Editor’s Note: Tee Jaye’s at 4910 N. High St. will officially close its doors at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 30.
After a 29-year run, Tee Jaye’s Country Place, 4910 N. High St., will be closing in Clintonville.
The closure is not necessarily by choice. The restaurant’s lease was up and the land owners sold the parcel.
“It was a little too expensive for us and believe me we are sad to go,” says Tee Jaye’s President Dayna Sokol Sandsten.
The local restaurant chain hopes to find another location in the area and is solely focused on Clintonville, yet to look anywhere else in the city.
Tee Jaye’s celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, marking the opening of its first location on Parsons Avenue. Closing Clintonville will take Tee Jaye’s down to seven regional restaurants, with locations on the West Side and South Side, and in Grove City, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, Newark and Zanesville.
An exact closing date has not been set, but Sandsten says the restaurant will say goodbye sometime in the spring.
As soon as the imminent closing was announced, rumors began to surface about what might replace the location. Preliminary site review plans submitted to the City of Columbus indicate Atlanta-based fast-food chain Chick-fil-A is eyeing the parcel for what would be its 11th Central Ohio restaurant.
Plans say Chick-fil-A would demolish the existing building and construct a new restaurant with a dual drive-thru.
Anthony J. Celebrezze, assistant director of the Department of Building and Zoning Services for the City of Columbus, cautions that a preliminary site review does not equal a done deal.
“The no cost, preliminary site plan review they are undergoing will provide the applicant with some initial feedback from numerous city agencies regarding what they are proposing for the site,” Celebrezze says. “The applicant would take the comments from this initial review and develop a final site plan. That would then be routed through the same agencies and talks would occur to bring the development into compliance with city ordinances and polices. This initial review would also inform the applicant if any variances might be needed.”
There are three review process to be completed before any shovels might hit the ground.
For more information, visit teejayes.com.
