Shake Shack has secured a lease to open a Piedmont Park-adjacent restaurant, the Atlanta Business Chronicle (ABC) is reporting. Reps for the NYC-founded global burger chain on Tuesday did not respond to What Now Atlanta’s request for comment.
Shake Shack has been looking at opening a Midtown location in recent years. The restaurant chain in 2020 drew up renderings and issued a Request For Proposals to build out an outpost in Colony Square nearby, but pulled out of the deal.
If the ABC’s intel is correct, Shake Shack would take space in the Piedmont Park Conservancy’s community center in a unit adjacent to Willy’s Mexicana Grill, at 1071 Piedmont Ave. NE. The long-vacant space — formerly home to ParQ — in 2019 was the center of controversy after a sinkhole put the kibosh on plans for the team behind The Nook to open Walker’s 1834 and Soulshine there.
Katherine Drolett, a partner in The Nook and lead on the Walker’s 1834 and Soulshine projects declined to comment when reached over the telephone by What Now Atlanta Wednesday. Drolett is in active litigation with the Piedmont Park Conservancy alleging the organization has been making a “massive effort to hide the cause of the sinkhole and to act like nothing is wrong,” the restaurateur said at the time of the sinkhole.
News of Shake Shack’s possible Midtown lease arrives on the heels of the company last month announcing plans to open 35 to 40 new corporate locations and upwards of 20 franchises. Last week it was revealed that an Alpharetta Burger King will soon undergo transformation into a Shake Shack with a drive-thru — something new for the company in 2021.
