The Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation sent word earlier today that it's chosen a New York-based architectural firm -- Thomas Phifer and Partners -- to design the 6,000 square-foot restaurant and "performance pavilion" planned for the 5.2-acre, federally stimulated deck park that'll get its ground broken September 14. The firm's already got the deck park listed amongst its projects -- and its Web site is decorated with far more renderings and environmental schematics than we were sent. Nonetheless, after the jump three more views of the eat-and-be-scenery.
As for what to expect from the restaurant and pavillion, well, this is from the press release:
Plans call for a full restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating as well as a quick, casual café for people who wish to pick up a meal to enjoy in the park. The restaurant will also include space available to rent for private events.After the jump, the entirety of the media release. But, say, you did know they were gonna have a restaurant on that sucker, right?
The adjacent performance pavilion will be a central gathering space in the middle of The Park and serve as a place for free concerts and events. When not in use, the performance pavilion will have moveable tables and chairs for additional outdoor dining.
Update at 4:56 p.m.: Friend of Unfair Park Religion of Bacon makes a terrific point in the comments. But after I posted this, I wondered: Who's gonna be running that joint? Or cooking there? So, I asked Joanna Singleton. To which she responded: "We are a ways off from having a restaurant operator/chef in place. At this point, we are designing the space that will eventually be leased."