Destination KIngston - Redemption Market nears completion
Published:Tuesday | November 6, 2012 | 12:00 AM
IT'S A race against the clock as workmen renovating the Redemption market in downtown Kingston, try to finish it in time for the Christmas shopping season.
The Gleaner visited the West Queen Street-based market last Thursday, and there was a busy combination of drilling, welding and painting being done. Workmen were placing hinges on doors, fitting doors to their cubicles, and cutting steel to make more cubicles. Site foreman Joseph Jackson estimated that they were about 75 per cent done.
"We just have one more block of cubicles left to put in. The roof of the container at the front will soon be up," he said. "You also have the electrical work to be done." He also said the remaining cubicles would have to be painted. The roof is complete and showed no ill effects of Hurricane Sandy's recent rain and wind. The bathrooms are also almost complete.
The renovation plan for Redemption market was announced in September, the result of a partnership between the Digicel Foundation, Kingston and St Andrew Corporation and the Urban Development Corporation. At the press conference, officials from the major sponsor and city council said the work would be done in time.
More than 120 brand new cubicles are to be installed at the market, each selling area measuring eight feet by eight feet. In the past, Redemption was a produce market but recently, it was being used for storage. The market will take on a more fashionable look now.
"A clothing thing now, man, you can't sell no food in there now," said Jackson. "But maybe they can sell in the container outside. You can't just run them out. They have to get somewhere."