Linton Hopkins to open restaurant in Colony Square next year

Linton Hopkins, the chef/owner of Atlanta’s Restaurant Eugene, has been nominated five-times for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast award.

Credit: Becky Stein, Special

Credit: Becky Stein, Special

Linton Hopkins, the chef/owner of Atlanta’s Restaurant Eugene, has been nominated five-times for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast award.

Prominent Atlanta restaurateur Linton Hopkins is working on a new project, set to debut next year.

Hopkins, who owns restaurant group Hopkins & Co. with his wife, Gina, will open an eatery in Midtown mixed-use development Colony Square, Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported.

The project doesn’t have a name yet, and the concept has not been announced. The 3,500 square-foot restaurant with 1,100 square feet of patio space will be in building 200, and face inside, toward a common area of Colony Square, which is located at the corner of 14th and Peachtree streets.

Mark Toro, the managing partner for North American Properties, which owns Colony Square, said North American Properties is leaving it to Hopkins to decide whether the restaurant will be another location for one of his existing concepts or an entirely new dining concept.

"We trust him to know what is going to resonate with the Midtown demographic," Toro said.

That decision, Toro said, "will be in the near term because we have to move on to the design."

"Linton is one of the legendary chefs in metro Atlanta. We just love what he does," said Toro of efforts to include Hopkins in the culinary lineup at Colony Square. "I live a block from Colony Square. Selfishly, I wanted to have Linton in my neighborhood.”

Hopkins also owns Restaurant Eugene and Holeman & Finch Public House in south Buckhead, H&F Burger and Hop's Chicken in Ponce City Market and C. Ellet's steakhouse in the Battery at SunTrust Park. 

Hopkins told the AJC that he chose to move forward in Colony Square “because of its revitalization in the proven, capable hands of Mark Toro and the North American team.”

“Building restaurants is so much about building a relationship with the developer. There are so many things in the restaurant business that you need these big partners to be successful. With Mark Toro and Colony Square, I felt comfortable that we were building on that relationship like we had with the Braves, Jamestown and Ponce City Market. It is a shared risk, shared reward kind of thing. I’m excited to work with them.”

Colony Square is in the middle of a major overhaul, which will see the addition of several new restaurants including Persian eatery Rumi's Kitchen, quick-service sushi spot Sukoshi and fast-casual restaurant Freshii.  5Church and Establishment are already open at Colony Square.

The development will also include food hall Main & Main., being curated by Texas-based operator Oz Rey, LLC. The hall, which will not include any of the standalone restaurants that have already been announced, will include 15-18 culinary concepts and two bars.

Main & Main, as well as some of the standalone restaurants, including Rumi’s Kitchen, are slated to open in May 2020.

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