A popular Knoxville restaurant reopens 14 months after kitchen fire became an 'inferno'

The Burlington subdivision of Buddy's Bar-B-Q has reopened much than a twelvemonth aft it astir burnt to the ground.

The 3700 Magnolia Ave. edifice archetypal opened successful 1983 arsenic conscionable the 3rd Buddy's Bar-B-Q, a third-generation edifice marque with 19 locations crossed East Tennessee. Buddy's CEO Mark Lemoncelli said the assemblage effect to the returning edifice has been arsenic if a brand-new determination were opening.

In February 2024, the Buddy's successful Burlington suffered a room occurrence that engulfed the gathering successful flames.

"The manager had conscionable near the building, and it fundamentally turned into a elephantine inferno," Lemoncelli said. "It conscionable took connected a beingness of its own."

This determination didn't look similar the different Buddy's. It had a flatter, square-like extortion and was missing the recognizable reddish top. The gathering was minutes distant from wholly collapsing during the fire, Lemoncelli said.

Once the occurrence was enactment out, helium knew the edifice would request to beryllium mostly redone. The determination was closed for 14 months, Lemoncelli said, since "they had to spell down to 4 walls and rebuild."

This Buddy's present has the iconic reddish roof, on with interior renovations and room upgrades. More than 60% of the unit that worked astatine Buddy's earlier the occurrence returned aft the edifice reopened April 28, Lemoncelli said.

"They cognize a batch of the assemblage that comes in," helium said. "It's been bully to see. It's been encouraging."

Buddy's CEO besides reopens Jason's Deli connected the Strip

Lemoncelli besides is the franchise proprietor of Jason's Deli astatine 2106 Cumberland Ave., which returned to the Strip successful April aft being closed much than 4 years.

The nationwide sandwich concatenation had to adjacent its campus-area edifice successful December 2020 aft developers began buying up existent property connected Cumberland Avenue to marque mode for much backstage lodging for University of Tennessee astatine Knoxville students.

Jason's Deli has reopened connected the aforesaid artifact but is present wrong the caller Union Knoxville building, a pupil lodging task backed by planetary existent property firm Greystar. In 2021, the portion promenade that housed Jason's Deli, Subway and Domino's successful the 2100 artifact of Cumberland Avenue was demolished to marque mode for the apartments.

Joanna Hayes is the edifice and retail reporter. Email: [email protected]. | Sign up for the escaped Eat65 newsletter

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This nonfiction primitively appeared connected Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville edifice Buddy's Bar-B-Q reopens aft Magnolia Avenue fire