facebook.com/FifthandBEnjoy that lovely unobstructed view of the Ryman from Broadway while you can, because the massive new Fifth + Broadway complex that is rising from the former space of the Nashville Convention Center will soon dominate that corner and draw huge crowds of visitors to the block across from Bridgestone Arena. On the bright side, two local favorites have recently been named as future tenants, and I’m guessing they’ll absolutely kill it once the mixed-use project opens in mid-2020.

Pizza entrepreneurs Slim & Husky’s have been on an expansion jag, building on the success of their original location on Buchanan Street. They have new outposts either open or in various stages of planning and construction in Antioch, Wedgewood-Houston and Atlanta, with other rumored expansions under consideration in markets like Chicago and L.A. While Nashvillians, especially Slim & Husky's neighbors in “The Buc,” love the atmosphere and food at the original restaurant, tourists probably don’t make the trip to that neighborhood very often, while the Antioch edition in a former chain restaurant probably doesn’t quite have the vibe to pull in out-of-towners. (Plus, that would be a long-ass ride on a Bird scooter …)

But once they open at the head of Lower Broad, expect tourists to line up to experience Slim & Husky’s brand of design-your-own pizzas and craft beer in their upcoming 3,000-square-foot restaurant in Fifth + Broad.

However, the prospect of thousands of potential customers rolling out of Bridgestone after a Preds game or a concert and seeing a bright red-and-white Hattie B’s hot chicken sign like a beacon boggles the mind. Restaurateur Nick Bishop Jr. took a little time to convince himself to make the leap of faith to the urban core. “With locations on Charlotte, Midtown and Melrose, all three Hattie B’s are pretty close to each other,” Bishop explains. “We worried we might draw from each other, but the opportunity to be on Broadway and continue to be a great representative of Nashville hot chicken and hospitality was something we just couldn’t pass up.”

Hattie B’s has also opened three new restaurants in three different states in the past year, with locations in Memphis, Atlanta and Las Vegas. The Vegas outpost is in a food court in the Cosmopolitan hotel and casino, and the chance to design a high-volume restaurant in a small space for the first time gave Hattie B’s management the confidence that they could make it work in a 2,800-square-foot space in Fifth + Broadway. ”Las Vegas has been an inspiration for what we may do at Fifth + Broad,” says Bishop. “We’ve learned how to keep a tight group of staff and still produce more volume. We’ve developed a great leadership group and built systems to be able to handle it.”

The menu at the downtown location will probably be very similar to at the rest of the Hattie B’s chain, with the possibility of expanding the beer and drinks menu a bit and offering a limited menu for takeaway through a walk-up window. Looking beyond the obvious clientele of honky-tonkers seeking party fuel or conventioneers wanting to take a midnight snack back to their hotel rooms, Bishop says they also want to be able to streamline the process for downtown workers with a hankering for a quick hot-chicken lunch. Everyone will also be able to take advantage of extended hours and a welcoming outdoor space added on to the restaurant.

The new Hattie B’s won’t be a part of the food hall that has been announced for the Fifth + Broadway development. Instead it will be a standalone restaurant with its own entrance on the southwest corner of the complex. “I don’t know if we’d have done without the Broadway entrance,” Bishop explains. “We’ll have great exposure and visibility for people walking and driving up and down the street.”

Bishop says that he pushed the developers to reach out to Slim & Husky’s. “We felt strongly about having a local element. We think this, and cool projects like the National Museum of African American Music, will be great additions to the city of Nashville.” Hopefully not too many tourists heading home will stop for an order of “Shut the Cluck Up” hot chicken on the way to the airplane. That would be bad.