Fresh and Local Variety to be Found in New Penn Food Hall
Best-in-class Philadelphia eateries to populate renovated Food Hall at 3401 Walnut
Media Relations Contact:
Jennifer Rizzi, Communications Director
Penn Facilities & Real Estate Services
215.573.6107, rizzi@upenn.edu
A premier line up of food and beverage offerings is planned for a new food hall at 34th and Walnut Streets on the main campus of the University of Pennsylvania, announced Penn’s Division of Facilities & Real Estate Services (FRES). Penn has assembled a line-up of critically acclaimed chefs and local best-in-class operators featuring a diverse menu of food options that will satisfy meat eaters and vegans, organic juice lovers and ice-cream fans alike.
In June 2017, Penn announced that the former Moravian Food Court at 3401 Walnut Street would close to make way for a modern food hall – an upgraded replacement dining option populated by high-quality, small-format food and beverage operators. This effort follows a national trend of renovations of dated food courts in favor of dynamic and upgraded food hall experiences.
“Penn is repositioning this space as a food hall in alignment with our overall Retail Master Plan, a project that seeks to bring to the Penn community a vibrant mix of local entrepreneur retailers at a variety of affordable price points,” explained Ed Datz, the university’s executive director of real estate.
Datz described the mix of seven incoming food stalls as quality purveyors that can meet trending food desires: organic smoothies, artisan baked goods, wood-fired pizza, and top-tier soup and sandwich selections -- most from fresh and local sources.
The Penn Food Hall, a 10,000 square foot space with planned capacity for 174 indoor seats in a communal dining atmosphere, is scheduled to open in early 2018. It will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days per week, featuring these Philly foodie faves ready to serve:
Goldie
Part of the successful CookNSolo restaurant group, a vegan falafel shop featuring falafel, french fries and tehina shakes – currently open at 1526 Sansom Street
Pitruco Pizza
A stationary location for the otherwise popular mobile wood-fired pizza food truck
Kensington Quarters
Known for its butcher at its Fishtown restaurant location, this scaled-down food stall version will offer creative selections sourced from the region’s most dedicated farmers and producers
Little Baby’s Ice Cream
Philly-famous hand-made, small-batch, super-premium ice creams and non-dairy frozen desserts
The Juice Merchant Juicery and Café
Serving 100% organic, vegan, fresh-pressed juices, smoothies, and whips
The new food hall, which will accompany several other new restaurants on Penn’s campus opening this winter, is designed to represent the University’s overall strategy and vision for retail, explains Datz. “We would like for shopping and dining at Penn to be a destination experience,” he said. “We are continually enhancing our mix of eating, shopping and service retailers to provide variety and quality to our community and neighbors who are here every day, but also to be attractive to those who want to visit for that celebration meal or weekend outing.” This unique mix of hip local eateries under one roof in the heart of Penn’s campus is sure to deliver a quality feast that has something for everyone who comes to the table for a taste.
Jacob Cooper and Matt Stein of MSC Retail represented the University of Pennsylvania in the transaction.
About Penn Retail
Penn’s retail district offers an inspired, contemporary shopping and dining experience, open to all. Spanning ten city blocks from 30th to 40th Streets and across Spruce, Walnut, and Chestnut Streets, the district features more than 75 curated shopping and dining outlets immersed in the region’s most beautiful and historic university campus. The diverse collection of retail offerings—including national brands and independent shops—provides the highest quality options at every price point for the Penn community, surrounding neighborhoods, and beyond. Visit Penn Shopping and Dining website for a full listing of retailers.