Gardendale city officials and executives with The Shopping Center Group held a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new shopping center that will be home to a Panera Bread restaurant. The site, which has actually been under construction for about a month, is located on Fieldstown Road at Mt. Olive Road. It's where Shoney's Restaurant was located for many years.

Developers, leasing agents and Gardendale officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday morning at the site of a new shopping center.

The site will include a Panera Bread restaurant, the first in the northern part of metro Birmingham, plus two other businesses.

Leasing for the site is being by The Shopping Center Group, which is headquartered in Atlanta with office through out the Southeast and Eastern Seaboard, including Birmingham. The group also brokered the sale of the property to the developers, Gardendale Retail LLC.

A spokeswoman for The Shopping Center Group said on Friday that the two other spaces have contracts pending.

The new center is located at the corner of Fieldstown Road and Mt. Olive Road, the longtime site of Shoney’s restaurant. Construction on the property actually began about a month ago.

[Edited to 2:10 p.m. Friday to correct that The Shopping Center Group is the leasing agent, not the developer.]