Applebee’s Grill & Bar on Bluebonnet Boulevard at Perkins Rowe closed Monday, leaving a vacancy in the development.
Applebee’s representatives could not be reached before deadline.
Donna Taylor, the senior vice president of Stirling Properties, which manages Perkins Rowe, says the lifestyle center does not control the space, which sits next to the Orvis store.
Applebee’s leased the space and controls it through Dec. 31, 2018, Taylor says. But that doesn’t mean the space will remain vacant through the end of the restaurant chain’s lease.
“We’re going to work together with them to find a tenant (to take over the lease),” Taylor says, adding that the location is quite valuable.
The Kansas City, Missouri-based Applebee’s eyed the space in Perkins Rowe in April 2011 to open—what was at the time—its third location in Baton Rouge.
It’s only remaining Baton Rouge location is at 9702 Airline Highway.
In December, the Metro Council unanimously approved rezoning the Perkins Rowe Applebee’s from a restaurant to a bar. A representative from Perkins Rowe, and not Applebee’s, had brought the request to the council.
Taylor says the zoning change was made to create more of an advantage in regards to which type of tenants could move there.
“It’s outfitted for a restaurant, and the goal is to find a restaurant,” she says about the available space.
—Alexandria Burris
