Cigar Factory to Host a Foodie Paradise
By now us locals know that two businesses have officially announced they will set up shop in the Cigar Factory – once slated to be condos, now to become a commercial venture with retail and office space occupying this historic building. Garden & Gun Magazine will be taking down a mammoth 20,000 square feet (of 244,000), and a local restaurant group, Indigo Road, has announced they’ll be bringing in a Foodie Paradise. Think Dean & Deluca, Star Provisions, or Mario Batali’s Eataly, only Southern Style.
According to Steve Palmer, Indigo Road’s managing partner, the Foodie Paradise (my moniker since there is no official name yet) will be intimate and playful in nature, seeking to showcase Southern products, while being a gathering place for the Cigar Factory’s employees and gourmands for miles around. So what will we find there?? Thus far the list includes:
- Coffee Shop
- Bar
- Culinary Mercantile
- Cheese Counter
- Charcuterie Production
- Pastry Production
- Lunch Counter
- An indoor Boules Court (nope, that’s not a food, that’s a game! 🙂 )
I can’t wait!! Personally, I think it’s a superb idea to create a destination there, one that will keep the Cigar Factory lively after work hours, and will entice people to come on down.
So recently, I had the opportunity to attend a ‘launch’ of sorts, and was able to tour the building (which frankly hasn’t changed much since I last explored it years ago prior to the condo launch.) But as a fan of late 19th/early 20th century industrial architecture, you can bet your sweet you-know-what that I took a few photos. This being Charleston, you know that most of the historic detail will be preserved…
Apparently they are set to open up in just a few short months, so we’ll see new life at the long dormant Cigar Factory in October 2014! Joining Garden & Gun and Indigo Road will be a full-service gym, a barber shop, technology companies and more.
If you want to read more about the history of it, hop on over to the blog belonging to my colleague Bryan McElveen. In his words “It seems appropriate that this iconic landmark serves once again as a revitalizing anchor in Charleston’s Upper Peninsula.”
I’m enjoying reading through your real estate blog. My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Charleston six and one half years ago (I cannot believe it has been so long!) during the Spoleto festival. We fell in love with the city and have been longing to return. Hopefully we’ll be back for a vacation soon.