Two years to the day since its closure at Toco Hills shopping center, Bagel Palace is finally making progress towards its long awaited comeback. The popular bagel restaurant closed its longstanding outpost May 20, 2018, and could reopen just a few miles away. The prospective new location could be in the Publix-anchored Shamrock Plaza shopping center at the corner of Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills Roads near Decatur. Bagel Palace 2.0 - 3934 North Druid Hills Road - would be about two and half miles from its original home.
ToNeTo Atlanta has heard for well over a year that the owners of Bagel Palace had their eye on space in Shamrock Plaza. We discovered this past February that the owners of the shopping center filed permits with DeKalb County to alter the existing space from retail to restaurant use. The project listed on the permit was "Shamrock Plaza Bagel Palace."
Delighted at the prospect of a beloved neighborhood establishment making a return, we contacted Manny Klein, a co-owner of the original restaurant, for comment on the plans. According to Klein, he and his partners had for several months been in talks with the owners of Shamrock Plaza to open in the roughly 3,500 square foot corner space formerly part of Blockbuster Video. Last year's relocation of America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses from North DeKalb Mall to the other portion of the former video rental store left a slightly imperfect space from which to operate a restaurant, but provided the possibility of a patio and plenty of visibility from Lawrenceville Highway and perhaps even more importantly, plenty of nearby parking.
Now, more than two months since we originally spoke to Klein, readers have begun to see progress at the space and a permit visible in the window naming Bagel Palace as the new tenant.
We contacted Klein again to confirm the status of the project. When reached early Wednesday, Klein confirmed that he and his partners are indeed still in talks to open at Shamrock Plaza, but that no lease has been signed yet. Klein further elaborated that the COVID-19 pandemic made he and his partners question the sense of committing to a new restaurant space when there are likely to (unfortunately) be several second generation restaurant spaces that will hit the market in the weeks and months to come.
Klein indicated that the work being done at the space is "preliminary" and that it could suit their needs but could also suit the needs of other restaurants in the future. Owners of the center, a local family, not a large Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), are likely taking the opportunity to "white box the space" and prepare it for what they hope will be a new restaurant tenant, whether it ends up being Bagel Palace or another concept. The permit indicates that the owners are spending at least $168,000 converting the former retail space to restaurant.
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| Inside the would-be Bagel Palace space at Shamrock Plaza |
For his part, Klein is hopeful to have a space in the Toco Hills vicinity finalized in the near future but also is in no rush to commit to a space too soon, given today's economic uncertainty.
Are you excited at the prospect of seeing a return of Bagel Palace? What is your favorite bagel eatery in Atlanta? Do you think the former Blockbuster space is the best space in the area for Bagel Palace to lease?
Please share your thoughts below.