The deep-dish pizza restaurant will operate out of food truck until new building at Las Colonias is ready

Tim Harty, The Business Times

Junct’n Square Pizza, a fixture of downtown Grand Junction dining for nearly 50 years, has been sold and will move to a new location next to OakStar Bank in the Riverfront at Las Colonias development along the Colorado River.

The new owners, married couple Aaron and Mariel Abeyta and Aaron’s father, Ernie Abeyta, hope the new building will be ready about six months into 2026. Until then, however, they won’t be able to stay in the restaurant’s current building at 119 N. Seventh St.

Instead, Junct’n Square Pizza will operate inside a food truck, leasing the same food truck used by the former owners – Jeff, Melanie and Xander Wick of Hangdog Hospitality LLC – to supplement the brick-and-mortar business.

Onbelay Estates LLC, which belongs to Jeff Wick, owns the building that Junct’n Square Pizza occupied and will lease the building to a new restaurant.

Hangdog Hospitality’s last day of ownership was Dec. 13, and Aaron Abeyta said he hopes to limit the time between then and opening in the food truck to a few days. On Dec. 9, Aaron said he was close to having a food-truck location worked out.

A dream, a gut feeling and buying a restaurant

Aaron Abeyta, who co-owns a food truck called Phillin’ It, currently operating in the parking lot of Monumental Coffee, 575 32 Road, said he had a vision about buying a restaurant.

Wouldn’t you know, Junct’n Square Pizza was part of that vision. And when Aaron followed up with some Internet research on local businesses for sale, guess which deep-dish pizza restaurant in the 100 block of North Seventh Street happened to be for sale.

If the Abeytas were going to pursue a pizza place, Junct’n Square Pizza made all the sense in the world, as Aaron said, “We’ve been coming here for a while now, and … I myself love pizza a lot, and so does my whole entire family.”

Moreover, it was literally a gut feeling on Aaron’s part.

“Junct’n Square was the only pizza I’ve ever eaten that doesn’t actually give me stomach issues,” he said. “Their natural ingredients, their fresh ingredients make all the difference between pizza and my gut. So, realistically this was the only place I could still keep coming to that’s a pizza place and not have stomach issues.”

Won’t mess with what works

As a fan of Junct’n Square Pizza, Aaron said the staples on the current menu will remain. Not just the deep-dish pizza, but also the antipasti salads it’s known for.

Aaron wanted to make it clear to Junct’n Square Pizza’s loyal customers, “We are not trying to change a lot from the original Junct’n Square. We’re trying to keep things almost as identical as possible, so that the people that have been coming here for a long time know that that is our goal … to keep the same tradition that’s been alive and thriving for the past 50 years.”

What the Abeytas will do is add some items to the menu.

“The only thing we’ll even possibly do that’s different, really, is adding maybe a couple more options for desserts and then having options for being open earlier to serve coffee and things of that nature in the morning,” Aaron said.

A much, much bigger bar

Alcohol sales have been part of Junct’n Square Pizza’s operation, but the size of the Seventh Street building severely limited how much the Wick family could do during its six years as owner. Xander Wick held his hands a few feet apart to show how small the area was that served as the restaurant’s area for making cocktails.

That will change in the restaurant’s new building. Oh boy, that’s going to change.

Aaron said the new building will have an indoor-outdoor bar, the kind of bar that people frequent just to drink. Then, by the way, they can order pizza, too.

“We’re going to make sure that there’s that full indoor-outdoor bar on the bottom level, so that people can enjoy outside seating and dining and then be able to walk straight up to the bartender there if they’re getting drinks or making orders for something else they would like,” he said.

The building also will be two stories with the second story being about half the size of the building’s base, but large decks will make up for some of that smaller indoors area on the second floor. Some deck areas will be covered, providing shade and protection from the elements outdoors.

In addition, customers who prefer outdoors dining will have several domed areas on the premises to use for groups of four to five people. Those domes also will be warm in the winter, capable of being used year-round.

Aaron said another feature that will be new to Junct’n Square Pizza will be a small stage for live music and comedians, “so that we can have some kind of live entertainment as often as we possibly can.”

