A massive development is taking shape on the Lower East Side that will create new home for the historic Essex Street Market and more than a hundred additional food vendors. Our Michael Scotto filed the following report.

It is now mainly a massive pit in the ground.

But when construction here is complete, this will be the home of a 150,000-square foot underground market, said to be one of the largest in the world.

"First and foremost, this is a market for the local community, so as such there's a great diversity in this community ethnically, socioeconomically and we're going to hit all of that," says Rohan Mehra of Prusik Group.

Called the Market Line, the space will house 150 vendors beneath three city blocks from Essex to Clinton streets. It is part of a massive redevelopment project on the Lower East called Essex Crossing.

The space will host nine buildings with two million square feet of apartments, stores and community space.

One of the buildings will be the new site of the Essex Street Market now located about a block north.

That market houses small eateries and mom and pop retailers. All of them are expected to move to the new location.

Rona Economou has run a small Greek food store in the market for six years. She thinks her new home will likely have more foot traffic.

"Obviously I think people from all over the city and even tourists are going to be intrigued by a beautiful new market being built in this neighborhood," says Economou.

Even with the expectation of more tourists, developers want the new markets to serve local residents, especially the thousands of newcomers who will move in to Essex Crossing. Developers say the market will contain only local merchants, no national chains. The idea is for the food shops to pay rent based on what they're selling.

"We want to get produce vendors and fish mongers and cheese mongers, as well as prepared food users," says Mehra. "They can all pay different rents because they're different types of businesses."

The first section of the market is expected to open in 2018. The rest of it will be completed the following year.