Jimmy Buffett is expanding his business empire once again, this time opening another restaurant in Myrtle Beach. There’s already a Margaritaville Cafe in the resort town, but the Sun News announced today that Buffett will open a Land Shark Bar & Grill at the SkyWheel attraction in May:

The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will have mostly outdoor seating, said David Busker, president of Koch Development, which will operate the SkyWheel and is developing it along with Pacific Development. Busker declined to talk about the restaurant’s concept.

Officials are staying tight-lipped about the restaurant. Al Mers, a partner in Pacific Development, said this afternoon that he couldn’t comment about the restaurant until Dec. 15. The Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board likely will consider the restaurant’s sign requests during its Dec. 16 meeting.

There’s a Land Shark Landing restaurant in Pensacola, Fla., beside the Margaritaville Beach Hotel that serves items such as fish tacos, nachos and, of course, a Cheeseburger in Paradise fixed the way Buffett describes in the song by the same name. It’s unclear whether the Land Shark Bar & Grille in Myrtle Beach will serve similar food.

The restaurant will be part of the $12 million to $15 million SkyWheel complex emerging on the oceanfront. Crews are installing the 106 pilings that will support the nearly 200-foot-high Ferris wheel, which will have 42 glass enclosed, temperature-controlled gondolas that plan to operate year-round.

The Land Shark restaurant will bring a different kind of venue to downtown Myrtle Beach that will lure Buffett’s followers who are likely to check out downtown’s other offerings after stopping by the new restaurant, said Dave Sebok, executive director of Myrtle Beach’s Downtown Redevelopment Corp.

“It will offer something that is obviously new and has a different theme to it than what we have on the oceanfront now,” he said. “It’s a name that is nationally and internationally known so to me it’s likely to be able to attract customers and business downtown.”

Read the full story here.

According to a couple of tweets, Jimmy Buffett made a surprise visit on Thursday night to his new Margaritaville Cafe in Nashville that opened on November 22nd.

“Sitting at Margaritaville in Nashville!!!! Who shows up….. Yes JIMMY BUFFETT!!!! Totally unexpected by the workers and everyone else!!!!” — jscavitt

“Only in Nashville!! Jimmy buffet just walked into margaritaville in nashville!!” — Nashvilleblake

“Jimmy Buffett is in the house at Margaritaville. Like for real. The actual Jimmy Buffett.” — Jenny_Ann

Mac McAnally and Will Kimbrough are playing a show and we expect Jimmy will take the stage too at some point. We’ll provide more information as it becomes available.

Update – Jimmy has taken the stage:

(photo by @Jenny_Ann)

The newest Margaritaville Cafe opened its doors today in Nashville, Tennessee. Here are some photos from the opening:

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean cuts the ribbon

The latest Margaritaville Cafe opens its doors in downtown Nashville this morning!

The $10 million restaurant, located at 322 Broadway, will open at 11 am for lunch after a 10 am ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring project principals and local community leaders.

Live music will be featured daily and the restaurant will be open from 11 am to 3 am seven days a week.

If you’re in Nashville today and stop by, let us know what you think!

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafe opens in Nashville on Monday, and the Tennessean gives us a look inside: