Bits & Bites

Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill will celebrate the opening of a new restaurant in Mall of Georgia in Buford on August 15th.  The 7,000 square foot restaurant will open in the onetime Coldwater Creek store in the mall's outdoor portion, "The Village."  (I'm impatiently waiting on something better to be done with the former Coldwater Creek outside Nordstrom at Phipps Plaza.)  Smokey Bones, developed by Darden Restaurants and later sold to Sun Capital Partners, currently operates Atlanta area restaurants in Lithonia, Peachtree City and Columbus.  

Tiff's Treats will open their newest Atlanta area location on August 27th in midtown. The new Tiff's Treats follows the earlier opening of Tiff's first Atlanta location in Alpharetta.  Tiff's Treats midtown is located on Spring Street near Georgia Tech, not far from fellow cookie purveyor Insomnia Cookies.  A third Tiff's Treats is planned for Sandy Springs in the REI-anchored center on Perimeter Center West.  This Tiff's will occupy a portion of the former Genghis Grill restaurant.   

A new freestanding Taco Mac is being planned for McDonough.  The nearly 6,600 square foot restaurant will be built on the east side of the existing RaceTrac near South Point. The surrounding area of the South Point development has seen tremendous restaurant activity over the past year or so. Pollo Tropical recently opened while a new Panda Express is under construction.  Five Guys, Pie Five Pizza, Jersey Mike’s Subs and Del Taco also opened earlier this year.   

A new Under Armour "shop-in-shop" will be opening in Dick's Sporting Goods' Buckhead location later this year.  The Baltimore-based athletic retailer has been scouting metro Atlanta for a new store and this mini store may serve as an initial test for the brand.  Real estate sources have said that the retailer is interested in Lenox Square, Perimeter Mall and The Battery Atlanta, the Fuqua-led retail portion of the new SunTrust Park Braves complex in Cobb County.  

Peachtree Crossing, the Whole Foods Market-anchored center coming to Peachtree Road near Peachtree Boulevard in Chamblee, has a new name. The project is now being marketed as Peachtree Station.  

A new Waffle House is under construction on South Cobb Drive near Windy Hill Road in Smyrna.  The freestanding restaurant is situated between an existing Wendy's and the former Champs Bar-B-Q.    A well placed source indicates the restaurant should be open by Halloween.  

A new Kroger Marketplace in Lawrenceville, thought to have been abandoned over community uproar, is in fact moving forward.   Despite planning commissioners voting against the proposal in March, county commissioners subsequently voted almost unanimously to approve the development.  Sofran Partners, the developers of the project, closed on the 35 acre parcel in mid July. The new 120,000+ square foot super grocery store and fuel center will be built near Martins Chapel Road and Sugarloaf Parkway.

Pollo Tropical is expected to open its new location on Bullsboro Drive in Newnan this Saturday, August 13th.  The Newnan opening comes on the heels of the recent Culver's opening nearby.  Another Pollo Tropical is expected to open on LaVista Road in an outparcel of an existing Target store in Tucker later this fall.  

New Cook Out locations are planned for Macon, Warner Robbins, Winder and Hinesville.  Each new restaurant will be built in place of existing buildings.  These four new Cook Out restaurants come on the heels of previously announced upcoming locations in Augusta, Marietta and Snellville. 

Burlington Coat Factory will replace Sports Authority in Marketplace at Millcreek near Mall of Georgia in Buford.  Sports Authority had itself replaced Toys "R" Us, which relocated to a new center. (Despite the unfortunate closures of bankrupt retailers Linens 'n Things and Borders Books & Music, relocation of Toys "R" Us, and closure of TGI Friday's, the center has continued to perform well.)  Sports Authority closed all their stores nationwide following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and unsuccessful reorganization attempt.  This marks the first of eleven Atlanta area Sports Authorities that I know of to be released to new tenants following the sporting goods retailer's closure.