Waterfront Food Pavilion to Shut Down Thursday

Tenants at the Torpedo Factory Food Pavilion in Old Town have until Thursday to pack their bags.

Food Pavilion management is forcing the remaining tenants of the facility to leave while the building’s lessee and city officials ponder what to do with the property. Francisco Rodriguez, owner of the Torpedo Grill, one of the two remaining restaurants, said he was told the building would be renovated or rebuilt.

Rodriguez said his landlord informed him of the news about 20 days ago. But he said he is hopeful about the future of his restaurant.

“Maybe I can find another place,” he said. “Maybe we can continue the business.”

The Food Pavilion is located by the Old Town Alexandria waterfront just east of the Chart House Restaurant. At the beginning of this week, only two restaurants remained open in the building, which is designed for about half a dozen businesses. At noontime Monday, only a handful of people were eating inside the pavilion.

The property’s lessee, Gary Baker with RealCo Group, said the current lease on the property is for 60 years. He said he could not say what the future might hold for the Food Pavilion site.

“We’re discussing that with the city right now,” he said.

Decisions over the future of the property are part of a collaborative effort with city officials, Baker said. “Basically everything needs city approval,” he said.

Barbara Ross, deputy director of the city’s Department of Planning and Zoning, said the location represents a “huge opportunity” for new development.

“We don’t know what’s coming,” she said. “We have great hopes. We will sit down and meet with anyone, and we will encourage anyone interested in an opportunity for a restaurant on the waterfront to sit down and meet with us.”

However, she noted, Baker has submitted multiple ideas for the site.

“Baker has had different plans for site over the years,” Ross said. “He keeps teasing us with them, because the city’s in a position where it would love to see something more active, more vibrant, more suitable take place in terms of new use for the building.”

The city’s Draft Small Area Waterfront Plan calls for new restaurants along the waterfront, increased meal taxes from these restaurants and specifically “improving the dining experience” at the Torpedo Plaza and City Marina. The July 2011 waterfront plan summary suggested major changes for the Food Pavilion.

“In recent years, the Food Court has not been able to draw sufficient customers to be successful,” the document states. “Residents and other participants in the planning process have expressed a strong desire for a more successful use (or set of uses) at the Food Court site and have expressed a willingness to support major changes to the building and adjacent public spaces.”

Recommendations included working with Baker to “attract more successful uses that better meet resident and visitor needs, including options such as a market hall, cultural venue, restaurants or shops featuring locally-made goods.” The waterfront plan also supports both interior and exterior changes to the building, including replacement.

Additional plan drafts noted that Baker has “expressed interest in redeveloping the Food Court into two restaurants and is actively pursuing the restaurant option.”

According to city property records, the Food Pavilion and the neighboring Chart House Restaurant are valued together at $5.5 million.