The developers of Essex Crossing are starting to reveal some of the vendors that will be part of the Market Line, a large subterranean shopping pavilion. The facility, meant to complement the Essex Street Market, will run along Broome Street from Clinton Street to Essex Street. The first third of the Market Line is set to open this coming fall.
Buried at the bottom of Florence Fabricant’s Off the Menu column in the New York Times, you’ll find a few of the featured vendors that will apparently be officially announced later today. They include: Tortilleria Nixtamal, neighborhood favorite Veselka, Kuro-Obi (from the ramen chain Ippudo), Cafe Grumpy, Pilot Kombucha, Ends Meat (whole animal butcher) and Essex Pearl (seafood).
This past September, the developers announced the first two Market Line vendors, Chinatown classic, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, and Schaller & Weber, the Upper East Side purveyor of sausages and German-style smoked meats.
The first part of the Market Line will be located in the basement of Essex Crossing’s tower at 115 Delancey St. (Essex Street). An expanded Essex Street Market will be located on the first and second floors of that building. Last night, by the way, local residents gathered for a community visioning session to help determine the programming for a demo kitchen and public space that will be part of the new market. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Councilmember Margaret Chin were there to offer words of encouragement.
The first phase of Essex Crossing will also include hundreds of market rate and affordable apartments, a 14-screen Regal movie theater, a Trader Joe’s, a Target store and a medical center from NYU Langone.
UPDATE 3:54 p.m. There’s now a press release from the development team, and profiles of the vendors on the Market Line website.
Tom Birchard of Veselka noted that there was no such thing as the “East Village” when he first came to the Second Avenue Ukrainian restaurant in 1966. It was all the Lower East Side. “Opening a second location in the heart of the Lower East Side,” said Birchard, “is exciting for us for several reasons: We are looking forward to being in the epicenter of immigrant culture and history, a space with other long-standing New York culinary institutions and the next incarnation of the ever-changing Lower East Side culture.”
A few more details about some other merchants.
—Ends Meat, currently based in Brooklyn at Industry City, is “a whole-animal salumeria inspired by traditional Italian styles and methods.” In addition to being able to select various meats, shoppers at the Market Line will be able to purchase sandwiches.
—Essex Pearl is a new project from the owners of Aqua Best seafood market on Grand Street in Chinatown. At the Market Line, they’ll have a seafood counter and restaurant.
—Kuro-Obi is the latest outpost from Ippudo, the popular ramen restaurant chain with locations in the East Village, Soho and Midtown.
–At the Market Line, Nom Wah (Chinatown’s oldest dim sum restaurant) will offer both full menu counter service and take-out.
—Pilot Kombucha will be opening its first brick-and-mortar location at the Market Line, “brewing seasonal flavors of kombucha on-site daily.”
—Tortilleria Nixtamal will be opening up its first Manhattan location, after starting out in Corona, Queens 15 years ago. The authentic tortillería makes fresh tortillas that contain real corn.
Here are a couple of new renderings of the Market Line:
