Henry's has moved to the Sistrunk Marketplace in downtown Fort Lauderdale, photographed on Tuesday, September 27, 2022. Sistrunk Marketplace has been expanded to double its original size, with 20,000 square feet of unused storage space renovated to allow for expansion of Shady Distillery, the addition of a new co-working area, a gym and more. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

More than two years after the pandemic-delayed opening of Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery in downtown Fort Lauderdale, owner Steven D’Apuzzo is doubling down on his bet on the historic Sistrunk neighborhood. Literally.

D’Apuzzo’s new project, scheduled to begin welcoming tenants this week, is called Sistrunk Station, housed within a massive multiuse warehouse behind the original food hall, located at 115 NW Sixth St., on the west side of the Brightline tracks at the gateway between Sistrunk and FAT Village.

At more than 20,000 square feet, the newly renovated warehouse virtually doubles the space in the now 42,000-square-foot Sistrunk complex.

Sistrunk Station will be home to a diverse lineup of tenants: the South Florida hub of financial technology firm Qolo; boutique event-production company A2 Events; New River Communications, a marketing company catering to nonprofit organizations; and the new location of Flagler Village CrossFit.

The space also will include a new tasting room for Shady Distillery, the small-batch producer of rum and vodka, as well as a soon-to-be-released bourbon, made at Sistrunk Marketplace. The tasting room will debut with the launch of a new series of distillery dinners on Oct. 12.

The owner of Society 8 Hospitality Group — which also operates Park & Ocean, Wild Thyme Oceanside Eatery and, soon, The House on the River in downtown Fort Lauderdale — D’Apuzzo is bullish on the Sistrunk community.

“Sistrunk is going to be revived. Remember, Sistrunk was a major retail street. It was hustling and bustling for many, many years. Then it went by the wayside, but I see it coming back,” says D’Apuzzo, a Brooklyn native and 30-year resident of South Florida.

Just over the fence, on the north side of Sistrunk Station, is a new set of townhomes. A block west, the millennial-minded SIX13 apartment complex is flourishing.

“It’s full. Residents come here all the time. We’re their neighborhood place,” D’Apuzzo says.

Steven D'Apuzzo in the new Shady Distillery tasting room at Sistrunk Station in downtown Fort Lauderdale. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

With the opening of Sistrunk Station and the Shady Distillery tasting room, D’Apuzzo also has added five different dining destinations at Sistrunk Marketplace and expanded the number of vendors by two.

Among the new eateries at Sistrunk Marketplace are Crunly Churros & Ice Cream, from the West Palm Beach food truck of the same name, and Wynwood pizza staple Made in Italy. Available any day now will be the Bahamian cuisine of Island Made, which won the space in the food hall’s inaugural Fired Up Food Concept Competition during the spring.

Also new is an intimate four-table dining room dedicated to Mari’s Kitchen, a popular feature at Hollywood’s Yellow Green Farmers Market.

Nearby, a former storage area has been turned into a surprisingly effective, subway-tiled re-creation of local favorite Henry’s Sandwich Station. Henry’s longtime home in FAT Village across the street is about to be demolished to make way for a large residential-retail development.

A re-creation of Henry's Sandwich Station is part of the expanded dining options at Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery in Fort Lauderdale. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Now a bright and airy space, with offices sectioned off by glass walls under a beautifully restored arch of wooden beams high overhead, the 60-year-old warehouse sat mostly unused for several years.

But Sistrunk Station was always part of D’Apuzzo’s plan to bring a work-play environment to the eastern edge of Sistrunk.

“It has a different vibe. I’d rather have an office here than in some building with an elevator, marble floors. That’s for an attorney. Here it’s a creative space, a lifestyle,” D’Apuzzo says.

“It’s part of the evolution of this city, and wanting an experience that’s more of what I’m used to. Growing up in New York, in Brooklyn, it’s warehouses,” he adds. “You go out to the suburbs there’s no charm. When you get to areas like this, I like that there’s an old building and a warehouse and then a brand-new building. I think Sistrunk’s charm is going to come back. It’s just going to take few more years.”

Office space nearing completion at Sistrunk Station inside a 20,000-square-foot warehouse behind Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery in downtown Fort Lauderdale. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

The main thoroughfare for business and culture in Fort Lauderdale’s Black community, Sistrunk Boulevard runs from Andrews Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue west of Interstate 95, named for Dr. James Sistrunk, who in 1938 founded Broward County’s first Black hospital.

Less than a decade ago, an attempt to extend the Sistrunk Boulevard name on street signs farther east on Northwest Sixth Street to Federal Highway fell to resistance from Flagler Village residents. They complained of “bad connotations” associated with the historic street name.

D’Apuzzo believes that attitude has faded away. He never considered naming the food hall or the warehouse project after nearby FAT Village or Flagler Village on the other side of the tracks.

“No, it had to take on the life of the neighborhood. I think that’s what’s really important about it,” he says. “Sistrunk has a history with Dr. Sistrunk. Why would you want to lose that history?”

The new Shady Distillery tasting room at Sistrunk Station, a 20,000-square-foot warehouse space behind Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery in downtown Fort Lauderdale. A new series of pairing dinners are scheduled to begin in the tasting room on Oct. 12. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Since opening in 2020, Sistrunk Marketplace has been a great place for flip-flopped locals and their dogs and kids to kick back on the broad patio in front, but Shady Distillery’s new tasting room will raise the sophistication level with its pairing dinners.

Shady Distillery — which also opened in 2020, with help from nationally recognized master distiller Jonny VerPlanck (now in a consulting role) — produces the seven-times distilled Shady Vodka; 12 Mile White Rum, made with Florida molasses; and a cinnamon rum called Sinner.

“It’s not what you think,” says Oakland Park resident Ricky Plano of his glass of Sinner and lemon over ice. Seated at the main bar inside Sistrunk Marketplace, Plano says, “This is not Fireball. It’s cleaner, smoother.”

Nick Barreiro prepares a Cinnamon Pineapple Rum Sour in the new Shady Distillery tasting room at Sistrunk Station. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

The distillery pairing dinners are a showcase for cocktails using its housemade vodka and rum, as well as chief mixologist Nick Barreiro’s inventiveness. The new tasting room comes with an adjacent space, which Barreiro calls “the lab,” where he experiments with cocktail recipes and his own mixers.

Using Sinner rum, Barreiro’s Cinnamon Pineapple Rum Sour — with pineapple juice, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, egg white and Angostura bitters — is frothy, refreshing and an elegant balance of sweet and tart.

His classic espresso martini is elevated with a cinnamon espresso syrup he creates using coffee beans imported from Portugal and Brazil by Múcaro Coffees in Miami Lakes.

“It has the nutty, chocolaty notes in the coffee beans, which is one of the flavors I wanted to bring to the syrup,” he says. “The espresso martini is one of the most popular drinks right now. Ladies love it, and it’s really great for our Shady Vodka. It’s a really cool way to introduce them to it.”

Shady Distillery four-course pairing dinners will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday beginning on Oct. 12. Cost: $68+.<<< RSVP at ShadyDistillery.com.

Sistrunk Marketplace & Brewery is at 115 NW Sixth St. Visit SistrunkMarketplace.com.

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.