The 65-year-old Pasquale's Restaurant in Royal Oak that closed in April is now set to be demolished and replaced by another longtime local name: Big Boy.

Big Boy Restaurant Group LLC, owned by an investor team led by Big Boy CEO David Crawford, signed a 50-year ground lease in June with the DelGiudice family that owns the shuttered pizza-and-pasta restaurant property on Woodward Avenue, Crawford told Crain's on Thursday.

Big Boy's new building — possibly two stories — would accommodate three tenants. One could be Buddy's Pizza.

The Warren-based restaurant chain is "working through" a sub-lease deal with the Detroit-style pizza purveyor for one of them, Crawford said. A third, middle tenant hasn't been identified.

Through a representative, Buddy's declined to confirm the potential deal and said it is "looking at several locations" in metro Detroit.

Big Boy's site plans still require Royal Oak city approval and have not yet been submitted, according to a city representative. And the restaurant chain must give the property owners due notice before starting demolition. If all proceeds smoothly, demolition would start next year and Crawford would aim to open the Big Boy restaurant in the second quarter of 2020.

Ryan Cohn, managing broker at RBC1 LLC, the real estate firm that marketed the property, confirmed the ground lease, and said he and the property owners "look forward to seeing the site transform."

The approximately 12,000-square-foot building would cost $1.2 million-$1.5 million to build, not including the cost to build out the restaurants, Crawford said. The 4,000-square-foot Big Boy restaurant would cost another $500,000-$750,000 and the more than 6,000-square-foot space for a Buddy's likely $1 million, with Big Boy paying a small portion of that, he said.