American restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings plans to open a location in downtown Sandy Springs, according to the city’s permit website.
The site lists a building interior finish permit “under review” for a project named “Buffalo Wild Wings Tenant Fillout” at the Plaza at City Springs shopping center at 5840 Roswell Road.
The restaurant would replace Eat Fit Go, a health food store that closed in 2018, in suite 700 of the shopping center, according to the permit.
Inspire Brands, the company that owns Buffalo Wild Wings, and Arris Realty Partners, the real estate company in charge of leasing the shopping center, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Buffalo Wild Wings is also planning to open a location in the Perimeter Mall parking lot along Hammond Drive in Dunwoody. Brookfield Property Partners, owner of Perimeter Mall, is seeking a variance from the city to allow for the construction of the new restaurant on about 1 acre of the mall’s parking lot on Hammond Drive near the Ashford-Dunwoody Road intersection.
Inspire, a Sandy Springs-based company that began as the Arby’s restaurant chain, is planning to rebuild Buffalo Wild Wing’s image, according to CEO Paul Brown, who spoke at a Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber luncheon in January 2019. Inspire plans a new menu, interior renovations, plating, building design and employee uniforms, Brown said at the time.
Inspire was formed in early 2018 after Arby’s purchased Buffalo Wild Wings and the regional chain Rusty Taco. Since then, the company has added Jimmy John’s and Sonic to its list.
The Plaza at City Springs was a controversial project when it was first introduced by Arris in 2016. The city pushed for a mixed-use building to be constructed to complement the Cliftwood luxury apartments. The Planning Commission and other residents had issues with the design, saying it looked more like a “suburban shopping center.”