Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Watershed Restaurant Lands at The Brookwood in SoBu

Joe Truex and Co. have signed a lease for a new home for Watershed Restaurant which closed last week after more than a decade in Decatur. Owned by Emily Sailers, one half of the Atlanta-based Indigo Girls music group, the restaurant serves variations of traditional Southern favorites. Oddly, after serving the Decatur community for so long, Watershed's new location will be far from Decatur, in south Buckhead (SoBu). Intended to be the signature restaurant of the Brookwood on Peachtree, Watershed plans to reopen in their new digs by year end. Interestingly the Brookwood, a condo building, was recently purchased and units are again being sold after the building sat abandoned and vacant for over a year.

ST Residential, a firm that has basically made its name in buying and resurrecting foreclosed or otherwise distressed properties nationwide, is the buildings new owner and has the funding and resources to make their properties very attractive. I say that but amongst their other local holdings is The Atlantic at Atlantic Station which they'd need to pay me to even look at.

Buckhead is far more dense with more options for dining and difficult traffic. Presumably parking will be located in the deck below the condos and will be an improvement over the minimal parking Watershed had in Decatur as it shared with both the adjacent dry cleaners as well as Farm Burger. It's too early to tell how well this new Watershed will do but it will surely be missed by many in Decatur like my friends Catherine & Lauren aka The The Asian Cajuns.

Trivia Tidbit : The Brookwood is built on land that previously housed Wendy's( It was torn down and rebuilt across the street.)

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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, didn't see this coming. I work near here and that building has been barren residentially for years. In fact only 10 months ago did they sell their first unit. http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2010/09/27/story2.html

Anonymous said...

I don't think that moving to the Brookwood was such a smart move. I would have expected for them to stay in Decatur. Only time will tell.

Anonymous said...

It just seems wrong for them to move from Decatur to Buckhead. I just can't seem them fitting in there.

Also, can we PLEASE knock it off with names like SoNo and SoBu? No one here in town ever uses these terms.

Anonymous said...

We need those names to differentiate neighborhoods until they can come up with their own identity. As Atlantans, everything from the airport to Doraville is considered "Atlanta", as is everything from Brookwood Place to Brookehaven is considered "Buckhead". Confusing for new residents and travellers, and even locals get confused which "Moe's on Peachtree" to meet at.

Anonymous said...

"Also, can we PLEASE knock it off with names like SoNo and SoBu? No one here in town ever uses these terms."

Seriously, I don't get this. Is this like a NY thing or something? I would laugh at anyone who would actually say SoBU.

Anonymous said...

Brookwood is a completely good name for this part of South Buckhead... and it doesnt sound contrived!

Anonymous said...

Yes, imagine that, the names that they've had for 100 years sound better than some PR vomit.

Anonymous said...

Yep, Atlanta neighborhoods already have names and they don't need new ones. So yeah, SoBu is not a place despite the efforts of some to make it one.

Anonymous said...

Staying in Decatur was not really an option because they were not making enough money to stay there. However, they have a great reputation and the food is solid so why not relocate to another area of Atlanta?

If they do indeed move to The Brookwood then I feel that it will fill a void in this little pocket of Atlanta that has lots of people (with good incomes)and limited restaurant choices unless you drive further North to Buckhead or South to Midtown.

I know I only made it to Watershed twice in 20 years because it was all the way in Decatur (although I love Decatur). I think more people in Midtown, Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and some of the burbs in North Atlanta will be willing to make this drive.

Anonymous said...

Watershed will not make it in Brookwood. There are already numerous established restaurants within a stone's throw that have loyal followings, such as Ted's, El Azteca, Mellow Mushroom, R. Thomas, Sufi's, and Fresh2u. New places in that area similar to Watershed have bombed, such as Wolfgang Puck, Huey's, and Taurus. Such a mistake to go there. Shame on them.

Anonymous said...

Previous commenter...you're really comparing Watershed to Huey's, Taurus, and Wolfgang Puck??

Food Lover Malik said...

The best move would be keep continuing in Decatur and open 2nd location in buckhead and then Perimeter and Then Buford etc and etc.

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