Boardman's New Restaurants Are Moving Into Buildings You Already Know

Since late September, the old Taco Bell at 940 Boardman Poland Road has been selling chicken fingers. A Denny's built in 1978 on Boardman Canfield Road is set to become the Mahoning Valley's first Culver's. A food-truck chef is taking over the bakery space One Hot Cookie left in August. Cafe India lost its kitchen to a fire in April and is reopening in a pizza building on Route 224 that has been empty since 2024. None of these is a new building on an empty lot. Each one gives a familiar Boardman building a new tenant.

One fire, two addresses

The longest chain of moves starts at Presidential Plaza. On April 4, 2026, a fire started in the kitchen at Cafe India, 813 Boardman Poland Road, according to WFMJ's coverage of the shopping center fire. The fire closed seven businesses in the plaza: Cafe India, Chico's, Honey Baked Ham, Great Clips, Jersey Mike's, Domino's and Menchie's.

The neighbors came back first. WFMJ reported that Jersey Mike's was open again on April 18, and that Domino's expected to reopen April 27 if it passed a health inspection. Menchie's held a reopening event on June 3.

Cafe India is not going back to the plaza. It is moving to the former Inner Circle Pizza on Route 224, just outside Poland Village. That building has been empty since Inner Circle closed in March 2024. Boardman Township's zoning permit lists the business only as Aarna Properties LLC. The applicant, Birendra Thapa, told 21 News the site will be the new home of Cafe India, and Cafe India's website lists Thapa as chef at the original location.

The permit gave September 15 as the expected opening date, and that date has passed. Thapa told WFMJ he hopes to open by the end of October. The township's zoning inspector said no sign permit had been filed yet, which suggests renovations are still going on. WKBN reported today, October 9, that Aarna Properties paid $550,000 for the property and that crews are still working inside. Its story says the restaurant will serve Indian food for dine-in and takeout, and that neither a name nor an opening date has been announced. So the Cafe India name comes from Thapa, not from the township's paperwork. Until a sign goes up, the WKBN report is the most current public account.

An empty building sat on 224 for more than two years after Inner Circle closed. A kitchen fire in April gave it a tenant.

The Taco Bell that turned into Layne's

Layne's Chicken Fingers had its grand opening at 940 Boardman Poland Road on Saturday, September 26. WKBN reported that 10% of sales would go to Boardman Local Schools. Mahoning Matters confirmed the restaurant is inside the former Taco Bell. The owner is Henry Wang, the first 50 dine-in guests got free Layne's for a year, and local musician Jacob Latessa played a pop-up set. WKBN's grand-opening story named Craig Ross as general manager.

Layne's is a Texas chain founded in 1994. The menu is hand-breaded chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, milkshakes and six house-made sauces. The hours matter on that stretch of road. The Boardman location opens at 10 a.m. every day, closes at midnight Sunday through Thursday, and stays open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

A building with a drive-through lane and a kitchen already in place went from one quick-service tenant to the next. Of all the moves in this post, Layne's needed the fewest changes.

A 1978 Denny's gets a third chapter

The Culver's site has the longest history. The building at 154 Boardman Canfield Road went up as a Denny's in 1978. WFMJ reports that other restaurants used it later and that it had been empty for a while before the sale. According to Mahoning Matters, the sale closed during the week of September 23, and the roughly one-acre site will be redeveloped for Culver's. Business Journal Daily also reported the redevelopment on September 25.

This one is a redevelopment of the site, not a new tenant moving into the existing building, so it is likely to take longer than the others. Culver's has not announced an opening date. What is known is the menu: ButterBurgers, cheese curds and frozen custard. Culver's started as a family-owned restaurant in Wisconsin in 1984, began franchising in 1990, and now has about 1,000 locations in 26 states. None of them is in the Mahoning Valley yet.

A bakery space becomes a food truck's first dining room

The last link in the chain is a little farther west on Boardman-Canfield Road. One Hot Cookie closed its final brick-and-mortar location, at 1315 Boardman-Canfield Road, on August 8. The next tenant is Tra'von Eley, who runs Tra's Gourmet Sandwiches. He is turning the space into a fast-casual restaurant called Tra's Gourmet, his first permanent location.

The food trucks will keep running. WKBN reports that the restaurant will carry over the current menu and add grilled chicken, salads, gluten-free buns and vegan options. Before the trucks, Eley worked under Michael Strollo at the Lake Club of Ohio and with Mark Canzonetta and Tony Vankirk. He described the Boardman space in a press release this way: "It was just simply a blessing that fell in my lap and I couldn't seem to pass it up."

The timing depends on equipment installation. WFMJ says the doors could open as early as late February or early March 2027. WKBN gives March 2027.

The map, address by address

Here are the four changes together, as of October 9, 2026:

Laid out by address, there's a pattern. The two moves into ready-made restaurant buildings have the nearest dates: Layne's is already open, and Cafe India hopes to open within weeks. Tra's needs new equipment installed and is aiming for spring. Culver's is redeveloping the whole site and hasn't given a date. The more work a building needs, the further out the opening.

One more address to keep in mind

Red Rican could be a fifth entry. Mahoning Matters reported in January that the family-owned Puerto Rican restaurant started by the Morales brothers planned a third location at 270 Boardman Canfield Road, with loaded pork bowls, pastelillos, desserts and coquito on the menu. WFMJ reported a February target at the time. Red Rican's website now lists 270 Boardman-Canfield Road as its Boardman location and offers online ordering. No local outlet has reported that the Boardman location actually opened, and the earlier tenant of the building hasn't been reported, so it stays off the table above.

Boardman also still has some open questions from the plaza fire. No reopening has been reported for Chico's, Honey Baked Ham or Great Clips at Presidential Plaza, and Domino's April 27 date was reported as expected, not confirmed. Cafe India's move filled a space that sat empty for two years. Whatever eventually goes into its old space at the plaza will add another address to this list.

A building's history affects how fast a new tenant can open, what renovations it needs, and what the property is worth to the next owner, whether it's a restaurant on 224 or a house a few streets away. If you're thinking about what your own Boardman property could become, or how to get it ready for its next owner, Valerie Park is happy to go over it with you, address by address. Let's Connect.