A Buffalo Wild Wings is coming to Starkville.
Larry Tabor, owner of the former University Inn on Spring Street, confirmed Monday the lobby and restaurant portion of the old hotel is being demolished to make way for a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise. Tabor anticipates a late-summer opening, just in time for football season and the return of Mississippi State University students.
The planned 5,700-square-foot restaurant will have an outdoor patio on its east side, facing the MSU football stadium, Tabor said. Two former hotel buildings at the rear of the property will be renovated and reopened as University Club Extended Stay Hotel, he said.
“We are extremely excited about the possibility of being able to construct on this property,” Tabor said. “We”re hoping to build a facility and business that will be a great improvement over what”s currently there.”
The former University Inn has fallen into disrepair since it closed Jan. 1, 2010. Windows have been broken, garbage and other debris has been thrown in the pool and weeds have sprung up around the three-building complex.
Crews from Starkville-based The Dirt Company began demolishing the southernmost building, in which the lobby and restaurant were located, late last week.
“The building was just in such disrepair, we couldn”t renovate it,” Tabor said.
The longtime developer has submitted a preliminary site plan to the city and is working on building plans and specifications. Tabor last summer submitted plans to the city to convert the former hotel into luxury condominiums and, although the proposal was approved by the planning and zoning commission, the seven-member Board of Aldermen shot it down.
Construction of the new restaurant will be handled by Tabor Construction and Development, which is owned by Tabor”s son, Jeremy.
Buffalo Wild Wings has approximately 400 franchise restaurants, which are owned by investors, and approximately 300 corporate sites. Tabor described the restaurant as “a premier grill and bar franchise.”
A Buffalo Wild Wings also opened recently in Meridian.
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