Butler Plaza getting bigger, adds biscuit concept

Emerging food service concept Maple Street Biscuit Company is the latest addition to one of Gainesville, Fla.’s fastest growing retail destinations.

Maple Street Biscuit Company will operate a 3,500-sq.-ft. restaurant in Gainesville’sButler Plaza, a well-known retail destination in north central Florida that is in the midst of a major expansion. Already measuring in at one million square feet, Butler Plaza is the largest retail center in the area and a new 750,000-sq.-ft. expansion dubbed Butler North that opened this year is already 90% leased. Even bigger things are to come in 2018, when the two million square foot Butler Town Center sitting on 267-acres comes on line. That project begins construction this year.

"We're delighted to welcomeMaple Street Biscuit Companyto Butler Plaza," said Deborah Butler, president of Butler Enterprises. "Their reputation for quality and dedication to building a community by providing warm, welcoming customer service is the perfect match for our center, which has been the retail core of Gainesville for generations.”

The new location will be Maple Street’s first in Gainesville and eighth overall. It joins a collection of 25 restaurants in an area in the section of Butler Plaza near Target referred to as restaurant row. Other restaurants include Ale House, Arby's, Bonefish Grill, Chili's, Chuys, Firehouse Subs, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Pollo Tropical, Starbucks, Sushi Matsuri, Taco Bell, Texas Roadhouse, TGI Fridays, Tijuana Flats, Yogurtology and Zoe's Kitchen.

"Coming to Gainesville is another opportunity for us to live out our mission of 'helping people, serving others and being a part of the community,'" said Chris Sears, owner of Maple Street Biscuit Company.