Students who remember the fire that burnt down Zaxby’s in March of last year, will be happy to hear that Zaxby’s is being rebuilt in a new location and is scheduled to open its doors in 2012.

A fire that started in the early morning March 1 2011 damaged the Zaxby’s building on Baytree Road beyond repair.

The kitchen area was destroyed by the time firefighters arrived on the scene. The fire, the cause of which is still unknown, consumed the entire restaurant soon afterwards.

Many students were shocked by this incident, but they are even more shocked about where the new Zaxby’s will be located—across from Chick-fil-a and Red Lobster, the same location of the old Hardee’s.

Wes Kennedy, the District Manager for Zaxby’s in Valdosta, says construction is scheduled to begin in late October on St. Augustine Rd. and should be open when students return for the new semester in 2012.

Because Zaxby’s will no longer be within walking distance, some students, especially those without transportation, are not happy about this new setting.

“I do not like the idea of Zaxby’s being so far away from campus,” says senior English major, Jennifer Milton. “It was better when it was right down the road on Baytree.”

Zaxby’s original location was the headquarters of Strickland Cotton Mill, a historical landmark for the town. Strickland Cotton Mill closed its doors in 1979, allowing Zaxby’s to make that location their home in the early 1990’s.