A multi-level, 100,000-square-foot food hall and entertainment venue with the potential to transform downtown Nashville’s dining landscape is planned for the Fifth + Broadway development.
The Food Hall Co. announces first four restaurant partners to open in spring 2020 at Fifth + Broadway development
Soon you’ll be able to get Prince’s iconic hot chicken in downtown Nashville.
The Nashville restaurant known for its fiery fowl is one of the first four high-profile restaurants announced for the European-style food hall and entertainment venueunder construction at the massive Fifth + Broadway development.
Joining Prince’s at the 100,000-square-foot, multi-level food hall will be The Pharmacy Burger, Von Elrod’s and The Donut + Dog. All told, the food hall will have more than 20 local restaurant partners, cocktail bars, a full-service restaurant and a rooftop event space and music venue.
“We’re convinced you’ll be able to come to the food hall and get something you’re going to love, in an environment that we believe will frankly be unmatched downtown,” said David Daniels, senior vice president of marketing at The Food Hall Co.
Food halls growing in U.S.
The Food Hall Co. is a subsidiary of Texas-based Front Burner Restaurants. CEO Randy DeWitt and President Jack Gibbons formed The Food Hall Co. after visiting a food hall in Amsterdam. They debuted a food hall called Legacy Hall in Plano, Texas, in late 2017.
The Food Hall Co. signed on in early 2018 to open a soon-to-be-named food hall at Fifth + Broadway. The food hall, combined with Fifth + Broadway’s other restaurant tenants, has the potential to make the $430 million development a culinary destination for locals and tourists alike.
Food halls have expanded rapidly across the U.S. as the trend becomes an increasingly popular way for restaurateurs to test concepts with lower financial risk and for consumers to enjoy an array of cuisines under one roof. Chicago, New York and Charleston, South Carolina, are among other U.S. cities with European-inspired food halls.
For Prince’s, the downtown location will be eatery’s third location, although the restaurant on Ewing Drive has been closed since December after a car crashed into the strip center building. The restaurant on Nolensville Pike is open.
The Pharmacy Burger is a wildly popular burger joint and beer garden on Mcferrin Avenue in East Nashville, where people wait in long lines, especially when the weather is nice, to enjoy burgers made with Tennessee-raised beef, tater tots, hand-cut fries, milkshakes, craft sodas and local beer.
Von Elrod’s debuted in 2017 in Germantown just steps from First Tennessee Park. The restaurant and German-style beer hall serves hand-cranked sausages, briskets, pulled pork, hot chicken schnitzel sandwiches and creative sides such as broccoli Sriracha slaw and loaded potato casserole.
The Donut + Dog is an artisanal doughnut and craft hot dog restaurant in Hillsboro Village that prides itself on pairing sweet and savory items. The restaurant’s specialties include hot dogs served nine different ways, creative brioche doughnuts and beef burgers sandwiched between a doughnut.
Daniels said those four tenants will occupy “fast-casual restaurant spaces” in the food hall. They will not serve alcohol because that will be provided at one of several dedicated bars within the food hall.
“Some of the spaces will have counters where you can sit and eat right there at the counter, and there will be an immense amount of various seating,” Daniels explained.
The 6.2-acre Fifth + Broadway development is rising at the site of the former Nashville Convention Center. The project slated to open in spring 2020 will include 235,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, 385,000 square feet of office space, more than 380 residential units and more than 2,000 parking spaces. The project is spearheaded by development partnership OliverMcMillan / Spectrum | Emery.
It was announced in late 2018 that eateries Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria and Shake Shack have deals to open at Fifth + Broadway. An H&M retail store and the National Museum of African American Music are also planned for the site.