This is "Actual Factual Gwinnett," a regular column in which Tyler Estep answers reader questions about Gwinnett happenings and history. Read previous editions — like this one about bowling and laser tag coming to Suwanee — by clicking the hyperlinks at the bottom of this column, where you'll also find information for submitting your own questions. Enjoy!
Greetings. Let's dish about hypothetical shrimp and grits.
Reader Monique writes: "My daughter tells me they are building a Pappadeaux restaurant by Sugarloaf Mills. Is this true?"
Your daughter is a smart lass, Monique — I think. And I add that last part not to disparage her assuredly sterling character but because there are some question marks here.
But first, for the unfamiliar: Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen is a chain of Cajun-style restaurants with locations across the country. It currently operates eateries in Marietta, Alpharetta and Norcross.
The latter, right off Jimmy Carter Boulevard near I-85, is always poppin' — so I get the interest in the possibility of another Gwinnett location.
So way on back in January, Monique, a super credible development blog called "Tomorrow's News Today" reported that Pappdeaux was indeed planning on opening up shop at the intersection of Duluth Highway and Newpoint Parkway, less than a mile from the aforementioned Sugarloaf Mills mall. Methinks this is where your daughter got her intel.
Anyway, citing a restaurant spokesperson, that article said that plans were for the restaurant to open sometime in 2017.
OK, awesome, so it's coming? Pump the brakes a little there, Mo.
I have no reason to doubt ToNeTo's info, but a couple phone calls and four or five emails to folks from Pappadeaux's corporate HQ have netted me approximately zero response or, for that matter, confirmation/further insight into a timeline for construction.
Commercial building permits were indeed filed with Gwinnett County in 2015, and property records still show Pappas Restaurants Inc. own the land there. But the site where it's presumably going up looks like this...
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...and the nearby sign conspicuously lacks the restaurant's red crawfish logo:
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So where does that leave us? I really don't know. The development business is one with lots of twists and turns, and darn near anything can happen — but I think the odds are pretty good you'll be sinking your teeth into a po' boy in Lawrenceville sometime in the future.
Eventually. Maybe.
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I, Tyler Estep, am a staff writer with the AJC and a Gwinnett County native. To submit “Actual Factual Gwinnett” questions, contact me at tyler.estep@coxinc.com, @ByTylerEstep on Twitter or via the form below.
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