Updated 6/30/20: The food hall slated to open Foggy Bottom this fall is welcoming four new tenants.

The newcomers to Western Market include fried chicken spot Roaming Rooster, old-school sub shop Capo Deli, a sushi counter from Sushi Keiko in Glover Park, and a new plant-based eatery RAWish from the owners of Baltimore’s Gangster Vegan. Washingtonian was first to report the news.

The development company working with Westbrook Partners and MPR Realty on the space tells Washingtonian that safety precautions will be implemented ahead of opening, and outdoor seating areas will be expanded for socially distanced dining.

Original: Western Market, yet another D.C. food hall, is slated to open in the once-struggling interior mall in Foggy Bottom next fall, according to the market’s Facebook page. 

The 12,300-square-foot space at 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue will include 12 different eateries, as first reported by WTOP.  Last week, the market named its first three tenants: Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls, the vegan fast-casual joint Shouk, and a not-yet-named restaurant from the creators Elle DC, the all-day cafe and bar that has received plenty of accolades since its 2018 debut in Mount Pleasant.

George Washington University has owned the property since 1984, and entered into a deal with developers Westbrook Partners and MRP Realty in 2018 to redevelop the property, per The GW Hatchet. Western Market’s three new eateries join a line-up of businesses already in the building: the English-pub Duke’s Grocery, GW fan-favorite Captain Cookie & the Milkman, and Indian street-food restaurant Bindaas. The complex also houses a Chipotle and CVS.

The new food hall may mark an end to over a decades-worth of turnover in the space, a complex plagued by high rent and low foot traffic. By 2017, nine businesses had closed in the past 11 years, and four retail spaces were empty, reported The Hatchet. With Georgetown and Dupont Circle both within walking distance, the business’ target customers—GW students—opted to venture off campus.

Western Market joins a slew of other of burgeoning food halls in the District. (For the uninitiated: unlike a food court, which serves as a convenient refueling station for guests in the middle of some other activity, food halls are often solely about eating.) In September 2019, news broke that a food hall was readying to open near Eighth and K Streets NW. Two months after the International Square food court near Farragut West announced its closure last December, renovation plans showed a forthcoming food hall.

2000 Penn is named for the original Western Market, a part of a plan by Pierre L’Enfant to create three public marketplaces in the District, according to Western Market’s Facebook page. The location of the historic market, which was closed in 1961, is across the street from the food hall. Among those three marketplaces planned by L’Enfant, the only one still in existence is Eastern Market.