Note: This story was last updated at 11:20 a.m. Feb. 3.
The Riverside Grille was closed on Monday, and developers and businessmen Rick and Ryan Chinn announced the waterfront development on Melton Lake Drive has been sold to the Copper Cellar Family of Restaurants.
It’s not clear which of the Copper Cellar restaurant brands might move into the Oak Ridge restaurant site. Options could include Copper Cellar, Chesapeake’s, Calhoun’s, and Smokey Mountain Brewery, among others.
The Chinns have owned the roughly seven-acre Melton Lake property for 10 years. They have a perpetual easement on it, which is like a long-term lease, from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Rick Chinn said Monday night. The Copper Cellar Family of Restaurants will own the perpetual easement starting this week, including the land, the 12,000-square-foot building, and its parking lots, Chinn said. [Read more…]