New Food Hall Coming To MRP's Foggy Bottom Redevelopment
The food hall trend continues to sweep the D.C. market, with the latest concept coming to a Foggy Bottom redevelopment project.
MRP Realty and Westbrook Partners announced Wednesday that they plan to open Western Market, a 12K SF food hall at their 2000 Pennsylvania Ave. NW project.
The team is working with Baltimore-based Cana Development, a food and retail management specialist, on the food hall project. Western Market is named after the original marketplace that existed across the street from the site in the early 1800s.
Three retailers have already announced plans to open at Western Market: fast-casual Israeli concept Shouk; Mason's Famous Lobster Rolls; and Ellē, the second location of a popular café and bakery that debuted in Mount Pleasant. The food hall is expected to open later this year.
"With the opening of Western Market, we are excited to re-introduce a culinary epicenter to the neighborhood," MRP Realty Vice President of Investments Tim Hill said in a release. "It's rewarding to revitalize the original marketplace at 2000 Penn by introducing a top-tier lineup of purveyors to the District's vibrant culinary scene."
In addition to the food hall tenants, the 2000 Pennsylvania Ave. NW project has also announced new dining options, including Bindaas, Duke's Grocery, Paul, Captain Cookie & the Milkman and Chipotle.
The project is being built under a long-term ground lease agreement with George Washington University, which selected MRP and Westbrook as the development team in May 2018. It is a redevelopment of a 10-story office building that lost two large law firm tenants in recent years. The building also included three levels of retail, previously branded as the Shops at 2000 Penn.
Western Market is the latest in a series of food hall projects underway in the D.C. area, as developers look to capitalize on the growing retail trend. The Quarter Market food hall opened last year at the Ballston Quarter development, a food hall opened at Tysons Galleria in late 2017 and rebranded one year later, and another one opened at MGM National Harbor in 2016.
Northeast D.C. has at least two food halls, Union Market and Tastemakers in Brookland. And new food halls are also planned at a mixed-use development in Silver Spring, at the Rosslyn Metro Center redevelopment and at Downtown D.C.'s International Square office complex.
