Italian market coming to Broadway and Canal…finally?

The National City Bank building on the southwest corner of Canal and Broadway (aka 415 Broadway aka 296 Canal) is slated to become — at long last — the Mercato Fabbrica, a “culinary destination inspired by the great markets, department stores and social clubs around the world.” It’s set to open in late 2020. Rumblings about the idea started in summer 2018, but it looks like things are definitely in motion now. (That’s the developer’s rendering of the exterior above.)

The gym Shock Therapy is just a pop-up in the space for now and is not connected to the market.

 

The building has 33,000 square feet on multiple floors and will eventually contain a marketplace for artisanal groceries; an expansive general goods boutique; a nanobrewery and wellness café; a multi-level culinary social club with a restaurant, bar and collaborative coworking lounge; and a private roof terrace with an outdoor cinema. It’s the brainchild of Michael A. Spalding, who was a manager at Miss Lily’s and Hecho & Dumbo in the East Village. Here’s the floor-by-floor rundown:

  • Drogheria (ground-level) : marketplace for artisanal groceries
  • Dipartimento (floor 2) : European-inspired general goods boutique
  • Mezzanino (floor 2) : tea parlor, nanobrewery and wellness café
  • Pax Romana (floor 3) : culinary social club with coworking lounge, bar (Medicina) , cookbook and vinyl libraries, podcast broadcasting and listening suites
  • Basement : Pax Romana members-only restaurant
  • Sub Basement : open kitchen with bakery prep, meat locker and controlled environmental agriculture
    including vertical farming and hydroponics systems
  • Roof : Pax Romana terrace, plant-based café, bar, outdoor cinema and garden
 

22 Comments

  1. Nothing has been filed with the DOB for any work in the past 2+ years nor have I seen any signs of work being done.

  2. If you going to walk over to B’way & Canal walk the extra couple of blocks to DiPalo’s on Mulberry at Mott. DiPalo’s is the real deal.

    • It’s like that Chinese restaurant “66”-located just a couple of blocks from Chinatown–that Vongerichten opened and closed years ago.

  3. Was this conceived by The Pretentious Trendy Generator app? My god–what even does half of this mean in real life?

  4. “Pretentious Trendy Generator app” That’s perfect! God save us!

  5. Bold and ambitious…Sounds intriguing. Can it succeed at this troubled corner? I wish them well and would certainly be happy to have more grocery options…By “general goods” does that mean some kind of department store?

  6. Very exciting!! So much has changed over the past 2 years on Canal, between the art pop ups, fashion shows and the Guild.. Canal has been looking better and better… This corner is the anchor of Canal and if they pull off this project then Canal will turn the corner! (But im skeptical given how long weve been hearing about this market).. who knows!

  7. I am so hopeful that this happens. This area is a blight on NYC. Everyday, I am accosted by dozens of counterfeit goods sellers on either side of Broadway, as well as drug dealers. It’s a beautiful building and I’d love to see it occupied to its full potential.

  8. All of you haters and naysayers say what you want. Anything that preserves that beautiful building, hopefully reduces the throngs of illegal sellers of counterfeit goods out front, and upgrades the retail in our area which has been dominated by “Jean’s unlimited” and their brethren is ok by me. You can call it bourgeois, gentrification etc. How many of you shop at those discount stores along Broadway that have going out of business sales every other month. C’mon. It might struggle to survive but I am rooting for them.

    • With you in spirit, but this specific set of goals sounds like nothing more than the musings of an influencer/marketer with ADHD, limned with velvet ropiness. We can do better.

  9. I’d certainly travel up there from South Tribeca…with the population growth in the nabe, Whole Foods is inundated all the time, and Eataly mobbed by tourists…it would be nice to have another option!

  10. I really hope that this project comes to fruition. Having said that, the following tidbit from 2015 isn’t very encouraging:

    October 22, 2015

    Michael Spalding is planning Mercato Fabrica (meaning, “a market where things are made”) at the Charles St. spot. He was able to wrangle a two-year lease for it, while the property owner originally wanted to limit it to only one year and possibly put a vendors’ cart depot there, Bliss said. Ultimately, the 5,000-square-foot site is reportedly earmarked for development. Spalding, who Bliss said, “knows everybody in the food business,” is planning to create an artisanal Italian-inspired food market, and also plans to grow food on the place’s roof. It sounds a bit like a mini-Eataly. In addition, a small area will be set aside for Bliss to sell his upright-style bikes. Mercato Fabrica won’t be opening till the spring since the space is still be being built out. “He’s got five months of work at least,” Bliss said.

    https://www.thevillager.com/2015/10/scoopys-week-of-oct-21-2015/

    • I believe the landlord decided to sell that property, so they went looking for another location. Hopefully this will actually come to fruition, the neighborhood could certainly use it!

  11. okay, but whenever I hear the word artisanal think it is arti$anal

    • Agreed about the word “arti$anal”….that scares me a bit also. I am hoping there will be at some affordable options in this new venture, and it won’t all be priced at the $$$$ mark. Then again, the rent for that building is probably quite substantial.

  12. More updates on the food market here:
    https://www.ebroadsheet.com/the-broadsheetdaily-news-of-lower-manhattan-2-5-20/

    This Broadsheet article has a rather pessimistic view, speculating that the interest in such food markets is in decline. Then again, Canal Street Market certainly seems busy every time I am there, at least around lunch time. The article mentions Market Lane in the Oculus failing; but Eataly always seems crowded….too crowded for me, usually!

    They may have to experiment and keep adjusting the balance of businesses in there to see what works, but I would think there is a place and potential demand for a food hall and more restaurants. Anyway fingers crossed that turns out well for the neighborhood.

  13. The space seems to be back on the market, so I assume this won’t be happening?

    https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/415-417-Broadway-New-York-NY/19055319/

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