Bravo! restaurant closes, site up for sale

The Castleton location of Bravo! Cucina Italiana Restaurant closed earlier this month, and the property is for sale.

The site, at 8651 Castle Creek Parkway East Drive, just north of Castleton Square Mall, is zoned for C-4 commercial use and includes the 8,733-square-foot former restaurant on a 1.9-acre lot. Northbrook, Illinois-based Hilco Real Estate is handling the sale.

Hilco Senior Vice President Steve Madura said the restaurant closed Oct. 19, and his firm has already heard from multiple interested parties. “We’ve already gotten a really good response even after a week of marketing it.”

Most queries have come from restaurant operators interested in the existing building, Madura said, but a few have come from parties interested in tearing down the structure and building something new.

Property owner Arcadia Properties LLC—a Bravo!-affiliated entity—has not set an asking price, Madura said. “The seller has really elected for the market to determine the price.” Offers are due Dec. 5.

The existing structure was built in 1986. Bravo had occupied the site since 1995, originally under the name Bravo! Italian Kitchen, making it one of the early locations for its parent company, Columbus, Ohio-based Bravo Brio Restaurant Group Inc. The eatery was named the best new restaurant of 1995 by readers of Indianapolis Monthly.

Bravo Brio was founded in 1987. By the time it went public in 2010, the company was operating in 27 states and had 83 restaurants under two different Italian concepts: Bravo! Cucina Italiana and Brio Tuscan Grille. The company had 110 Bravo and Brio restaurants in March 2018 when Spice Private Equity Ltd., a Switzerland-based private equity company, acquired it for about $100 million.

Spice created a separate restaurant group, Orlando, Florida-based FoodFirst Global Restaurants, to run the Bravo and Brio restaurants. According to its website, FoodFirst has 101 Bravo and Brio restaurants around the U.S.

IBJ was unable to reach a FoodFirst representative for details about the Castleton Bravo closure.

The closure leaves Indianapolis with one Bravo! restaurant, at 2658 Lake Circle Drive. At one time Bravo! also operated a restaurant at Greenwood Park Mall, but it closed in 2014 and the space is now occupied by Bar Louie.

In other news this week:

— Kilroy’s Bar N’ Grill, which closed its downtown location for flooring repairs last month, now says its reopening will be delayed because the repairs needed were more extensive than originally anticipated.

When Kilroy’s closed its 201 S. Meridian St. location on Sept. 18, it expected to reopen in three or four weeks. But on a message posted on its Facebook page Tuesday, the restaurant said it will be “a few more weeks” before it can reopen.

“This has basically been a disaster that we’re really looking forward to getting past,” the message said. In the meantime, Kilroy’s other Indianapolis location, at 831 Broad Ripple Ave., remains open.

— The Fashion Mall at Keystone is gearing up for the holidays with several seasonal pop-up shops. The stores, all of which are locally owned, are Becker Supply Co., Nurture, Purse Strings, Fandom and Foosie Socks.

Fandom, which sells licensed sports items and pop culture gifts, has already opened. Three more stores open Saturday: Becker Supply, which sells outdoor-inspired apparel and accessories; Nurture, which sells gifts, accessories and clothing for newborns and children; and Purse Strings, which sells gifts and fashion accessories for men and women. Nurture has a permanent store on Mass Ave., and Purse Strings operates full time at Clay Terrace.

Opening date information was not available for Foosie Socks, which sells sports-themed socks.