From food hall to ghost kitchen: Miami’s train station will offer new ways to dine
.jpg "New food options will be available at the downtown train station when Brightline high-speed rail service reopens in November.")
Miami’s downtown train station is getting all new food options.
The ghost kitchen company C3, founded by Miami developer Sam Nazarian, has taken over the massive food hall inside the hub that links together Miami’s high speed and light rail. The food hall will reopen in November with up to 16 restaurants when the high-speed Brightline train also resumes service between Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Among the new spots at the Citizens MiamiCentral food hall will be Cindy Lou’s Cookies, which recently signed a deal to lend her recipes to Nazarian’s national network of C3 ghost kitchens across the country. That means the cookies she developed at Little River cookie shop will soon be available in more of Miami, including through C3’s proprietary Go by Citizens app.
Downtown dwellers and rail commuters will have C3’s in-house ghost kitchen brands to choose from at the food stalls, including Umami Burger, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, Krispy Rice and Cicci di Carne. They join previous tenants at the food hall, such as CAO bakery, Patagonia Argentine restaurant, Art de Vivre, La Estacion, Rosetta Bakery, and, soon, another Udonis Haslem-Dwyane Wade franchise of 800 degrees Woodfired Kitchen.
Nazarian, whose SBE hospitality group founded SLS Hotels and Residences, bases his C3 ghost kitchens out of shared spaces, including a kitchen in CocoWalk. He said the company plans to hire more than 1,000 employees in Miami alone. Taking over the downtown train station food hall — with its 26,000 square feet — will allow for yet another central kitchen to prepare food for delivery. The Go by Citizens app will allow a user to order from more than one vendor and either have it delivered by one driver or pick up in a location like the food hall.
The massive, six-block-long development is the flagship station for the high-speed Brightline train, as well as a stop for the Metrorail, Metromover and a future stop for Tri-Rail. It’s also home to 816 luxury rentals as well as shopping and retail among its 130,000 square feet of space.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
