The Eegee's at 2510 E. Speedway Blvd. closed on Sept. 28. As with two other Eegee's stores that week, the change happened overnight, and the signs were off the building before most people noticed it had closed. Two weeks later, Blake's Lotaburger closed its store a few blocks east at 2810 E. Speedway. Across Tucson Boulevard, the building that was Bangkok Café for about 30 years now carries a new Thai restaurant's name.
On a map, that looks like the north edge of Sam Hughes losing three restaurants in a season. Every change on this stretch of Speedway goes back to a lease or a property, and in each case the food is staying within a short walk of where it was.
One Stretch of Speedway, Three Addresses
Here is where each address on the north edge stood going into fall, and where it stands now.
| Address | Through summer 2026 | What changed | What's next |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2510 E. Speedway | Eegee's | Closed Sept. 28 | Eegee's moving a few blocks east |
| 2810 E. Speedway | Blake's Lotaburger, open since April 2016 | Closed Oct. 11 | Eegee's, expected late December or early January |
| 2511 E. Speedway, NE corner at Tucson Blvd. | Former Bangkok Café building | Leased to Noy's Tuk Tuk Thai | Tuk Tuk Thai's fourth Tucson-area location |
The table makes the pattern easy to see. Two of the three rows end with the same business, or the same cuisine, returning to the same short stretch of road.
The Overnight Closure Was a Lease Ending
The Speedway store was one of three Eegee's locations that closed over four days in late September. The other two, at 3250 E. Valencia Road near the airport and 8160 N. Courtney Page Way in Marana, closed on Sept. 25. They had been open on Sept. 24, and by the next day the buildings were empty and the signs were gone. The Speedway store went just as quickly, and social media filled with guesses about the chain's future.
Eegee's CEO Ken Kenwood answered in the Arizona Daily Star with a short statement: "Eegee's isn't going anywhere." He told the Star the closures were temporary. The company's leases were up, "and the owners wanted to sell the property." Eegee's, he said, isn't in the real estate business. "We're looking to relocate."
He also said the overnight turnaround on Speedway "was just part of the process." Kenwood spent 33 years at California's In-N-Out Burger chain before he moved to Tucson. He started at Eegee's in February and became CEO in the spring.
The three closed stores are going different ways. Per the same Star report, the Valencia Road and Marana sites will reopen as Angie's, the fast-food chain from Tony and Roushan Christofellis, the couple who started Salad and Go. Kenwood said Eegee's is still scouting replacements for those two and has "no timeline." Speedway is the only one of the three that already has a new home lined up.
The Burger Stand That Made Room
Eegee's is moving into 2810 E. Speedway, the building Blake's Lotaburger opened in April 2016. That store was the New Mexico chain's first in Tucson, and within a year Blake's had three locations in town. The Arizona Daily Star called the Speedway store the Tucson flagship and reported its Oct. 11 closing after a run of 10½ years. Staff learned in mid-September that they would need new jobs.
The green chile cheeseburger is still in Tucson. Blake's other two stores, at 1600 W. Valencia Road and 3560 N. Craycroft Road, are not affected, according to the Star. Both still appear on the Blake's locations page. For someone living south of Speedway, Craycroft is the nearer of the two, though it's a drive rather than a walk.
The Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association's November 2026 newsletter summed up the swap neatly. It called the move good news for Eegee's fans and "not such good news for the Blake's fans."
When the New Eegee's Opens
On the day this post goes up, the new Eegee's isn't due yet. Kenwood told the Star he hoped to finish the buildout at 2810 E. Speedway later this year and open "in late December or early January." The Eegee's locations page still lists 2510 E. Speedway as closed, with a new location coming soon.
From the Sept. 28 closing to that window, the Speedway stretch goes about three months without an Eegee's, and roughly six more weeks of that wait still lie ahead. For anyone whose summer routine included a frozen Eegee's from the Tucson Boulevard corner, the wait lasts about until the holidays are over.
The Corner That Stayed Thai
The northeast corner of Speedway and Tucson Boulevard follows the same pattern. The freestanding building at 2511 E. Speedway is 1,998 square feet on a lot of about 16,063 square feet. It was home to Bangkok Café, a local Thai restaurant that closed after 30 years.
In April, Real Estate Daily News reported that the landlord, Speedway Investment Partners, had leased the building to SWP LLC, the company behind Noy's Tuk Tuk Thai. The report pointed out what the deal meant for diners: a corner many people already link to Thai food stays Thai.
Tuk Tuk Thai's first restaurant opened in 2020 at 2990 N. Campbell Ave. The chain has since added stores at 12125 N. Oracle Road in Oro Valley Marketplace and 6878 E. Sunrise Drive in Ventana Village. The Speedway building is its fourth. The Arizona Daily Star has named the owners as Noy and Bud Sayso. According to the restaurant's own site, the menu includes khao soi, panang curry and pad kee mao, and its sauces are gluten-free.
The SHNA November newsletter reported that Tuk Tuk Thai recently opened on that corner. It recommended the place to neighbors who avoid gluten and noted the wide range of gluten-free options. The Speedway location page has hours and ordering details.
What the Pattern Says About This Edge of the Neighborhood
Taken together, the three addresses show how the food on Sam Hughes' Speedway frontage actually changes. The tenants who left weren't pushed out by a lack of customers. As Kenwood described it, Eegee's left 2510 because its lease ran out while the owners were looking to sell. Blake's gave up its flagship because Eegee's was taking over the space. Bangkok Café's corner went to another Thai restaurant with three Tucson kitchens already running.
The Speedway buildings themselves explain why. They are freestanding restaurant buildings that already have kitchens, so a familiar operator can move in and open again faster than in an empty shell. The April lease report made that point about 2511 E. Speedway. It cited steady demand for proven local operators in second-generation restaurant spaces, where an established location and dining history can shorten the path to reopening. The same logic runs through the rest of the Star's report on Tucson's fast-food reshuffle. Vacant drive-thrus across the city are being picked up by other chains instead of sitting empty.
For people living a few blocks south, a closed sign on Speedway usually means the building is changing hands, and the next tenant tends to be on the way. It's the commercial side of what keeps a central neighborhood like this one changing. Inside the neighborhood, change comes more slowly, as with the long rebuild of the Himmel Park Library.
Where Things Stand This Week
- Eegee's: The old 2510 E. Speedway store is closed. The new store at 2810 E. Speedway, in the former Blake's building, is expected in late December or early January.
- Blake's Lotaburger: The Speedway flagship closed Oct. 11. The 1600 W. Valencia Road and 3560 N. Craycroft Road stores are unaffected.
- Noy's Tuk Tuk Thai: At 2511 E. Speedway, the NE corner at Tucson Boulevard, in the former Bangkok Café building. Its other locations are on N. Campbell Avenue, N. Oracle Road and E. Sunrise Drive.
Changes like these along Speedway often come up when I talk with Sam Hughes homeowners about what's shifting at the edges of the neighborhood. If you'd like a read on what's happening around your street, Daniel Sotelo is glad to share what he's seeing. Let's connect.
