New food hall Anaheim Packing House celebrates grand opening on Saturday

The Anaheim Packing House, a new marketplace and food hall, is set to celebrate its grand opening on Saturday. It’s located in the 100-year-old, 42,000-square-foot former Sunkist packing plant, a historic Spanish revival building owned by the city of Anaheim.

After several years and several million dollars in renovations, the dining hall now houses restaurants and shops including a bakery, fresh vegetable stand, juicery, chocolatier, sandwich maker, pizzeria, fish market and more.

“It was like heart surgery,” said operator-developer Shaheen Sadeghi, owner of LAB Holding (the company behind the Lab and the Camp in Costa Mesa), in an earlier L.A. Times article.

The two-story warehouse of a space was rehabilitated by Thirtieth Street Architects and features a saw-toothed roof lined with hundreds of clerestory windows, whitewashed beams, maple floors, barn-style sliding doors, a redwood deck with Chinese elms and a carbon steel fireplace designed by landscape architect Ken Smith. Two circa-1940 railroad flatcars from an Anaheim scrap yard serve as a patio.

Among the new vendors is Wheat & Sons, a butcher with a chef’s counter; Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream; and Los Angeles-based coffee roaster Cafecito Organico. Design firm Built transformed part of the building into the newest location for Cafecito Organico, using repurposed lumber to build walls and creating a billboard referencing the 1920s with the Cafecito Organico logo. Communal seating is available throught the Packing House.

The grand opening festival, free and open to the public, will feature food, live music, dancing lessons, activities for children and giveaways, from noon to 10 p.m. It takes place at the Anaheim Packing House and the adjacent Farmers Park and restored Packard dealership. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. on the front steps with Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait. Tours of the landmark building also will be available.

440 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, www.packingdistrict.com.