Chuy's, ULTA coming to new Huntsville retail project
By Lucy Berry
A Tex-Mex restaurant founded in Austin will launch a new project at Bob Wallace Avenue and Memorial Parkway in Huntsville.
RCP Companies Director Odie Fakhouri confirmed Chuy's will open a 7,100-square-foot eatery in 2018 at Merchants Square, a proposed development across from the Whole Foods-anchored Shops at Merchants Walk. Chuy's operates 80 full-service restaurants across 16 states and has two locations in Alabama.
ULTA will also open a 10,800-square-foot cosmetic and beauty product store at Merchants Square in fall 2018, Fakhouri added. The retailer has stores at Huntsville's Bridge Street Town Centre and at the Market Shoppes in Decatur.
"The goal for this project was to create a more connected, safe, and walkable environment from Parkway Place Mall, Merchants Square, and Merchants Walk," Fakhouri told AL.com. "Having Chuy's in the project was good news for the many people who only get to enjoy the restaurant when they're in another city in the Southeast."
Chuy's, open since 1982, specializes in authentic, from-scratch Tex-Mex cuisine. The chain debuted its first Alabama restaurant at The Summit in Birmingham in 2010, followed by a second location in 2015 at Tuscaloosa's The Shoppes at Legacy Park.
Attempts to reach Chuy's this week for information were unsuccessful. Click here to check out the menu.
The Huntsville City Council agreed last month to spend $3 million toward a new 300-unit parking deck at Merchants Square, which will include 41,500 square feet of commercial space. In return for that investment, the city projects that the development will generate $19 million in tax dollars over the next 20 years.
Arora Properties is spending $22 million on the 5.3-acre development, which will operate on land currently occupied by a vacant industrial plant.
The proposed Merchants Square project is outlined in red. (Courtesy/City of Huntsville)
"That project will commence in the next few weeks as City Council has given us the go ahead and we prepare contractors for construction," he said.
If the landowner does not complete the project within two years, the city said the company must reimburse the city the full amount of its contribution toward the parking deck.
RCP is the same real estate firm over MidCity Huntsville at Madison Square Mall and CityCentre at Big Spring in downtown Huntsville.
Original article at AL.com here.