Selden Standard Owners Scrap New Center Mediterranean Restaurant Plan #DetroitFood

Selden Standard’s partners have listed a restaurant building in New Center for sale due to ballooning construction costs. | Gerard + Belevender

The building is now listed for sale at $675,000

Plans for a highly anticipated second restaurant from the partners behind Selden Standard have been scrapped, according to the Detroit Free Press. Operators Evan Hansen and chef Andy Hollyday confirm that the unnamed Mediterranean restaurant first teased in 2017 is no longer moving forward due to the high costs of construction at a space along Woodward Avenue in New Center.

Hollyday and Hansen had initially hoped to open the restaurant in a former Norwood Theater in 2019, but overtime the costs of opening the restaurant doubled. The owners listed the property for sale in May after consulting a realtor in the weeks before the pandemic hit Michigan. The building is currently listed at $675,000 through O’Connor Real Estate.

The restaurant was part of what seemed at the time to be the development of a budding new restaurant district in the New Center area. However, challenges with construction, the overall nature of foot office-driven traffic in the area, as well as the current health and economic pressures of the pandemic have made that outlook more complicated. An outpost of Woodpile BBQ Shack never came to fruition and a plans for a food hall in the nearby Chroma Building in Milwaukee Junction were recently axed.

Still, there are many bright spots. Yum Village and the Kitchen, by Cooking With Que have each found a niche in the neighborhood and with a little luck, African restaurant Baobab Fare will be joining them soon. Jamaican Pot also recently debuted in the New Center One building. The owner behind Supino Pizzeria is also slated to open an Italian restaurant along Woodward Avenue.

• Selden Standard Team Cancels Plans for New Detroit Restaurant [Freep]
• 6531 Woodward Avenue [O’Connor]
• Selden Standard Team Plots High-End Mediterranean Restaurant in New Center [ED]
• New Center’s Dining Scene Is About to Have Its Moment [ED]

from Eater Detroit - All