New Haven-based Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana plans to launch its 18th restaurant in Westport next summer.
The pizza chain, which opened its first location in 1925 on New Haven’s Wooster Street, expects to open a 3,529-square-foot, 90-seat restaurant in the White Birch Center, at 361 Post Road West. It will have 40 employees.
Frank Pepe Pizzeria signed a 15-year lease with options to extend the lease for up to 20 more years, according to Saugatuck Commercial Realty, a Westport-based broker that represented the landlord and the tenant in the lease agreement.
White Birch Center, which contains 10,374 square feet across four retail spaces, is owned by White Birch Center Inc. and Westport Builders & Contractors Inc., which are both controlled by James Conte, of Westport, and Paula Conte, of Norwalk.
Frank Pepe has eight locations in Connecticut, three in Massachusetts, two in Florida and one each in Maryland, New York and Rhode Island. The company employs 700 workers.
