When a group of investors announced they’d be opening Longmont’s first food hall this year, a flood of more than 100 applications from local food vendors came rushing in.
They’ve since narrowed it down to eight food stalls at Parkway Food Hall, set to open Memorial Day weekend at 700 Ken Pratt Blvd., including Baa Hachi, a Japanese street food concept from Patrick and Lisa Balcom, owners of farm-to-table restaurant Farow in Niwot, and Pie Dog, their thin-crust Neapolitan-style pizza pop-up.
“Longmont is hungry for this,” said Patrick Garza, CEO of Dallas-based National Food Hall Solutions, which manages Parkway Food Hall.
Parkway Food Hall is taking over the former Alfalfa’s Market building in Longmont. Investment group Blackfox Parkway Associates owns the 16,000-square-foot property and brought in National Food Hall Solutions to run it. National Food Hall Solutions owns Junction Food & Drink, which opened in south Denver in 2020, and several dining concepts.
This has become a trend among local food halls with multiple food halls being sold to out-of-state operators recently, including the Source and Cherry Creek Food Hall (formerly Grange Hall).
“The proliferation of food halls in Denver and Boulder is phenomenal, but there just isn’t a variety of choices for people here in Longmont,” Garza said.
In addition to two concepts from the Balcoms, Parkway Food Hall will feature the first brick-and-mortar space from H3sh3r, a Denver-based barbecue food truck with smoked meats and sandwiches. Local favorite Chile con Quesadilla is bringing its widely acclaimed green chile, birria tacos, and brisket quesadillas. Spice Fusion, from the owners of Boulder’s Gurkhas on the Hill, is melding Thai and Indian cuisine. And National Food Hall Solutions is adding two of its own concepts– Shawarma Shack and Cleaver & Co. – both of which operate in Junction Food & Drink.
“When it came down to it, I think we have the cream of the crop with our culinary talent,” Garza said. “We’re going to bring some flavors that probably most people haven’t been exposed to.”
Parkway Food Hall is opening in a huge corner lot in Longmont’s Parkway Promenade, one of the city’s historic shopping centers. Meridian 105, the architect behind Avanti Food & Beverage and Edgewater Public Market, designed the space. The family-friendly food hall will have an arcade for kids to roam, while the parents make their way to the indoor/outdoor bar that feeds into the extensive patio.
“If you look at what’s going on in Longmont, it’s growing even more rapidly than Boulder for several reasons,” Garza said. “Boulder’s getting expensive, and people moving to where they can afford. Longmont fits that bill for a lot of folks, and while it used to be a sleepy town, it needs the options that people once looked for in Boulder.”