The big, beautiful food hall we've all been waiting for is coming to...Kissimmee

It'll be larger than the 22,000-square-foot Armature Works food hall in Tampa, and certainly larger than any such gastro-emporium we have in Orlando when it finally opens in 2020.

Yes, the Gourmet Market at Magic Place will be a 30,000-square-foot behemoth large enough to host 20 independently run (not chain) food and beverage concepts.

As the name suggests, the food hall will be a part of Magic Place, a stylish mixed-use condo and residential development by Italian design house Pininfarina (they've been responsible for some of the most iconic designs at Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Maserati) and Orlando-based Magic Development currently under construction on US-192 in Kissimmee.


Judging from the renderings, plenty of natural light will suffuse the enormous space bedecked in communal tables and tufted chesterfields.

Naturally, Gourmet Market will be a bit of a trek for those of us who live nowhere near Kissimmee, but fear not — the food hall proposed for Creative Village is scheduled to open around the same time ("mid-2020," developer Craig Ustler tells me), and it will be housed on the ground floor of the Parcel M Apartments at Creative Village downtown.



Says Ustler, "The space is 'food hall like' but will have a few specific functions, namely, an anchor restaurant or brewery; a full-service bar; some stalls or counters to provide other food choices; and various indoor and outdoor seating areas, including a very long patio/front porch that will face Central Park at Creative Village."

Meanwhile, Henry's Depot is poised to open later this summer in Sanford, while Boxi Park in Lake Nona will bring numerous food trucks and shops to their all-purpose gathering ground fashioned from shipping containers.

For more, visit the Magic Place by Pininfarina website (and you really should, just to check out the renderings of the high-rise residences alone).

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