D.P. Dough comes to east side
Calzone baker, with delivery, to replace vacant convenience store
A long-vacant east side convenience store will be replaced by a chain restaurant that bakes and delivers calzones, under a new proposal.
D.P. Dough Franchising LLC, whose business model focuses on baking and delivering calzones near college campuses, plans to open its first Wisconsin location at 1515 E. North Ave., according to a proposal reviewed Wednesday by the East Side Architectural Review Board.
That 2,500-square-foot building is a former Open Pantry store that closed six years ago.
D.P. Dough, based in Columbus, Ohio, has 28 locations operating, or soon to open, in 17 states, according to its website.
The future Milwaukee location is just across North Ave. from Cambridge Commons, a student apartment development that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee operates at 2323 N. Cambridge Ave.
D.P. Dough also will be about a five-minute walk from UWM’s RiverView Residence Hall, 2340 N. Commerce St., and just over a mile from UWM’s main campus.
The local franchise, D.P. Dough MKE LLC, is led by Milwaukee real estate broker Mike Styke. He’s also involved in a new HGTV show, “My Flippin’ Friends,” which features five Milwaukee friends flipping houses.
Styke wants to begin renovating the building as soon as the review board approves the plans. Board members asked Styke to make some minor changes before returning to the board next month.
The renovations will take about two to three months to complete, Styke said after the meeting. D.P. Dough will use about half the building, with the other half set aside for a future retail tenant.
D.P. Dough MKE Holdings LLC, a separate group led by Styke, bought the former Open Pantry in February for $340,000, according to city assessment records.
The D.P. Dough outlet will be about one block east of a proposed fivestory, 44-unit apartment building the Vangard Group LLC plans to build south of E. North Ave. and west of N. Cambridge Ave.
Those apartments would replace the closed Judge’s Irish Pub, 1431 E. North Ave., and a neighboring duplex, which would both be razed.