Ooltewah's Cambridge Square has attracted yet another downtown-area business looking for expansion opportunities.
Two weeks ago, officials with the mixed-use development announced local restarauteur and chef Nathan Lindley will open a second location of Il Primo, his popular Italian restaurant that opened on Hixson Pike in Riverview in 2014.
The new building will be located across the street from Heaven and Ale, in front of Morning Pointe's corporate headquarters.
Lindley is also the owner of Public House which opened in early 2009 in downtown's Wharehouse Row. He began his restaurant career in the early 1990s working for famed Southern chef Frank Stitt, primarily at his Italian-influenced restaurant Bottega. In 2000, Lindley founded Chattanooga staple St. John's Restaurant, which he owned until selling the restaurant to his brother in January 2005.
"Since leaving the formality of fine dining and opening Public House and Il Primo, my goal has been to create communal and familial gathering places around honest food and relaxed settings," said Lindley. "More than anything else I have done, Il Primo has become an integral part of its neighborhood and a place that is truly part of its regular customer's lives.
"The developers of Cambridge Square have a shared a goal of community and I am excited to add this concept to their growing development."
Construction on the planned new building is expected to begin soon, with an opening scheduled for June 2017. Il Primo will occupy an estimated 4,000 square feet of the building.
"Nathan and his team have proven themselves time and again to be world-class operators, and we look forward to working with them to bring the Il Primo concept to diners in the Greater Ooltewah area," said Jim Cheney, marketing director for Cambridge Square. "We also highly recommend that you visit the [original] Riverview location - if you have not already - to get a sense of the truly wonderful cuisine to come in 2017.
"... We are thrilled that Cambridge is taking on the neighborhood destination feel that we set out to produce and concepts like Il Primo are an added shot of credibility to our tenant family," Cheney added. "Right now we feel very fortunate to be in this position, and I can promise that our next round of tenant announcements will be equally exciting as our last."
The original Il Primo is located at 1100 Hixson Pike and can be reached at 266-3366, or primochattanooga.com to learn more and view a menu.
Contact Gabrielle Chevalier at gchevalier@timesfreepress.com or 757-6439.