A sneak peek at DECO, the forthcoming DuPont Building food hall

After months of speculation, Buccini Pollin and Baltimore-based Seawall announced last month that DECO, the new food hall to be located inside the DuPont Building in downtown Wilmington, would have its grand opening on April 18 and 19 — a two-day extravaganza complete with live entertainment and giveaways.

The space will include eight eateries featuring local and regional chefs, including a “pop up” space designed to lower the barrier for entry for emerging chefs by giving them an opportunity to take over a DECO kitchen for anywhere from one week to a couple of months.

“It’s good for experimenting with ideas, and giving chefs who might lack opportunities a chance,” said Peter DiPrinzio, cofounder of Seawall’s successful R. House food hall in Baltimore, which is located in a former automotive showroom.

Chefs and caterers interested in doing a popup should contact hello@decowilmington.com for more information. The chefs haven’t been announced yet, but those with contracts have been working with builders to fully customize their spaces to their specific needs.

In addition, local artists are invited to apply to create murals within several of DECO’s restroom stalls, a concept that started R. House.

“We have all of this blank space in the stalls and wanted to do something creative with them that would turn them into a feature,” said DiPrinzio — think immersive, four-sided murals. Five artists will be commissioned at $750 each. Interested artists should send credentials and ideas to hello@decowilmington.com by Friday, March 22.

Up to now, we’ve seen the artist renderings of how DECO is expected to look — a design that hasn’t changed much since the project began over a year ago — as well as the bright purple and red signage on the DuPont Building facing 10th and Orange streets.

We got a chance to peek in on the space during construction — here’s some of what we saw:

The future pop-up chef space. (Photo by Holly Quinn)

A lounge area. (Photo by Holly Quinn)

Art deco style tiles for the lounge. (Photo by Holly Quinn)

Once it’s open, DECO, which will be managed by Constitution Yards Beer Garden operators Imian Partners, will be open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.