Friday, March 1, 2013

Dante's Plans To Go Down The Hatch...Soon

Dante's Down The Hatch will close in the coming months.  

The Peachtree Road jazz and fondue restaurant has been at the same Peachtree Road address since 1981, long before the neighboring Mandarin Oriental and even before the nearby Ritz-Carlton, which opened in 1983.  Dante's owner Dante Stephenson tells me his restaurant will close no later than July 31st.  The closure date may be as soon as March 31st.

Stephenson had previously said that Atlantic Realty Partners, a group who currently rent from him the building in front of Dante's, would purchase the restaurant for a planned multi-story redevelopment.   This deal was to have closed in mid January, but never did.  Apparently the coverage the deal received in the media brought other interested parties to the table and forced Atlantic Realty Partners to enhance their offer.  Stephenson did not tell me what that new sweeter offer was, but he did say that they prevailed in landing the property.

The July closing would give Stepenson time to auction off the knick knacks and memorabilia from the over four decade old restaurant. (Dante's original location was in the original Underground Atlanta, but after two attempts, it closed in 1999.)  Earlier reports indicated that his Fulton county tax bill on the restaurant was in the neighborhood of $90K though he told me it was closer to $112K, according to him, the second highest in the county.

It's likely that Atlantic Realty Partners will stick to their original plans and build apartments but does Buckhead really need more apartments?  Will you miss Dante's or was it past its prime?  Will you try to make it in one last time before it closes?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe Atlantic Station will give him some free space...old Geisha House location would be perfect.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they can move back to their old Underground spot! I hear it's still there untouched.

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