New Owner Plans Restaurant at Former Buca di Beppo Site On Howe Avenue

A new owner plans to open an eatery at a well-known restaurant building on Howe Avenue in Arden-Arcade.

Escrow closed earlier this month for 1249 Howe Ave., where Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo closed about 18 months ago after a nearly 25-year run.

“We’re trying to fix it up and open a restaurant,” said Javed Ahmadi, who is shown in records as the buyer. He said last week he was driving and couldn’t discuss the plan further at the moment. He didn’t return two messages later left seeking comment.

Ahmadi bought the two-story, 8,550-square-foot building for $1.75 million, records show, or about $205 a square foot. On the southwest corner of Howe Avenue and Hurley Way, the building is in a busy commercial area near Arden Fair mall, the Campus Commons neighborhood of Sacramento and California State University Sacramento.

Sacramento County records don’t show any applications yet for improvements or changes to 1249 Howe Ave., which was a bank building before being converted to a restaurant in the late 1990s.

In Concord, someone named Javed Ahmadi opened Afghani restaurant Chopan Kabob 17 years ago, featuring dishes such as tandoori chicken. He also appears to be owner of a shawarma restaurant in Berkeley and affiliated with a kabob restaurant in Elk Grove, but it’s not clear if that’s the same person who bought 1249 Howe Ave.

Twin Forts 2 LLC is shown in records as the seller in the deal. The entity has owned it under that name and related ones since 2013, while the last time it sold in an arms-length deal was for $2.415 million in 2013, according to real estate information website Reonomy. A message left at a number for Twin Forts 2 LLC on Tuesday wasn’t returned.

Buca di Beppo closed its location there in July 2024, with more than five years left on its lease. The property was listed for sale for as much as about $4 million the previous year, dropping to $3.66 million the same month as the closure.

Ken Turton and Scott Kingston of Turton Commercial Real Estate brokered the sale to Ahmadi.