CW Retail - Food Halls Report

Grand Central Terminal/ Great Northern Food Hall

G iven the transit-oriented roots of most major historic U.S. food hall projects, it should come as little surprise that this project has evolved over the years to be one of the nation’s largest and most successful food hall venues. Even so, ranking this project second may be cheating a bit. Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan is one of the few projects in the U.S. that actually offers two distinct food halls under one roof. Indeed, if one separated out the Grand Central Dining Concourse from the Grand Central Market and Great Northern Food Hall, one could actually argue that this project boasts three major food hall projects under one roof. Grand Central Station has been a focal point for New York commuters since 1871. While the terminal itself has seen its ups and downs over its nearly 150 years, it now boasts over 82 million visitors annually. The Terminal itself was revamped in 1913, and has undergone a number of reimaginations between 1952 and 1979. Its latest restoration, completed in 1998, doubled the retail and restaurant space, in addition to restoring the famous zodiac dome ceiling, the refurbishment of the lower level Grand Central Dining Concourse, as well as the main level Grand Central Market section for a combined estimated 100,000 sf of

restaurant and food-related space. While the tenant make-up in the Dining Concourse includes some long-time New York classic eateries such as the Grand Central Oyster Bar and, until recently, Junior’s Delicatessen, in recent years the space has begun to accommodate a flood of new fast-casual operators ranging from up-and-coming better burger giant Shake Shack to farm-to- fork operators like Tom Colicchio’s (“Top Chef”) Wichcraft. This is in addition to the food-related space in the Grand Central Market portion of the project where commuters can purchase unprepared artisanal foods from purveyors like Ceriello Fine Foods, Li-Lac Chocolates and Eli Zabar's Farm to Table. These offerings were joined in June 2016 by Claus Meyer’s Great Northern Food Hall. The award-winning Meyer is one of the creators of the New Nordic Cuisine movement. His roughly 5,000 sf within the Vanderbilt Hall section of Grand Central Station features Nordic-themed delights ranging from an artisanal bakery (Meyers Bageri) to coffee (Brownville Roasters), sandwiches (Open Rye), smoothies (Almanak) to sandwiches (Danish Dogs and the Great Northern Deli) to craft brewing (The Bar).

Cool Streets Report: Food Halls

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