Breaking News: Cracker Barrel to Build New Restaurant in Lavonia

2011-01-28_cracker_barrel_in_morrisville_ncYears of rumors have finally come true for the citizens of Lavonia.

At a called meeting Thursday afternoon, the Lavonia City Council voted unanimously to sell property on Ross Place to Cracker Barrel Old Country Restaurants, Inc.

After coming out of executive session, City Manager Charles Cawthon asked the Council to vote.

Cracker Barrel plans to build their new restaurant on property where a topless bar, the Cafe Risque, once stood.

That topless bar, long a thorn in the side of the citizens of Lavonia, opened in 2001 after owner Jerry Sullivan lied to the City Council saying he planned to open what he claimed would be a family BBQ restaurant.

Sullivan received a permit from the City for his BBQ restaurant that evening, and by morning had turned it into a topless bar.

After years of legal battles, the City bought the bar and the property from Sullivan’s estate in 2008 and immediately tore it down, burning the sign on the property grounds.

Since then, the City has been looking for a buyer for the land.

Over the years, rumors would circulate from time to time that Cracker Barrel was planning to put a restaurant on the Ross Place location, but they were always just rumors.

Now those rumors are true.

Mayor Ralph Owens told WLHR’s MJ Kneiser Thursday that having a Cracker Barrel at the 173 Interchange on I-85 will be a boost to the local economy.

“We’ve been trying for eight years to get Cracker Barrel here and we’re very excited that it’s going to happen now,” Owens said. “We expect even more businesses to follow them at that interchange and for the area to really grow.”

WLHR News reached out to Cracker Barrel executives as to when they plan to start construction but have not heard back.

Cawthon said they hope to close on the sale of the Ross Place property in two weeks.