A different Mexican restaurant than the one originally announced will be coming to the shopping center next to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles office in Smithfield.

A 2024 flier advertising one of four 1,500-square-foot tenant spaces in the shopping center had announced “1942 Tacos & Tequila,” a Mexican restaurant franchise with locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, would combine two of the other tenant spaces. Those plans have fallen through; instead, “Tequila Modern Mexican” will take its place. 

Tequila Modern Mexican has two restaurants in Harrisonburg and one in Manhattan, Kansas. “We’re excited to come to Smithfield,” owner Jose Reyes told the Times.

Reyes said he’s waiting on permits for interior renovations and hopes to open by the fall.

He describes the brand as bringing “a different vibe” to Mexican dining.

“We focus a lot on the presentation of our drinks and our food,” Reyes said.

The plan remains to combine two of the 1,500-square-foot spaces. There will also be outdoor patio dining. Reyes said he expects to start with 10 to 12 employees.

Reyes was raised in the restaurant industry after his father opened one of the first Mexican restaurants in Memphis, Tennessee, around 1990.

Now there’s “a whole lot more competition,” making “a nice ambiance” all the more important, Reyes said.

Smithfield’s Planning Commission voted unanimously on June 10 to approve an entrance corridor overlay review for the installation of a 39.7-square-foot wall sign with internally illuminated letters and logos. The shopping center’s location on South Church Street is within one of the town’s 500-foot-wide “entrance corridors” where Planning Commission approval is required for new construction. A detached sign outside the shopping center listing the three tenants will also be refaced.

Great Clips, an international hair salon chain, occupies one of the other tenant spaces. It opened June 7. The third tenant space remains unoccupied.

The 7,200-square-foot shopping center being developed by Warren Sachs’ KLS Battery Park Development Group broke ground last year. The 4,800-square-foot DMV, which broke ground in 2023, opened last June. KLS Battery Park owns the land and leases the standalone DMV to the state.