As the business outlook brightens and the recessionary development freeze starts to thaw, the owner of a popular Buckhead corner is making a big gamble.
Peter Blum is managing partner for the property currently occupied by Cheesecake Factory, one of Atlanta’s most popular restaurants. Instead of renewing a long-term lease to keep the famous eatery, Blum is marketing a grander vision for the site on Peachtree Road, near where a stalled luxury development has gained new life.
Blum, who previously leased the former ESPN Zone restaurant space he owns next door for a flagship, extra-large store for Restoration Hardware, is bypassing what might be a sure thing in Cheesecake Factory for a chance at attracting another world-class retailer — or potentially a mixed-use high-rise development at one of Buckhead’s busiest crossroads.
“We feel strongly this is going to be a very, very great area,” Blum said.
Buckhead went on a building binge last decade, with office towers, hotels and high-rise condos popping up. Then the economy crashed, the ultra-luxurious Streets of Buckhead project fizzled, and several largely empty office towers stood watch over the Peachtree corridor. ESPN Zone closed a few years ago when Disney decided to end the sports bar concept.
Now, though, development is happening again. Luxury apartments are rising, cranes are swinging at Streets of Buckhead — reborn as Buckhead Atlanta — and there’s talk of future office towers and hotel development.
Blum, said Sam Massell, head of the Buckhead Coalition, “has seen the future better than many. That area is indeed coming back.”
Representatives of Restoration Hardware filed a permit application with the city of Atlanta last week for a free-standing location that reportedly will mirror the company’s newer stores in Houston, Boston and Scottsdale, Ariz. The Buckhead View website reported that plans call for the ESPN Zone building to be demolished in May and construction on a six-story Restoration store to follow.
Officials with the California-based retailer did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Cheesecake Factory will continue operating at 3024 Peachtree Road until it can find and finish a new space, Blum said.
Officials of the California-based restaurant company declined to comment. Atlanta Business Chronicle reported this month that Cheesecake Factory Inc. was scouting space at Lenox Square for either its namesake restaurant or possibly another of the company’s brands.
Rather than sell the 1.75-acre Cheesecake Factory property, Blum said he wants to lease it, potentially to a high-end retailer for another “iconic” store, or perhaps to a group that could do a vertical development. He’s not limiting his options.
Blum and his partners landed Cheesecake Factory in the early 1990s before it became a household name, known for serving an endless supply of oversized desserts from a menu as thick as some high school yearbooks.
Cheesecake Factory was an “exemplary” tenant, Blum said. The company wanted a long-term renewal, and planned to completely renovate the building and enclose the patio.
“The decision was really a difficult one,” Blum said. “It was in my heart. I wanted to renew.”
However, Blum said he had second thoughts. He wondered how often a restaurant can be successful for several decades, and whether the property was being underused and had potential for higher and better development. The Restoration Hardware project convinced him that it did.
“We want someone who is going to understand and appreciate the 3024 Peachtree address,” said Jamie Hargather, a broker with Wilson Hull & Neal Real Estate, who represents the property.
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