Six18 Restaurant planned near courthouse in downtown Chattanooga

The longtime site of a couple of well-known eateries in downtown Chattanooga is undergoing new life where a local group plans to open a restaurant early this fall.

Six18 Restaurant & Lounge will open on Georgia Avenue across from the Hamilton County Courthouse where Jefferson’s and Brass Register had operated for many years.

Luronda Jennings, Six18’s director of operations, said work is underway to completely renovate the inside of the building to attract customers to the location, where the new restaurant plans to serve traditional Southern cuisine with a modern flair.

“It will be a little upscale,” she said, offering a menu for brunch, lunch, dinner and late-night fare including sandwiches, entree salads, high-quality meats, seafood and fresh vegetables.

The restaurant has brought in Andi Allgood as its executive chef to create the menu. Allgood previously served as executive chef and owner of Kozy Cooking Catering in Chattanooga, and she has 28 years of hospitality and restaurant experience, including with Blue Orleans in the city.

“I want customers to enjoy Southern cuisine with a modern twist,” said Allgood, who in 2013 served as executive chef for the ambassador’s ball for President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Jennings said Streamline Investment Group locally is behind the new restaurant, though she wouldn’t say how much money is going into the venture.

“Things lined up perfectly,” she said. “This location became available. We’d been thinking of the idea for quite some time.”

She said the new restaurant will be in the heart of downtown.

“It’s a wonderful building and a wonderful location,” Jennings said about the 618 Georgia Ave. address. “Us from Chattanooga and hearing what people want, when the building became available, the opportunity presented itself.”

Jennings said the main dining room will hold space for 80 to 85 people. Also, Six18 will offer a private dining room to rent out, she said.

“We’re really big on providing a different type of environment and ambiance,” Jennings said, adding that Six18 will offer live entertainment on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Menu prices will range from $10 to $15 for lunch and $15 to $28 for dinner, she said.

Space in the rear will hold an after-hours lounge, with the restaurant offering wine, cocktails and 12 on-tap beers. In addition, another small site off the patio will handle pick-up for to-go orders, Jennings said.

She said Six18 is hiring from 50 to 60 employees, already having brought in a management team and about 15 others.

“We still have a ways to go,” Jennings said, with jobs available at its website at six18online.com.

Knowing parking can be a challenge around the courthouse, she said the restaurant will offer valet parking.

Jennings said that plans are to operate Tuesday through Friday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, brunch will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., she said.

The building held Jefferson’s for about a decade before it closed there in November 2020, a restaurant casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Brass Register originally opened in 1973, the first establishment to do so after the city allowed liquor by the drink, according to news archives.

After it closed in the late 1980s, a succession of other eateries located at the site though none lasted too long.

Contact Mike Pare at [email protected] or 423-757-6318.