Warehouse Gateway

Last night I heard something interesting. Someone suggested the Palace theater was the gateway to Albany’s warehouse district. Of course, this happened at the tasting preview for the Good Market, which is scheduled to open up in the warehouse district later this summer. And the event was held at the Palace.

So that makes sense.

I’ve got to clarify with Ross Goodman, the guy who is spearheading this project, how the name of his venture should be written. Because I’ve seen it spelled out fully and separated in plain English. But it is also sometimes written as goodMRKT, especially in design treatments.

The website is goodmrkt518.com
The twitter is @GoodMarket518
The facebook is @goodmarket518
The logo is all lowercase with good and mrkt stacked on top of eachother
The masthead on the website has GoodMRKT all as one word

But I did learn some new things about the project that are more important. One thing that hasn’t been made entirely clear, is that phase one includes plenty of parking. In fact, the rendering of the parking lot was gorgeous, and really should be on the website. Otherwise, I was too busy eating treats from several local businesses that are interested in expanding into Albany’s increasingly popular warehouse district.

Although I did have some time last night to offer a few thoughts of my own. Here’s a clip.

If you don’t want to watch the whole thing, here’s what I said. “It’s really wonderful to see the warehouse district growing and blossoming, and I’m cautiously optimistic that this will be a big hit.”

There will be more time to talk about the vendors and some of the things I tasted down the road. But this seems like the right time to tip my hat to those people and businesses that have made the warehouse district a destination.

I remember when Matt Baumgartners was opening Wolff’s Biergarten and people thought he was crazy. But that was an important step locally, not just in bringing interest and people to the warehouse district, but also in demonstrating the power and thirst of our local beer culture.

In some towns it’s the artists that come first and pave the way for other businesses. In Albany, it would seem that the bars lead the charge. And I think that’s totally fine. Because soon after Wolff’s there was The Barrel and Graney’s Stout. There are things that I love about both of these places.

The Miss Albany Diner is enjoying her new life as a ramen shop. Nine Pin Cider has been constantly expanding their production in the warehouse district, and the cidery is putting Albany on the map thanks to their beloved locally produced adult beverages. Realizing the potential, Druthers opened up a branch of its restaurant and brewery in the neighborhood.

Following suit, the Albany Distilling Company will be opening up a tasting room. And just last night, I heard another brewery is in the works.

Good stuff is happening. A market and a food pavilion would be a great addition to an ascending part of town. And who knows, it could even be the thing that starts turning the area from a district to a neighborhood.