Is Frisch’s coming back to Lexington? What the developer says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Greer bought 11 former Frisch’s sites for $20.4M after 2024 closures.
- Greer plans mixed reuses; one site will likely reopen under a new operator.
- Some Kentucky sites have buyers; deals and prospective leases are underway.
Longtime Lexington developer and restaurant owner Lee Greer of Greer Properties has built up a portfolio of former Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant locations, including one in Lexington.
What does he plan to do with them?
Lots of different things, he said, including in at least one location possibly bringing back the home of Big Boy, his burgers or the famous fudge cake.
“This is just an opportunity. Some of these restaurants dated back decades, so that means it’s probably a pretty good spot,” said Greer, who was once operated 45 Cheddar’s restaurants. “We’ve been working on this for several years, then things got really serious about a year ago, and we closed in the fall.”
Greer said that after the Frisch’s locations closed at the end of 2024 he began buying properties. Altogether, he purchased 11 locations for $20.4 million, including one in Lexington, one in Winchester, one in Fort Wright, and the rest in Ohio. The purchases were first reported in the Cincinnati Business Courier.
He bought the one at 1927 Harrodsburg Road in October for $2 million, according to Fayette County property records.
Will it be a Frisch’s again? Unlikely, Greer said.
Although one location probably will be coming back eventually under a new operator after a renovation.
Greer isn’t ready to say which one — just that, at this time, it won’t be the one here.
(Lexington’s other former Frisch’s in Hamburg is now a medical marijuana dispensary called Speakeasy.)
Greer said he’s had a lot of people interested in the Harrodsburg Road property.
“I’m just trying to filter through them right now,” he said. He hopes to have a tenant in the next month or two, but it might not be a restaurant. “I’ve gotten interest from all sorts of users. I want to reimagine that property.”
He said one former Frisch’s in Winchester, which he purchased with partners Bryan Little and Gordy Hoagland, is about to be sold to the operator of several Central Kentucky Mexican restaurants.
He said he’s closed to signed deals on up to five more.
The brokers who are handling prospective leases are Hoagland of White Oak Commercial in Kentucky and Melissa Ruther with CBRE in Cincinnati.
“I’m looking for great ideas,” Greer said.
A dozen corporate-owned Frisch’s restaurants in Kentucky and many in Ohio closed in 2024 after the restaurant chain’s landlord, NNN REIT, said the restaurants defaulted on rent owed, and they were ordered to vacate or face eviction.
The closures were the latest blow to the once-thriving Cincinnati-based restaurant chain. Many of the chain’s Ohio locations were evicted, and several vendors sued in Ohio over unpaid bills including coffee and IT services.
A few Frisch’s restaurants remain open in Kentucky including in Georgetown, Frankfort, Somerset, London, Louisville and near Cincinnati.
This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 3:09 PM.
