Restauranteur Howard Greenstone has applied for a Special Use Permit (SUP) to open a new pizza restaurant at 124 King St., the former site of Pizzeria Paradiso.
The local pizzeria stopped operations in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and announced in September that it would not be reopening.
Greenstone is a partner in Emmy Squared Pizza, which is part of the Pizza Loves Emily family of restaurants. The Brooklyn-based pizza joint was cofounded in 2016 by Emily Hyland and executive chef Matthew Hyland with partners Greenstone and Kevin Levitan. It is known for its Detroit-style, square-shape pizza and gourmet burgers.
The small pizza chain has eight other locations in New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Kentucky as well as a location in the Shaw neighborhood in Washington DC.
In December 2019, Washingtonian reported that the chain planned to open a location in Navy Yard in mid-2020 but the company has not announced an update on this.
According to the SUP application, the layout and function of the Emmy Squared Pizza will remain similar to that of Pizzeria Paradiso and will also serve alcoholic beverages. The only proposed change, other than the new ownership, is a reconfigured kitchen and a new conveyer belt pizza oven. Falls Church based firm Kearns Group Architect is named as the architect on the project.
The restaurant has not yet announced an opening date.
