Those passing by the site of the former Surrey Public Market last week may have noticed some activity going on involving an excavator.

However, while the 40,000square-foot building is likely to be torn down at some point in the future, right now the site's owners are just fulfilling a promise made to the Department of Fisheries.

"We were removing a structure that the Department of Fisheries really wanted us to," said Manuel da Silva, husband of Daisy da Silva, who runs the company that owns the site, located at King George Boulevard and 64th Avenue.

"It was a bridge suspended over the Archibald Creek."

According to da Silva, the promise had been made when their numbered company took ownership of the site in 2011 and they were following through on that promise.

"(The Department of Fisheries) didn't even know how the building was allowed to have that structure over the creek because there was dirty water dripping into the creek as a result," said da Silva.

During the Surrey Public Market's life, the bridge served as the main entrance to the building. Vendors also had stalls set up along the bridge as customers made their way inside.

But apart from that small removal, nothing else is being done to the site until a decision has been made about what to do with the site, which is likely to come in the near future.

"We've had a lot of interest from a bunch of different people, some who want to turn it into an ice-skating rink, or a fitness group," said da Silva.

"We just don't want to rent it out to someone who's going to go broke in a few years and then we'll be back to where we are now."

Until that time, da Silva said the building would remain standing as is. But once a decision is made one way or another, da Silva noted it would likely be torn down rather than restored.

Jude Hannah, who formed ReNewton, a community group advocating to revitalize the Newton area, told the Now in June she has been fighting to get another public market going on the site. She said the market is what drew her to purchase her home in 1986.

Hannah told the Now that revitalizing that corner is the first step to revitalizing the area but da Silva said it would be an expensive undertaking.

"There is a group wanting us to restore it but what people don't know is that to get it up and running again to its former majestic stage would cost more than to take it down," said da Silva.

"Right now, it looks like an upside-down Titanic. The skylights are all moldy, there's mold in the drywall, so all of that would have to be removed anyways."

Twitter @questionchris

cpoon@thenownewspaper.com