Old Chicago Pizza building to be demolished for 2 new Tucson restaurants

The Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom at Campbell Plaza will soon be razed to make way for two new restaurants.

Phoenix-based Common Bond Development Group will begin demolition and reconstruction early next year, said Brian Frakes, the company’s cofounder and Tucson native.

Fox Restaurant Concepts will open Flower Child and Doughbird in the new space, on Campbell Avenue near Glenn Street.

It will be Frakes’ fourth retail development locally.

He developed the spots for Culinary Dropouts at The Yard, on Grant Road near Tucson Boulevard, the neighboring retail center with Orange Theory, Nekter and Lemonshark Poke, and the center across the street with Postino and Snooze.

“Tucson is home,” said Frakes, a Salpointe High School alum who grew up in midtown not far from the projects he has undertaken.

“It was nice to create an exciting corner there,” he said of the Grant-Tucson Boulevard developments. “And we’re looking forward to freshening up the front of Campbell Plaza.”

Frakes said he was drawn to the location because of the volume of traffic on Campbell Avenue.

“There’s a lot of north-south travel,” he said.

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The new adjoining restaurants will both have outdoor dining and pick-up windows.

Flower Child will have vegetarian, vegan and meat options that can be ordered in bowls, wraps and salads.

Doughbird will offer Detroit-style pizza and rotisserie chicken.

Frakes hopes to have them open for customers by the end of 2022.

He is eyeing some other properties in Tucson for future development.

“Thing is, there’s a lot of property that is hard to get your hands on because it’s been owned by the same folks for a long time,” Frakes said.

He is also exploring the Rio Nuevo District’s properties along the Sunshine Mile, on Broadway between Euclid and Country Club Road.

“We’ll see,” he said, “if anything jumps out at us.”