Eastern Market plans to tear down Shed 4 and replace it with a two-story market hall. The plain steel canopy has stood on Russell Street since 1938. The new building would be the only shed at the market with a second floor, and it would turn an open-air, weather-dependent space into a year-round one. Here is what is planned, what it costs, and where the project actually stands.
The Shed 4 Plan at a Glance
| What goes | Shed 4, an open-air steel canopy built in 1938 |
| What replaces it | A two-story market hall, the only shed with a second floor |
| Ground floor | Year-round indoor vendor stalls |
| Second floor | Kitchen space for food businesses and nutrition classes, plus meeting and event space |
| Cost | Roughly $15 million to $16 million for Shed 4, about $4 million raised as of mid-2025 |
| Timeline | Construction possibly 2027, pending funding and approvals |
What Is Planned
The new building changes what the space can do. Downstairs, vendors get enclosed stalls that work in February as well as July. That is the core of the pitch. Shed 4 currently shuts down to the weather, so an indoor hall means twelve months of selling instead of a seasonal run. Upstairs is the part with no precedent at the market. A full second floor is planned for kitchen space serving food businesses and nutrition classes, plus rooms for meetings and events.
Detroit firm Kraemer Design Group drew the plans. The renderings show a modern building scaled to match the historic sheds beside it.
Why the 1938 Shed Comes Down
Shed 4 has a real history, though not a decorative one. It went up during the Great Depression, a stretch when the market ran against the city’s decline. The city’s Eastern Market historic district report notes that sales volume rose in the 1930s and a record number of crops came to market. A covered center walkway connected Shed 4 to the Shed 5 of that era, forming an H, and together they added 224 stalls. That original Shed 5 was razed in 1980; the Shed 5 standing today went up the following year. Still, the structure was always utilitarian, a simple steel canopy rather than the ornamented brick of the older sheds.
Eastern Market Partnership president and CEO Katy Trudeau took over from longtime CEO Dan Carmody, who retired Dec. 31, 2024. Trudeau, named president in 2023, added the CEO title the next day. She said the team looked at preserving the structure but could not design around it and still meet the market’s needs. She framed the design challenge plainly. “The adjacent sheds are historic sheds, so you want it to fit with the neighborhood, but you don’t necessarily want to create a fake historic building,” Trudeau told Axios in 2025. “So it does a nice job of looking modern, but fitting in with the scale of the other sheds.”
What It Costs, and What Is Actually Raised
Shed 4 on its own carries an estimate of roughly $15 million to $16 million. Trudeau told Axios in June 2025 that the partnership had raised about $4 million of that. Neither number has been publicly updated since.
That funding gap is the honest headline. The renderings exist, the design is done, and the money is not yet all there.
Part of a Bigger Rebuild
Shed 4 is not a one-off. In June 2026, Eastern Market opened Shed 7 at 3445 Russell St., a 43,000-square-foot wholesale distribution facility that cost about $16.5 million. It was the market’s first new shed in more than 40 years. More significantly, it is the first building the market owns outright rather than leasing from the city. Shed 7 also put refrigeration inside a market shed for the first time, with cold suites for regional farmers and dedicated cooler and freezer space for Detroit growers. Cold storage warehouses have operated in the surrounding district for decades, but this is the first the market itself owns and rents to farmers. The target is small food businesses that never had access to that kind of infrastructure.
Taken together, the two projects point the same direction. Eastern Market moved to Russell Street in 1891, putting 135 years on the site this year. The Detroit Historical Society puts the surrounding district at 43 acres and calls it the largest historic public market district in the country. The city’s own historic district report is more measured, describing Eastern Market as one of the oldest continuing public markets in the nation and one of the largest. The current work is about turning a Saturday institution into a seven-day food economy.
What Happens Next
Construction could begin as soon as 2027. In June 2026, Crain’s Detroit Business reported that the Eastern Market Development Corp. had begun searching for a construction manager for the new shed, the clearest sign yet that the project is moving. First, though, the partnership must close the fundraising gap and clear permits and site plan approvals. For now the shed still stands, the stalls still open on Saturdays, and the plan is a rendering with real momentum behind it. Details and vendor information live on the Eastern Market site, and our August events guide has more ways to spend a weekend in the city. Follow our Community coverage for updates as the project moves.
Eastern Market Shed 4 FAQ
What is happening to Shed 4?
It is slated for demolition and replacement with a two-story market hall, the only shed at the market with a second floor.
What will be inside?
Year-round indoor stalls on the ground floor, plus kitchen space for food businesses and nutrition classes, and meeting and event space upstairs.
What does it cost?
Roughly $15 million to $16 million for Shed 4, with about $4 million raised as of mid-2025.
When does it start?
Possibly 2027, pending fundraising, permits, and site plan approvals.