Patrons enjoy a meal at TGI Fridays in Chattanooga in this file photo.

Signs are taken down after TGI Fridays closed in Chattanooga.

polls here 2933

One of the first restaurants to open in the shadow of the Tennessee Aquarium more than two decades ago closed today, but a new restaurant should soon open in the Broad Street facility.

TGI Fridays shut down today after the restaurant's lease was terminated. Restaurant employees and guests were greeted with the news today on the door of the downtown eatery.

"In my opinion, this is the best restaurant location in downtown," said Jon Kinsey, president of Kinsey, Probasco and Hays - the managing partner for the building that houses the restaurant. "We have several interested people in this site and we are close to having a replacement that we think will be great for downtown."

The company-owned TGI Fridays outlet downtown is one of 247 restaurants that TGI Fridays operates in the United States. The new owners of TGI Fridays announced last week they will try to sell most of its restaurants to franchise operators under a reorganization plan.

Kinsey said he was interested in getting a new restaurant concept in the downtown site, rather than taking over the TGI Fridays franchise.

"We hope to make an announcement of a new tenant soon," Kinsey said today.

TGI Fridays has operated its downtown Chattanooga restaurant at 2 Broad Street since 1993. The restaurant, which includes more than 200 seats, operated as a franchise location for two years before the parent company acquired the location in 1996.

In May, a pair of private equity firms - Sentinel Capital Partners and TriArtisan Capital Partners - bought TGI Fridays from the Minneapolis-based Carlson Group, which had owned TGI Fridays since 1975.