CASCADE, Iowa — Happy Joe’s is coming back to Cascade.
John Lehmann, the owner of Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream in Dyersville, confirmed Tuesday that he will open a Cascade location at 201 First Ave. W. The building formerly housed Corner Tap.
The new Happy Joe’s will open early next year, according to Lehmann.
He told the Telegraph Herald that he had thoughts of opening a second location but was waiting for the right opportunity to arise. When he learned of the recently renovated Cascade building, he began talking with residents in the area and decided it was the right move.
“The biggest thing in Dyersville is we have a lot of support from our community and a lot from the surrounding communities like Cascade,” he said. “I am just glad we get the opportunity to go down there. I think it will be a great fit for the community down there.”
Lehmann will lease first-floor, commercial space from Brian Bock, who said work would begin immediately on the kitchen and dining space. Bock bought the building last September for about $80,000, according to online property records.
Work to create three apartments on the building’s second floor started earlier this year.
“One of the workers there who was working on the building approached the owner of the Happy Joe’s, who was expanding in Dyersville, and that is how it came to be,” Bock said.
Lehmann said the Cascade restaurant will not include a bar but will have its normal pizza and lunch specials. He said the new location will employ about 20 workers.
The announcement comes just over a year after the Happy Joe’s Pizza on First Avenue East in Cascade was destroyed in a fire. The old Happy Joe’s was attached to Cascade Lanes & Lounge, whose owners later announced plans to open a family entertainment center in Peosta rather than rebuild in Cascade.
Katelyn Wolfe, executive director of the Cascade Area Chamber of Commerce, said residents have longed for another pizza place since the fire.
She said other restaurants bring a lot of people into the city’s downtown.
“Cascade has definitely missed having a casual pizza place,” she said. “It is definitely nice to have another option.”