× Expand Courtesy Lawrence Group

Four years ago, amidst the rust, rubble, chipped paint, and standing water inside the former Federal-Mogul foundry, it took a developer’s eye to imagine what, by mid-summer 2020, will become St. Louis’ first bona fide food hall. The dilapidated180,000-square-foot, nearly century-old building, located just feet from I-64 in Midtown, had been vacant for a decade.

× Expand Photo by Holly Ravazzolo

At the time, shuttered industrial buildings and warehouses in bigger cities across the country were being transformed into culinary hubs called food halls. The Lawrence Group’s Steve Smith had been scouting St. Louis for possibilities, and when he discovered the foundry site in 2015, he bought the 15-acre complex and fired up City Foundry STL.

The Lawrence Group churned out renderings of an elaborate multi-use facility and began signing up big-name tenants. In addition to office space and retail options, the complex includes three major "eatertainment" venues, with more to be announced. An esports gaming center is located within the complex as well. Fresh Thyme is part of the mix. Several health clubs are currently being courted.

× Expand Courtesy Lawrence Group

The most recent major addition (“not even on the radar screen when the project was conceived,’ says Smith) is 18 Rails, a 700-person event space named after the number of cross-country railroad lines that converged nearby. Operated by Butler’s Pantry and chief culinary officer Vince Bommarito, Jr., the venue is accessed through the food hall, a cross-marketing maneuver designed to create maximum exposure. The space has a dedicated dock for offloading food, event supplies, and sound equipment, as well as a mezzanine that serves as a decluttering nerve center for any sound, light, and audio-visual equipment. 18 Rails is slated to open late this year.

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Smith explains that while the food hall’s mission statement remains the same ("The overarching idea is to build a community of local chefs doing out-of-the-box concepts within their areas of expertise,” he says), the tenant mix has changed over the past two years. “As time passes, situations change,” he explains. “Some people have found other projects and interests in the interim, while others have come on board.”

The current roster includes Good Day, a breakfast concept from the owners of Polite Society and The Bellwether; City Taco Shack, an offshoot of Kalbi Taco Shack, the popular Asian-Mexican fusion joint; Hello Poke, serving poke bowls, sushi burritos, and Hawaiian beverages; Buenos Aires Café, featuring Argentinian fare from Oscar and Ainara Farina of O’Fallon, Illinois–based Los Gauchos; and Pig Iron Pizza, from Hamilton Hospitality Group, owners of several local restaurants including PW Pizza. The pizza dough will be the same as PW, according to Hamilton Hospitality’s Paul Hamilton, but the pizzas will be “smaller, personal size, in the 9- or 10-inch range.”

Last week, two big-name tenants joined the project. The Hi-Pointe Drive-In comes on board with a scaled-down burger-and-fries concept, called A Little Hi. Co-owner Charlie Downs says that refrigeration and storage will determine how many additional items will be offered.

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts Tyler Davis' Peanut Butter Bomb. One year ago, SLM's Dave Lowry said it "might just be the most extravagant dessert in St. Louis."

Tyler “Tai” Davis signed on last week as well, promising an "experiential and experimental" sweets shop, Alchemy Bakery. Davis, a rising star chef whose resume includes Franco, The DeMun Oyster Bar, Niche, The Libertine, and Element, prior to moving to The Chocolate Pig as its executive pastry chef, has also appeared on Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship. Last year, the indefatigable chef launched a three-tiered business, hosted modern soul food dinner pop-ups, and published a spectacular coffee table book, Tai Davis [Pastry]: A Visual Anthology of Culinary Works.

Davis tells SLM that City Foundry will generate "the foot traffic, demographics, diversity, and overall exposure" that he was looking for in a retail business, his first. Davis praises and respects several of St. Louis' other bakeries and pastry chefs, and for that reason, chooses to be different and not compete. Drawing inspiration from the pastry advances in Peru and Japan, Davis plans to introduce visitors to avant garde cakes, several sizes of cheesecake, pastries, small batch chocolates, and entremets, as opposed to selling standard cupcakes and cookies. "If people see first hand the creativity and work that goes into creating something different—like, say a passionfruit croissant—they're likely to give it a try. I want this to be an all-encompassing experience."

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WESLEY LAW

Part of that mission plays out in the hours of operation. Plans call for Davis to open for retail service in the daytime and conduct classes—on chocolate making, cake decorating, the art of macarons—in the evenings.

