Market Line, the latest food hall on the Lower East Side, to open Friday

Market Line, the food hall and gallery in the Lower East Side’s Essex Crossing development, will open Friday, and just two vendor spaces remain to be filled, according to Rohan Mehra, co-founder and principal of the Prusik Group. Visitors to the new venue will have their choice of some 30 food and drink vendors, including restaurants.

“We have signed deals or are in negotiations on all but two spaces,” Mehra said over e-mail. The Prusik Group is handling commercial leasing for the $1.9 billion development. “We will be announcing new vendors soon that complement the current lineups at the Essex Market and the Market Line.”

The first phase of the Market Line already includes a 200-seat beer garden called Grand Delancey; Nom Wah, a dim sum restaurant; Peoples Wine Shop and Bar; and the meat-focused grocer Schaller & Weber. Also, the food hall/gallery should not be confused with Essex Market, a vendor hall above it.

Market Line is opening in two phases and is expected to comprise 150,000 square feet. The complex will stretch under three new buildings: the residential 125 Delancey St. and 202 Broome St., and the mixed-use 180 Broome. It’s anticipated to be the largest such marketplace citywide, according to Essex Crossing’s development team, which includes Prusik, BFC Partners, L+M Development Partners and Taconic Investment Partners.

As for the remaining spaces in phase one, Mehra did not name tenants likely to fill those last two spots. “We receive inquiries every day but are very specifically curating the market to match the diversity of the neighborhood.”

Prusik will start leasing efforts in December and January for the second phase, Mehra said. Half of those spaces are for prepared-food uses and the other half will be for art, fashion and music. That phase is scheduled to open in 2021.