If you thought there was no more room in metro Atlanta for another Chick-fil-A, you were wrong. According to a well placed real estate source, Chick-fil-A has secured the soon to be vacant David's Bridal along Peachtree Road near Marshalls for a new restaurant. David's Bridal filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, its second such filing in just the past five years. The Buckhead store is closing as part of the company's reorganization.
The freestanding building - 3232 Peachtree Road - was before David's Bridal, home to Priscilla of Boston, another bridal business. Before either retailer however, the building was home to Houlihan's, a once prolific casual dining restaurant chain that has all but disappeared from Georgia save for two Columbus outposts and one in Savannah.
The new Chick-fil-A would sit in an outparcel of Buckhead Place, an existing center anchored by Marshalls and LA Fitness, with a new Five Below coming soon.
In April, Chick-fil-A opened a new restaurant in Brookhaven that gave the Atlanta-based chain a spot in the market but did not provide a drive-thru. Another non drive-thru Chick-fil-A is planned for 777 Ponce de Leon Avenue on the site of the former Dugan's restaurant. (Dugan's is slated to reopensoon at Northlake [Mall] in Tucker.)
The chicken chain already operates several Buckhead area restaurants including one a stone's throw from the planned Buckhead Place outpost. The Terminus unit, located in the street level of the Terminus 100 building, is another atypical restaurant as it's "in-line," a compact streetside unit, also devoid of a drive-thru. The Terminus unit opened August 7, 2008. Also in Buckhead is another Chick-fil-A in the Lenox Square food court as well as a traditional unit along Piedmont Road near the Lindbergh Marta station and another along Roswell Road in Chastain Park.
A few miles south on Peachtree, at Collier Road, Chick-fil-A closed their existing drive-thru enabled unit in April with plans to reopen it as a larger, more easily accessible restaurant late this year.
Have you been to the new Chick-fil-A in Brookhaven? Do you think the non-drive thru model makes sense for this location? What restaurant would you like to see open in Buckhead next?
Pleas share your thoughts below.