Vacant Wichita restaurant building to be torn down, replaced with something new
The old IHOP building at 3505 N. Rock Road has been empty since 2022, when local franchisees closed the restaurant and moved it to a bigger space just south of K-96.
Now, the abandoned and overgrown building is likely going to be torn down and replaced with a prefab metal structure that will be home to Wichita’s next 7 Brew drive-through coffee shop.
Operating partner Conner Johnson said that he hasn’t yet signed the lease on the property but that he’s working on finalizing a deal to tear down the existing IHOP building and put up a new 7 Brew. He’s already pulled construction permits with the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department.
Johnson said that if it all works out as he hopes, construction should begin this winter and that the shop should be open by spring. The shops in the 7 Brew chain operate out of pre-fab metal buildings, which are dropped intact onto the properties where they’ll operate.
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The 7 Brew chain entered the Wichita market in 2022, when Johnson opened his first local 7 Brew shop at 3031 E. Central. He next added shops at 110 N. Rock Road and 11465 E. 21st St., then a year ago, he opened one in front of the Lowe’s at Maple and Ridge.
Johnson is also putting 7 Brew on the northeast corner of Tall Tree and Rock Road in Derby. The Derby Planning Commission approved Johnson’s plans to build there during its July 17 meeting.
And Johnson likely not done with the Wichita area yet, he said, promising to share news of any new deals when they were completed.
The IHOP on North Rock Road is owned by franchisees Moe Touffaha and Mike Issa, who decided in 2021 to move their restaurant from the spot where it had operated since 1999 to the former Hooters space at 3151 N. Rock Road.
The IHOP reopened in the new space in November 2022.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM.
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