A pop-up park the size of the State Library forecourt will be created next to the Queen Victoria Market, thanks to a $2 million investment from the City of Melbourne and Victorian Government.
The new Market Square pop-up park will transform a portion of the asphalt carpark on Queen Street into a temporary park designed to encourage more visitors and shoppers to the Queen Victoria Market and provide more green space for local residents.
Funded through the joint City of Melbourne and Victorian Government Melbourne City Recovery Fund, the new space will be brought to life with live music, community events and recreational activities.
Park visitors will also provide valuable support to the hundreds of Queen Victoria Market small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Works start next month (August) and the park will be open for at least two years.
Earlier this month, 500 new underground parking spaces at the Munro development were added to the existing outdoor market customer car park, providing shoppers with over 1,000 car parks and enabling the staged open space works to commence. Approximately 115 outdoor parking bays will be removed as part of the project.
The new temporary pop-up park is the first stage of the plan to transform the current asphalt car park into 1.75 hectares of public open space, as part of the Queen Victoria Market precinct renewal.
Quotes Attributable to Lord Mayor Sally Capp:
"Delivering a new pop-up park next to the Market will be a major drawcard to attract more locals, workers and visitors to Queen Vic Market," the Lord Mayor said.
"Every person we can encourage to go to the market is another potential customer for hundreds of traders. We know how difficult the past 18 months have been for local businesses that's why we are committed to enticing more people back into the city.
"We want our market traders to begin thriving again and supporting these businesses now is critical to keeping Melburnians in jobs."
Quotes attributable to City Activation portfolio Lead Councillor Roshena Campbell:
"The transformation of the car park into an activated pop-up park with green space and a rolling program of events and activities will offer another reason to visit both the market and city," Cr Campbell said.
"It will also create new opportunities to keep people in the precinct for longer, which will support Queen Victoria Market traders and other businesses in the area."
Quotes attributable to Environment portfolio Lead Councillor Rohan Leppert
"We know green open-space is highly desired in the inner city and that's why we're continuing to invest in new parks and gardens across the municipality," Cr Leppert said.
"This pop-up park will help us meet the needs of Melbourne's growing residential and worker population, while also supporting local businesses and helping to combat the urban heat island effect."
