The Barracks had its grand launching last Friday adjacent to the Freedom Park monument, while a parking area is also available behind the building.
Eighty percent of the 300 stalls of the Carbon market’s newest installation have already been leased out to tenants composed mostly of food vendors.
At The Barracks, food options are on display, from native Cebuano food like tuslob buwa, to street food options. Non-food products are also available, including phone accessories, headphones and other products.
Native products that were once sold in the interim market are now given a space inside The Barracks.
Eco said tenants from the Puso Village were prioritized to rent inside The Barracks; however, she said this is only temporary since The Barracks was part of the plans for the Freedom Park.
She hopes that the conflict between the Cebu City Government and Cebu Port Authority (CPA) over ownership of the Compania Maritima area will be resolved soon so that the tenants can use the Puso Village, which is located there.
For the rent, tenants are charged either the Public Market Rate or Commercial Rate.
Tenants under the native products category and vendors selling fruits are charged the Public Market Rate of P8.50 per square meter per day, the lowest rate offered.
Food vendors are charged the Commercial Rate ranging from P25,000 to P30,000 per month, which Eco said depends on the zone and location.
She added that Commercial Rates also differ from those vendors selling food, drinks and non-food products.
Eco said four square meters is the average size of the stalls.
The Barracks of Carbon Market is inspired by the Hawker Centre in Singapore where migrant workers used to sell quick, affordable meals on street pavements, in town squares and parks–wherever they could set up their makeshift stalls.
Eco expressed her gratitude to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama for allowing them to use the “The Barracks” temporarily for the Puso Village tenants.
Poor will benefit
In his speech during the grand launching Friday, Rama said the less privileged should be prioritized in the development projects of the city.
“Ato na ni, ato na gyud. Mahuman gyud nato ni tanan in three years. Ang bulahan jod ang kabos,” Rama said. (This is ours already. We will finish all this in three years. Blessed will be the poor.)
According to a Carbon Market official who declined to be named Friday, aggregators Worldtrex and MPS are the ones handling the rentals for the tenants in The Barracks.
C2W, a unit of Megawide Construction Corp., is undertaking the P8 billion redevelopment of the century-old Carbon Public Market under a 50-year joint venture with the Cebu City Government.
Puso Village is a commercial and tourism-centric development in the Carbon area that is not planned to be part of the public market.
The P300 million commercial strip envisioned to highlight the best of Cebu’s food and retail would have opened last January, but work in the Compania Maritima area was halted last December after the Regional Trial Court Branch 10 in Cebu City granted the CPA’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction to prohibit the Cebu City Government from occupying the area.
Puso Village is designed to feature 334 retail spaces, of which 138 will be food and beverage outlets.