Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers was open, as pictured above on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, at South Illinois and South Tulane avenues as part of Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is open at South Illinois and South Tulane avenues, and more businesses are planned at Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.
So far, Main Street Oak Ridge features a dozen new businesses—including retail stores, a restaurant, and a hotel—and the relocated American Museum of Science and Energy near JCPenney, an anchor store at the northeast side of the mall.
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, which opened Tuesday in a building that will include another business, was busy Tuesday afternoon, with a parking lot that was mostly full, a drive-through line that wrapped around two sides of the building, and a customer line that stretched from the counter inside to the door. The restaurant has been getting good reviews online.
Plans for the new restaurant were announced in May 2017, and construction was under way at the 1.4-acre site, which is next to the rebuilt Taco Bell restaurant on South Illinois Avenue, in January.
Based in Wichita, Kansas, Freddy’s was co-founded in 2002 by brothers Bill and Randy Simon, and their friend and business partner, Scott Redler. The three men named the restaurant after Bill and Randy’s father, Freddy Simon, a World War II veteran, the company said. You can see a menu here.
Besides the restaurant and hotel, the 10 new stores at Main Street Oak Ridge are Dick’s Sporting Goods, Electronic Express, Maurice’s, PetSmart, Rack Room Shoes, Rue 21, The Spa Lounge Lash & Nail Studio, T.J. Maxx, Ulta, and World Finance Loans & Taxes. Those new stores were built after the former mall was demolished except for Belk and JCPenney.
Construction work is under way on the hotel, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, a four-story, 81-room hotel on 2.6 acres near the intersection of Wilson Street and Rutgers Avenue, close to JCPenney.
Other new businesses listed as having leases on a Main Street Oak Ridge site map include Burke’s Outlets next to Electronic Express, Heartland Dental next to Freddy’s, and an unnamed pharmacy by O’Reilly Auto Parts. Burke’s, Heartland Dental, and the pharmacy are not open yet.
Construction work started in January at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge, and that new location, which will replace a building on South Tulane Avenue, is expected to open in October.
Freddy’s is one of two new burger restaurants in Oak Ridge, both on South Illinois Avenue. The other, Hwy 55 Burgers Shakes & Fries, is expected to open soon, and it will be located where Pie Five Pizza used to be at 443 South Illinois Avenue, near the Aldi grocery store and next to Aspen Dental and Fast Pace Urgent Care medical clinic.
Hwy 55 Burgers Shakes & Fries announced in May that it was coming to Oak Ridge. A business sign was recently installed on the front of the restaurant. A hiring sign is posted on the front window, and the company said it will be interviewing potential employees this week.
There are other new businesses along South Illinois Avenue, including a Panda Express and Mattress Firm where Ruby Tuesday used to be.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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