Monday, July 30, 2012

Hudson Grille Putting on its GAME Face for Downtown Opening

Atlanta-based Metrotainment Cafes is planning to open a new Hudson Grille restaurant later this year adjacent to CNN Center and Philips Arena.  The new restaurant will open in the botton of the Centennial Parking Deck at 120 Marietta Street.  The restaurant space was home to a Golden Buddha Chinese eatery for many years but has been abandoned for some time.  

Hudson Grille, a sports bar type concept with plenty of tvs for sports viewing, joins a crowded market downtown which is already home to a number of similar concepts.  Atlanta-based Taco Mac operates a location attached to Philips Arena, while next door to it, Dantanna's opened  their second location in a former Jocks & Jills.   STATS, another sports bar concept, is located at 300 Marietta Street within the Luckie Marietta District, just north of the planned Hudson Grille.  STATS was developed and originally operated by Bob Amick of Concentrics Hospitality, although it is currently operated by property owner David Marvin.  

The ironic thing about Hudson Grille opening so close to STATS, is that Metrotainment filed a lawsuit against Legacy Property Group, David Marvin's development company.  Filed in 2009, the suit alleged that Metrotainment had developed, designed and secured building permits for a 21,000 s/f space that they were to lease from Legacy to open GAME! Downtown Sports Bar & Grill.  Metrotainment alleged the space was not delivered on time or as ordered, and that Legacy enlisted the help of Concentrics to open STATS, a concept strikingly similar to their planned GAME!.     

The case had been tied up in the court system for years but was heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit this past December.  In May, Judges Barkett, Pryor and Cox granted Legacy's motion for summary judgment on its counterclaim against Downtown Sports Inc, Jeffrey Landau and Amy Landau ( "Counterclaim Defendants") and owners of Metrotainment Cafes.  It's unclear to me what exactly happened during the multi-year legal battle but this is the last information I could find related to the case.  

Currently there are four Hudson Grille locations in Atlanta.  The restaurant has locations in Alpharetta, Brookhaven, Midtown, and their newest location on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.  Hudson Grille opened in place of another Metrotainment concept, Garrison's Broiler and Tap, at Perimeter mall,  but has since closed.

Do you think that all of these similar concepts will survive in such a small area or does someone need to be DeathWatch-ed?  Where is your favorite sports bar?  Did you patronize Golden Buddha and miss it?  

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's about time they did something with that space. It has been over two years since the tornado hit. I don't know why it takes so long to fill such a prominent location. The sports bar should do very well there. Of course they'd do better if we still had a hockey team but you can thank the City of ATL for dropping the ball on that one.

Anonymous said...

It's a very hard market in that area, but everyone complains about the horrible service at Taco Mac CNN Center, so if they provide good service and aren't stupid expensive, maybe they will do well.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget about the new-ish Park Bar right across from the new HG behind the Subway. And the poster above is correct, that Taco Mac is the worst in the family. Terrible service plus an upcharge in prices to pay for the cut Atlanta Spirit gets from them.

leedart said...

Glad to see that something is trying to open there. I hope that the parking is worked out for the spot.
I do have a bigger question/observation. The pic reminded me of what was on the screen wall above the old business. Why has it talen sooooooo long to repair the "Atlanta" wall. And while I'm on the subject why have the illuminated "Atlanta"letters on Philipps Arena not been on/ working in over three years. The Atlanta curse of build it and let it fall apart looks to be still in effect!!!

Darin said...

At first I thought this might be an over-saturation of the sports bar market in this zone because of the other spots so close by.

But as others have pointed out, the nearby Taco Mac has some problems. And Dantanas (which I like) is really going for a different, more sedate vibe than Hudson Grille.

I also really like Park Bar. It's a cute, fun place (with small but impressive beer selection). But it's small and the big game crowds need a good larger scale option.

Mostly I'm really glad to see something finally filling this empty space in a high profile spot.

Anonymous said...

Considering the labor pool that these downtown restaurants have to pull from, it's no surprise that their service is putrid.

Entitlement breeds apathy.

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