SIGNS OF LIFE: City Barbeque submits plans for new Dayton-area restaurant

Proposed eatery would bring new life to former Steak ’n Shake on Miller Lane
A proposal to build a new City Barbecue restaurant to replace a former Steak 'n Shake that closed in March 2019 on Miller Lane has been submitted to Butler Twp.

A proposal to build a new City Barbecue restaurant to replace a former Steak 'n Shake that closed in March 2019 on Miller Lane has been submitted to Butler Twp.

The Columbus-based restaurant chain City Barbeque is planning a new Dayton-area location that would replace one of the region’s Steak ’n Shake restaurants that shut down last year.

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According to documents and an artist’s rendering submitted to Butler Twp. officials, the new City Barbeque restaurant is in the works at 6549 Miller Lane, behind the Speedway convenience store at the corner of Miller Lane and Benchwood Road.

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The project is welcome news to Butler Twp. officials.

“We are very excited for the new City Barbeque and to see a vacant building be repurposed,” Butler Twp. Administrator Erika Vogel told this news outlet late Wednesday.

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When Steak ’n Shake shut down its restaurant at that Miller Lane location in March 2019, a spokeswoman for the chain said the closure, and a handful of other Steak ’n Shake closures in the region, were temporary as the chain transitioned from corporate-operated to franchisee-operated restaurants.

But eight months later, in November 2019, the 1.24-acre property and building were sold by Steak ’n Shake Inc. to Prime Miller LLC, based in the Cincinnati area, for $1.2 million, according to Montgomery County property records.

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A certificate of zoning compliance and other documents for the City Barbeque construction project were submitted to township officials three weeks ago, and an application for a building permit was filed this week with Montgomery County officials.

Messages left with City Barbeque officials Wednesday, May 6 had not been returned as of this morning, Thursday May 7. We will update this story with any new information about the restaurant project.

City Barbeque operates restaurants on East Franklin Street in downtown Centerville and on North Fairfield Road south of the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek.

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