The real estate firm buying the land that has held Nikki’s Drive-Inn is seeking a tenant for the restaurant space, appearing to end an era at the site where the eatery has operated for decades.
“We’re trying to find a good tenant that wants to do another restaurant,” said Cardon Smith, a vice president for the Fletcher Bright Co., on Friday.
Smith said he couldn’t speak for the future plans of longtime Nikki’s owner James E. Jones, who in March closed the Chattanooga restaurant amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“I don’t know if he’ll reopen somewhere else or shut down,” he said.
No one answered the restaurant’s phone number on Friday and Jones could not be reached for comment.