Frank the Pizza King, an Englewood institution for 64 years at South Broadway and West Union Avenue, closed in May after the property it had rented for more than six decades was sold to a new owner.
Frank the Pizza King, an Englewood institution for 64 years at South Broadway and West Union Avenue, closed in May after the property it had rented for more than six decades was sold to a new owner. Credit: PHOTO BY SCOTT GILBERT

An Englewood used-car dealer purchased the property that long held the Frank the Pizza King restaurant, according to public records.

The property at 4701 S. Broadway was purchased for $705,000 by Jwana Group LLC. Jwana Group was formed early this year by Mohammad Khater, the owner of the Crown Auto used-car lot at 4530 S. Broadway.

Frank the Pizza King closed in mid-May after 64 years of renting the property from a California-based family trust. The signature Englewood restaurant was owned by the Krascek family.

Restaurant co-owner Matt Krascek, the grandson of founder Walter Krascek, told the Englewood Herald in mid-April that the family learned on April 10 that the property had been sold and that they would need to vacate the premises. The restaurant closed its doors over the weekend of May 10-11.

Online Arapahoe County records finally showed the change in ownership three months after the April announcement.

Matt Krascek told the Englewood Herald in April that his family had a broker looking for a new location for the restaurant, and a GoFundMe — gofundme.com/f/save-Franks-preserve-future — was in place for that goal. Krascek updated the Herald on July 9 with a message: “No new location. Could be years if we ever reopen. Hopefully one day we do down the road. Leaving the GoFundMe funds for now just in case we can find the right location.”

A message left for Khater at Crown Auto on the morning of July 9 was not immediately returned.

Leave a comment

We encourage comments. Your thoughts, ideas and concerns play a critical role helping Colorado Community Media be more responsive to your needs. We expect conversations to follow the conventions of polite discourse. Therefore, we won't allow posts that:
  • Contain vulgar language, personal attacks of any kind, or offensive terms that target protected classes
  • Promote commercial services or products (relevant links are acceptable)
  • Are far off-topic
  • Make unsupported accusations