Construction of the Salt City Market, an indoor food hall at the corner of South Salina Street and Onondaga Street, will begin in the next two weeks.

The five-story building will sit a few blocks from the Centro bus hub and across the street from the Marriott Syracuse Downtown. The first floor, a 24,000 square-foot space, will include a grocery store, a café and brewery, a child’s play space and ten food stalls.

The food hall is projected to open in November 2020. Maarten Jacobs serves as director of community prosperity at the Allyn Family Foundation, which owns the land and the building.  He said the food hall will be unique to the city.

“There’s no other place where you’ll have ten restaurants like that all in one spot that are all locally run,” said Adam Sudmann, who will manage the Salt City Market.

Sudmann called the chosen site a “crossroads” for the South and Westside neighborhoods — “two significant, powerful communities that have not been celebrated enough and have a lot of talent,” he said.

Sudmann was the founder of My Lucky Tummy, a series of pop-up, home-cooked food events that featured cuisine from all over the world. He said he moved to Syracuse about seven years ago after finding an incredible amount of culinary talent that he didn’t see in other cities.

He has been working with design and outreach for the project, which has included recruiting possible vendors. An event will take place on Oct. 19 to try out vendors.

Hein San, a graduate of Syracuse University, was born in Yangon, Myanmar. He is the co-founder of Big in Burma, one of the prospective vendors for the upcoming Salt City Market.

San and his family moved to Idaho when he was nine. He has lived in Syracuse for seven years. Big in Burma is San and his family’s first business venture. They are excited to work and learn alongside other chefs, he said.

“Burmese food is unheard of in today’s culture,” San said. “We want to share this wonderful food we have grown to love.”

Dreamer Glen, owner of Miss Prissy’s, was born and raised in Syracuse. She said she plans to serve southern food with a northern flair.

“In my family, food is a way of expression. With food we celebrate, we grieve, we mourn, we meet, we love, and most importantly, we get through,” Glen said. “By bringing these dishes to the market I will be able to do my part by spreading love through food to my community.”

Shakela Freeman is a Syracuse local whose business, Blend Theory, is a plant-based smoothie and juice cafe. Her business means a lot to her, as the community needs more healthy options for food and drink, she said.

The food hall project has been in the works for about two and a half years, said Margaret “Meg” O’Connell, executive director of the Allyn Family Foundation. The idea originated about five years ago, when community members and leaders realized that Syracuse has talent, but not a venue they can be a part of, she said.

The building will also include office space and two floors of mixed-income apartments, O’Connell said. The vision for the project is economic development and opportunity for new vendors. Rent and leases will be low because the project aims to make living in the building affordable, she said.

Jacobs said the Syracuse Urban Partnership is both overseeing construction and working with entrepreneurs to help them succeed. Most developers lease out properties without working directly with the entrepreneurs occupying the spaces.

“We want to showcase the amazing diversity present in Syracuse,” Jacobs said. “What better way to do that than through food?”

Published on September 15, 2019 at 9:02 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan