Just days after we reported the closure of Francesca's at Emory Point, local restaurant Marlow's Tavern has closed its location in the troubled mixed-use development. The 2,995 square foot restaurant closed as of March 29. A message posted to the restaurant's front door reads in part that the closure was to "focus on our future growth."
Marlow's Tavern, part of Atlanta-based Sterling Hospitality, opened at the mixed-use project in January 2013. The casual American eatery operates sixteen other locations in Georgia and its closure is likely related more to the overall difficulties of the center in drawing consistent traffic rather than the restaurant itself. The Emory Point location is the first that the chain, which started in Alpharetta in 2004, has ever closed.
John C. Metz, Executive Chef/CEO/Co-Founder of Marlow's Tavern, supplied ToNeTo Atlanta the following statement regarding the closure:
"We have decided to close our Emory Point location in order to focus on our future growth. All of our dedicated and valued employees will have the opportunity to work at another Marlow’s Tavern. Our people and teams are our top priority. We appreciated serving and are thankful for the support of the nearby businesses, local community and neighbors and hope they will visit one of our other locations soon."
A new Marlow's Tavern is slated to open Tuesday, April 16 at the new CMX CinéBistro-anchored Peachtree Corners Town Center development along Peachtree Parkway in Peachtree Corners.
In total, following the Marlow's closure, Emory Point will have fourteen vacant spaces totaling approximately 60,000 square feet. The two phases of Emory Point have about 125,000 square feet of retail space between them. Marlow's marks the eighth eatery to have closed in the development, the tenth, if you include gourmet olive oil and vinegar boutique Stippaggio and natural foods grocer Earth Fare.
There have been a handful of openings and replacement tenants at the project. Papi's, a local Caribbean eatery, opened in early 2017 in the former Bonefish, while Boba Theory, a local bubble tea and coffee shop, recently opened in the former Paradise Biryani Pointe. Popular Ethiopian eatery Desta opened its second location in the former BurgerFi this past December.
The shopping center is advertising "pop-up," short-term leasing opportunities in an effort to fill vacant space.
Are you surprised that Marlow's Tavern at Emory Point closed? Why do you think so many tenants have struggled at Emory Point? What would you like to see open in place of Marlow's Tavern at Emory Point?
Please share your thoughts below.
20 comments:
it looks like the only one that can make a go of it here is Todd Ginsburg. Someone should consider working with him on a second restaurant here, maybe a smaller place (fewer tables, doing mostly take-out), a true Kosher restaurant.
It's so confusing to me how this development hasn't been a wild success. On paper, it has all of the ingredients for a successful development - three large employers next to/down from/across from with a large % of earners with good disposable incomes. A wealthy university with large enough undergraduate and graduate populations. A wealthy surrounding neighborhood. Sufficient parking.
I wonder if the problem is that the development itself is very insular and inward facing. There is ZERO interaction with the sidewalks. And given the surrounding demographics, maybe they want better / higher quality restaurants. The restaurant spaces themselves are also very large.
Town Brookhaven is a disaster for obvious reasons but Emory Point is the biggest headscratcher to me.
One thing that puzzles me. Why does this center charge for parking?? I think it is ridiculous that the have parking meters and charge for the garage without a retail validation. Eliminate paid parking and just maybe you might get a few more customers. You are not located in the city!!
Nobody wants to go to these car-centric, closed off, faux urbanism developments any more. Sure, this should have a lot of foot traffic from CDC, and nearby apartments, but the whole place is about as inviting as a funeral home.
There is literally nothing about this place that is appealing to a college aged student. That vibe is found on N Decatur.
Parking, who wants to pay? No adervertising , nothing exciting, what does the property managers do to help the tenants make it an exciting area? Why should I go there vs some other outdoor shopping area?
This absolutely is in the city. Anything ITP is in the city. It's just a poorly designed center. Should at least have an hour of free parking.
Who developed this eye sore? Was it that fu@@ing fuqua? They are the king of no imagination ...
Inward facing developments mess with my mind. I shop at the Brookhaven Costco and the architecture of that large inward facing development repels me from dining and/or drinking there.
Absolutely sure our resident demographic expert is going to chime in about how "Da Teens" and "diversity" is to blame for the vacant space at Emory Print. Any minute now.../s
Agreed. It's a tough place to walk to from anywhere else. Even though it is walkable internally, getting to Emory Point from Emory or even the CDC requires a long walk and crossing busy high speed intersections. The development has an urban scale but it's located in an area of otherwise suburban density that just does not have much foot traffic.
PARKING PERIOD. VERY GREEDY TO CHARGE FOR PARKING WHEN MORE THAN HALF THE RETAIL SPACES ARE VACANT. BEWARE. PARKING TICKET EXCEEDS $25. GENERAL MUIR IS ONLY GOOD THING UP THERE IF THE CURRENT ISSUES CONTINUE, HE MAY LEAVE.
Parking used to be free over there for up to 2 hours in the covered lot, no? Have things changed recently?
I agree. There should be acres of free, unlimited parking 24/7 like at the nearby Target, Kroger, Publix, etc.
The surrounding residential areas have a suburban-type layout, and residents have grown accustomed to, and demand, free parking. This is not midtown Manhattan!
The only reason we don’t go to general Muir more often is that parking is a pain! With the fee without the fee it’s terrible. Ginsberg would do great in “the new “Chamblee area Or Brookhaven or what is now known as ChamHaven
This closing is the next-to-last nail in the coffin, I'm afraid. I was disappointed when Bonefish closed, figured it was the perfect match for the visiting crowd at Emory, either in the Convention Center hotel or Hospital, but apparently not. Then the hits just kept on coming.
If Ginsberg bails...
I think the unfortunate demise of this project has been when it was built...this kind of development would flourish with the proposed light rail stop on Clifton Road.
I also wouldn't consider this THAT much of an in-ward focusing development considering there are plenty of stores/shops from the first phase that front Clifton Road as well. The (former) grocery tenant was the unfortunate reason why the 2nd phase doesn't appear to face Clifton as well.
I'm so disappointed that Marlow's has closed. Their menu was wonderful and they had something for everyone! We, at Emory don't have that many choices. Wondering if the rent is way too high - that's the only thing that most of us think it could be.
I have heard that rent is outrageous there and the tenants aren't getting enough income to sustain expenses. A shame and becoming a complete eye sore. They really need to get it together over there.
I will say I personally am shocked. I work across the street and have always found Marlow's to be very busy, at least at lunch. But then I felt the same regarding Burger Fi. I definitely would have thought the college kids would spend more time at Emory Pointe than they apparently do. Too bad.
Paying for parking is a big problem. Poor service at some of the restaurants was another problem for me.
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