Restaurant Still Wants to Build in Strongsville

A restaurant that announced it early 2012 it wanted to build in Strongsville is still planning to open here, even though it has yet to submit plans.

O'Charley's, a Tennessee-based chain of family restaurants, sought to build a 200-seat restaurant at the corner of Whitney and Pearl roads.

It was part of a project outlined by WXZ Development Inc. that also included a Sheetz gas station.

Sheetz has since submitted plans and is moving forward, but Strongsville officials have noted that O'Charley's has been silent since a rezoning for the property was approved last year.

But Brad McLean, project manager for WXZ, said this week that O'Charley's is still planning its restaurant here.

"They have a policy that they will not start plans for city site plan approvals until they actually own the land," McLean said in an email.

WXZ closed the purchase last week, he said. He expects the restaurant to be in contact with Strongsville within a month.

WXZ took over the troubled development at Pearl and Whitney roads, picking up where the Toledo-based Timberstone development group left off when it ran into financial obstacles and bowed out in 2009.

Timberstone was the second developer to plan and then abandon a project there.