PROVIDENCE, R.I. � The idea for a public market in Providence is gaining traction, I-195 Redevelopment District Commission Executive Director Jan A. Brodie told the land panel Monday evening.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. � The idea for a public market in Providence is gaining traction, I-195 Redevelopment District Commission Executive Director Jan A. Brodie told the land panel Monday evening.

�More and more people are circling around this concept,� Brodie said during the commission�s meeting.

She told the commission that potential sites include Parcel 9, which is the easternmost parcel of the 195 land, and the nearby site of what was once the Shooters Waterfront Caf�. But in an email exchange with The Providence Journal after the meeting, Brodie said through spokeswoman Dyana Koelsch that more central locations in downtown Providence are also being discussed.

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Brodie told the land panel she has met with the team from the Boston Public Market, to glean lessons about how such a project might come together in Providence.

The 195 commission owns and controls about 40 acres of land freed up by the state�s highway-relocation project. About 19 acres are available for development, while the rest will be turned into public parks, streets and sidewalks.

The state Department of Environmental Management controls the state-owned Shooters property and is preparing to issue a new request for development proposals for that site in January.

One person interested in creating a public market on the Shooters site contacted The Providence Journal Monday evening after learning of Brodie�s comment from a reporter�s Tweet. David Dadekian, one of two 2014 Innovation Fellows awarded $300,000 by the Rhode Island Foundation, said he has met with Brodie and DEM.

Dadekian hopes to create a centralized culinary hub in Rhode Island, similar perhaps to Seattle�s Pike Place or New York�s Chelsea Market. He said he�s not pursuing a 195 location because he is exploring the Shooters site with DEM.

Through a spokeswoman after the meeting, Brodie said, �There are a number of people talking about the idea, and there is the right energy to make it happen.