Another part of the mission deals with collaborations and partnerships. "I could have left St. Louis to pursue other opportunities," he says, "but I stayed because of the willingness of all sorts of creative people to collaborate. That aspect is extremely fulfilling."

Alchemy will also serve as an outlet for Davis' books, merchandise, and food art.

In addition, the chef wants to be a wholesale dessert outlet for other businesses in the food hall. "If I can up their game, we all benefit," he says, a sentiment echoed by Smith, who calls Davis "a perfect fit for this project."

Smith says that all the infrastructure is now completed in the food hall proper. “Everything you see when you look up is done,” he says, which leaves the finishing of the food stalls themselves. On Friday, the steel beams that delineate the respective spaces were painted. “I’ll admit, the space was difficult to envision before,” he says. “With all that yellow steel, that’s no longer the case. The closer we get to completion, the easier it is to visualize.”

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Food hall tenants come on board by signing a license agreement, which is more akin to a franchise agreement than a traditional lease. Instead of paying the developer a set amount per month, tenants (Smith calls them his “partners”) pay a percentage of an expected revenue threshold in exchange for improvements and common-area facilities (such as tables, chairs, and restrooms).

× Expand Courtesy Lawrence Group

× Expand Courtesy Lawrence Group

Within the food hall are traditional and communal tables, stand-up rails, counter seating at some of the individual stalls, plus tables that can accommodate larger parties.

Photo by George Mahe

Visually, the food hall is a sensory circus. Guests can look up and see sand hoppers, catwalks, rolling cranes, 2-ton hoists, and foundry salvage turned into objects d’art. The remains of two concrete kilns (one with spidery exhaust vents) were transformed into another seating option. From I-64, passers-by will notice changeable LED lights glowing in the building-long run of clerestory windows.

The centrally located Flask Bar will act as the hub of the food hall. Hamilton Hospitality will operate Flask, which will offer local craft brews and signature cocktails.Twelve food stalls (in three pods) surround the bar; a perimeter wall will accommodate an additional eight stalls, depending on concept demand.

“We want the complexion to change. We want new ideas. We want evolution,” says Smith. “We hope different faces will mix with, say, an existing tenant who wants to try something new.” At the same time, there will only be one tenant per concept: “If you’re the pizza guy, you’re the pizza guy,” Smith says.

The backbone of the complex is a pedestrian-only streetway (Foundry Way), which will be uses for art fairs, concerts, a farmers' market, street performers, and events featuring the food hall restaurants. And by this time next year, in conjunction with Great Rivers Greenway, an existing railroad trestle is slated to become an elevated path that will connect City Foundry to Cortex.

Brick-and-mortar highlights include Fassler Hall, a 15,000-square-foot, three-level space that includes an outdoor beer garden overlooking the complex. In addition, three of the six private dining rooms have unusual visuals overhead. (No spoilers here). The St. Louis outpost is the fourth in the country (in addition to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Little Rock) and was the first company to sign on to the project. Smith predicts that Fassler Hall should be open by mid-summer, in conjunction with the food hall.

Opening later this year is the 27,000-square-foot Punchbowl Social, an eight-year-old company with 19 other location-designed venues across the country. Boasting “food fit for foodies and endless gaming options," expect the existing graffiti and much of the rough-hewn appearance to remain as is.

And at the steel girder stage will be the Alamo Draft House Theater, described by Smith as a “1,000-seat restaurant with a movie theater, versus a movie theater that serves food." Smith says Alamo will be the last venue to open in phase one of City Foundry, which includes five buildings and 345,000 square feet. (Yes, phase one, in which 100 percent of the office space is leased.)

Already in the planning stages are two more office buildings and an additional parking garage. “Office workers, grocery store shoppers, movie goers, health club members, more office workers… Projects of this magnitude need as many traffic drivers as we can get,” Smith says.

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Parking at City Foundry is in a 500-space, multi-level lot across from the food hall (with supplemental lots to the east and west), and parking in all lots is free. The main entrance (off Vandeventer, across from Ikea) feeds into the main lot or to a valet, ride-sharing, and drop-off circle. “More parking options mean more convenience,” Smith says. “One lot might appeal more depending on your destination and the time of day.”

After the food hall opens, other stores and venues will follow on a continuous basis for the remainder of the year, an incentive for guests to pay an additional visit or to return. That way, says Smith, “everyone can shine—everyone can have their moment.”