Plans for a new outdoor food courtyard called "Eat the Hub" on South University Avenue are moving forward with the city of Ann Arbor's blessing.

The City Council recently approved a special two-month event called "Eat the Street," allowing temporary outdoor sales and service of food in the spot where the old Pinball Pete's burned down four years ago.

Food at The Beet Box includes roasted beet quinoa topped with feta and citrus yogurt, kale chips and beet lemonade.

The South University Area Association plans to promote the new food carts through the holiday season and into the New Year, encouraging the entire community to come visit the South University retail and restaurant scene.

"Eat the Street is kind of the first step in bringing food carts down to South U," explained Alex Perlman, co-owner of two local food carts that will be moving over to the courtyard for the season. "They approved Eat the Street, which allows Eat the Hub, so it's kind of a two-for-one win for us."

Site preparations are ongoing and Perlman hopes to have the food carts open for business on South U sometime before Thanksgiving.

"Right now we have four carts committed, and as we go into the New Year, we'll hit six carts," he said.

Perlman, who co-owns food vendor businesses The Beet Box and Cheese Dream, has a short-term agreement to lease the property at 1215 S. University Ave. from the Tice family, also the owners of the Pizza House restaurant.

The carts committed so far include The Beet Box, Cheese Dream and Hut-K Chaats, all of which have operated as food carts at Mark's Carts on Washington Street. The fourth cart is coming from Sottini's Sub Shop on Fourth Avenue. An old school bus parked on the property is expected to function as a kitchen.

"We want to have the community really in the know that these food carts being moved to South U are the same ones that have been in our community," Perlman said.

The SUAA believes Eat the Hub will help revitalize an unsightly vacant part of the South University area, as well as enhance the pedestrian experience.

The City Council's approval of the foot carts is subject to necessary approvals from the county's health department.

Even after the Eat the Street promotional event ends in early January, Perlman said Eat the Hub will stay open into April. The idea is that they'll be there and open for business during the "off season" when Mark's Carts is closed.

"The irony is that our 'on season' is when Ann Arbor's population is lowest," Perlman said, noting the Mark's Carts food carts have operated successfully during the summer when many University of Michigan students are out of town.

"So, realizing this, it makes a lot of sense to take advantage of the off season because there is a larger population," he said. "We think the off season will be very much an 'on season' and seasons will just kind of become irrelevant."

Since it will be cold outside, Perlman said it will be more of a "grab quick food and go" type of atmosphere with limited seating. He said they'll be serving up free hot coffee and will provide heaters to keep customers warm.

"And we're going to make sure all food is served extremely fast so you can get out in five or six minutes," he said.

Perlman said the Eat the Street event will help bring Eat the Hub to fruition. He said the details are still being worked out, but it's going to be a festive time.

"We will definitely be having live music on occasion," he said. "I think we'll see special events consistently on Friday evenings. Realistically, it's going to be a merger of food, music, the changing seasons and just good times."

Ryan Stanton covers Ann Arbor city hall for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com or 734-623-2529 or follow him on Twitter.