South surrenders at North Hills

RALEIGH -- Southern cuisine and the North Hills shopping center just weren't meant to be.

The center's second Southern-inspired restaurant -- appropriately named South -- will close next week and be converted to a French rest-aurant.

Urban Food Group opened South in February 2007, hoping it would add to the Raleigh company's already strong local presence.

Urban owns several popular eateries, including Porter's, Frazier's and Vivace, which is also in North Hills.

But South never took off, said Kevin Jennings, who owns the company with his wife, Stacey.

"There were some weeks we lost money and some weeks we made money," he said. "You can sit there and tread water for years, and really, what good is it doing? We'd rather go put some more money into the space and have something we want."

South's problems could be blamed on ghosts.

The previous occupant of South's building was another Southern-style eatery -- Restaurant Savannah -- that closed with little notice at the end of 2006 and left a trail of lawsuits between the restaurant's co-owners, investors and vendors.

Some customers were left holding worthless gift certificates, and the sudden closure and lack of explanation left many diners with bad memories of the restaurant. Even though the name changed, the negative reputation was tough to overcome, Jennings said.

"We didn't change the exterior of the building," he said. "We still have people coming in a year and a half later going, 'Did you guys change something in here?' "

But more than that, Jennings said, he thinks the idea was flawed, and some independent consultants he spoke with agreed.

"They said, 'It's going to be tough to get Southern cuisine to be what you're hoping it to be in a city where there's no tourist traffic,' " he said. "I'd never thought of that really. Southern works in Charleston, because people go to Charleston to eat Southern food."

So this time around, the building will be very different. The yet-to-be-named French brasserie will be casual and will draw from the heritage of Stacey Jennings, whose family is from France and who has many relatives living there.

Urban Food Group will spend about $500,000 to revamp the decor of the building, changing the bar and adding a patio.

The final day of service at South will be June 7. The French restaurant is expected to open in late September or early October.

South sits on a prime corner along the main entrance of North Hills. When South shuts down, it will become one of a few restaurant spaces in the center that are dark.

The JK's Steakhouse spot, which was vacated this year, will become a Ruth's Chris Steak House in July. The Mama Fu's space, which has been empty for more than a year, is still vacant.

But North Hills developer John Kane said the center is moving in the right direction.

"You've got to look at it long term," Kane said. "Getting the right concept with the right operator in there: I think that's where we're headed."

Still, some fans will miss South. Raleigh resident Joan Caviness eats at South once a week. As the director of sales and marketing for the Carolina Ballet, she took colleagues there on business.

"I have loved it from the beginning," she said. "They make fried oysters. There are very few people that have them."

And even though South had removed the fried oysters from the menu, "Whenever I go in and ask them for them, they make them," Caviness said.