Another Restaurant Permanently Closes in Tuscaloosa Shopping Center

One of the last remaining dining options in a Tuscaloosa shopping center is permanently closed, joining a line of other vacant spaces in the outdoor mall.

The 217,000 square-foot Shoppes at Legacy Park were built across 15th Street from the already-established Midtown Village after the old Cedar Crest subdivision was destroyed in the EF-4 tornado of April 2011.

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The Shoppes were originally developed and built by Alumni Development and Construction, a Clanton, Alabama LLC that dissolved in May 2022. State records show the complex is now owned by Cedar Crest LLC, which was founded by Tuscaloosa Realtor William Edwards.

Its big box stores have mostly weathered tough economic times and even the closed Bed Bath & Beyond was almost immediately replaced by the new Burlington Coat Factory, but dining options have struggled to thrive there.

The outdoor mall was originally anchored by Chuy’s Tex-Mex and BurgerFi, and developers later added Nothing But Noodles, the Juice Bar Tuscaloosa and PYRO's Fire Fresh Pizza.

Of that list, only Pyro's remains in business - a notice posted on the door says BurgerFi is now permanently closed.

The Florida-born hand-crafted hamburger chain in still open in around 80 other locations, including Auburn, Montgomery and a handful around the Atlanta area.

Chuy's closed abruptly in 2019, Nothing but Noddles followed in 2021, and the Juice Bar shut its doors last April. With BurgerFi now joining the list, the development's three adjacent restaurant spaces now all stand empty.

The news at the Shoppes is not all bad, though - after standing vacant for more than four years, a new tenant is finally open in the former Chuy's location - an Asian buffet the Thread will detail more later this month.

For more on that new option and for other exclusive restaurant and retail development news, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.