Kedron Village spent the first half of 2026 losing a tenant and gaining a following. Market Place Boulevard spent the same stretch tearing out a dead restaurant to build a much bigger one. Neither story made much noise on its own. Put them side by side, though, and a pattern shows up that explains where you'll actually end up eating dinner this year, depending on which direction you point your cart.
Kedron Village Picks Up a Second Life
On Tuesday, June 23, Bicicletta opened in the roughly 3,500-square-foot endcap at 1263 N Peachtree Parkway that Panera vacated back in January. The space sits across the parking lot from Target, and the team behind it isn't new to south metro dining. It's the second concept from the chefs and restaurateurs who run ENZO Steakhouse & Bar in Fayetteville, and they were deliberate about not just opening a second ENZO. Bicicletta leans into a cycling theme, with Tour de France photography and bicycle motifs throughout the dining room, and a menu built around Italian standards like pasta, pizza, and chicken parmesan.
Kedron Village isn't stopping at one new tenant. As of early July, Firehouse Subs is on the way into the same shopping center, which means the corridor is picking up both a chef-driven newcomer and a national quick-service name in the same year. That's worth noting because it complicates the easy version of this story. Kedron Village isn't becoming purely an independent food scene. It's becoming the place where new things are landing first, full stop, regardless of who's behind them.
The Avenue and Market Place Boulevard Keep Recruiting Familiar Names
Head south to The Avenue and the story reads differently. Biscuit Belly held its grand opening events April 23 and 24, filling a 3,364-square-foot space with a biscuit-making window, a shimmer wall, and a menu built around biscuit sandwiches rather than the usual pancake-and-waffle breakfast format. The Brisket Biscuit and the Mama's Boy, a buttermilk fried chicken breast sandwich with roasted jalapeño pimento cheese, headline the lineup, alongside a bar program built around brunch cocktails. For a stretch of The Avenue that had gone a while without a real breakfast destination, it closed a gap that regulars had been talking about for years.
Trader Joe's got there first. The chain opened its Peachtree City store on October 27, 2025, at 258 City Circle, in the space Books-A-Million left when it relocated across the street to West Park Walk. It's worth sitting with what that opening actually represents: this is Trader Joe's first location in Peachtree City and its first store on the south side of Atlanta, period. The company hired about 60 local crew members to run it, and the store donates all of its unsold but still-good food to community nonprofits every day of the week through its Neighborhood Shares program. Nearly ten months in, it's no longer news to anyone who shops there weekly, but for a household still routing grocery runs into Fayetteville or up to the city, it's worth the reminder that the trip got shorter.
J. Alexander's is the one still under construction. Crews cleared out the old Smokey Bones building at 100 Market Place Boulevard earlier this year, and the chain is planning to hire somewhere between 90 and 100 front- and back-of-house staff, a hiring number that tells you this isn't a quick-service slot-in. It will be the brand's fourth Georgia location, joining existing restaurants in Peachtree Corners and Dunwoody, with a menu of hand-cut steaks, signature salads and sandwiches, and a full wine list, operating seven days a week. As of early summer, the buildout was still underway, with an opening the chain had penciled in before summer's end.
Here's the shape of it in one view:
What | Where | Status as of August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Bicicletta | Kedron Village, 1263 N Peachtree Parkway | Open since June 23 |
Firehouse Subs | Kedron Village | Announced, opening pending |
Biscuit Belly | The Avenue | Open since April |
Trader Joe's | The Avenue, 258 City Circle | Open since October 2025 |
J. Alexander's | Market Place Boulevard | Finishing buildout, hiring underway |
The One That Didn't Close, Even Though It Looked Like It Might
Not every 2026 restaurant story in Peachtree City is about a new address. Grazing Here, a favorite for more than a decade, changed hands this past June. Owners Gene and Becca sold the restaurant to new ownership, and in their announcement they thanked General Manager Heather Wiggins along with longtime team members Eddie and Larry for keeping the place running the way regulars remember it. The new owners are continuing the same restaurant under the same roof, not closing it down and starting over, which matters if you've been putting off a visit because you weren't sure it was still open. It is.
The Other Thing That Changed This Year Isn't on a Menu
Every one of these restaurants sits somewhere along Peachtree City's cart path network, which means how you actually get to dinner changed too. In October 2025, the City Council approved an amendment to the Motorized Cart Ordinance that moves where your registration decal has to sit. The old standard allowed a single decal wherever it fit. The new one requires decals on both the front and the rear of the cart, in spots that stay unobstructed and clearly visible at all times.
If your cart still shows just one decal, it predates the rule. The requirement applies now, not just to carts registered under the new cycle.
The city's 2026 resident renewal runs on a three-year cycle through 2028, priced at $45 total, with notices mailed in January and payment due by March 31. That deadline has already passed for this cycle, which means the relevant question isn't whether you're on time. It's whether the cart sitting in your garage right now, especially if you bought it used or haven't looked closely since last year, actually meets the new placement standard. In a city of nearly 40,000 residents, more than 10,000 households keep a registered cart on hand, and the full ordinance language and current registration details are posted on the city's site if you want to check yours against the rule directly.
What's Been Playing in the Background
None of this has happened in silence. The Fred, formally the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater at 201 McIntosh Trail, has run its Summer Concert Series for more than three decades, and this year's lineup already delivered a full run of recognizable names before the season even hit its midpoint: a One Vision of Queen tribute in May, Josh Turner and John Waite closing out the same month, Atlanta Rhythm Section in early June, Everclear a week later. The 2,500-seat open-air venue has been the thing plenty of these restaurant trips were built around, dinner in Kedron Village or a stop at The Avenue before or after a show. Whatever's left on the venue's calendar for the back half of the year is worth a look before the season wraps.
The Map Moved, Even If the City Didn't
Add it up and the geography tells you more than any single opening does. If what you want is new and still finding its footing, Kedron Village has been the place to check first all year, Bicicletta first, Firehouse Subs close behind. If what you want is the name you already trust, The Avenue and Market Place Boulevard keep being where it lands, Trader Joe's already a year in, Biscuit Belly since spring, J. Alexander's close behind. Either direction, check your decals before you go.
We follow this stuff closely at The Joe Carbone Team because it's the same Peachtree City we live and work in every day. If you've got a question about the neighborhood, whether it's about a new spot worth trying or something further down the road, we're always glad to talk. Get in touch anytime.
