Sunday, May 29, 2005

In the past six months, more than a dozen restaurants have opened or made plans to open in Bowling Green.

Several of those have been sit-down and casual dining restaurants.

Buckhead Square Shopping Center on Campbell Lane will have at least three new restaurants when construction is completed. Coldwell Banker real estate agent and commercial contractor/developer Tom Baker said the new location is perfect for new businesses.

The intersection of Nashville Road and Campbell Lane has one of the highest traffic counts in the city, said Baker, who is helping lease the center. The people in this area have been underserved and we feel like this development is full of good quality services and retail and restaurant providers.

Rick Kelley, owner of Mariahs on the corner of Eighth Avenue and State Street, on July 5 will open Buckhead Cafe as one of the developments anchor tenants.

It will be fast, casual dining, said Jodi Fleming, the general manager of Mariahs and Buckhead. There wont be servers; you will order at the counter.

Fleming said management still is finalizing the menu for the new restaurant, but it will feature some Mariahs signature items and specialty coffee drinks. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served seven days a week, from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The restaurant will seat 125 people.

The Buckhead center also will house a new Figaros Italian Pizzeria, a national chain restaurant. A building permit issued last week for Figaros valued the construction at $92,000. Also, Nashville franchise Navajo Taco Company will be opening in the center, according to Baker.

A new Puerto Vallarta Mexican restaurant will be built on the corner lot of Seymore Avenue and New Bond Way, two streets under construction in the new Oxford Center across from Wal-Mart on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, Baker said.

Yukis Japanese Restaurant has obtained a permit to build another restaurant on Iron Skillet Court. The new location will be bigger than the Scottsville Road location, which will remain open. The new location is expected to open in October or November. While no other information about the new location was available, the construction cost listed on a city building permit is $350,000.

Subway recently opened a new downtown location under Park Row Senior Apartments, and You and Me Restaurant will open soon on Chestnut Street. Harmony of Bowling Green opened in You and Mes old location at 306 Old Morgantown Road.

Logans Roadhouse recently announced plans to move into the old Ponderosa building on Scottsville Road and there is a sign in the former pizzeria on U.S. 31-W By-Pass that says an Asian, Vietnamese restaurant is coming. Cosmo Cafe will be opening next to Tuesday Morning in the Hobby Lobby shopping center on Scottsville Road. Drywall was being installed last week in Cosmo, where signs are posted outlining menu items that include sandwiches, salads and other light fare.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700