Courtesy City Foundry STL
James Beard Award-winning chef Gerard Craft’s Niche Food Group has taken the reins at City Foundry STL, the highly anticipated food hall and entertainment complex under construction in Midtown.
Niche Food Group will act as culinary director and consultant for the food hall and public market space, which is located on Forest Park Avenue between Vandeventer and Spring Street, steps away from I-64. In this role, the group will offer input on tenants and manage several concepts within the space.
“We have a collective vision for City Foundry to be seen as more than a food hall but also as a public market, a place that supports food-focused entrepreneurs,” Craft said in a statement. “In addition to emerging restaurant concepts, we want to celebrate the people who have helped connect us to food—the farmers and butcher suppliers, the potter who makes restaurants’ plates, or maybe even a cookbook stand or teaching kitchen that inspire chefs.”
City Foundry’s potential as a popular community gathering place attracted Craft and his team to the project, he said.
“We think that City Foundry is such an important puzzle piece to connect the city together. From downtown and Midtown to the Central West End and Cortex, City Foundry has the opportunity to bring all of those communities together. We see so much potential with the project that we wanted to be a part of making it succeed,” Craft said.
City Foundry, which is located in the former Federal-Mogul foundry, has faced a few setbacks on the road to opening. The food hall was slated to open in 2019 but because of changes in the timeframe and anticipated tenants, the opening date was moved to 2020.
As of February, tenants included Buenos Buenos Aires Café (Argentinian fare from Oscar and Ainara Farina of O’Fallon, Illinois–based Los Gauchos), Chela Tapas (Spanish food from local professional chef Grace Dinsmoor), Murf’s Deli (a handcrafted sandwich eatery from St. Louis native Maher David), Natalie’s Cakes & More (pastries from Jennings-based Natalie’s Cakes & More owner Natalie DuBose), and City Taco Shack (Asian-Mexican fusion food from Kalbi Taco Shack owner Sue Wong-Shackelford), Alchemy Bakery (a sweets shop from pastry chef Tyler Davis), Flask Bar (craft beers and cocktails from Hamilton Hospitality), and A Little Hi (a burgers-and-fries concept from the owners of Hi-Pointe Drive-In).
A 700-person event space operated by Butler’s Pantry called 18 Rails is also slated to open in City Foundry. A number of entertainment spaces including Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and Fassler Hall, are also on the roster.
Now, the coronavirus pandemic has further complicated matters. Construction is still in progress, but an opening date will be determined later based on recommendations from health officials and considerations for future customers, Will Smith, City Foundry STL’s asset manager, said in a statement.
“We are rethinking what the dining and shopping experience could look like for the foreseeable future,” Smith said. "We won’t open the doors until we have clarity on a safe and manageable way to do that."
