Wing-Itz owner has big plans in Dover after buying Central Ave. buildings for $1.5M

DOVER — Wing-Itz founder and co-owner Derek Fisher is sharing his vision to transform a block on Central Avenue.

Fisher recently closed the purchase of the 256 and 262-264 Central Ave. buildings for a combined $1.5 million-plus.

Currently home to China Yan restaurant and the former Pythian Castle building, this stretch of downtown Dover could soon feature a new mixed-use development.

Fisher, co-owner with his wife, Cambrea, wants to expand and relocate the Dover location of the Wing-Itz chicken restaurant. He also plans to create apartments, retail and office space in the next-door building and a 28-space public parking lot behind them.

Preservation is top of mind, Fisher said, explaining he intends to renovate the historic properties but not demolish them.

“It’s going to be a lot of work but I’m up for it,” he said during a tour of the two buildings.

How Fisher and Wing-Itz got to this point

In October 2022, Wing-Itz announced the permanent closure of its first location in Portsmouth, which Fisher opened in 2007 when he was 25 years old. At the time, he had to sell his car to be able to afford the chicken wing company’s kitchen equipment. Then he purchased a beat-up-but-usable car with 300,000 miles on it for $900 that he shared with one of his employees.

In the years after opening in Portsmouth, Fisher said he worked 80 hours a week for years, reinvested all the money back into his business, slowly but surely building up a portfolio that now includes the downtown Dover Wing-Itz, which opened in 2017, as well as locations in Hampton and Newmarket. Fisher also runs the Blue Cheese Management company.

The climb to success was well worth it, Fisher said, putting him in position this year to buy the Dover properties.

Fisher explains goals for Central Ave. properties in Dover

“I’m trying to rejuvenate what’s here and bring it back to life," he said.

The restaurant owner’s vision is multi-pronged. If all goes according to plan, he’ll move his existing 274 Central Avenue Wing-Itz joint to the larger space at 256 Central Ave., taking the space occupied by China Yan restaurant, which will relocate. The expanded chicken wing restaurant could take Fisher’s existing Dover location from 87 seats to around 140, and he plans to add a rooftop deck.

On the back side of the 256 Central Ave. building, Fisher hopes to convert the large windows into murals created by local artists, which would face the public parking lot and small outdoor patio for tenants of the apartments. Beneath the building, Fisher would add underground parking for Wing-Itz employees.

Fisher and his team will additionally spruce up 262-264 Central Ave., the former home of Moe’s Italian Sandwiches and Glass Routes, adding retail space, eight to 10 apartments and moving Wing-Itz and Blue Cheese Management’s offices to the site.

“I want to be kind of picky about who I put in and really be thoughtful about it,” he said of the retail side of the 262-264 Central Ave. property. “It’s something that’s really going to blend in well with the rest of the businesses and stuff on this side of town. I have a really great opportunity to complete this block with the building. I want to really think about that before I just throw somebody in there.”

City records state the upper levels of 262-264 Central Ave. were used for years by the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization and secret society established in Washington D.C. in 1864.

The building was dedicated in February 1914 the Olive Branch Lodge No. 6 Knights of Pythias.

The building features a spacious ceremony room, offices, a dining room and kitchen called “Crescent Hall,” old bathrooms and a secret room not included in building plans. From his own research, Fisher said, he found it was used for years as a private artistic and music club alongside the fraternal order.

Fisher purchased the building from the family that owned Robbins Auto Supply, which for decades has used the upper floors of the building as a warehouse for storage.

What are next steps for development project?

Fisher, though talking with Dover Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker about the future of the buildings, has not yet filed any plans to redevelop the property with the city. He and his team are cleaning up the property before coming forward with an official proposal.

The building is in good condition and also a time capsule, with dusty soda and beer cans, playing cards, ripped books, manuals and yellowed newspaper clippings throughout the premises. Cleaning crews threw piles of wood out the windows and into a dumpster, clearing the way for its future use.

“It’s like a treasure hunt,” Fisher said. “Once you open something up, I’m like a kid on Christmas.”

The Wing-Itz owner has not yet identified tenants to use the first floor’s retail spaces, though he is exploring the possibility of coffee, juice or sandwich shops coming to the site, or adding a new retail concept himself.

Fisher explored the Pythian Castle building, making his way between each level with a flashlight and noting the intricate details on interior walls he aims to keep.

“It’s pretty unique,” he said of the project. “I take it as a big responsibility because this is nice to renovate, but I don’t want to take away the essence or the character.”

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Wing-Itz owner plans big development on Central Ave. in Dover NH