Liberty Public Market, the creation of a 22,000-square-foot artisan mecca in Liberty Station, revealed a few of its market artisans on Thursday, July 23.
Blue Bridge Hospitality, Liberty Public Market’s operating group, in partnership with Liberty Station developer The McMillin Cos., presented 10 of the public market’s vendors:
-Venissimo Cheese, which has four other locations, will have a collection of artisan cheeses and gourmet food items;
-The WestBean Coffee Roasters, a specialty coffee roaster that also has a location downtown;
-Fully Loaded Juice sources produce from local farms for its 100 percent raw, organic, cold-pressed juice;
-MooTime Creamery, a ’50s-inspired ice cream parlor;
-Liberty Meat Shop, San Diego native Tommy Battaglia will run this butcher shop;
-Mastiff Sausage Company is a popular local food truck and this location is its first permanent spot; -Pho Realz serves a Southeast Asian street food menu;
-Wicked Maine Lobster will offer lobster rolls, New England clam chowder, crabmeat rolls and lobster tails;
-Cane Patch Pies cooks homemade sweet potato-based treats, from cinnamon rolls to biscuits and muffins;
-Cecilia’s Taqueria is a new business founded by home cook Cecilia Cortazar Peterson and Alec House of Point Loma’s Supannee’s House of Thai.
There are 10 vendors pending and the public market will also include wine, beer, and cocktail tasting bars, along with an expansive outdoor patio. The new market’s grand opening is anticipated in late October.
One of San Diego’s most ambitious hospitality projects of 2015, the $3 million undertaking will transform a historic 1920s-era warehouse-style building into an indoor-outdoor marketplace housing 30-plus specialty purveyors.
What was originally designated for a project called The Shops in the 22,000-square-foot wing of Liberty Station’s Building 1 will now become the site of Liberty Public Market. It will be a culinary bazaar spearheaded by Coronado restaurateur David Spatafore of Blue Bridge Hospitality.
The venture was inspired by Spatafore’s visits to Redding Terminal Market in Philadelphia and Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver, Canada.
Building 1 at 2816 Historic Decatur Road was originally built as the Naval Training Center’s commissary in 1921. Spatafore’s vision for turning the vacant space into a public co-op of artisan food vendors won approval from the property’s management firm, Corky McMillin Cos.
Spatafore said Liberty Public Market will deliver something much different than a shopping mall. His partnership with McMillin will bring about $3 million worth of infrastructure revisions to the space, as well as an outdoor patio area, though implemented without using modern design elements that would alter the historic integrity of the structure.
The goal of the new marketplace, announced 10 months ago, is to open with 34 vendors of local origins to include a butcher, fish monger, baker, cheese specialist, juicer, tortilla maker and more. Two separate areas have also been reserved for wine and beer merchants.
Previously, Spatafore divulged that the market’s merchant mix was to include Moo Time Creamery, an ice cream and frozen yogurt parlor that is part of Blue Bridge Hospitality’s portfolio.
The market lineup might also fold in a couple of food-related merchandisers selling cookbooks and kitchen supplies.
Spatafore previously said he hoped to build a test kitchen within the market that would provide additional cooking space for vendors and serve as a demo platform for local farmers. He also foresees it as a rentable option for chefs who want to conduct pop-up dinners and other culinary events.