Zaxby’s is looking to move its roost to the Perimeter Summit office park in Central Perimeter.
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The homegrown chicken chain is in talks to lease 50K SF at 2002 Perimeter Summit, the 423K SF office tower in the three-tower Perimeter Summit campus overlooking Interstate 285 in Central Perimeter, sources with knowledge of the deal tell Bisnow.
Zaxby's is headquartered in a three-building office complex it owns in Athens near the University of Georgia, more than 50 miles east of Central Perimeter. It has been shopping office space in the Central Perimeter submarket since last year, the Atlanta Business Chronicle previously reported.
Zaxby’s, which operates more than 900 eateries across the nation, would open a test kitchen at 2002 Perimeter Summit if it commits to the building. A Zaxby’s spokesperson didn't respond to an inquiry as of press time.
Zaxby’s would be the first lease captured by the new owner of Perimeter Summit, San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital, which bought the office campus this month for $274.5M from State Street Advisors.
Officials with Spear Street didn't respond to emails seeking comment as of press time. A website run by the previous owner, Seven Oaks Co., listed CBRE First Vice President Sabrina Gibson as the leasing representative. Gibson declined to comment.
Perimeter Summit is home to a dozen tenants, including Beazer Homes, Rooms To Go, Aprio and Zurich North America. The Central Perimeter submarket is home to other major fast-casual restaurant chains, including Focus Brands, which operates Moe’s Southwest Grill, Arby’s parent company Inspire Brands and The Krystal Co.
The potential headquarters move comes more than two years after the homegrown chain sold a large ownership stake to funds managed by Goldman Sachs in 2020 in a move to grow Zaxby’s footprint.
“We want to take the brand nationwide. That’s a goal we have, and Goldman wants to help us with that,” Zach McLeroy, one of the co-founders of Zaxby’s, told Franchise Times in 2021. “With the engine of Goldman behind us, the attention that brings to us, it validates we’re a great brand, we’re doing great things.”
Zaxby’s sales were expected to exceed $2.2B in 2021, according to Restaurant Business. The chain also has shuffled its senior leadership in recent years.
McLeroy, who had been CEO, became chairman of Zaxby’s in 2021. The company appointed its first chief executive from outside its ranks, Bernard Acoca, who previously served as CEO of El Pollo Loco. Earlier this month, Zaxby’s tapped Carl Mount, a former executive with Starbucks, as its chief supply chain officer.
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