[ALERT] Local Restaurant Group to Open First Buckhead Restaurant Since 2009

A vacant Buckhead building could soon house one of the first new Buckhead Life Restaurant Group (BLRG) concepts in metro Atlanta in nearly two decades.  111 West Paces Ferry Road, located at the northeast corner of West Paces Ferry Road and East Andrews Drive, is where Buckhead Life is looking to open "Panos' Restaurant," according to plans filed with Buckhead’s SPI‑9 Development Review Committee (DRC).

The building, once home to the highly regarded Seeger's, has in more recent years played host to Coast from the ill-fated Here to Serve Restaurants, was the second home of Yebo (before they moved to Andrews Square), and most recently, the short-lived Dorian Gray, which closed in May 2023 after just five months in business.  

Urbanize was the first to report (behind a paywall) on the planned restaurant, but their report lacked several facts and details which led us to feel the need to file our own report.  

The proposal is now on the agenda for Buckhead’s SPI‑9 Development Review Committee, kicking off the formal review process.   The Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry, which previously designed Seeger's as well as Buckhead Life concepts Bluepointe, Nava and Bistro Niko, is listed as the design team tasked with conceptualizing the new restaurant.   

Planning materials filed by Buckhead Life show façade work and an addition intended to update the look of the property while maintaining the existing two‑story height.  Fulton County property records indicate the building was constructed in 1967 while a listing on LoopNet suggests the property actually dates from 1921.    

Current plans call for a 2,722‑square‑foot addition to the existing two‑story structure that measures 5,650 square feet today. 

I. Pano Karatassos, along with business partner and fellow chef Paul Albrecht, opened Pano's & Paul's at nearby West Paces Ferry shopping center in 1979, launching what would become the multi-concept and highly regarded Buckhead Life Restaurant Group.  Albrecht left Atlanta and the group in 1998 but returned to the city years later and opened Paul's Restaurant in Peachtree Hills which he operated for ten years before "retiring" in 2015.  

Pano's & Paul's closed in June 2009 with news then that it would reopen - simply as Pano's - within what was then the new St. Regis Atlanta at 88 West Paces Ferry Road.  Pano's was delayed and later pushed indefinitely, before news in 2011 that the group instead planned to open Pano's in place of 103 West, its events venue, in 2012.  That plan never came to fruition.  

In August 2019, a redevelopment of 103, 107, and 111 West Paces Ferry - a 3.57 acre tract - was announced and was to include two new buildings including 54 condominium units, a 81,070 square foot private membership and social club, a 130 key luxury hotel, 8,400 square feet of eating and drinking establishments and 1,300 of commercial/retail/service use with 405 parking spaces.  That plan, headlined by "Residence Social Club" never got off the ground.  

Following the closure of Pano's & Paul's (June 2009), the group would go on to shutter Bluepointe (Nov. 2011), Nava (Aug. 2012), Veni Vidi Vici (May 2015) and perhaps most disappointing to some, the Buckhead Diner (Aug. 2021).  

The group's current Atlanta restaurants include Chops Lobster Bar, Atlanta Fish Market, Pricci, Kyma, Corner Cafe, and Bistro Niko.  (The company also operates City Fish Market, Chops Lobster Bar, and Lobster Bar Sea Grille in South Florida.)  

Pano Sr., who will turn 90 this year, is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the restaurants, with his sons Pano Jr. and Niko now leading the group.

The new Panos', and a downtown location of Chops Lobster Bar announced in February to be opening at Centennial Yards, would mark the first Buckhead Life concepts to open in Atlanta since the November 2009 debut of Bistro Niko.  

The exact cuisine for the revamped Panos' has not yet been shared, but it, along with the potential timeline, should come into focus as the plans make their way through the DRC.  

Are you excited for the potential return of Panos' to Buckhead?  What is your favorite Buckhead Life Restaurant Group concept?  What other bygone Buckhead restaurant would you like to see make a comeback?  

Please share your thoughts below.