CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s historic West Side Market is undergoing a management change that city leaders hope will help make operations run smoother and increase its sources of funding.

What You Need To Know

  • The newly formed nonprofit, Cleveland Public Market Corporation (CPMC), is taking over management of the West Side Market while the city maintains ownership

  • CPMC has named Rosemary Mudry as its first executive director

  • Mudry has dedicated her career to community development, most recently serving as the executive director of a CDC in West Park

  • She said her experience has helped prepare her to manage the market and she's excited about its future

The newly formed nonprofit, Cleveland Public Market Corporation (CPMC), is taking over management of the market while the city maintains ownership.

After going through about 100 applications, CPMC has named Rosemary Mudry as its first executive director.

“I probably started coming to the West Side Market when I was in high school,” Mudry said. “Maybe I’d been couple times sooner, but my first memories are really coming in high school with friends and kind of going up and down the produce stalls.”

Mudry has dedicated her career to community development, mostly recently serving as the executive director of a CDC in West Park.

She said her role there has helped prepare her to manage the market.

“The West Side Market to me is sort of like community development, but instead of a whole neighborhood, it’s all taking place within that one building,” Mudry said. “You have small businesses, you have this historic property. You have all these different pieces parts, you have residents that care deeply. So, it’s sort of like a mini version of that previous world.”

Some vendors, like Don Whitaker of D.W. Whitaker’s, have been pushing for the city to make renovations at the market as problems with the building, like elevator issues and no central air, have caused them to lose out on sales.

He is one of the people who interviewed applicants and choose Mudry to lead the non-profit.

“She was the best candidate that rose up, and she’s a market shopper for years too,” Whitaker said. “She has a passion about the place too. She’s qualified for the place too. Her background, where she comes from.”

The city has proposed a master plan to update and renovate the market to improve operations and make better use of the space.

Mudry said she feels excited about the future of the market.

“But also really feeling that serious responsibility and commitment to wanting to do right by the vendors, help preserve this historic structure and ensure that we’re creating a sustainable path so that the market can thrive for another 100 years,” she said.

Mudry said her initial focus will be on the preserving the building’s structure and on basic needs for market operations, like basement renovations, installing HVAC and reliable electric systems before they can make updates that residents will see.

“Visibly, people might not see changes for a while,” she said. “But it doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of work happening in the background to put the building in a place where it can support its vendors and support itself.”