KITCHENER - On Monday, the city's finance and corporate services committee endorsed a proposal that is intended raise more awareness around all the Kitchener Market has to offer and attract more customers, through the addition of a new 2,000-square-foot room on the upper level of the building.

The room - which will be named The Market Place -- will be outfitted for training/education opportunities, private functions and community development. The space will provide an ideal setting for a variety of functions including:

* Cooking demonstrations and classes; nutritional courses and food-preparation classes;
* Art classes;
* Birthday, anniversary or cultural celebrations;
* Business meetings, luncheons, seminars, product-testing sessions and corporate holiday parties;
* Television demonstration taping site (Rogers and Food Network Canada);
* Community development.

The goals of The Market Place include:

* Increasing awareness of the Kitchener Market by introducing new target audiences to the facility;
* Increasing consistent vitality and traffic at the market through means other than traditional shopping and dining;
* Developing and supporting new business opportunities for existing market vendors;
* Encouraging new small-business ventures by acting as an incubator (i.e. emerging caterers who require use of a commercial kitchen yet may not have the initial start-up capital to open their own facilities);
* Increasing community development and engagement through a wide range of programming;
* Providing a viable strategy for revenue generation for the market.

This well-designed space will be a focal point for the community by creating a sense of place and will also be a revenue source for the market with the goal of reducing the annual operating subsidy.

A capital cost to build the infrastructure equals $116,800. However, city staff estimates that the net revenue derived from The Market Place operation could cover the capital cost within two years.

''This fully functional multi-use facility will provide a new level of service to the local community and beyond,'' added Kathy Weiss, the city's director of business development. ''One of the goals of this project is to provide opportunities for new and current customers to visit the market for reasons other than shopping.''

''We are working very hard to come up with new, unique ways to make the market a better-used facility and attract new customers. This is a good example of an innovative idea that will likely be of interest to a lot of people,'' said Coun. John Smola.