The City Kitchen restaurant has permanently closed, according to ownership, and is in the process of moving out of its space in the University Place mall.

The Chapel Hill restaurant had been closed since March, just before the COVID-19 pandemic caused North Carolina restaurants to shut down. But a Facebook post to the community on Friday revealed the space would not be reopening its doors again.

“While we will not be reopening City Kitchen due to unfavorable lease negotiations,” reads the post signed by owner Giorgios Bakatsias, “we are grateful to the community for supporting this beautiful American brasserie since 2012, and for the opportunity to have served in this location for almost two decades.”

The move was foreshadowed by moving trucks working outside the restaurant for several days, taking items like furniture, kitchen equipment and dinner ware.

Bakatsias’ business, part of his Giorgios Hospitality & Lifestyle Group, has operated in the space since 2000, first as a restaurant called Spice Street before converting it to City Kitchen. The space is near part of the University Place mall under consideration for redevelopment by ownership.

The Giorgios Hospitality & Lifestyle Group moved another one of its restaurants during the pandemic. Kipos Greek Taverna closed and announced it would be leaving its West Franklin Street location to a new spot in Chapel Hill’s Eastgate Crossing Shopping Center, formerly occupied by Babalu.

The hospitality group also owns the Chapel Hill-based restaurants Bin 54 Steak & Cellar and Village Burgers, as well as Vin Rouge and Local 22 in Durham.

You can find other restaurants open in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and around Orange County amid the pandemic on Chapelboro’s What’s Open and Closed? Restaurant Page.

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