A Florida-based burger chain will bring its “big is better” boast to Westchester County as the latest addition to a growing restaurant row in downtown White Plains.
A Cheeburger Cheeburger franchise has leased about 3,300 square feet at 84-86 Mamaroneck Ave. The restaurant plans to open Sept. 28, said Bonnie Silverman, president of Silverman Realty Group Inc., the building”™s landlord.
Based in Fort Myers, Fla., Cheeburger Cheeburger features an Invent Your Own Taste menu and 378,000 flavor combinations of milk shake in a retro-1950s setting. Silverman said the White Plains store, the first the chain has opened in Westchester, is owned by a new franchise operator, Aljen Enterprises L.L.C. She said the owners also plan to build a party room to accommodate children’s birthday parties and corporate and other events.
Principals of Aljen Enterprises could not be reached for comment at deadline.
Joan Simon, vice president at NAI Friedland realty in Yonkers, represented the landlord in the lease deal. The burger franchise was represented by Greg Mallory, of Landmark Commercial Real Estate Services Inc., Farmington Hills, Mich.
The White Plains store will be the eighth Cheeburger Cheeburger franchise in New York. The company has locations in 20 states.
Adding to the downtown eatery scene, another East Coast-based burger chain, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, is expected to open this year at 238-240 Main St. in a vacant retail building owned by City Center developer Louis R. Cappelli. The owner, Five Guys Enterprises L.L.C., is a suburban Washington, D.C. company with more than 550 burger restaurants nationwide.
Meanwhile, developer Anthony “A.J.” Rotonde, who is seeking city approval of his Metropolitan Plaza retail and office redevelopment project on downtown Main Street, recently said a Florida company this summer will open a family-style Italian restaurant at 264 Main St. A Pearl yogurt and smoothie shop will open next door at 270 Main St. in July, he said.
Another restaurant franchise, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill, plans a September opening at the former Zanaro”™s Italian Restaurant at 1 Mamaroneck Ave. Zanaro”™s, which opened in 2004 in the former bank building that is part of the City Center retail and entertainment complex, closed in late May. Four M Capital L.L.C., of Valhalla, will operate the Buffalo Wild Wings Grill, the ninth chicken-wings restaurant opened by the company in New York and Connecticut.
