Jess Adamson: Central Market redevelopment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Adelaide

It’s an Adelaide institution where the traders are family and customers can’t stay away, writes Jess Adamson. And it’s about to undergo a seven-storey change.

The year is 1954.

A small boy, just six years old, sits on the back of a horse and cart, headed for the Adelaide Retail Market, now known as the Adelaide Central Market.

The cart is driven by his father and grandfather.

They travel quietly down Stephens Tce, on to North Tce and into the city.

They’ve come from their three-acre (1.2ha) market garden at Walkerville, loaded up with what they called “wog vegetables” – shiny, fresh aubergines, okra, chilli peppers, juicy red tomatoes and continental cucumbers.

Theo Maras sits on Queenie, circa mid-1950s

The horse’s name is Queenie.

Her reins are tied to a shaft when they arrive, and the boy’s job is to make sure no one touches the produce as his father and grandfather top up the traders’ supplies.

The little boy’s name is Theo Maras.

Fast forward 68 years and that not-so-little boy is about to oversee the biggest transformation in the market’s rich 156-year history.

Like him or loathe him, Theo’s passion for our city is unmistakeable.

As chairman of the Central Market Authority, he’s stoked that the ambitious Market Square development is about to begin.

The $400m Adelaide City Council and ICD Property joint-venture will integrate offices and retail alongside a new high-rise hotel.

An artist impression of the Adelaide Central Market development.

Inside Market Square’s atrium. Picture: Woods Bagot.

But it’s the Central Market Arcade expansion Theo cares about most.

We sit at Zuma’s, an iconic market cafe, on Saturday morning, drinking coffee and watching the people pour in. The queue is snaking out the door and growing fast.

It’s a sure sign our city is healing.

The people are young, old and in-between.

Mums and dads clutching the tiny hands of their children, young couples searching for breakfast after a big night out and the regulars, those who come every Saturday morning without fail.

Deep in conversation at their usual table outside Lucia’s sit the state’s chief justice, a judge, a former attorney-general and a poet.

I love this place. Maybe it’s because I’m a farmer’s daughter. Maybe it’s because I now see it through the eyes of my children and they are captivated by it.

There’s something magical about the colours, conversation and camaraderie.

The mood is carnival-like. The smells and the sounds of the market are unique to this hectic melting pot of culture and characters.

Just a few hundred metres away the trucks are moving in. Bumping out is starting at the Grote St Coles supermarket and Vintage Cellars.

It’s making way for a massive makeover that will see the Central Market double its footprint by 2025.

Crowds at Adelaide Central Market in 2020. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The Arcade link from Victoria Square and the courts precinct officially close next Monday.

But it’s business as usual for the Central Market and the ACC promises it will be for the entirety of the project.

Customer access remains unchanged from the Gouger St and Grote St entrances.

Two hundred and forty carparks will be lost in the short term but 750 parks directly above the market will stay and there’ll be overflow parking in Andrew St, just off Grote St.

Traders are understandably nervous about the disruption but there is a flip side – hundreds of hungry tradies and workers need to eat somewhere for the next three years.

The project will mean better access to Victoria Square and other city streets, linking the world-class market to the vibrant small-bar district of Leigh St and Peel St.

Much like the renaissance of Adelaide’s Riverbank Precinct and the commitment from local, interstate and international investors to build premium-grade office buildings and sparkling hotels here, it’s a massive vote of confidence in our city.

As South Australians we feel rightly proud of our market and we don’t want it to lose its unique feel.

It’s critical we get behind them and continue to support our local growers and suppliers.

And it’s critical the character of the place remains intact, long after the developers have gone.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime project and must be done right.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor says that’s exactly the brief the builders have been given.

“This is an opportunity that no other city has, because we’re building from the reputation of the market,” she says.

Crowds at Adelaide Central Market in 2020. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“The integration and seamless transition of the existing market and the new space is an absolute priority.”

There are more than 70 traders at the market now, many of them lifelong friends, like family.

That family is about to grow, taking the number of traders to 130.

More food, more dining, more South Australian brands – more of what we know and love.

The design includes big open table spaces, opening the door for major events at the market.

There’ll be no big retailers joining the party – but a showcase of our new immigrants and their magnificent food – Sudanese and Nepalese among the new tenants.

One Australia. One market.

At the famous Lucia’s, an Adelaide institution, business is booming under the leadership of Nicci and Maria.

They are the daughters of Lucia Rosella, who emigrated to Australia from Italy in 1956, and next month, they’ll celebrate 65 years at the market.

Nicci’s son and daughter Simon and Emma run two neighbouring stalls on the western roadway. These second- and third-generation foodies are committed to the market for the long term.

The owner of Micheal’s Fruit and Veg, Saiul Kazi in the Central Market. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Tony George bought Zuma’s Cafe three decades ago and it hasn’t changed a bit since.

Black-and-white photos bought from an op shop line the walls; deliberately hung crooked.

For Tony, it feels like “grandma’s house” and that’s how he wants to keep it.

Once you set up shop here, he says, you can’t leave.

“It’s the stories, it’s the friendships, it’s a way of life.”

Every good market needs theatre and just last week a ban on spruiking at the market was overturned – so get ready for the noise, it’s coming back.

“Two and six for the tomatoes!”

That’s the noise that little boy on the horse and cart remembers from all those years ago.