Five restaurant names have been tied to the blocks around The Fremont Hub and the Mowry Avenue and Fremont Boulevard intersection since May 2026. All five belong to operators that already run locations somewhere else. One of them has opened. The other four have published a season, a square footage, or a former tenant's name, and none of them has published a firm date. That gap between what's announced and what's open is this fall's real story at central Fremont's busiest commercial corner. It also points to the simplest way to judge what's coming, since most of these menus can be tried today in another city.
The One That's Open: Pizza My Heart at Argonaut Way
Pizza My Heart opened at 11 a.m. on May 12, 2026, at 39010 Argonaut Way inside the Fremont Hub, according to the East Bay Times. It took over the space that used to be one of the Bay Area's MOD Pizza locations. The paper didn't report when MOD closed.
The operator's history matters for everything else in this post. The family-owned chain was founded in 1981 on Capitola Beach, and the East Bay Times counted 29 restaurants at the time of the Fremont opening, half a dozen of them in San Jose. Fremont gave the company its second Alameda County location after Dublin. The same article noted that a Walnut Creek location had recently closed.
So a pizzeria chain replaced a pizzeria chain, and the menu arrived already tested. The best seller the paper named is the Big Sur: a red-sauced pie with roasted garlic cloves, pepperoni, California-made Italian sausage, hand-sliced portobello mushrooms and green onions. Posted hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Five months later, this is still the only arrival on the list with a confirmed opening.
The Old Boston Market Corner Now Has a Quarter, Not a Date
The next-closest arrival is Starbird Chicken. It's taking the former Boston Market at 3966 Mowry Ave., on the Mowry and Fremont Boulevard intersection next to a Jamba Juice. WhatNow reported on August 8 that the site had been empty since Boston Market closed and that no opening date had been set.
Two and a half weeks later, Patch reported the company expects to open in the first quarter of 2027. That makes the earliest realistic window January through March, and the timing is the company's own projection, not an announced grand opening. One detail is unsettled in print. The Mercury News gives the address as 3966 Fremont Blvd., while Patch and WhatNow both use 3966 Mowry Ave. All three describe the same corner.
Starbird fits the same pattern as Pizza My Heart. Patch counts 14 existing Bay Area locations and calls Fremont the 15th. The Mercury News counts differently and calls Fremont the ninth traditional Bay Area location, with two stadium stands and an SFO location counted separately. WhatNow's list includes Pleasanton, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San Jose and Walnut Creek, plus stands at Levi's Stadium and SFO Terminal 1. Aaron Noveshen and The Culinary Edge founded Starbird, and accounts differ on the start date: WhatNow says 2016, and the Mercury News says the brand debuted in Sunnyvale in 2014. The menu is built on crispy chicken coated in a gluten-free flour and spice blend, served as sandwiches, tenders, wings, salads and tacos. Anyone curious about the menu before spring can find one of those locations within a short drive.
Three More Names, Even Less on the Record
The other three arrivals come from two short Silicon Valley Business Journal reports from late August and early September. The full articles are behind a paywall, and the public previews give only partial details.
| Concept | What's confirmed | What's not on the record | Operator's existing footprint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza My Heart | Open since May 12, 2026, at 39010 Argonaut Way, former MOD Pizza | Nothing major | 29 restaurants as of May 2026 |
| Starbird Chicken | 3966 Mowry Ave., former Boston Market; company targets Q1 2027 | Firm opening day | Patch counts 14 Bay Area locations, with Fremont as the 15th |
| Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House | Japanese hot pot, 8,405 sq. ft. on Fremont Boulevard | Street number, former tenant, opening timing | 10 addresses listed on its own site, none in Fremont |
| Amrutha Vilas | Indian vegetarian chain, a Mowry Avenue location | Street number, former tenant, opening timing | Not established from available sources |
| Melt n Dip | 2,290 sq. ft. in a former Chaat Cafe space, renovation underway in August | Street address, opening date | 24 U.S., 4 Canada and 2 Lebanon locations listed; Fremont would be its West Coast debut |
Mikiya's 8,405 square feet is a full-size restaurant space on Fremont Boulevard, nearly four times the size of the Melt n Dip space. The Business Journal preview doesn't say which building it is. Mikiya's own venue page lists ten addresses and doesn't yet include Fremont. The site carries no visible update date, so the missing Fremont entry only shows the page hasn't been updated. It doesn't tell anyone where the project stands.
Amrutha Vilas is described only as an Indian vegetarian chain taking over a location on Mowry Avenue. No public source we found gives the address, what was there before, or a target month.
Melt n Dip was the furthest along in August, when the Business Journal described the 2,290-square-foot former Chaat Cafe space as under renovation. The brand's locations page lists 24 U.S. sites, four in Canada and two in Lebanon. It marks a Dublin, Ohio site as coming soon and doesn't list Fremont yet. Of the five, it's the one with no nearby location to try first, because Fremont would be its first on the West Coast.
The Pattern Running Through All Five
Taken together, the list shows how turnover is working at this corner. Every space whose former tenant has been reported is going from one restaurant operator to another. MOD Pizza became Pizza My Heart, Boston Market is becoming Starbird, and a Chaat Cafe space is becoming Melt n Dip. None of the five incoming names is a first restaurant. Each arrives with an existing menu, a supply chain and a build-out it has done before.
That shapes the expectations. A multi-location operator usually announces a site long before it opens. Starbird went from a Silicon Valley Business Journal report on July 28 to a Q1 2027 target. That's at least five months between first public mention and the earliest expected opening, on a site that needs a remodel. The Business Journal reported that the remodel will add patio seating. Mikiya, Amrutha Vilas and Melt n Dip were first reported in late August and early September, and none has published a target. Measured against Starbird's timeline, a Fremont opening before the new year would be faster than anything this group has shown so far. Through the end of 2026, the corner's change will mostly show up as construction fencing and window signs.
The reporting also hasn't found any 2026 restaurant closures at the Hub. The coverage we found has turned up no new dark storefronts there this year beyond the spaces already being refilled.
Where the Sure Things Are This Month
Until the announced names open, the dependable food plans near central Fremont this October are on the City's calendar, about a mile's drive from the Hub at the Downtown Event Center.
- Fremont Street Eats runs every Friday through October, 5 to 9 p.m., at the Downtown Event Center, 3500 Capitol Ave. The City of Fremont's September 18 newsletter lists it as produced by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce with Food Truck Mafia and the City. As of today, October 11, the Fridays left are October 16, 23 and 30.
- The City and Chamber's Trick-or-Treat event is Friday, October 23, 5 to 9 p.m., at the Downtown Event Center & Plaza, with food trucks, booths and a costume contest. The City's event page says presale trick-or-treat tickets have sold out.
Back at the Hub, a slice and a Big Sur pie at 39010 Argonaut Way is the one new option that's open now. The next confirmed change at the Mowry and Fremont Boulevard corner is Starbird's, and on the company's own estimate it's at least a few months away.
Storefront turnover is one of the clearest early signs of where a commercial corner is headed, and the Joe Schembri Real Estate Team tracks it across Fremont the same way we track pricing and inventory. If you have questions about what's changing near the Hub or along Mowry Avenue and what it could mean for your street, we're happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.
