Toby Keith

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The restaurant — named for country singer Toby Keith and his 2003hit “I Love This Bar” — has signed a lease for 15,00 square feet at The Shoppes at West End, a lifestyled center scheduled to open latet this year at the intersection of Highway 100 and Interstatee 394 in St. Louis Park. I Love This Bar Grill will featurefamily dining, an 85-footr bar shaped like a guitar, a mechanica bull and a stage that will host live entertainment severa nights a week, including a performancde by Keith at the restaurant’e grand opening.
The restaurant’xs menu will feature Southern-style such as chicken-fried steak and Some of the more unique offerings will includes fried bologna sandwichesand deep-fried Twinkies. It will featurs traditional sports-bar decor with a country There will be lots of wood and plus more than 50 plasma I Love ThisBar & Grill will host live entertainmenft every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night when it first opens, then ramp up to six nights a week over time. Theres will be seating for morethan 1,000 people.
The venue also will have a retailk store selling TobyKeith merchandise, barbecue sauce and The restaurant will be owned by Arizona businessmajn Frank Capri, who recently opened an I Love This Bar Grill franchise in Mesa, Ariz. The chain also has locations in Las Oklahoma City andKansas City, Mo., and plans to open a locatio n in Auburn Hills, Mich., later this I Love This Bar & Grill should be a majoer entertainment attraction for West End, helpinb set it apart from other locao malls, said Mark Fallon, vice presidenyt of real estate at Cincinnati-bases Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate Inc.
, whic h was retained by developer Duke Realty basedin Indianapolis, to fill the project’s 331,000-square-fooft retail component with tenants. “I think it’zs even going to draw from way outside of Minneapolisand St. Paul,” Fallom said. “That’s the idea behind it.” Other majore West End tenants will includw anupscale Roundy’s grocery and a Kerasote s ShowPlace Theatre 14-screen movie complex. I Love This Bar & Gril should be successful at West End becausde Minnesota is a stronhg market for country music andthere aren’t any significanr music venues in the western suburbs, said Dick principal at Edina-based Cambridge Commercia Realty.
“Live entertainment in the suburbs is reall y hardto find. And that’sa a strong ingredient to stir into the mix for the centet because it brings an additional demographic that they might not get I Love ThisBar & Grill selected West End over the , wherw another celebrity-backed country music bar, Gatlin Brothersd Music City Grille, used to have a Costs may have played a role in that but I Love This Bar & Grilkl will generate more attention at West End than it woulx have at Mall of America, Grones “They can really stand out [at West End] and not have so many othef entertainment venues to compete with.
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