Zipps, Z’Tejas battle continues in Phoenix court

PHOENIX —
The ongoing battle between Z’Tejas and Zipps Sports Grill over a planned new restaurant at 16th Street and Bethany Home Road could be decided Tuesday by a Phoenix judge.

It has been two years since Z’Tejas announced that it wanted to build the restaurant in the area that is home to Zipps, TexAZ and several other restaurants.

But Zipps claims parking will be a problem in the lot it would share with Z’Tejas and has sued the City of Phoenix and the property landlord to stop the project. The city and Z’Tejas disagreed on the parking and the restaurant could pass its final legal and political hurdle today.

Steve Micheletti with Z’Tejas said he could break ground next month and have the restaurant open next spring if the judge denies a temporary restraining order request from Zipps at Tuesday’s hearing.

“This hasn’t really been about parking,” he said. “It has been about having another restaurant there. That [Zipps] could give up some opposition. While the suit is being litigated, they have filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent any construction from beginning on the site.”

Zipps denied Micheletti’s claim that this is about competition.

Z’Tejas also faces a liquor license vote Tuesday by the Phoenix City Council.

Micheletti said the new restaurant will bring more than 100 jobs and will spend $3 million in construction alone.

“We’ve made adjustments to our building site,” he said. “We reduced the size of the building and eliminated the porch and came up with a design that is a 1,000 feet smaller. We increased the size of our valet parking from thirty to forty spaces. So we have complied with everything the City of Phoenix asked us to comply with.”