TWIN FALLS, Idaho — The downtown construction project, 2nd South Market, will bring a brand new food hall to the Twin Falls area. It is the first Opportunity Zone project to open in the entire state of Idaho. Opportunity Zones were established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investment plans for low-income urban and rural communities.
With much anticipation surrounding the site, construction is continuing as scheduled despite the coronavirus pandemic. Since it is currently an empty building, workers have been able to social distancing and utilize other sanitation practices. This has allowed workers to continue building efficiently and get the site done as soon as possible.
The indoor dining hall is approximately 14,700 square feet and will be home to numerous tenants. The venue will host The Smokey Bone BBQ, Cloverleaf Creamery, Tacos Doña Vero, Wild Sage Baking Co., a bar built with repurposed wood from the original building, and several other vendors.
The space will also have a 13,000 square foot outdoor area with many amenities, including games such as cornhole, a stage for music events, fire pits, and outdoor seating for those who want to enjoy a bite to eat outside in fresh air.
The building is also a very historic site in downtown. Built in 1926, the site has housed plenty of occupants in its 94 years, the most recent being the Salvation Army. The developers are working on trying and preserving the rich history that comes with the area, including the old construction tools and other artifacts they've discovered during construction.
“Our full intention was to bring this old building back to life but keeping the historical architecture and really taking a lot of the things we found in here like repurposing the wood and finding some of the artifacts we found here and bringing that history back to life,” said Dave Buddecke, the project's developer.
2nd South Market is on track to open towards the late summer unless it encounters any complications with the construction. Once the site is opened, developers and tenants will have the shared responsibility to ensure fellow staff and customer safety.
“If there are guidelines we need to follow, we’ll absolutely follow them, we already know that we’ll have staff that are going to clean tables and we’re going to do whatever is necessary to make sure our vendors, their employees, and customers are safe,” said Buddecke.
