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Restaurant co-owned by Drew Brees coming to new West Town development

The new development will replace the old Howard Johnson hotel across from West Town Mall.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — One of the few blocks on Kingston Pike that's devoid of retail or restaurant life right now will be home to a new strip mall.

JKS Retail Development, LLC announced the new development on its Linked In page.

It's called West Town Crossings, and will be located at 7621 Kingston Pike, across from West Town Mall and next to the Tennessee Highway Patrol headquarters. The current building on the site used to be a Howard Johnson hotel but it has been vacant for some time. 

The first phase of the development with two restaurants and the Nail Bar is expected to open in March of 2020

Firebird's Wood Fired Grill has locations across the country but this will be the first in Knoxville. They do have one in Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga, and the website describes it as "an American Restaurant and Steakhouse known for our scratch kitchen, bold flavors and inviting atmosphere." 

Walk-on's Bistreaux & Bar features Louisiana cuisine and was founded by a couple of guys who walked on to the LSU basketball team and now New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is a co-owner. The regional chain is in the midst of a huge expansion and this will be its first location in Tennessee.

John Shirley of JKS Retail Development told 10News that they are also going to develop the adjacent property, which used to be the Macaroni Grill.

When all the work is done, there will be about five restaurants and about eight retailes, Shirley said. Part of the work will be re-configuring Leondard Rogers Street that runs between the two properties as the new main entrance to the development.

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