Landmark Diner Jr. has closed its location on Cheshire Bridge Road. The restaurant, an offshoot of Buckhead's Landmark Diner, opened in 2005 and reportedly closed quietly earlier this week. The restaurant, which was open 24/7, featured a huge menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner options ranging from traditional egg plates to steaks, shrimp entrees and gyros.

Photo courtesy of Russell Youngblood



When the Landmark Diner Jr. opened in 2005, it replaced longtime Cheshire Bridge "landmark" Dunk 'n Dine, a popular neighborhood restaurant that operated for more than four decades. The Landmark Diner building was originally built in 1960 according to Fulton County property records.



It's unclear what precipitated the sudden closure but the Cheshire Bridge Landmark as well as its larger sibling restaurants downtown and in Buckhead, all have bad reputations for failing health inspections. Despite the poor heath scores, the restaurant seemed to do well and its closure could be due to a pending redevelopment.



JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) is currently marketing not only the Landmark Diner property (2277 Cheshire Bridge Road) but the adjacent European Dry Cleaners (2297) and the former Happy Herman's (2299) too. Collectively, the three parcels are reportedly .76 acres are being marketed for lease, ground lease or build to suit.

According to the listing, the Landmark building is 2,300 square feet, European Dry Cleaners is 1,442 sf with 600 square foot basement and the former Happy Herman's is 6,096 square feet.





The marketing materials further describe the opportunity as "incredible" given its location "in highly desirable intown Atlanta location" with "dense population with high incomes and surrounded by some of Atlanta’s best in-town neighborhoods including Morningside-Lenox Park, Piedmont Heights, Lavista Park and Peachtree-Hills."

It's a known fact that RaceTrac and QuikTrip would LOVE to be in the area but given the subject assemblage is not even .8 of an acre, it's likely too small for even the most compact of modern c-stores either company would want to open.

Cheshire Bridge Road, once a beacon of independent businesses, especially restaurants, has witnessed its fair share of casualties over the years. The aforementioned Happy Herman's closed in 2008 after more than three decades in business.

Just off Cheshire Bridge, on Lindbergh Drive, Varsity Jr. closed in 2010 and was later replaced by an uber boring self-storage facility.

Alfredo's, a popular Italian restaurant on Cheshire Bridge Road for more than 40 years, closed in early 2016 and is now home to a mid-rise apartment community.

Longtime Atlantans likely still yearn for the return of Katz's Deli, a once popular eatery where today Southern Nights, an adult toy and video store is currently located.





Fortunately, some restaurants have survived the test of time and continuous redevelopment like The Colonnade, Nino's and Hong Kong Harbour, among others.





We here at ToNeTo Atlanta hope the three properties, especially the dry cleaners and the Landmark building can be renovated and re-purposed rather than demolished.

What would you like to see happen to these three parcels? What is your fondest memory of a dining experience on Cheshire Bridge Road? If someone were to reopen a former Cheshire Bridge area restaurant, which one would you most like to see reborn?