Bits & Bites

Briarcliff Shopping Center, on Briarcliff at Clairmont Roads, is undergoing an exterior facelift.  The center, today anchored by Briarcliff Pharmacy, is decades old and is overdue for the renovation. 

Sprouts Farmers Market has set May 11th as the opening date for their new store in Duluth.  The new market will anchor Fuqua Development's Sugarloaf Marketplace at the corner of Sugarloaf Parkway and Peachtree (Industrial) Boulevard.   

COS, the new high-end offshoot of H&M, opened last week at The Shops Buckhead Atlanta.  

O4w Pizza plans to open a second location later this year in Duluth.  The new restaurant will open in place of Steverino's Pizza which was sold earlier this week.  The restaurant is located on Main Street in downtown Duluth.   The original O4W Pizza is located in the Irwin Street Market near Krog Street Market and opened in January 2015.  Owner and New Jersey-transplant Anthony Spina offers up New Jersey style pies, which feature a chewy, thin crust.   Steve Josovitz with The Shumacher Group, Inc. represented the seller in the transaction. 

Taco Bell has closed its freestanding location on Northside Parkway near West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead.  The restaurant closed over a month ago and is currently being offered for lease by Coro Realty Advisors.  Regency Centers, which owns neighboring center Paces Ferry Plaza, home to Caribou Coffee and Houston's among others, is believed to be interested in acquiring the property to include in their center. 

According to a press release last week, the Candler Building, an historic building located at 127 Peachtree Street downtown, is being converted into Candler Hotel Atlanta, a new hotel.   The new hotel will be flagged "Curio - A Collection By Hilton."  Curio hotels was launched in 2014 and are a collection of independent boutique luxury properties.   REM Associates, L.P. owns the property and signed the franchise license agreement with Hilton to operate the hotel.  The hotel will be managed by Highgate Hotels. Plans call for a full renovation of the building and for a reopening to take place in late 2017 as a 265 guestroom hotel The hotel main level will feature the building’s Georgia white marble grand staircase and original Tiffany windows, with the planned addition of a full-service restaurant and a bar. The hotel will also have meeting and event space.  Built in 1906, the Candler Building was Atlanta’s first steel skyscraper. It was developed by Coca-Cola’s Asa Candler and at 17 stories tall, was one of the tallest buildings in the city. The Partridge Inn in Augusta is the chain's only current Georgia property.  The Candler Hotel joins the Courtyard Atlanta Downtown (Carnegie Building), Home2Suites (Walton Building), and the Residence Inn Atlanta Downtown (Rhodes-Haverty Building) among others occupying converted historic buildings.  

The Gap store at Lenox Square will soon begin a $600K renovation of its existing approximately 11,000 square foot space.  The store, seen by company executives as the flagship in the market, has been renovated a number of times over the years.  This renovation is expected to take about two months during which, as with its sibling retailer Banana Republic this past fall, the store will remain open during the work.  

Establishment, a popular bar previously located in Buckhead, will reopen at its new midtown home in Colony Square this weekend.  Owner Brandon Lewis joked that his bar has now replaced two failed sports bar concepts, Loco's in Buckhead and now JR Crickets in midtown.  The new Establishment is far larger than the Buckhead location and will offer a wider variety of food, with plans to offer both lunch and dinner.  The restaurant itself is done and ready to open.  I attended a private pre-opening event at Establishment this past weekend and after utilizing the valet near the former Shout, found it difficult, as many others did, to find Establishment.  Whereas J.R. Cricket's was accessible from within Colony Square, Establishment's primary entrance is on the outside of the building.  With this in mind, Lewis has decided to delay the opening until a nearby grand staircase, at the intersection of Juniper and 14th Streets, is completed.  Colony Square reportedly intends to have the steel and concrete staircase completed within two weeks. When completed, the staircase will provide pedestrian access directly to Establishment with plans to offer valet service at street level in addition to the stairs.

The inside of the new Establishment 

Culver's has set March 28th as the planned opening day for its first Georgia location in Dawsonville near the North Georgia Premium Outlets.  I have confirmed that the popular eatery intends to open at least another three locations over the next few years.  

A new Popeyes is planned for 3160 Atlanta Highway in Athens. 

Lucy's Market is relocating from its current home at 102 West Paces Ferry Road to Andrews Square at 56 East Andrews Drive.  The new approximately 5,000 square foot space will occupy suite 265, which is not labeled as a current space on property owner Edens online site plan. Lucy's previously relocated from a freestanding building on Roswell Road in north Buckhead in 2011.  

Paper Mill Grill announced on its facebook page Tuesday that they were effectively closed permanently.  

Also in East Cobb, Drift Fish House from chef Doug Turbush, has officially opened in The Avenue East Cobb. 

Cook Out has opened its newest location on Hugh Howell Road in Tucker.  The new Tucker restaurant marks the North Carolina-based chain's 23rd location in Georgia.