With a $50 million investment, a brand new shopping facility at the new Sali Pazari which was also a distribution center for fake or counterfeit goods, will serve visitors while retaining its traditional identity: The ‘yelling and selling’ market vendors will remain in place, but food items will be tested on a daily basis.

Referans - October 11, 2006 - Istanbul’s notorious Sali Pazari is to be converted into a modern shopping center:

Located on the Asian side of the city, the 37-year-old Sali Pazari, literally meaning Tuesday Market, was recently used as a training base for new staff of the Scandinavian giant IKEA .Now, with a new project running, Sali Pazari will have new sales and exhibition areas, restaurants, playgrounds and movie theaters while at the same time preserving its traditional local outdoor market atmosphere.

 The large square at Sögütlüçesme in Kadiköy that houses Sali Pazari has been leased for 30 years from the Istanbul Municipality by Tasyapi Insaat. The company’s owner Emrullah Turanli’s $50 million project has been designed by architect Hakan Kiran.

Sali Pazari, despite being the first to come to mind when thinking of Istanbul’s local weekly markets, had long been a source of concern because it generated several urban problems, such as traffic jams and environmental and noise pollution. The market was also a distribution center for fake or counterfeit goods. For these reasons, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality closed the market down at the end of August, 2006.

Soon, a tender was opened for building a modern shopping center in the area and Turanli came up with the winning bid. Sali Pazari is going to be given a head to toe makeover to create a brand new shopping complex. Project architect Kiran is known for his restoration work at the Aya Yorgi Church complex in the Prince islands, Mydonesse Showland and Perili Kösk at Rumelihisari.

Out of the ruins
Kiran said the Sali Pazari area was literally just a run-down lot. The market was ruining the profile of the whole region, causing environmental pollution -- including the nearby Kurbagalidere stream -- increasing pick-pocketing incidents and jamming the Kadiköy-Sögütlüçesme traffic, he told Referans.

this project we will transform a ruined area,” he said, adding that the pollution of Kurbagalidere will end and traffic flow will improve after that completion of the project.

The project will also maintain the traditional outdoor local market profile so strongly identified with Sali Pazari. The area’s traditional qualities will be modernized and regulated, with visitors free to stroll around at ease in an alternative center, Kiran predicts.

Kiran explains that the center will have the infrastructure of a modern shopping center but will maintain the indispensable “yelling and selling” salespersons of the Sali Pazari, but with an improved and more modern layout with allocated market stalls.

The market’s management will check the food products being sold on the market on a daily basis and a laboratory will be set up at the market for this purpose. Restaurants, cafes and parks will be built.

Kiran has made a proposal to the Metropolitan Municipality for a one-kilometer line linking the center with Kadiköy Iskele Square. The proposal seems to have found support. “It is a short line which makes it a low-cost project. Those who arrive here can park their cars at the center and proceed to Kadiköy taking the metro, relieving Kadiköy traffic,” he said.

Once a model market

Sali Pazari was first set up in 1969, covering 900 square meters with a “Model Local Market.” Visitors from neighboring cities came to Sali Pazari, with its main area finally stretching from Kurbagalidere to Kadiköy’s Fire Department building and from Sögütlüçesme to Kadiköy Square, occupying all the streets within that zone. About 2,000 sellers ran businesses at Sali Pazari, and with the new project many job opportunities will be created in security, cleaning, management, parking management, laboratory management, public relations and marketing departments.

The new project

The total area of the project is 45,000 square meters. The 18,000-square-meter central area will be covered with a membrane tent. This area will have six floors, three of them underground. There will be an observation deck at the center of the tent 65 meters above ground level. Two underground floors will be parking lots with 2,500-car capacity. The lowest underground floor will be a storage area with loading and unloading facilities. On the ground floor, a modernized concept of the traditional local market identity will be created. With its 1,100 sales points, separate zones with relevant street names will be arranged for fabric stalls, fishmongers and spice sellers. The restaurants will also be on this floor. The first floor will house clothing, electronics and books while the top floor will have cafes, antique shops and exhibition areas. Adjacent to the main tent, there will be two buildings, also covered by membrane tents which will house playgrounds, movie theaters and cafes.

The European side of the city, Topkapi and Sarayburnu will be visible from the observation deck.