The new Grand Central-style marketplace that’s taking shape on Pine Street is on track to open some time before May 1, its owner said.
Pine Street Concessions is being built at 75 Main St. Due to open in about two months, here it is on March 2, 2016. Credit: Michael Dinan
The roof of the 1.5-story ‘Pine Street Concessions’ is nearly finished, and passersby soon will see windows installed, leaving only sheet rock, electrical, plumbing and heating work to do over the next six weeks, according to Peter Lane of NCLC. The site work—all new sidewalks, trees, paving and granite curbing—will take place simultaneously, said Lane, who also owns Halo Studios.
“I’m excited to deliver a marketplace with these four vendors,” Lane said. “Just like with Halo, it’s about finding great vendors, so that’s our objective now as we bring this to completion.”
The artisanal marketplace at 75 Pine St. is slated to open in May.
“It should be a great opportunity for the right vendors to get into what I would call almost a food truck-type environment, where the cost going in is not a lot—the building is done, bathrooms are done, heating and cooling. It should be a very accessible place for a business, and it will be great to find local people to drop in.”
The widely anticipated marketplace is seen as the latest phase of a “Pine Street renaissance” that’s anchored at one end by Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee and Oxygen Fitness at the other.
Pine Street Concessions is a Grand Central-style marketplace that will serve four vendors. Credit: Michael Dinan
Its four vendors at 75 Pine St. will include a butcher/small market, chef-driven gourmet food entity, dessert (ice cream and baked goods) provider and wine bar/craft beer vendor, Lane said. The beverages provider would be expected to obtain a liquor permit in order to serve the drinks, he said.
Conversations already are underway with chefs and beverage providers (and anyone interested should phone NCLC at 203-966-2601), he said.
The 3,000-square-foot metal, framed open structure resembles an old railroad building, and its vendors will be able to tailor counter space inside to suit their customers.
A centerpiece of the Pine Street Concessions site plan approved last April by the Planning & Zoning Commission is its plaza out front, made possible in part by a plan to carve out a large parking area to the east of the marketplace (the area formerly occupied by New Canaan Cleaners, now on East Maple Street).
Announced one year ago with a physical rendering that followed, Pine Street Concessions will feature brick paving throughout the plaza, and original plans called for an existing curb cut for cars beside Tony’s Deli next door.
The start date for construction of Pine Street Concessions, originally pegged for an early-2016 launch, had been delayed by an environmental cleanup that was more involved than initially thought.