CINCINNATI — Seventeen months after the evictions began, Frisch’s restaurant properties are again poised for big changes.
A Florida landlord is unloading the dormant real estate to buyers who have yet to reveal definitive plans for them. And that is triggering speculation about what lies ahead for these former neighborhood anchors.
“In the ‘50s and ‘60s, this place was just booming,” said Scott Sayre, whose Advance Dentistry practice flourished on Wooster Pike as the Frisch’s Mainliner declined in the last 40 years. “Fairfax has done some nicer things in this area and it’s just kind of sad to see the building sit here without anybody doing anything.”
Watch: What will happen to the now-dormant Frisch's locations across the Tri-State
Sayre was encouraged to learn a Lexington developer that specializes in redeveloping retail properties bought 11 former Frisch’s locations in the last five months, six of them in Greater Cincinnati.
Greer Companies, once the largest franchise operator of Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen restaurants, did not respond to calls seeking comment for this story. It has redeveloped more than 100 retail properties by attracting users like Starbucks, Shoney’s, Taco Bell, Burger Fi and Fazoli’s, according to its website.
“With that kind of background … even if they decide to hold it and sell it to somebody else, they’ll be a driving force,” Sayre said. “We’ve got a lot of fast food around. But we don’t have anything where you could come here at night, have a dinner, bring the family.”
Greer Companies isn’t the only local buyer of empty Frisch’s locations.
Middletown entrepreneur Brett Oakley bought the Germantown Road Frisch’s location in January but hasn’t decided what to do with it.
In Bethel, a corporate affiliate of Mt. Orab’s Mi Camino Real restaurant purchased a former Frisch’s location at 551 West Plane Street.
The WCPO 9 I-Team tried to reach the buyers of all 13 properties. All either failed to respond or declined to identify future plans for the real estate.
One thing is clear: The sales will continue.
According to local real estate records, two dozen empty Frisch’s locations are still owned by NNN REIT Inc. That’s a real estate investment trust that filed dozens of eviction cases against Frisch’s in 2024, then signed a deal with a Michigan Big Boy chain to bring its Dolly’s concept to town.
As WCPO has previously reported, Dolly’s never got close to its stated goal of more than 50 Southwest Ohio locations before folding in September. By that time, NNN REIT was in “active negotiations” with other potential buyers.
The company’s annual report said it sold 67 vacant properties in 2025. CEO Stephen Horn told investors last month the “vast majority” of those sales were Frisch’s locations.
The biggest buyer, Greer Companies, owns the Mainliner site and a Lawrenceburg property through a corporate affiliate, Olowalu Land Company LLC. It also owns four Northern Kentucky locations in Florence, Fort Wright, Independence and Cold Spring.
The company’s president told the Lexington Herald Leader that he was talking to a Frisch’s franchise owner about leasing "one or more" properties for a Big Boy restaurant outside of Lexington.
And it turns out that a rendering on display at the Kyles Lane Frisch’s in Fort Wright shows that location is moving to a Greer-owned property on Madison Pike at Orphanage Road. Frisch’s declined to comment on the relocation, but employees said it will happen by July.
The rendering also shows a new look for the “fresh 3L Frisch’s,” one that de-emphasizes the Big Boy logo and recasts the Frisch’s name in a different font style. They call it the 3L Frisch’s because Madison Pike, or Kentucky Route 17, connected the horse racing cities of Louisville, Lexington and Latonia in the early 20th century.
The Kyles Lane Frisch’s is operated by Cheryl White, one of two Frisch’s managers who bought “multiple locations and future development rights” of the Frisch’s Big Boy brand, according to a November 2024 press release. White did not respond to an email seeking comment.
When the dust settled after the 2024 evictions, Frisch's had 31 locations — including 11 in Greater Cincinnati. The Kyles Lane store was among them.
Real estate records show that the store got a new landlord in September, when Guardian Savings Bank sold the land and building to 20 Kyles Lane LLC. It isn’t clear whether the ownership change was a factor in the restaurant’s relocation.
But longtime Frisch’s customer Janie Van Winkle was happy to learn that her current favorite Frisch’s found a long-term home nearby.
“Our local Frisch’s closed, and this is the closest one we have,” said Van Winkle, who lives in Aurora but drives regularly to Kyles Lane for lunch. “Orphanage road is a little big further drive, but that’s OK. I’ll still go for my fish sandwich.”
In the meantime, Van Winkle asked WCPO to pass along a message to Greer Companies. She’d like Frisch’s to return to the Eads Parkway location that a Greer corporate affiliate purchased for $1.75 million in October.
“Put a bug in their ear,” Van Winkle said. “In high school, a lot of the kids would go to (the Lawrenceburg) Frisch’s. It would be the main place that they would hang out. So, it has a lot of memories."
