A rendering of The Graham shows the exterior of the building from east Second Street.
By: Mary Beth Almond | Rochester Post | Published March 24, 2026
ROCHESTER — A new, elevated farmers market will be constructed in downtown Rochester over the next six months, despite being nearly $1 million over budget.
The Market + The Graham project was initially forecasted to cost around $2.8 million, but bids came in significantly higher last August — at $4.1 million — due to unforeseen, poor soil conditions.
Since then, Downtown Development Authority Chairman Ben Giovanelli said the DDA Board asked project architects to try to redesign the project to avoid the massive soil improvement costs in the first iteration. The redesign, he said, delayed the project by six months and only saved $300,000, mostly related to not being able to avoid the poor soil conditions on the site.
With a looming Sept. 30 grant project completion deadline needed for the city to receive over $931,485 in American Rescue Plan Act funding from Oakland County for the project, Giovanelli and DDA Executive Director Kristi Trevarrow recently appeared before council requesting a budget amendment so they could move forward with the redesigned $3.7 million project.
Last month, the Rochester City Council voted 7-1 to approve the request, but they stated in the motion that the total project cost could not exceed $3.7 million.
Mayor Pro-Tem Stuart Bikson, the lone council member to vote against the motion, said the cost was just too high for him.
“I am surprised a little bit that we just act like $1 million over budget is nothing and we can do it,” he said. “It’s a million dollars over budget after all these meetings and all this work.”
Since 2023, Bikson said, the city has spent $412,000 on architecture work with Auger Klein Aller Architects for this project, a figure he said he was frustrated with.
“That’s 20% of the cost, and an average project is 5%-8%, in the past,” he added.
Although council member Christian Hauser said he, too, was “struggling” with the $1 million overage, he ultimately voted in favor of the motion.
“I am a big, big proponent of the project,” said Hauser. “But I’m having a really hard time over this budget bust.”
Councilwoman Nancy Salvia, who also voted in favor of the motion, said she views the move “as a transfer of assets.”
“Ultimately, this is an asset that we’re going to have. It’s going to improve property values for the DDA and it’s going to improve property values for all of our residents. And, to me, it’s critical that we secure this money from Oakland County,” she said.
The Graham — the proposed name for the building — is a tribute to the first settlers of Rochester, the James Graham family, who settled in the city in 1817. City officials said The Graham — to be located at the existing Farmers Market Lot at the corner of Third and Water and the former Animal Emergency Center Building, 265 E. Second St. — will celebrate Rochester’s rich farming history through a display of photos, artifacts and implements inside the revamped animal hospital, which will be used for a year-round farmers market and community gathering place. The re-imagined space will include a performance stage, expanded indoor/outdoor market spaces, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, public restrooms, seating and landscaping.
The project will be built in two phases, with over $3 million allocated for phase one to be “substantially complete” by Sept. 30, and over $680,000 allocated for phase two to be complete by the following year. Funds from the DDA’s tax capture, along with the grant distributed by Main Street Oakland County, will fund the project.
Phase one, to be built over the next six months, includes building renovation, the installation of an ADA ramp and stairway, public bathrooms and a dumpster enclosure on the site.
Phase two involves building the pavilion, the market office and storage; renovating the parking lot; and adding landscaping elements in 2027.
The new Market + The Graham project will be a “catalyst for the whole east side,” according to Trevarrow. There are very few undeveloped parcels in the city, she said, and three of them are “within a stone’s throw” of Market + The Graham.
“We believe so much in this project,” Trevarrow said. “(The cost) is higher than we want it to be, but this investment will be an asset, and it will be the pebble in the pond that I think will push us forward into more areas and take that east side into the next level that is sort of the next frontier for the DDA and the downtown.”
To learn more about the Market + The Graham project, visit downtownrochestermi.com or call the Rochester DDA at (248) 656-0060.