PFT Media

A new 22,400 sq ft food hall was announced for the Packing District in College Park. The hall will be housed inside the former Great Southern Box Company building on the southeast corner of Princeton Street and Orange Blossom Trail. Dating back to the 1930s, the building was originally used as an orange crate factory. The food hall, featuring an elevated outdoor plaza with shaded greenspace and additional seating for guests, is just one component of a larger plan to redevelop the 205,000 sq ft corner site. The plan includes:

And speaking of food halls… A 4,000 sq ft food hall and brewery is coming to a shopping center south of Downtown at 4761 S Orange Ave according to Acre Commercial Real Estate. The new food hall will also feature a 4,000 sq ft outdoor biergarten retrofitted from a portion of the parking lot with trees, picnic tables, and green space according to Orlando Sentinel. The restaurant lineup will include @swineandsons​, @​ thelocalbutcherwp​, @​ dakinepoke​ and an unamed pizza concept. The brewery will be called Gatlin Hall Brewing. The first 3 restaurants currently work together in a small food hall-type space in WInter Park. The new food hall will not replace the current one. The name of the shopping center in which the food hall is opening, which will also receive a major facelift, is Fort Gatlin. It’s named after a fort in Orlando near the shopping center established in 1838 during the Second Seminole War. It was named after Dr. John S. Gatlin, a U.S. Army Surgeon, who was killed in the Dade Massacre. The fort was abandoned a year after it was built. 20. If you’d like the run down of every food hall project in the works or already open, go to orlandofoodhalls.com.

There’s a new local pizza restaurant in town and it’s not from folks you’d expect to be opening a new local pizza restaurant in town. Recess Pizza has opened up inside ​@orangecountybrewers​ at 131 N. Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando. Recess Pizza is the brainchild of the team behind the successful butcher and sandwich shop Orlando Meats.

Local BBQ purveyors Carobama who were first introduced to Central Florida by way of their popular food truck, shuttered their successful counter service restaurant in the North Quarter District of downtown Orlando. They opened the restaurant in January 2018 inside the North Quarter Market on the 1st floor of NORA Apartments. They’ll be going back to being a 100% food truck based business. The final day of operation for the restaurant was May 24th. The closure was not because of poor business. Carobama’s owners stated, “Our business (at the restaurant) is thriving and continues to grow, but the demands of a restaurant have taken a toll on our family life.”

The Downtown Information Center at 201 S. Orange Ave has had a complete interior transformation and its new name, Discover Downtown, is the smallest of the changes it’s been given. A new 30ft high mural by artist Boy Kong, which took two weeks to complete, a new shop full of locally made products and gifts, and a new coloring book wall all make for a totally new experience for guests.The gift shop includes products from several local brands including R. Nichols, Swan City, and Orlando Shirts. Small stuffed swans are also for sale with proceeds going towards the caring of the actual Lake Eola swans. Like the illustration of downtown Orlando on the giant coloring wall? You can buy a take home version in the gift shop! The space will soon receive collateral racks – one for monthly local magazines and another for official City of Orlando and Downtown Development Board documents. Behind the shop is an event space and offices. The offices are occupied by Downtown Orlando Partnership and the Church Street Main Street District. Discover Downtown is currently is soft opening mode. Hours are Monday thru Friday 10am-5pm. The grand opening will take place towards the end of June.