Scoop: New food hall coming to West Tremont area in South End

What to expect: The 8,500-square-foot corrugated metal warehouse on the corner of Rampart and South Tryon will become the first food hall of its kind in South End. The owners are still working on the tenant mix — and the name — but they want to make sure they fill the seven food stalls with concepts that’ll fit into the neighborhood’s food scene and draw in neighbors.

• Along with the food hall, there will be an indoor-outdoor tap house.
• The outdoor space, just through the glass garage doors, will be a standout part of the new development. Nearly 80% of the acre-plus lot is dedicated to creating one of South End’s largest outdoor spaces with picnic tables, fire pits and a stage for live music.

What they’re saying: Melissa McDonald and Lauren Faulkenberry of The Providence Group will be leasing the food stalls and are beginning conversations with local and regional restaurant partners.  “We are looking forward to creating your favorite destination in the neighborhood,” McDonald tells me, “which will be as comfortable as being at home surrounded by friends sharing artisanal cuisine.”

I’m sure you’re asking: What makes this different from Optimist Hall?

For one it’ll be much more compact. Optimist Hall sprawls nearly the entire footprint of a former textile mill. This food hall is smaller and more intimate. And unlike Optimist Hall, there isn’t a big parking lot, so it’ll be geared toward feeding people who arrive on foot, by scooter, train, bus or a ride-share service.

Plus, the demand’s there for more food halls. You can go to Optimist Hall seven days a week and find a full parking lot, lines at stalls and tables full of diners. Destinations like this bring more attainable options for food and beverage concepts that couldn’t otherwise afford to build out a full-sized brick-and-mortar location.

My thought bubble: As a teenager growing up in Charlotte, you could find me near the corner of West Tremont and South Tryon nearly every Friday. During the day, the area was not known for much; it was a menagerie of one-story brick boxes, broken sidewalks, loading docks and barbed wire. Uptown’s hustle and bustle had not yet spread down Tryon, but every week I would pull up to Tremont Music Hall to familiar faces, and the area became the center of my world.

The sounds of song, laughter and clinking glasses might have faded off into the past, but Providence Group Capital looks to recapture some of those experiences and create a new hub for activity in a quickly growing neighborhood.

The big picture: The West Tremont corridor has begun to look more like a thriving city than an industrial district. Some of those one-story brick boxes still exist, but many of them have been replaced by townhouses, apartment buildings and offices. Fast forward a few years and the immediate area will have seen its population spike as thousands of residents and workers settle in.

Clayton Sealey owns CLT Development, a media company that covers and fosters discussion about construction, transit, commercial real estate and city planning in Charlotte. By day, he’s a marketing professional at SouthWood Corp.