Shipping Containers for Cass Corridor Food Hall Start Stacking Up

Cass Corridor’s hotly anticipated shipping container food hall and events space Detroit Shipping Company is beginning to take shape on Peterboro Street. Partners and vendors slated to occupy the venue gathered at the site on Saturday to watch as construction crews used trucks, cranes, and other heavy equipment to begin stacking the steel containers.

The container assembly marked a major step in the timeline of the business, which was originally announced in 2015 by founders Jonathan Hartzell, James Therkalsen, and architect Dominic Walbridge. When it’s completed, Detroit Shipping Company will be comprised of 21 repurposed containers spanning roughly 12,000-square-feet. Before being stacked and assembled, each metal box was partially built out offsite and assigned to a particular vendor.

The food hall will feature a total of six food vendors including Brujo Tacos & Tapas, Coop, Bangkok 96, and a coffee and nitrogen ice cream company Minus 320. An additional vendor — a Windsor-based burger restaurant — is currently in the process of being finalized. Detroit Shipping Company is also seeking an additional restaurant to fill out the building. The food hall will also house two bars.

After so many set backs in the timeline, Detroit Shipping Company’s team was hesitant to provide a strict opening date but estimated the project could debut by late winter or early spring.

Courtesy of Detroit Shipping Co.

Shipping container architecture has grown in popularity in Detroit over the past several years. Campus Martius now features a seasonal restaurant housed in a shipping container called The Fountain Detroit and a pop-up vendor space is headed to the Dequindre Cut in 2018. Likewise, a forthcoming edible cookie dough shop is expected to open in NW Goldberg inside a building made from six containers.

Correction: A previous version of the article misstated that Detroit Dog Co. and Monty’s Beef had secured space inside Detroit Shipping Company.

• Detroit’s Shipping Container Food Hall Might Actually Break Ground This Week [ED]
• Trendy Shipping Container Food Hall Headed for Midtown [ED]
• All Detroit Shipping Company Coverage [ED]