One of the country’s fastest-growing franchise sandwich shops will open a Lawrence restaurant by mid-February.

Quiznos, a Denver-based restaurant chain that features toasted sub sandwiches, has signed a lease to locate in the Tower Plaza shopping center, 2540 Iowa. The center is immediately south of the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar.

Brian Wise, a Lawrence resident and former United Parcel Service employee, is leading the group that purchased the franchise rights for the Lawrence area. He said despite Lawrence’s crowded restaurant market, he thought there was a niche for Quiznos to fill.

“I looked at my family’s experience,” Wise said. “There are a lot of times we’re looking for something a little nicer than a standard sandwich, but we don’t have a lot of time.”

Wise said he expected the store to open by Feb. 15. He said it would employ about 30 people.

Wise and Dave Dreiling, owner of the Quiznos franchise in Manhattan, bought the franchise rights to the Lawrence area. Wise said he thought the company eventually would open three Quiznos in Lawrence.

Quiznos has been following an aggressive growth strategy. It now has 2,500 stores, and recently was ranked the fastest-growing restaurant company in the country, in terms of number of new stores, by Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade publication.

This is the second time a Quiznos has tried to establish itself in Lawrence. A store opened in downtown Lawrence in the mid-1990s but it closed. Wise said he thought the business would be successful this time because the chain had better name recognition than it did in the mid-1990s.