It appears there won't be a Zaxby's in Five Points in the former Harper's building at 700 Harden St.
Building owner John Scarborough confirmed to Free Times Monday afternoon that Zaxby's franchisee Jim Poston and Back Forty Holdings have decided not to open one of the chicken finger restaurants in the heart of the popular, more than century-old nightlife and entertainment district.
The proposed Zaxby's and its prospective drive-thru proved controversial from the start. The issue was at the heart of a roiling, hourslong public hearing Dec. 12 before the city's zoning board, which ultimately voted 4-2 to allow Zaxby's an exception to have a drive-thru. Subsequently, Five Points businessman Richard Burts and his attorney, Dick Harpootlian, sued the city as an appeal to that zoning board decision.
Harper's, the long-running casual dining restaurant, closed last April.
Scarborough told Free Times he is disappointed that the Zaxby's deal didn't work out for the former Harper's site.
"I'm disappointed for Zaxby's," Scarborough says. "They wanted to be there. But, they were not welcomed. They run a nice company and they are not going to go somewhere they are not welcome. Everybody got up [at the December public hearing] and talked like them coming there was the end of Five Points. They just felt like they weren't going to be a welcome member."
The property owner noted that the prospect of being tied up in court for an extended period with the aforementioned appeal also wasn't attractive to the chicken company.
Some critics of the project, including Burts in his lawsuit, specifically took issue with the fact that the Zaxby's would have had a drive-thru, and had concerns about traffic issues that could create. In the suit, Burts and Harpootlian argued that allowing Zaxby's to have a drive-thru at 700 Harden would create a "proliferation" of drive-thrus in the district. The suit notes that Chick-fil-A, Cook Out and numerous banks already operate drive-thru establishments in Five Points.
Free Times asked Scarborough whether he worries that the severe pushback that the Zaxby's project received indicates that an entire category of restaurants — fast service — could meet similar pushback if they were to be proposed for the property.
"I know [opponents] were down there protesting the drive-thru," Scarborough says. "But, for all intents and purposes, they didn't want a fast food restaurant there. If I go with another fast food restaurant there, I'm sure there'd be the same reaction."
When reached by phone Monday afternoon, Harpootlian, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party and a decades-long resident of nearby Wales Garden, says he felt the appeal he and Burts filed was on solid legal ground and that a drive-thru restaurant doesn't belong at the old Harper's site.
"As a 40-year resident of the neighborhood that abuts Five Points, I'm heartened to see that we are not going to have a drive-thru restaurant one of the five points [of Five Points]," Harpootlian says. "Traffic is difficult now and a drive-thru restaurant would make it even more difficult."
Burts, a member of the Five Points Association board, told Free Times he wishes Zaxby's well in finding a different location, and that the association is willing to help Scarborough with finding a tenant for 700 Harden Street.
But Burts remains steadfast that he doesn't believe a fast food place with a drive-thru is right for the old Harper's.
"I think that Five Points neighborhoods and the patrons from the neighborhoods around Five Points have a vision of Five Points being a very pedestrian-oriented experience which includes plazas and public art and fountains and canopies of trees," Burts says. "I think that's a vision, hopefully, that everyone can look to for the future of Five Points."
Scarborough says he'll continue to work to find a tenant for the building at 700 Harden.
"It's available to lease and we'll talk to everybody that comes in," Scarborough says. "I have no specific plans right at this moment."
