BurgerFi, Staks, Five Below coming to Germantown
Germantown Village Square is getting the fast-casual BurgerFi — owned in part by new Tiger assistant basketball coach Mike Miller — as well as the breakfast/pancake restaurant Staks and a Five Below, the discount retailer focusing on children.
The 45-year-old center’s new owner, PEBB Enterprises, announced the future tenants on Wednesday.
The Florida-based firm has been working to make the 200,000-squarefoot center at 7650-7730 Poplar a more appealing shopping experience since it bought Village Square from Boyle Investment Co. last year for $29.3 million.
PEBB has also raised the occupancy rate since early last year, from 78.9 percent to 91 percent, said Aaron Zucker, PEBB’s senior vice president of leasing.
Another new tenant, Old Navy was announced last fall and should open soon.
Old Navy has moved into much of the space previously housing an OfficeMax, and Five Below will occupy much of the rest of former OfficeMax space, Zucker said.
BurgerFi will move into some of the
outparcel space made available when a Bank of Bartlett branch leaves Village Square, he said.
BurgerFi serves “natural” Angus beef as well as vegetarian hamburgers, hot dogs, milkshakes, “hand-cut” French fries, frozen custard and milkshakes, craft beer and wines. Hamburger toppings can include a fried egg or chili.
In a signature move, the seven-yearold chain of nearly 100 restaurants literally brands its hamburger buns with “BurgerFi.”
The design goal for the restaurant’s interior is to create a hang-out environment like a coffee house or bar.
The BurgerFi website emphasizes the chain’s environmental sensitivity. For example, each chair comprises 111 “upcycled Coca-Cola bottles” and the interior walls are lined with the type of pine lumber that is the most renewable timber source, the website states.
Mike Miller, the retired NBA threepoint specialist who once played for the Grizzlies, is part-owner of a BurgerFi franchise group that operates 11 BurgerFi’s, according to PEBB.
“He’s a major backer,” Zucker said. “He’s a partner in the franchisee company that is opening this. He and his partners were a pleasure to deal with in the transaction.”
Staks Pancake Kitchen opened its first Memphis location at 4615 Poplar, at Perkins Extended. It’s a breakfast and lunch place, open daily 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
PEBB and the Germantown Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the new tenants and progress in improving Village Square with a ribbon cutting ceremony 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday next to Palm Beach Tan in the Pier 1 Imports building. Staks will provide samples of its food during the event.
In addition to signing new tenants, PEBB also renewed more than 30,000 square feet of retail leases, including with T.J. Maxx, Palm Beach Tan, Merle Norman and Lena Nails.
Village Square also has upstairs office space, for which it recently added Delta Massage and an expansion for West Clinic’s operations.
PEBB also is upgrading the center’s exterior, including painting a new color scheme on the buildings and resurfacing some of the parking lots.
“The point of that exercise is to make that property look more aesthetically pleasing and to have it fit with the culture of Germantown,” Zucker said.
PEBB is a private-equity real estate investment company based out of Boca Raton, Florida.