Saturday, September 2, 2017

Ay Dios Mio! Ray's Rio Bravo Real Estate on the Market

Restaurateur Ray Schoenbaum has placed his former Ray's Rio Bravo property on the market.  The property, located on Powers Ferry Road in Sandy Springs, sits on about 3.5 acres according to the sales listing by Steve Josovitz of  The Shumacher Group.  The acreage includes a .94 acre pond.   

Schoenbaum, who opened the first Rio Bravo in Buckhead in 1984, eventually grew the chain to a regional success before selling it to Applebee's in 1995.  The restaurant was sold a second time in 1999 to Chevy's, a similar Tex-Mex restaurant, before expansion and mismanagement resulted in all locations closing by 2002.  

In late 2014, ToNeTo Atlanta revealed that Schoenbaum planned to re-launch the brand, this time as "Ray's Rio Bravo."  The restaurant, which was located not far from another Schoenbaum concept, Ray's on the River, opened in early August 2015 after a number of delays.  

With reviews of the restaurant less than stellar and with Schoenbaum apparently out of touch with today's expectations of Mexican restaurants, the restaurant abruptly closed this past February.  

For the past few months, the space functioned as "The Fiesta Spot," an event space Schoenbaum opened after he closed Rio Bravo.  

The 6,812 square foot restaurant and the land on which it sits is being offered for sale for $3.95 million, or the building alone can be leased for $25,000 per month plus property tax of $17,320.56 annually.

The property is not far from Cumberland Mall, Buckhead, Sandy Springs and the new Atlanta Braves stadium, SunTrust Park.  The restaurant space is located on a portion of Powers Ferry Road that is often busy with Braves fans on gamedays and commuters on all days.  
The restaurant features a full service bar and seating for 192 plus an outdoor deck overlooking the pond.  

The sales listing further describes the restaurant as featuring a "new buildout w/state of the art, brand new kitchen and a mezzanine ideal for private dining or a DJ or a live band."  


What would you like to see open in place of the failed Rio Bravo reboot?  If you have gone to a Braves game this season, did you eat at The Battery Atlanta at SunTrust Park, or another restaurant nearby?  What is your favorite Cumberland/Sandy Springs area restaurant?

Please share your thoughts below. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I agree the space is not far from a lot of places, I also think its not close enough to any of them to consistently draw customers. Rays on the River is a destination restaurant because of its location and higher end seafood restaurants are still pretty spread out across town. Rio Bravo is/was just another mexican restaurant and the only immediate customer base were the apartment and townhouse communities along Powers Ferry. That whole stretch of Powers Ferry is pretty cut off from Cumberland and the rest of Sandy Springs by the Perimeter and the river. That space has been 4-5 different concepts and been vacant for extended periods during the 20 years I have lived in the area. I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone bought the property and turned it into more townhouses, its not a viable location as a restaurant.

Anonymous said...

Perfect for luxury apartments with mixed retail on the first level: coffee store, mattress store, nail salon, pizza joint, fresh juice/smoothie, pet supplies.

Anonymous said...

OMG millennials are entitled panera bread hilary brats! They have no good work ethics so don't hire them. They are ALWAYS on their smartphone!

I work within walking distance from this place (17 years) and it is cursed! This place has flipped over so many times. Rio Bravo's had the best chance to succeed due to its successful past and I was happy to see it come back. So many good memories and the wait use to be hours before you could get a table. I remember they put a lot of work into the building/landscaping/parking lot. When it opened they had a huge line. Cars parking across the street. It was unreal. People like me wanted to go back to good old Rio Bravo's for great food and good times. Unfortunately it was not executed properly in the kitchen. I remember it was hot as hell in the restaurant when it opened. Service was awful and the food bad. Thin chips that when it went into the salsa it broke everytime. Bad beans. Forever bar drinks. Mexican band was so loud ...etc. I know that my coworkers told Ray what they didn't like and he just ignored them.

Oh well. Maybe my taste buds have changed. From taco bell to del taco. Or its the curse!

We all know that it has a 99% chance of becoming a bank!!! Damn!

Anonymous said...

might be a good place for a really nice Edward Jones-type tax preparation office.

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