James Beard Foundation Is Opening a New Food Hall in Chelsea
The space will sit blocks away from Chelsea Market and feature more than a dozen vendors.
Known for supporting the restaurant industry and doling out awards, the James Beard Foundation is getting in on the service game as the anchor tenant of a brand new food hall in Chelsea.
The foundation is teaming up with Jamestown, the food hall operators behind Chelsea Market and Brooklyn’s Industry City, and Google to launch a new space at Pier 57 in Chelsea with more than a dozen vendors, set to open this fall.
As the space’s anchor tenant, the James Beard Foundation will operate a “mission-centered showcase kitchen” with dining and demonstration space, and curate many of the 17 kiosks with fast-casual concepts from up-and-coming chefs. “[The kiosks] will serve as an incubator for local small businesses and food entrepreneurs aligned with the Foundation’s mission of championing a standard of good food anchored in talent, equity, and sustainability,” the release states.
The Pier 57 space spans 16,000 square feet and sits along the city’s west side waterfront just north of the Little Island, which opened in 2021, and blocks from the area’s existing food hall, Chelsea Market.
“The food hall will further diversify Chelsea’s vibrant food scene, while also fostering and incubating local entrepreneurship,” Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown, says in the release.
The announcement is the latest in a number of food halls that are coming to NYC over the next few years. In Harlem, chef and restaurateur Alexander Smalls’ is working on an African food hall called Alkebulan that will showcase the continent’s varied cuisines and will open in 2023. And the plan for a Singaporean street hawker-inspired food hall dreamt up by Anthony Bourdain, which was previously slated to occupy the Pier 57 space, has been revived by the project’s partners and they intend to open the 18-concept food hall early this year.
These projects will join a number of food halls that have opened around the city over the past few years, including Midtown’s The Hugh, Long Island City’s Jacx & Co, the CITIZENS food hall at Manhattan West, and a trio of spots by Urbanspace, among others.