One of Wichita’s three vacant Town & Country buildings is about to get a new tenant.

Tammy Downing, who for years ran a New York Hot Dog Cart outside of the west-side Lowe’s, has just taken over the lease on the building at K-42 and Maize Road that Town & Country Classic vacated in October before moving to 2315 W. 21st St. (That location has since closed, and the original Town & Country building at 4702 W. Kellogg has been vacant since August 2021.)

Downing plans to open a new restaurant at the K-42 and Maize spot called The Pit Stop Bar & Grill. It should be ready to go in a month or two, she said.

The restaurant will feature a menu of things like burgers, hot dogs and roast beef and ham sandwiches. She’ll also have different specials every evening: She’s thinking steak night, fish night, Mexican night, pizza night, etc.

It’ll be a full-service restaurant that will also have a full bar, she said. She’s planning to open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

Downing said she’s counting on traffic from workers at nearby Cessna. She also plans to target people moving into new housing going up nearby.

“I want to focus on everyday people,” she said.

Downing, who started in the food business when she was 11 working at a catering truck, said that she’s been eager to get back into it. She ran the cart outside of Lowe’s for around 18 years, stopping about 10 years ago.

Next year, she said, she might try to get the cart back out and set it up downtown.

“I’m excited to get back in the business, and I’m nervous at the same time,” she said. “There’s a lot of red tape involved. But I’m aching to get back into it because I feel like that’s what I know best.”

Stay tuned for updates on The Pit Stop Bar & Grill.