A downtown Lawrence restaurant location that has been empty for more than a year will become a Thai food restaurant by mid-April.

Somporn “Sam” Parakhen, owner of the Thai House restaurants in Topeka and Manhattan, confirmed Monday that he has reached a deal to lease the former home of Prairie Fire: an American Bistro, 724 Mass.

The location will be the site for Parakhen’s third Thai House restaurant. He said he’s been looking to expand his operation into Lawrence for the past two years because many of the customers at his Topeka location are from Lawrence.

“People just keep telling me that I need to be there,” Parakhen said. “What I hear from people is that they have been waiting for a long time for real Thai food in Lawrence.”

The restaurant marks the first tenant for the building since Prairie Fire, an upscale dining establishment, closed in December 2001.

Parakhen said he’s confident the location is a good spot for a restaurant and will succeed in Lawrence. He said the restaurant should appeal to a large variety of people because it will have a wide range of prices.

He said the price range for entrees will be between $7 and $24. The menu, Parakhen said, will include about 50 entrees, a dozen appetizers, a dozen salads and six different types of soups. He said unlike some Thai restaurants, the menu will feature much more than noodle dishes, including crab, lobster, duck, fish, chicken, pork and beef.

Parakhen said he also thought being in a university community would be good for business because the large number of international students and faculty are more likely to have been exposed to Thai food.

Parakhen learned his Thai cooking skills in his native country of Thailand, he said. He worked in the food service industry in Thailand before immigrating to the United States in 1987, when he began working in the Thai restaurant industry in California.

“A friend of mine told me that it is a very good market for Thai restaurants in California,” Parakhen said. “That is how I came to America. Now I think it is becoming more popular in the Midwest. People are beginning to learn how to eat it and what it is all about.”

The restaurant, which will employ about 20 people, will be the second Thai restaurant to open in the downtown area in the past year. Zen Zero, 811 Mass., opened in August.

A Thai restaurant will open in the former Prairie Fire building at 724 Mass. The restaurant is scheduled to open in mid-April.

Sean Patrick, floor manager with Zen Zero, said he’s not surprised that there is another Thai restaurant.

“It (Thai food) is becoming quite a bit more popular,” Patrick said. “It is really a bit of a food trend right now. There are a lot of levels of flavors going on with Thai food. That’s what draws people to it. It is an exciting food.”

Patrick said he suspects Lawrence is big enough to support another Thai restaurant.

“Kansas City has lots of them, so I think that Lawrence should be able to support a few,” Patrick said.