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Retail Dining Developments

New opening date set for Packing District Food Hall

Growthspotter
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The Great Southern Box Food Hall in Orlando's Packing District is now slated to open in February 2024.

The Great Southern Box Food Hall in Orlando's Packing District is now slated to open in February 2024. (dap design)

Supply chain disruptions have pushed back the opening of the Packing District’s Southern Box Food Hall until early next year.

Dr. Phillips Charities CEO Ken Robinson told GrowthSpotter he was pushing for the opening around Thanksgiving but had to adjust the schedule. “We were hoping for the end of this year, but it looks like it’s going to be mid-February, 2024,” he said.

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Interior demolition of the 1930s-era Great Southern Box Company building, one of the most anticipated components of the mixed-use district, will be underway by next week. Dr. Phillips recently filed construction plans with the St. Johns River Water Management District to grade the Southeast quadrant of the intersection of Princeton Street and Orange Blossom Trail and start construction on the food hall and parking garage.

The 22,400-square-foot food hall will be one component of a larger site plan to redevelop the southeast corner of Princeton and Orange Blossom Trai.

The 22,400-square-foot food hall will be one component of a larger site plan to redevelop the southeast corner of Princeton and Orange Blossom Trai. (dap design)

“The order and things are the site work first, and then coming online at the same time, it’ll be the food hall, microbrewery, event space — that’s all one building,” Robinson said. “And in the parking garage. All of those will hit at about the same time.”

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The development team had previously planned to start construction last August, but Robinson said it was delayed while they waited for electrical switchgear and air conditioning components for the chiller plan to be delivered.

Additional plans for the southeast corner include a seven-story hotel, a 43,000-square-foot office building and a 4,000-square-foot high-end restaurant and bar.

“They are certainly still part of the plan, and both of them will take place,” Robinson said. “Our focus at this moment is to get the food hall, microbrewery, and event space opened up.”

This is an early rendering of the food hall and event center.

This is an early rendering of the food hall and event center. (dap design)

Dr. Phillips engaged in dap design early in the planning process to tap the firm’s expertise in adaptive reuse for the 17,300-square-foot building. New York-based chef Akhtar Nawab and his Hospitality HQ group will operate the facility with a focus primarily on international cuisine.

Robinson said Orange County Brewers would be one of the 11 vendors in the food hall. “They’re a local company. It’ll be in the very front of the building, and it will occupy 3,000 square feet, and it’ll still embrace a lot of the original interior architecture.”

The parking garage, designed by Finfrock, will be located in the northeast corner of the property adjacent to the train tracks, where it can serve as a sound and visual buffer for the office building and future hotel.

Other elements of the 212-acre development are scheduled to open this month. Those include the public park, which will include a tennis center, a pavilion, and a trail system around a lake, along with a neighboring YMCA and Juice Stand replica. The round multi-tenant center will feature Foxtail Coffee, Kelly Ice Cream shop and Ravenous Pig Brewing Co.

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261, or tweet me at @byLauraKinsler. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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