Forest City Unveils Dining Options Coming To Ballston Quarter Food Hall

Ballston residents and visitors will soon have a host of new food and beverage options when the Ballston Quarter redevelopment opens next year. 

Forest City, the developer behind the $330M overhaul of the former Ballston Common Mall, announced a series of new tenants Tuesday that will occupy its food hall. 

Quarter Market, as it has branded the 25K SF food hall, is scheduled to open in September and will include the following offerings:

• Mexican restaurant Bartaco, a sister to Barcelona Wine Bar, will sit next to the food hall with a window connecting it to the main area.
• Cucina Al Volo, an Italian eatery with locations in Union Market and Adams Morgan, will open its first Virginia outpost. 
• Mi & Yu Noodle Bar, a Baltimore-based fast-casual ramen concept with three locations, will open its first Northern Virginia outpost. 
• Timber Pizza Co., a popular Neapolitan-style pizzeria that began serving at farmers markets and now has a brick-and-mortar spot in Petworth, will open its second location. 
• Buredo, a D.C.-based fast-casual chain serving burrito-sized sushi rolls, will open its seventh location. 
• Rice Crook will be the first brick-and-mortar location from the owners of the Korean food stand Bun'd up.
• Pinch Dumplings, which makes its Chinese dumplings from scratch at a stand outside Nationals Park, will open its first brick-and-mortar location in the D.C. area. 
• Swizzler, a food truck known for corkscrew-shaped hot dogs, will open its first brick-and-mortar location. 
• Ice Cream Jubilee will open its third location and first in Virginia. 

The food hall will have 18 operators, and the developer plans to announce the additional tenants in the coming months. Forest City Senior Vice President of Development Will Voegele said the team studied some of the best markets around the world and spoke with community members before crafting the tenant mix for the food hall. 

"Our strategy was to curate the most unique people we can get, give them a platform and put them in a very cool environment that sits at the center of the project," Voegele said. "This will be the heartbeat of Ballston Quarter."

In addition to Quarter Market, the development will also be anchored by Punch Bowl Social, a restaurant concept with a bowling alley, arcade and bar that signed on for a 25K SF space. It will also include at least six more sit-down restaurants and a strip of six more fast-casual concepts in other parts of the development. The site also includes a Regal Cinemas, which recently underwent a $3.5M renovation.

With those food, beverage and entertainment components, plus a number of soft goods and service retailers, the development will include a total of 360K SF of retail. It will also include a new 22-story, 406-unit residential tower, expected to deliver in Q1 2019.