Chattz at the Block closed its coffee and wine bar over the weekend, another in a handful of food and beverage sites to shut down recently near Chattanooga's downtown waterfront.
The Chattz at 225 Broad St. will reopen for a final weekend for the popular Head of the Hooch rowing regatta Nov. 3-6. But its owners said they want to refocus the company's attention on its 1010 Market St. and 2627 Broad St. sites moving ahead.
Eileen Mason, one of the owners of the 15-year-old Chattanooga-based company, said the Chattz location just a block from the Tennessee Aquarium did well during city-wide events while sales were "steady" during the week.
"It was a challenging venue for parking," she said about the location where Chattz had operated for three years.
Mason said the riverfront location tended to dilute the company's efforts "in the coffee realm," but that Chattz remains committed to the city.
Chattz had subleased space in the Block from the nonprofit downtown redevelopment group River City Co., which has a longterm lease. CARTA owns the building that also includes a Rock/Creek store, High Point Climbing, and a parking garage.
Kim White, who heads River City, said businesses tend to ebb and flow.
"It's where you're located and how you maximize your opportunity," she said.
Amy Donahue, River City's director of marketing and communication, said the site is "a prime retail location in the riverfront."
"We are working with Chattz owners to back-fill that space," she said.
But the location is at least the fourth food and beverage site within about a three-block area to close in recent months.
Applebee's shut down its high-profile eatery at Market and Fourth streets a little more than a month ago after six years.
Next door, The Henpecked Chicken, a restaurant that was opened this spring by a Nashville group, closed in July. The restaurant 212 Market ended a 25-year run this spring for family reasons. Also, because of the collapse of the building at Market and Aquarium Way earlier this year, a pair of restaurants were lost.
Still, while some restaurants are closing downtown, others are preparing to open.
The former Sugar's Ribs location on Broad Street is holding a new eatery called the Mayan Kitchen. A Shula's 347 Grill also is scheduled to open at Eighth and Pine streets across from a new Westin hotel developed by brothers Ken and Byron DeFoor. Bantam & Biddy, a casual all- natural eatery that features pastured poultry from a pair of successful Atlanta chefs, also will open this fall in the new Market City Center on the 700 block of Market Street.
Earlier this year, Moe's Original Bar B Que opened near the riverfront at 221 Market St., in space that for years had held Rhythm & Brews.
The openings come as hundreds of apartment and hotel units are under construction or planned downtown.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.