BOCA RATON, FL-Buckhead Life Restaurant Group has leased 9,800 sf at Royal Palm Plaza for Chops Lobster Bar, an upscale steakhouse and lobster restaurant that will seat 300. Pano Karatassos, founder, owner and CEO of the Atlanta-based company, says this marks the start of expansion of the Chops Lobster Bar concept on a national scale. Chops is one of 13 restaurants Buckhead Life currently operates in Atlanta.
Athan Tom Prakas, president of locally based the Prakas Group, represented both Buckhead Life and Investments Limited, the locally based owner of Royal Palm Plaza. Prakas says the aggregate value of the lease is $3.9 million. Karatassos also named Prakas exclusive broker for additional Chops Lobster Bar locations in Florida. Prakas tells. GlobeSt.com he is looking in Miami and Orlando, and also Las Vegas.
“The concept of Chops Lobster Bar is the perfect fit for Boca Raton,” Prakas says. “Buckhead Life understands the power of kicking off their national expansion into a market known for successful restaurant ventures.” A $65-million, two-million-sf mixed use Royal Palm Place is under way adjacent to the 14-acre Royal Palm Plaza shopping/dining venue.
Construction of the restaurant at the intersection of Plaza Real and SE First Street will begin this spring with the opening scheduled for year-end. “This new concept will address the growing popularity of seafood and will answer customer demand for broader, more innovative seafood selections in steakhouse restaurants,” Karatassos says in a statement.
The initial Chops opened in Atlanta in 1990, and Lobster Bar was added in 1996 to complement it. Other Buckhead Life restaurants are Pano’s & Paul’s, which opened in 1979 and was followed by 103 West, Buckhead Diner, Pricci, Veni Vidi Vici, Atlanta Fish Market, Corner Café, Buckhead Bread Co., Nava, Bluepointe and Kyma.
Marita Thomas // Globe St