It’s all aboard on food hall at old rail station
PROVIDENCE — The developer behind plans to construct a food hall inside downtown’s historic Union Station says he’s looking to open in the spring of 2024.
“The food hall project continues to move forward; demolition is complete and construction will begin in earnest this summer,” confirmed Christopher Marsella, the president of Marsella Development Corporation, in a statement to the Globe on Monday.
The board of directors of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation agreed to award Marsella’s subsidiary, One Union Station, LLC, $1 million from the Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit Act during a meeting on earlier this month.
The original Union Station, which was Providence’s first railroad station, was designed by Brown University-educated Thomas A. Tefft and opened in 1847. The building was destroyed in a fire in 1896.
About a century later, in April 1987, the station was being redesigned for office and retail use when the upper stories were damaged in another fire. Romolo A. Marsella took on the painstaking process of restoring it to its former glory. His company, is now run by his son Christopher Marsella, is estimating the food hall renovations will cost approximately $19.3 million, according to paperwork shared with Commerce’s board of directors.
Plans for the food hall were first announced in March 2021, and was expected to open in the summer of 2022. The Capital Center Commission approved Marsella’s plans in April 2022.
Marsella Development spokeswoman Kate Murphy told the Globe that the project has faced “some changes” over the last year. The original plans showed Marsella expected to build 13 vendor spaces, two vendor carts, two bars, and seating for approximately 250 people. Murphy said due to “lead times and in order to be more cost effective,” the scope of the project has been reduced to 17,000 square feet with seven local merchants, vendor carts, a central bar and seating for more than 300. An outdoor plaza will provide additional space for al fresco dining.
“The reduction in vendor space does not mean reduction in activity and will, in the end, benefit the merchants because there are fewer businesses with which to split the pie,” said Murphy.
In his statement, Christopher Marsella said the company would have “exciting updates to share in the coming weeks.”
The original construction plans showed a tunnel that would connect former restaurant spaces like Bar Louie, which permanently closed in the beginning of the pandemic. The upper levels of the building, which overlook Kennedy Plaza, will remain under the existing ownership of the Rhode Island Foundation. Rhode Island Kids Count and The Public’s Radio, both of which have offices in the building, are also expected to remain in the upper levels.
Food halls have long been popular in larger American cities and throughout Europe. In Boston, High Street Place offers more than 20 dining options from celebrated local celebrity chefs like Tiffani Faison; Time Out Market, located in the Fenway neighborhood, has 15 food and drink vendors with cafeteria-style seating; and Quincy Market has long been known as a tourist destination with seafood restaurants and bars along the waterfront.
Plant City, opened by Kim Anderson in Providence’s Fox Point neighborhood in 2019, serves different styles of vegan food under a single operator.
The proposed food hall at One Union Station will be similar to Chelsea Market, the famous collection of shops and restaurants inside the historic National Biscuit Company complex in New York City’s Meatpacking District, and Harrods Food Hall in London, which features seasonal food, gourmet confectionaries, charcuterie, and rows of sourdough in a multi-market hall.