Charlotte TGI Fridays could face closure. It’s replacement isn’t another chain restaurant

Catherine Muccigrosso
·2 min read

Fifth Third Bank is exploring expanding again in the Charlotte area, this time with plans to replace a southwest Charlotte restaurant.

The Cincinnati-based bank recently submitted a sketch plan to the city of Charlotte to demolish a restaurant at 12811 S. Tryon St. — T.G.I. Fridays.

The 1.2-acre Steele Creek site property is an outparcel of RiverGate shopping center, owned by Kolb Tucson in Englewood, N.J, according to Mecklenburg County property records.

Fifth Third’s project would include building a 1,900-square-foot bank branch with a two-lane remote drive-thru, according to the application filing. The plan also includes about 12 parking spaces.

The sketch plans submitted by BDG Architects in Tampa, Florida, are for preliminary review, city records show.

TGI Fridays did not respond to a request for comment by Wednesday morning. After this story posted, however, a TGI Fridays spokeswoman said there currently are no plans to close the restaurant.

Fifth Third officials declined to comment Tuesday. Kolb Tucson officials did not respond to requests for comment by Wednesday.

Fifth Third Bank has submitted a sketch plan to explore opening a branch at 12811 S. Tryon St., the site is T.G.I. Fridays.
Fifth Third Bank has submitted a sketch plan to explore opening a branch at 12811 S. Tryon St., the site is T.G.I. Fridays.

Fifth Third Bank’s expansion in NC

The proposed Steele Creek bank branch would be part of the regional bank’s rapid expansion across the Southeast.

Fifth Third has more than doubled the number of branches since 2020 to 24 in Charlotte, according to the bank’s website. There are 46 Fifth Third branches in the Charlotte region.

The bank plans to open eight more branches in the Charlotte market through 2028, including one in the second half of next year at Mills Crossing in Fort Mill and another at 2340 Beatties Ford Road in west Charlotte.

The latest plans are in for that new Harris Teeter on Fort Mill Parkway — with changes

Last year, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its minimum hourly pay to $20 affecting nearly 95% of employees in branches and operations support functions like call centers.

North Carolina’s seventh largest by deposits. Fifth Third ranks fourth to the city’s three largest banks — Bank of America, Truist and Wells Fargo — in total deposits in the metro area.