WashAve Food Hall is the Newest Venue to Open in Downtown
WashAve Food Hall is now open in Downtown and is the latest space to open down there this year.
Developed by Alex Oliver, who himself is injecting new life into Washington Avenue’s loft buildings, and FIRETEN Hospitality, the space brings something that’s family-friendly to the downtown lineup. WashAve Food Hall is in a building that was previously occupied by the Reign Restaurant, which was forced to close in October 2021 after several major crimes were attributed directly to it. Further issues surrounding failure to pay rent and PPP loan fraud came to light after the business' closure.
Today, you’d never know what the property was once home to, and that’s a good thing.
As we know, Downtown’s reputation has taken a beating in recent years, and after a series of losses, the wins are beginning to stack up and contribute to a comeback. The Last Hotel recently reopened as the Hyatt Centric Downtown, the Jefferson Arms Building is finally seeing the first residents move in, Dorsa Market and Coffeestamp are two additional businesses to open on Washington Avenue, the Millennium Hotel is gone, the central Mansion House tower is undergoing extensive renovations, Laclede’s Landing has serious momentum with new regional-attraction businesses set to be announced soon, and the City is investing in pedestrian infrastructure around greater Downtown. Everything that’s been occurring in Downtown has focused on livability and amenities for residents and workers.
The WashAve Food Hall is certainly part of this.
The venue features 8 locally owned and operated businesses offering a variety of foods as well as two bars and a self-serve beer tap wall with 4Hands Brewery beer. Much like the City Foundry in Midtown, the WashAve Food Hall is designed to be a place where you meet friends and family, have a party, hang out, grab a beer before a game (or after work), socialize, while also trying some different foods. It is, by definition, a "third place".
During my visit during the soft opening phase, I tried both Maci’s BBQ and Confections, an ice cream stand owned by the team behind the Fountain on Locust. At Maci’s, I got the brisket and their mac and cheese, and the meat itself lived up to their proud claims of not needing any sauce. A sign of any good barbecue is that you don't need to douse it in sauce for it to taste good. It should be able to stand on its own and be enjoyable, which Maci’s was.The ice cream from Confections was a simple scoop of mint chocolate chip, a nice sweet treat to end my lunch visit.
Other businesses include:
Troit: Detroit style pizza and foods.
787 Subs: Puerto Rican sandwiches.
Little Bao: Asian cuisine.
Steve’s Smash: Burgers and fries. Owned by Steve Ewing of “Steve’s Hot Dogs” fame.
Arzola’s Tacos Y Mas: Mexican. Owned by the same team as Arzola’s Fajitas in Benton Park.
Pretzel Pop: Pretzel shop located in the rear of the Food Hall (not open during my visit).
Come springtime, I can see WashAve Food Hall being more established and popular throughout the day. The rear seating area, and second bar, has a retractable roof that can be opened on nice days, which will certainly be used. Convention goers will fill the venue whenever they’re in town as will attendees to events at the Dome. Downtown residents and workers will be the primary customer base.
As I mentioned earlier, Alex Oliver has been on a buying and renovation spree of buildings on Washington Avenue. Many lofts on the street have existed for, in some cases, over 25 years and are due for a refresh. Oliver’s team has invested over $150 Million into refreshing the offerings on Washington Avenue and bringing new property management into the mix, which in turn has brought some new tenants. It’s my hope he keeps up his investments and keeps moving Washington Avenue in the right direction.
In my opinion, the next piece in the puzzle for a better Washington Avenue, and better Downtown in general, is to get the Orpheum Theater on 9th Street renovated and reopened. If the venue has around 1600 seats and you can have 48 larger events per year, that's around 77,000 additional event attendees that can visit restaurants and businesses before and after shows. Of course getting the remaining vacant buildings redeveloped is very important too and their time will come.
But for now, the WashAve Food Hall brings some new life, and a neighborhood amenity, to Washington Avenue and I hope it stays successful.
WashAve Food Hall is open 11am-10pm Sunday-Thursday and 11am-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Find it at 1122 Washington Avenue, or the block just east of Tucker.
The gallery below features additional photos from my visit. Click on each to see a description.
Troit: Detroit style pizza. A seating area on the backside of the property. The bar in the main room of the food hall. The 4Hands self-serve beer wall. The game room area, which can be rented for events. The bar in the main room. Another view of the backside seating area with the second bar and Pretzel Pop stall. Backside seating area next to Pretzel Pop. Just inside of the front door of the food hall. Confections by the Fountain on Locust is located just inside the front door.
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