Woodpile BBQ Shack Pulls Out of New Center Restaurant Project

The owners of Clawson’s Woodpile BBQ Shack have canceled plans for a New Center restaurant following delays in the restaurant’s buildout, Crain’s reports.

The Texas-style barbecue restaurant group operated by Treat Dreams founder Scott Moloney, Zac Idzikowski and father Tim Idzikowski, and Brandon Hannish announced plans in 2017 to bring a second location to the Platform’s Baltimore Station development at 6402 Woodward Ave. However, delays in the Baltimore Station project’s completion pushed back Woodpile’s opening timeline by more than a year.

Woodpile still appeared outwardly positive about the New Center location last April when it leased additional space in the Baltimore Station development. However, Moloney’s other New Center restaurant investment Atomic Chicken faltered and closed due to poor sales just a few weeks later in May 2018 after more than a year on Woodward Avenue (It’s since been replaced by Yum Village).

Meanwhile, in January 2018 Woodpile invested in another barbecue restaurant and commissary kitchen in Madison Heights. That Woodpile outpost, also delayed by several months, is now on track to open this spring.

Reached by Eater, the Platform says that it will be announcing a new food and beverage tenant for Baltimore Station soon. The property just began welcoming some of its first residential tenants and a new branch of Huntington Bank is scheduled to open in the building at the end of the month.

Update, Tuesday, May 7, 5:45 p.m.: This story was updated with additional comment from the Platform.

• Woodpile BBQ Shack Scraps Plan for New Center Location [Crain’s]
• Woodpile BBQ Shack Is Expanding to New Center [ED]
• Woodpile BBQ Shack Will Bring Smoked Meats to Madison Heights in 2018 [ED]