It’s official: Modern Margarita (pictured) and La Bocca Urban Pizzeria & Wine Bar will not reopen in downtown Chandler.
The restaurants, which took over the former Coach & Willie’s sports bar space on the southeast corner of Arizona and Boston, were owned by the Mill Avenue Management Group.
“The damage was too extensive and it was more of a timing issue,” said MAMG spokesperson James Hamilton.
The restaurants shared a kitchen, which reportedly was the source of the Nov. 7 fire that closed both. At first, the closure was described as temporary.
When no repairs had begun after sixth months, however, many people began to suspect the restaurants would not reopen.
The original Modern Margarita and La Bocca were launched on Tempe’s Mill Avenue by restaurateur Julian Wright, who sold the concepts to the MAMG when he opened Pedal Haus Brewery in downtown Tempe in 2015.
MAMG expanded the concepts into downtown Chandler in August 2016, dividing the former 6,000-square-foot Coach & Willie’s space into two spaces.
Wright, meanwhile, is expected to debut his latest concept, Las Palmas Cantina, in downtown Chandler this weekend.
La Bocca still has locations in Tempe and northeast Phoenix. Modern Margarita is down to one location in northeast Phoenix.
