French 'Food Destination' Le District Slated to Open March 28 in Battery Park

From an early walk-through, it looks like construction at Le District, the massive French food complex coming to Brookfield Place, is just about finished. Tribeca Citizen gets a tour of the space, which looks like a fancy mall food court — with different counters for coffee, baked goods, flowers, prepared goods, and produce — but owner and king of the downtown restaurant scene Peter Poulakakos says not to call it that. "Hudson Eats is a food court. We're a food destination — very different from a food court...It's quite different," he told the Commercial Observer recently. As Tribeca Citizen reports, Le District has signed on a local florist (Flowers by Yasmine) to run the flower counter there, so it seems possible other local businesses could be involved. The complex also has a hard opening date now: the cafe is slated to open March 25 and rest of the space, including the restaurant district, Beaubourg, should open the following weekend (March 28-29).