Construction starts at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

 

Construction has started on a building that will include Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers on a corner lot at South Illinois Avenue and South Tulane Avenue, between Taco Bell and Golden Oak Buffet.

The restaurant has signed a lease in a building that will be about 9,000 square feet, said Neil Wilson of RealtyLink, the South Carolina company redeveloping the former 58-acre Oak Ridge Mall as Main Street Oak Ridge.

Freddy’s has previously said it could open in Oak Ridge this year.

During an Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce event in November, Wilson said the corner lot, which was once a detention pond, is one of the best commercial property corners in Oak Ridge.

The building that includes Freddy’s could include two other businesses as well, although as of November, those spaces hadn’t been leased. A site plan for the vacant 1.4-acre lot was considered by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on October 19. The entrance to the site is off the road that runs in front of T.J.Maxx, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Walmart.

The former mall has been demolished except for Belk and JCPenney. Since then, nine new stores have joined Belk and JCPenney at Main Street Oak Ridge: Dick’s Sporting Goods, Electronic Express, maurices, PetSmart, Rack Room Shoes, rue21, T.J. Maxx, Ulta, and World Finance Loans & Taxes. Two more businesses are under construction, including Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. The other is Spa Lounge Lash & Nail Studio.

And construction work started this month at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. Construction work is also under way at 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.

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.

“Today, Freddy’s restaurants from coast to coast serve a menu reminiscent of the all-American meals Freddy prepared for his family,” the company said.

You can see a menu here.

Freddy’s has other locations in Tennessee and is opening others. You can learn more about its Tennessee locations here.

See previous story here.

See a Main Street Oak Ridge site map here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

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