The Hooters Mystery Solved: What We Finally Found Out About the Building’s Future

You never know where story ideas can come from in Amarillo. It could start with a conversation you were recently having. Maybe you spotted some news on social media. That is where a lot of chatter comes from.

A Fresh Start: Cleaning Out the Iconic I-40 Location

Or it could be a simple text you receive one morning.

Something is moving into Hooters. Not sure what. A friend whom the girls grew up with, along with her fiancé, was asked to clean it out in the last few days. - Kristen

It all started with Hooters closing a little less than a year ago. It came as a surprise to everyone, including their staff. Since its closing, the restaurant has sat empty. That was until it started to be cleaned out recently.

Read More: Hooters Closes Amarillo Restaurant, Workers Notified by Text

I started to do my normal search of going to certain sites that would give me information, but there was nothing. I just had to wait. Every few days, I would check and see if there was an update.

We knew something was happening because it wouldn't get cleaned out if there wasn't. We just had to wait and see. Then I received another text prompting me to look again.

Did you ever find out what's going into Hooters? - Kristen

The Paper Trail: Who is Amarillo Rainbow LLC?

So I went through the steps again, and this time I found some info. The property was sold according to PRAD (Potter-Randall Appraisal District) at the end of March. The new property owner was Amarillo Rainbow LLC.

After doing more searching, the name Brian Petty popped up connected to this LLC. Brian is one of the co-owners of The Bagel Place. So this was getting interesting. I wanted to see what his plans were for the Hooters location.

Community Feedback: What Does Amarillo Want in a New Tenant?

So the next step was to reach out to the man himself and see what he would tell me. I did hear back from Brian about the plans for the former Hooters' location.

Hi Melissa, we're just working on getting it cleaned up and are about to put it up for lease. We've seen a lot of interest and thought it would be fun to try and get feedback for what Amarillo would like to see go in there. Chain or local, it's of course perfectly set up for a sports bar. - Brian Petty

So what is going to move in there? I guess it depends on who ends up leasing the space. Right now, the sky's the limit. Will we get another sports bar? Will it be something local? Are we going to get a chain that we have never seen in Amarillo?

The Mystery of the Horse: Storage and Future Representation

I do know that one of the pressing issues with that building is the Center City Horse. The horse is part of the Hoof Prints of the Panhandle project. The horse that has kept guard over the restaurant all of those years is gone from the location right now. We were told it would probably go into storage until someone bought or leased the place.

Read More: Amarillo's Hooters Shuts Down: What Happens To The Iconic Horse?

So hopefully that horse will soon get a new home. What will it represent? What kind of food? Only time will tell.