Land deal closed on fourth Johnny Carino's location

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Oct 8, 2003 by Matt Maile

Developers of the Johnny Carino's Country Italian restaurant chain closed on the purchase of land Monday in south Oklahoma City for construction of the fourth metro location for the eatery.

Edmond-based KampCo Foods, a regional franchisee of the restaurant brand, said the company will open the upscale Italian eatery at 7900 S. Walker Ave. beside retailer Academy Sports & Outdoors. The restaurant construction is scheduled to get under way immediately and will be completed by the end of the year.

We've been working on this deal for a while, said Randy Kamp, operating manager of KampCo Foods, the developer and operator of Johnny Carino's restaurants in the metro. Our plan is to be open by the end of the year.

Edmond-based KampCo Foods signed a development agreement with the franchisor of Johnny Carino's to develop 15 restaurants in Oklahoma and Kansas. KampCo opened the first metro restaurant in 2001 on N. May Avenue and has since opened two others, one in Yukon and another in Norman.

Kamp said the metro's fourth Johnny Carino's restaurant will be located near the northeast corner of SW 78th Street and S. Walker Avenue on a site beside the parking lot of Academy Sports & Outdoors. The restaurant would be immediately south of Interstate 240.

A limited liability company called JC 240 bought the 1.48-acre development site from Walker 78 Co. LLC this week in a deal valued at $625,000. The sale of the development site was handled by Mark Inman of CB Richard Ellis/Oklahoma and Legend Retail Group.

On the site, developers plan to build a 6,300-square-foot, one- story restaurant capable of seating about 240 people. Kamp said the restaurant will be similar in design to a new Johnny Carino's that recently opened in Norman.

With the new restaurant, Kamp said his company is tapping strong demand for eateries in south Oklahoma City.

South Oklahoma City is a very strong market, he said. The restaurants on the south side do very well.

Demographic trends along Walker Avenue near I-240 also were favorable, Kamp said, noting high traffic counts, strong household incomes and visibility.

Obviously, the traffic patterns and the size of the community are all good, he said.

Kamp said the most difficult part of developing the restaurant was finding a site to build a restaurant in an area of south Oklahoma City near Interstate 240 that is already largely developed. The restaurant operator said it eventually reached an agreement with New York-based owners of land near Academy Sports & Outdoors to carve out a pad site for the restaurant on an existing parking area.

The new restaurant site may allow Johnny Carino's to take advantage of a recent re-emergence of retail businesses at I-240 and S. Walker Avenue.

In 2002, Katy, Texas-based Academy Sports & Outdoors acquired the vacant 105,920-square-foot Builder's Square location at the intersection and opened an 80,000-square-foot retail store at the site. The property, which still has about 25,000 square feet of available space for additional tenants, has seen retail traffic to the area increase.

Like many other retail developments that have major retailers as anchors to draw consumer traffic, the presence of the Academy store has made development of surrounding property for commercial purposes more attractive to developers. Johnny Carino's is the first restaurant operator to tap that potential since Academy located to the site.

The restaurant operator, which describes itself as a full-service Italian restaurant concept in promotional material, says its menu is based on southern Italian country recipes.

Johnny Carino's offers a mix of Italian foods that include pastas, pizzas, salads and desserts. Among its menu items are spicy Romano chicken, shrimp scampi and eggplant parmigiana. Desserts include Italian chocolate cake and Tiramisu.

Kamp said his firm is already making plans to continue its development of other Johnny Carino's restaurants in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Missouri. In all, including those that have already opened, KampCo wants to develop 15 restaurants largely in Oklahoma and Kansas.

The company is preparing to close on land in Wichita, Kan., for another restaurant, Kamp said. KampCo Foods also is looking at Wichita Falls, Texas; Lawton; and Tulsa for further restaurant sites.

As for the Oklahoma City metro, Kamp said his group may develop one more site. The location of the site has not been determined.