Hill Flea Markets to Move Next Month

(Updated at 4:35 p.m.) The flea markets near Eastern Market are slated to have a new home on 7th Street SE next month, although one operator is trying to delay the move.

The dozens of vendors who sell jewelry, antiques and art on weekends in the lot of the Hine Junior High School building are scheduled to move off the property by May 16 due to the school’s redevelopment, operators of the flea markets said. The vendors will open on 7th Street SE between Pennsylvania Avenue and C Street SE, starting that weekend.

Carol Wright, who operates the Saturday market, is preparing to set up at the new location. But she has asked the District and Hine’s developer, Stanton-Eastbanc, LLC, to let her vendors delay the move by one week, until May 23.

“We just have too many logistics,” Wright said.

The move will make the flea markets smaller, according to Wright and Diverse Markets Management, which manages the Sunday market. The markets still will have many of their longtime vendors, however, Wright and DMM president Michael Berman said.

“It looks as though we’re going to have room for all of the permanent exhibitors whom our customers see regularly, though some may be in slightly smaller spaces,” Berman said in a statement.

Seventh Street SE between Pennsylvania Avenue and C Street SE will be closed to traffic during the flea markets, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Sunday.

Stanton-EastBanc will replace the closed Hine building with retail space, offices, underground parking and more than 150 residential units. A group of locals tried for years to reduce the height and density of the development. But they lost a bid in the D.C. Court of Appeals to send development plans back to the D.C. Zoning Commission.

The $150 million project is slated for completion in late 2017 or early 2018.

Photo via Facebook/The Flea Market at Eastern Market