New owners and expansion (1995-2011) In the late 1990s, Patsy Grimaldi retired, selling the Grimaldi's name and franchise (except for the Hoboken locations) to restaurateur Frank Ciolli. In 2000, Ciolli's son Joseph became CEO. Ciolli and Greenwald opened a new outlet in Tempe, Arizona, then moved headquarters to Scottsdale. In 2003, wait-times at the original Brooklyn restaurant, which didn't take reservations, could be up to an hour for a table. By 2008, it had expanded into Dallas. By 2010, the company had expanded into Arizona, Florida, and Texas. That year, the BBC named it as one of the best pizza restaurants in the United States. In 2010, after the 2009 announcement that a possible Grimaldi's in FiDi had been dormant for a year and might be evicted, the store signed to open a new 24-hour branch in the Limelight Marketplace in Manhattan. There were also plans to re-open 135 John Street. In July 2008, the restaurant was briefly seized and shut-down by tax authorities. In 2010, Grimaldi's Brooklyn location was facing eviction, with the case going to court. In 2011, the building's owner declined to renew Ciolli's lease in Brooklyn, so he renovated an abandoned bank next door and moved the restaurant over: the landlord attempted to evict the original location for falling behind on rent and taxes, but a judge ordered the landlord to keep the location open until the lease expired on November 30, 2011. The location closed on November 29, opening the next day at 1 Front Street next door, a building opened in 1869 that had served as the first safety deposit bank in Brooklyn. Also in 2011, a Grimaldi's outpost in Chelsea, Manhattan was opened. In 2012, Patsy Grimaldi came out of retirement and opened a new pizzeria called Juliana's Pizza in the original building that Grimaldi's had been evicted from in 2011, resulting in enmity between himself and Ciolli. Growth and franchising (2012-2018) Grimaldi's expanded into Southern California in early 2013, in a location in El Segundo with 280 seats. It was reported that a chemist had been hired to make the water taste similar to the city water in Brooklyn. By 2017, Eric Greenwald was chief operating officer of Grimaldi's Pizza. That year, they opened a location in Detroit, while it had 50 stores overall. Also in 2017, the company signed a contract to open five stores in partnership with Tablez Food Co.