two people standing together
John and Patricia Wall in the Malcolm Yards Market space.
The first time I sat with Patricia Wall and listened to her plan to open a food hall, it was spring of 2017 and we joked that at least she wasn't trying to open before Super Bowl 52. Yeah, it's been a minute.
Yesterday I walked through her nearly-realized dream project, Malcolm Yards Market, and it sounds like they will finally be ready to open in the springtime, around May 1.
During that four year timeline, pushed by everything from a building fire to the pandemic and more, Wall was anything but idle. She rounded out her team, bringing on Matty O'Reilly (of Republic, Red River Kitchen) as operational consultant, and partnering with Mark Shaker and Jim Wright who operate a number of food halls in Colorado, including Broadway Marketplace, Stanley Marketplace, and The Golden Mill. And she traveled, witnessing the food hall boom first hand, for better and worse.
"We really got to see what was working out there, and what wasn't. The huge growth of the food hall trend meant that people were out there putting up concepts, but maybe they weren't really food halls, or maybe they didn't work in the best ways for the consumer," Wall told me. "It's important that we really hone how we're going to run this," O'Reilly added, "we need it to benefit both the guests and the restaurants."
construction workers in a building
From left: Jim Wright, Patricia Wall, Matty O'Reilly, and Mark Shaker. The team is trying to preserve as much graffiti art on the walls, and have ideas about commissioning more.
The historic building currently being renovated will hold nine food kitchens offering counter service. All will be independently run. There will be a central bar with cocktails on tap, run by the food hall, along with two self-service tap walls. Various seating arrangements, from lounge furniture to tables, will be scattered throughout the building and onto the expansive outdoor area.
They are really thinking about streamlining the guest experience, with plenty of signage, good flow, and tech that should make it easy for movement throughout the building. Guests will be able to check in at the entrance, swipe a credit card like opening a tab, and get a food hall card that can be used at any of the establishments or bars. The cards (which can also be pre-loaded with cash) can be set with a limit, and even pre-loaded with a certain tip percentage so that it closes out automatically when you turn in the card before you leave.
I asked whether they thought the pandemic had doomed the upward swing of food halls, with the idea that gathering a lot of people into indoor spaces to hang out might not be as fashionable anymore. "Well for starters, we are going to have a really great takeout and internal delivery system to make it easy for those who don't want to deal with lots of people," Shaker mentioned. "And we have lots of outdoor space and plenty of air flow when we open the garage doors. We know that even by May we are still in this, so we'll be as safe and cautious as needed."
The neighborhood has clearly grown up around them, there are new apartments everywhere and the coming-soon O'Shaughnessy Distillery is also under construction up the road, just past Surly Brewing which we all know won't stay dark forever. They say they have seven of the nine spots already signed, with two currently in play. "It's one of those weird things, but the caliber of tenant we were attracting only got higher during the pandemic," O'Reilly said. "This may be the best way for the next generation of chefs to move into ownership: we handle the build-out and it's a two year licensing agreement with percentage rent. No one has to go to the bank and secure $100K for kitchen equipment. It's easier than a food truck."
So who do they have on deck? Well. They wouldn't tell me yet. But I have heard rumors that there are some alumni from a few of our top kitchens who are indeed making their first go on their own. If you want to know the names, and start plotting a trip to Prospect Park, stay tuned to their Instagram and socials where they will be announcing the names of tenants even as soon as this week! Well, their first tease pic the other day DID include a bit more than a hint as DelSur Empanadas brands their meat pockets. So, there's one!
