Downtown Ambler has dozens of bars and restaurants, an old-time movie theater, a professional theater company, salons, and boutiques. Having lived there for more than a decade, developer Dan DeCastro said the one thing it really needed was a piazza.
“You know from your history lessons it’s the way Europe was built,” he said. “Community, government, religion — they congregated in a piazza, and that’s how it brought the whole town together.”
Three years of planning and about $4.5 million later, DeCastro, 39, has converted a 150-year-old building just off of Butler Avenue into what he envisions as a piazza for Ambler. And when he’s gone, he said, the borough police department will get the deed to the 14,000-square-foot building, a former factory that most recently housed PMC Mechanical, an engineering firm.
Ridge Hall, now soft-open, encompasses a food hall on the first floor with 10 vendors. It is anchored by the second location of Manayunk’s Twisted Gingers Brewing Co., set behind roll-up doors that face South Ridge Avenue.
On the second floor, which has a yoga studio and a roof deck as part of its 5,500 square feet, DeCastro is programming events such as sports-watch parties and live music. This winter, he said, it will become the new home of the Ambler Farmer’s Market. The space also can be booked for private events, such as weddings, parties, and corporate meetings — all using the food vendors from downstairs.
Besides serving locals, DeCastro hopes Ridge Hall’s activities will help Ambler attract more visitors year-round. Although the borough closes Butler Avenue for numerous warm-weather weekend events — such as this weekend’s Oktoberfest — “there is a huge lull [in foot traffic] in the dead of winter,” he said. “We’re going to pull people in, and then I want to see them leave those doors and explore our town.”
Ambler Mayor Jeanne Sorg said Ridge Hall gives families “another option when they’re looking for something quick and easy, or for date night, when they go to one of the theaters. They’ll be like, ‘Oh, hey. Why don’t we just step in there?’”
For the setup, DeCastro brought in Russell Mahoney, an architectural designer who designed and built 10 stalls at Reading Terminal Market. Mahoney is also part of the hall’s management.
Inside Twisted Gingers’ industrial-looking lounge, guests can sit among the tanks and view the food hall through a window. Mark Mayer, who founded Twisted Gingers in 2019, serves not only beer, but also hard seltzers, wines, and cocktails.
The market itself, built out of reclaimed wood and steel from the building, resembles a mini-Reading Terminal Market. One Ridge Hall vendor, Pennsylvania General Store, will be familiar to Terminal-goers; it sells Pennsylvania-themed foods and gifts at its locations in Elkins Park and downtown.
Many of Ridge Hall’s food tenants may also ring a bell. The roster includes offshoots of area restaurants Lucky’s Roadside Stand (Chris Barnes), Pho Mi Please (Stephen Yau), and Mary’s Chicken Strip Club (Chad Rosenthal), plus 2Street Sammies from mobile caterer Nate Baynes and a new concept, Wanna Spoon? ice cream and baked goods, from Amy Ludwig. Marie Thorpe’s Pierogie Kitchen relocated from its original location in Roxborough. Herman’s Coffee from Pennsport and Char, A Lobster Roll Experience (not affiliated with the pizzeria of the same name) will open in mid- to late-October. Top Dog Cocktails, a local ready-to-drink cocktail company, will occupy a stall on a temporary basis.
There is mostly no cross-pollination of menu items. The sole collaboration so far: Cookies from Pennsylvania General Store are used in Wanna Spoon?’s ice cream sandwiches.
Among Lucky’s burgers and hot dogs is the PB & Bacon burger, topped with creamy peanut butter, American cheese, and bacon and served with housemade jelly; it won the old Burger Brawl contests for several years. The menu at 2Street includes brisket and jerk chicken cheesesteaks, an Italian hoagie, and a fire-roasted pepper and fresh mozzarella sandwich. Char’s products include char-grilled oysters, lobster rolls, and seafood soups. Mary’s, which launched as a speakeasy-style “food club” at Rosenthal’s nearby restaurant, Mary, sells spicy and regular fried chicken as strips and sandwiches. Pho Mi Please, a branch of Yau’s Rittenhouse shop, makes pho, banh mi, rice bowls, and vermicelli noodle bowls.
Once all vendors are live, all point-of-sales systems throughout the food hall will be linked. “You’ll be able to sit down at Twisted Gingers with six people, order from six vendors on one check, and swipe your card once,” DeCastro said.
Plans also include kiosks at either end of the market, where multi-vendor orders can be placed at once. Runners will deliver food on busier nights.
When not used for events, the upstairs space would serve as an extension of the food hall. One night, DeCastro said, it might provide overflow seating. On another, it could host a fixed-price dinner.
DeCastro, who several years ago developed the nearby Ambler Annex to house artisans as well as Forest & Main Brewing Co., said preserving the building’s character was essential. Between 1870 and the late 1980s, it housed a horse-and-buggy shop, a milk-truck repair shop, a dairy, and a candy factory. DeCastro and Mahoney retained the original exterior walls and had a steel frame “sleeved” inside to stabilize it. All told, he acknowledged, it would have been cheaper to have demolished the building.
Ridge Hall is more than a business venture. DeCastro, who owns it with his life partner, Michelle Marx, said he has arranged for Ambler’s police department to acquire a 49% stake in the building when he dies. Upon Marx’s death, the police department will own it all, he said.
The decision, he said, stems from his love of dogs. “They had a K-9 unit here, but lost the budget,” he said. “I want to help bring it back.”