under one roof."

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)