T.G.I.Friday’s the final entry at Valparaiso Walk

VALPARAISO | A T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant is set to open later this year as the final entry in the 13-store Valparaiso Walk retail center.

Plans are for the nearly 5,000-square-foot restaurant to occupy a standalone building to be constructed at the shopping mall, developer Gary Pachucki said.

Work on the building is expected to get underway in the next week or two, and the T.G.I. Friday’s should be operating by the end of the year, Pachucki said.

The casual dining chain restaurant is known for its drinks and appetizers, along with a menu of beef, chicken and seafood.

It becomes the final occupant of the retail center, which opened in 2004 on a corner lot that had been home to one home improvement store.

The 144,000-square-foot Menards was razed to make room for the $20 million retail center built in two strips of stores at LaPorte Avenue and Silhavy Road, backed up against the Ind. 49 bypass.

A new and larger Menards was built just south of the old one as a replacement.

Valparaiso Walk occupants include Best Buy; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Dress Barn; Famous Footwear; and other retailers in the eastern strip of stores. Carpetland, Yankee Candle; Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Cold Stone Creamery are in the western strip.

The Walk borders the Valparaiso Marketplace retail center, home to Target, Kohls, Home Depot and other retailers, along with several restaurants.

Pachucki, whose IBT Group is based in Chicago, said the corner site had been ripe for development as a retail center on the city’s fast-growing southeast side.

„It’s a great site with great visibility,“ Pachucki said.

Source: thetimesonline.com