A high-profile Nashville project for one Atlanta developer and a famed chef is facing a potential setback after its contractor was discovered to have been operating without a state-sanctioned license.

Vantage Realty Partners is renovating a brick building at 1400 Adams St. in the Germantown neighborhood where Atlanta chef Ford Fry is expected to open three restaurants. But the contractor on that project, Nashville-based The Strauss Co., was outed by a whistleblower for operating its business even though its Tennessee license expired on March 31, the Nashville Business Journal reports.

A spokesperson for Fry told the paper the contractor is no longer working on the project and that the restaurateur still plans to open the eateries later this year.

Vantage co-founder Gene Rice did not return calls seeking comment.

Vantage also is working on a project on nearly 2 acres across the street from 1400 Adams with Atlanta-based King of Pops as a tenant, according to the NBJ.