Former Memphis Grizzlies star Mike Miller will expand his Let It Fly Sports Bar and Restaurant concept with a new location at The Lake District in Lakeland.
Miller and officials with the $400 million mixed-use project announced the agreement late Monday, Feb. 28, after Miller signed a letter of intent. While the Lakeland location will have the same name as Miller’s business in Germantown, the two concepts will be different.
“I’m excited to bring my Let It Fly sports bar concept to the exciting Lake District project.” Miller said in a prepared statement. “I will make sure it’s a place everyone in the area is proud of. I want our customers to call it a home away from home.”
Miller’s first location near Poplar and Forest Hill-Irene on the east end of Germantown opened in October 2019, and features a miniature Jumbotron with a sports ticker over the bar and two golf simulators. Plans for Lakeland include multiple basketball courts, and patrons will be able to view the courts through glass panels that will stretch from the ceiling to the floor.
Miller, who played professionally for the Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, and other NBA teams, also owns multiple BurgerFi restaurants, but Let It Fly is his labor of love.
The new bar and restaurant will occupy a 3-acre parcel on the north side of the 160-acre property southeast of the Interstate 40-Canada Road interchange.
“This concept is very unique because it’s really a sports venue that incorporates a restaurant and bar,” Yehuda Netanel, The Lake District developer, said. “It’s very gratifying to see our project attracting star power like Mike Miller. We are very excited about the innovative concepts that are finding a home at The Lake District.”
Plans for The Lake District, which is the largest mixed-use project in Shelby County, include nearly 200,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment space, two hotels, 75,000 square feet of office space, and a variety of housing types around a 10-acre lake that serves as the project’s centerpiece.
Last month, an upscale hotel was announced for the project.
The wide variety of commercial tenants will include Hollywood Feed, Olive House, Lakeland Wine and Liquor, Chosen Lines Boutique, Gloss Nail Bar, Osaka Japanese Restaurant, Gould’s Salon, Frida’s Express, Main Squeeze Juicery, Frost Bake Shop, Villa Castrioti, Firehouse Subs, Boba Society, CycleBar, Stretchlab, Brazilian Wax, Activate IV, Marshall Steakhouse, Victory Lane BBQ, and Starbucks.
Boba Society, Frost Bake Shop and Gloss Nail Bar should be among the next wave of retails openings this spring.
According to Maggie Gallagher, The Lake District director of development, this week’s signing leaves only a couple of acres of available outparcel space along I-40. Marshall Steakhouse has already announced plans to build a new venue along the interstate.
Six commercial outparcels remain available along Canada Road.
“The reason they’re available is we’ve had a lot of inquiries for fast-food drive-thru (quick service restaurants), and we’ve really been very selective and don’t want to put a drive-thru on Canada Road,” Gallagher said. She points out that a fast-food restaurant is not the image the developers want to perpetuate when entering the residential part of the project, and it could create a traffic problem.
“We’ve turned a lot of people down. We really see it as more medical and office use or a freestanding restaurant along Canada Road,” she said.