Two old Navy buddies are teaming up to navigate the waters of the VCU restaurant market.

Tony Nickolas and Jody Compton plan to open a DiCarlo’s Pizza franchise at 802 W. Broad St. this fall. The pair has a five-year lease on the 1,100-square-foot space that was most recently home to the short-lived TNT Diner-Myte.

“I grew up on DiCarlo’s pizza,” Nickolas, an Ohio transplant, said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do – own my own shop.”

Nickolas and Compton met while serving on the now scrapped USS L.Y. Spear, which docked at Norfolk. Nickolas eventually retired in Virginia Beach before settling down in Richmond. He owned three area ColorTyme franchises before the rent-to-own company bought them back from him.

The former service members stayed friends over the years, and the idea for a Richmond DiCarlo’s first began to rise when they were on the phone one day.

“I was like, ‘Man, I need to start a business. I’m tired of working for someone else,’” Compton said. “(Nickolas) said, ‘why don’t you come to Richmond and start a pizza place with me?’”

Within a month, Compton quit his job as a project manager for an architectural firm in Jackson, Miss., and moved his family to Richmond.

Nickolas wouldn’t say what it will cost to open the Richmond DiCarlo’s but did say he and Compton are using their personal savings to finance the venture.

DiCarlo’s was established in 1945 in Ohio. There are about 20 DiCarlo’s Pizza shops open in Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A DiCarlo’s franchise can cost between $110,000 and $180,000, according to the company’s website.

Compton and Nickolas are wading into a crowded pool of eateries vying for hungry VCU students. There are at least four other pizza shops already open less than a mile away from the planned DiCarlo’s location, including a Christian’s Pizza that opened earlier this year at 404 N. Harrison St.

The Richmond DiCarlo’s will be the brand’s only location in Virginia, but that may soon change. Compton and Nickolas said they are considering opening more locations in Carytown, near MCV, and in Richmond’s suburbs.

“Richmond will be able to taste the difference,” Nickolas said. “I’m hoping in five years, we have six stores open.”

DiCarlo’s will sell pizza, calzones, salads and sandwiches and will have eight beers on tap. Prices haven’t been set yet, but a slice will cost less than $2, Nickolas said.

Activity around the intersection of West Broad and North Laurel streets has picked up in recent months. Raysean Edwards opened his second Wavy Kickz shoe shop on Sept. 1 at 804 W. Broad St., and just up the street a Carytown Tobacco location is in the works. An Urban Farmhouse is under construction at 800 W. Broad St.