3 Chefs and a Chicken inks $16M lease, to replace Wendy’s in Coral Gables

Miami-based 3 Chefs and a Chicken is growing, and will replace a Wendy’s in Coral Gables in a deal valued at more than $16 million. 

The restaurant closed on the 20-year ground lease for the roughly 4,000-square-foot building at 6601 Southwest 57th Avenue earlier this month,  Eric C. Eisenberg of SouthEast Atlantic Realty Group told The Real Deal. Eisenberg brokered the lease.

3 Chefs and a Chicken on Bird Road

A group of investors led by Sergio Delgado and Ramon Mendez paid $9 million for the 38,205-square-foot site on the corner of South Dixie Highway and Red Road last year, with plans to eventually redevelop the property. It sold for about $235 per square foot, based on land value, and about $2,250 per square foot for the building, built in 1979.

Initially, brokers familiar with the property said it was going to be redeveloped to include a new bank and Wendy’s. But 3 Chefs and a Chicken and the landlord began negotiating a deal in September and signed a new lease Nov. 2, Eisenberg said.

Broker Eric Eisenberg

The Coral Gables location, across Red Road from the Shops at Sunset Place, marks the second site for 3 Chefs and a Chicken, currently based at 8195 Bird Road in Miami. Wendy’s will move out in May and the new restaurant plans to open by the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018, Eisenberg said.

The goal is to remodel, not knock anything down, he said.

He said the chicken restaurant was looking in areas like Kendall, Doral and U.S. 1, citing the property’s traffic count, demographics, nearly 50 parking spaces and drive-thru as reasons the group closed on the deal.

A number of new projects are in the pipeline for the South Dixie Highway corridor in Coral Gables/South Miami. Next door at the Shops at Sunset Place, new owners Federal Realty Investment Trust, Comras Company and Grass River Property plan to knock down parts of the Mediterranean-style mall and add a new hotel, residences and street-level retail.