Transformation of Harp Transmission into Grant Park eatery The Harp is finally complete.
Co-Owners and brother and sister Chef Jarrett Gray and Joy Prince quietly debuted The Harp at the end of last week, at 350 Memorial Drive Southeast.
Originally uncovered by What Now Atlanta in late-2018, The Harp was pushing for an August 2019 debut.
“We are excited to share our vision with the Historic Grant Park Neighborhood and surrounding areas,” Gray in an email Tuesday told What Now Atlanta.
“We are officially open for lunch and dinner.”
A key feature of the restaurant is a self-serve beer-and-wine-on-tap bar with 40 options, accessible by guests via wearable technology, which will be available as soon as Gray and Prince secure a liquor license for The Harp.
In the meantime, nosh on the American fare and BYOB during lunch, dinner, and eventually weekend brunch.
“Until the alcohol license is approved, we encourage BYOB without any corkage fees.”
When the weather gets warmer, The Harp will also debut its 200-seat patio with yard games like cornhole.
7 Responses
I think there’s a lot more to this story than what we’ve heard.
That being said, it’s gut wrenching to think that a small businesss totally built out a
new restaurant– and now the developer et al are profiting on their loss.
Ambulance chasers.
there usually isn’t any more to the story other than “every Tom, Dick, and Harry think they can open a restaurant while having absolutely zero restaurant experience then wonder why they can’t pay the bills.”
also, while they (the small business) surely had some level of investment in the build out, commercial developers typically pick up a large portion of this cost. it does not behoove the developer to see a tenant fail, after all, if a tenant is occupying their space, then the developer is generating income. with that being said, once it becomes apparent a tenant cannot pay, it behooves the developer greatly to move them out and someone else in as fast as possible.
as for the ambulance chasers comment… what? should everyone else just agree to leave the space empty out of sympathy for a restaurant that was never really open??
for what it’s worth, i don’t fully believe this developers comments about the overwhelming hype to fill this space- especially considering the current economic climate.
When I said there must be more to this story…
I seem to recall that construction took two years, and it sounded like the tenants hadn’t paid rent since the beginning of this year (not C-19 related).
So were the tenants paying rent for the two years of construction?
Have they ever paid rent?
The landlord was suing for back rent– how much back rent was there?
— That would indicate at least one of them had some experience, although I understand that ‘experience,’ and actually running a business are two different things.
I’m sure the building owner put tons of money into getting that building renovated. But
typically the tenant does all the interior buildout to suit their needs. Maybe that’s not so in this case. The landlord could have built it out as a restaurant with a kitchen etc. I’d be
surprised though.
I’m a commercial landlord, and I try to work with good tenants. I’ve had to (willingly)
restructure my tenant’s rent because of C-19. He’s a great tenant, and I’d rather keep him than lose him.
The developer came off as a bit cocky, hence my snarky ambulance chasers comment.
I’m sad to see they didn’t make it.
We went right before the world changed. Single best prepared piece of salmon I’ve had. Interesting concept for beer and wine, killer mac and cheese, and super friendly service.
I hope Pellerin will give consideration to another Black-owned business .
I feel bad for the Harp owners… The landlord is a dick, he promised TI money (Tenant Improvement) then held up disbursements and slowed down the project. The job should have taken 3 or 4 months but it took over a year because of the delays. All while they were paying rent the whole time, the dude is a cheat who I think has done this to other business owners as well. He gets people to invest their money into his properties and then does his best to find a way to get them evicted so he can rent out the improved property to another tenant probably at a higher rate.