Taking care of veterans

Aaron said he and Ernie are military veterans, and they want to be sure to offer discounts for veterans.

Aaron said of his father, “It’s something that he believes in wholeheartedly, giving back to our veterans. He’s been at the VA (Hospital) working as an RN for the last 30 years, so he wants to have some sort of specials, incentive or discount for veterans and service workers alike, to be able to provide an additional discount to the people who served our country.”

Ready for the river-trail users

Another group that Junct’n Square Pizza wants to make feel at home is the outdoor-recreation crowd.

“We’re going to really try our best to accommodate all of our sports enthusiasts, like bikers and things of that nature, hikers, people who have dogs, go on dog walks and stuff like that,” Aaron said. “We want to be very inclusive with pets. We’re huge pet people, so we’ll have a huge area, open area outside for bringing your pets and things of that nature, and we completely encourage that.”

The new location won’t have the downtown traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, but it will be right next to the Colorado Riverfront Trail and ready to serve the people who use it.

“I just know that the traffic there is high with bikers and dog walkers and stuff,” Aaron said, “and we just want to make sure that they know that they’re completely welcome.”

Xander Wick’s last day as a co-owner and manager of Junct’n Square Pizza was Dec. 13, marking the end of a six-year run for the 25-year-old. That’s right, he started there at age 19 and immediately was greeted by the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wick said he’s grateful for the experience, all of it.

“You know, I’ve really had a unique opportunity to learn a lot,” he said. “Taking over a restaurant during COVID, it’s not an easy task, but you know, we’ve done a really, really great job here. I’m really, really proud of that.”

He oversaw improvements, including the introduction of a food truck and a doubling of alcohol sales despite the limited space in the building at 119 N. Seventh St., which couldn’t accommodate a full bar.

As much as he enjoyed his time with Junct’n Square Pizza, Wick knew it was coming to an end. He said the restaurant and its assets had been on the market for a year until the Abeyta family (Aaron, Mariel and Ernie) bought it.

“It’s a very happy sell,” Wick said. “Mostly, I’ve loved what I’ve been doing for the last six years, but I’m ready for that next challenge.”

Time to learn the law

The next challenge, by the way, is law school.

Wick said he starts at Washburn University Law School in Topeka, Kansas, in January. It’s an opportunity for which he is “very thankful” and “really excited.”

What kind of law he’ll eventually practice is to be determined, as he said, “I don’t know that yet. … I’m just being as open-minded as possible.”

Wick said he had the opportunity to shadow attorneys in the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and “I really enjoyed getting to see what they do.”

Helping the new owners

The Abeytas bought the restaurant, but the building remained with Onbelay Estates LLC, which belongs to Xander Wick’s father, Jeff Wick.

As a result, Junct’n Square Pizza will operate out of a food truck until it’s new home in the Riverfront at Las Colonias development gets built. The Abeytas will lease the food truck owned by the Wick family.

Xander Wick said the food truck was a great addition during his time with Junct’n Square Pizza, and he bought it from Michael Morelli, who operated Michael Angelo’s Wood Fired Pizza from that truck before retiring.

“It’s a really nice food truck, phenomenal food truck,” Wick said.

He then praised Morelli, saying, “Great guy. He taught me a lot about pizza and kind of how to run a food truck.”

Peche owners moving in

Xander Wick said Matt and Ashley Chasseur, owners of fine-dining restaurant Peche in Palisade, signed a lease and will put a new restaurant in the former home of Junct’n Square Pizza, which has been in business since 1977.

Wick said he can’t provide details about the restaurant the Chasseurs plan to put there, and The Business Times was unsuccessful in its attempts to call the Chasseurs at Peche prior to this edition’s deadline.

One thing Wick knows is the building is more than 100 years old (built in 1917), and “there’s a lot of work that has to be done there.”

Appreciative customers

Wick said he sent out a lot of emails to notify people that Dec. 13 will be the last day for the Wick family as owners. In return, he received a lot of responses with a lot of gratitude.

“I’m overwhelmed by the support and by the thanks of our customers and urban groups that have reached out and said how much they enjoy coming to eat here over the last 50 years,” he said “Obviously, my tenure has been six years of that, but it’s been a wonderful experience to be able to be a part of that.”