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Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Robin Garr » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:17 pm

Okay, Louisville is ready! Who's going to make this happen?

Eataly-Style Food Halls Are Taking Over America
By ERIKA ALLEN
THE NEW YORK TIMES

JULY 21, 2014


Ever since Todd English opened his upscale food court and market at the Plaza Hotel in the summer of 2010, the notion of combining communal dining space and artisan grocery shopping has caught fire in New York. English’s endeavor was soon followed by Mario Batali’s Italian food emporium Eataly, where patrons can snack on charcuterie, drink wine and purchase artisanal produce. At the end of 2013 Gotham West Market opened in Hell’s Kitchen with stalls serving ramen, tapas and microbrews, in addition to gourmet foodstuffs and sundries.

Downtown, Battery Park residents can now patronize Hudson Eats, yet another swanky, upscale food court. And now, other cities around the country are getting in the game. Here are five new (or upgraded) food halls in Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014 ... d=fb-share
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by RonnieD » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:57 pm

St. Louis has Culinaria, too.

Our new store in NYC is right next to Eataly and they are always busy. Great idea, but Prospect-priced for sure.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Mark R. » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:04 pm

Sounds like one would be a great addition to Louisville's dining scene!
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Ned A » Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:01 pm

I would love to see something like Eataly here. I was able to go in Chicago earlier this year, and it was a great experience. We didn't eat there (just some coffee), but did tour around for a while, and grabbed some snacks to take back to the hotel. I also love the http://oxbowpublicmarket.com/ in Napa, which is similar in concept but much smaller in scale.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Gary Guss » Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:43 am

This is what we should have in Louisville ... love this place and the prices aren't bad either. We have plenty of old warehouse space that would lend itself to this also.. check out the link lots of ethnic food also.

http://www.northmarket.com/

If you get up to Columbus O. check it out
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Carla G » Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:32 am

I agree Gary. This is a wonderful market and frankly I am a bit surprised we don't have something like it.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:26 am

Gary Guss wrote:This is what we should have in Louisville ... love this place and the prices aren't bad either. We have plenty of old warehouse space that would lend itself to this also.. check out the link lots of ethnic food also.

http://www.northmarket.com/

If you get up to Columbus O. check it out


YES. I have thought this many times. The old Armory building could be a good candidate for this. Permanent, year-round indoor farmer's market and food market with restaurants and lunch counters inside as well.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Robin Garr » Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:43 am

So, what would it take to make this happen? I tried to catch Mayor Greg's attention from the parallel discussion taking place on Facebook ...
https://www.facebook.com/robin.garr/pos ... 0469164819
... but nobody in his office has bitten, so far.

With all the restaurant presence here on the forum, would there be any way to begin a groundswell here? It could happen ... as I recall, APRON Inc. grew from a similar mustard seed or acorn. :mrgreen:
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Gary Guss » Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:49 am

send a post to Gil Holland maybe.. this would be a great addition to Downtown and also Nulu.. would rather have it centrally located, there are numerous buildings on Broadway that would be suitable also
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Ron H » Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:54 am

Nashville's farmer's market has been like this for quite some time, and it's also home to the best Indian food in the city as a result. If you get down there, to check it out.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:57 am

It'd take a developer willing to invest the money necessary to get it going, with the connections to get whatever local or state funding could be gotten. Gill Holland would be a natural choice, but he's so busy with his Portland projects right now I doubt he'd be interested. Folks like Steve Poe and Bill Weyland have the money and connections you'd need, but their expertise seems to be in hotels and residential development.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Robin Garr » Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:07 am

Jeff Cavanaugh wrote:It'd take a developer willing to invest the money necessary to get it going, with the connections to get whatever local or state funding could be gotten. Gill Holland would be a natural choice, but he's so busy with his Portland projects right now I doubt he'd be interested. Folks like Steve Poe and Bill Weyland have the money and connections you'd need, but their expertise seems to be in hotels and residential development.

Yeah, and when you get in money people, they always want to have some say in how it's run. :mrgreen:

Outside the box! Is there any way this could happen as a people's project?
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:32 am

I'll do it if I win the lottery. :mrgreen:

Which is unlikely, since I don't play.
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Re: Is Louisville ready for an Eataly style food hall?

by Bill Veneman » Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:08 pm

Although the Eatery concept is a fun idea, I don't think it would work well here for a couple of reasons....first off, the price point involved, and more importantly, the patience of the local patrons.

Further, the 'under one roof' Farmers Market concept has proven successful and profitable in practice. I will elaborate on this since I was blessed to be a Nashville resident when the Farmers Market moved from it's old shed local to it present, city owned and operated (under the State Fair Board I believe).

I have a couple of thoughts on this:

First, it was a huge piece of the puzzle of a revitalization of a rather rundown and 'tawdry' area of town, just north of city center. The renovation of the Germantown neighborhood (which had been underway for some years), and development of MetroCenter, and other changes in the old "Bottoms" area (which was built on the old city dump) were also key in this development. It has not happened without controversy nor neighborhood resistance, however, the end result is incredible. On a recent trip to Nashville, I was very pleased when I went there to see that a lot of my favorite vendors from my Nashville days were still established in the rentable stalls, and was able to get some of their delicious wares to bring home with me.

Secondly, with the renewed interest in the Portland area, the abundance of "reusable" land in the area, and the like, it occurs to me that we are in a classic setup for such a development on an equal, or maybe more grand scale. Louisville is defiantly a foodie town. Many of the top chefs in town utilize the fact that we are a UPS hub, hence we have availability to the freshest foods in better timeframes than many major markets. Some enterprising soul could play off of this fact as well and have a really fresh delivery market for the masses and make the "at home foodie" very happy, as well as local fare in a modern, comfortable and central location, plus assist in the redevelopment of the area.

Nashville, and it's surrounding areas (Franklin, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville, etc.) have all looked at, and established redevelopment and reuse projects with great success. Louisville has a few good starts that are going towards the central and more east part of town (Mellwood, NuLu, Bardstown Road, Frankfort Avenue, The Highlands to name a few off the top of my head.

When I lived in Nashville, my office just on the other side of the river from the Market, so I would go by there several times during the course of the week. In the beginning, it was a bit of a Hodgepodge of vendors "trying the waters", but over time, the tried and true have stuck it out. By the time I left Nashville in 2003, it was starting to come into it's own. It now has a fish market, butcher, ethnic grocery, and several other shops that cater to all sorts of different tastes. During the spring, it's the only place to go and get plants and foliage for the home garden, as well as in season vegetables. I miss my trips to the market in the afternoons, and my interactions with the vendors. It gave me reminders of a old fashioned village market of days gone by where you knew what you were getting, where it came from, and the pride of what was being sold.

I would be thrilled if some enterprising soul would take on this task. Louisville needs this badly!
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