3rd Street Market Hall now plans to open in spring
3rd Street Market Hall, the downtown food hall planned for The Avenue development, has resumed construction that was paused during the pandemic and its sights are on a spring opening.
“When COVID hit, we put the brakes on everything to kind of see where the world was going. It was a scary time,” said Omar Shaikh, the Milwaukee restaurateur who’s overseeing the project.
The food hall had been projected to open in late fall, after a previous delay.
Construction was planned to resume a month ago, Shaikh said, but instead began last week. “We had to make some adjustments” to the layout, he said.
Twelve food vendors are expected to open stalls in the food hall, Shaikh said. The future food hall is at 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., in part of what previously was the Grand Avenue mall.
But five other vendors are “on the fence,” he added. “Their livelihoods are changed” with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
The food hall originally was to open with 20 food vendors.
Construction is ramping up with work on the future food hall’s central bar, which will have 40 seats. Work started slowly last week, Shaikh said.
“You’re going to see a lot more this week and next. … It’s going to look busy again.”
Shaikh said that although he hopes a vaccine for COVID-19 will be available by the time the food hall opens, plans for the hall now account for social distancing.
Other pandemic accommodations include changes to the air filtration system, since health experts say the novel coronavirus is spread primarily by respiratory droplets, and for contactless ordering.
Shaikh said he’s considering adding elements to the hall such as duckpin bowling to make visits more of an experience — “something to do other than eat and leave.”
“I still feel very optimistic that we’re going to put out something that I feel is going to be incredible for downtown,” Shaikh said.