On the last day of 2020, Katie and I officially received keys to Press Coffee’s new home at 1120 North Dodge Street. Our former space at 2201 Grantview Drive sits empty now, waiting to be leased to a new tenant, but you may still catch us coming and going as we finish packing up our office. With all the hopeful energy of a new year propelling us forward, the Katie-Lisa version of Press Coffee is finally within reach.

Ryan Wade, regular customer turned Press Coffee landlord and contractor, took ownership of the building at the very end of December which means that we can finally begin Phase 3: construction!

We’ve posted pictures of the outside of the space (see above) but the inside currently lays bare besides the skeleton of interior walls. Katie and I have spent the downtime while Press is closed designing our new cafe and collecting an array of funky furniture. The first creation of this new Press Coffee, the one we’ve been dreaming up and putting down on paper, is nearly complete and ready to spring forth.

After spending seven years keeping company with a small group of friendly neighbors in the Grantview building, moving to the Northside of Iowa City puts us within reach of a broader range of businesses and people. Most of our preparation until now has involved business plans and financial projections, but our vision includes much more than that. In the days after we closed the doors in Coralville (and still had a functional space for a while), we boxed up some brewed coffee and introduced ourselves to a handful of the neighboring businesses on North Dodge. To the East of our building is part of St. Joseph cemetery and the entrance to Hickory Hills Park. To the West sit two different office suites that contain two different Farmer’s Insurance agents named Don.

Walking into the Iowa City Community School District administration building, we did a double-take at the person sitting at the front desk: Ann was the first to contact us when the news broke about our relocation to Iowa City. She not only works for the ICCSD but also maintains the grounds at the cemetery and was thrilled to hear a coffee shop was going in next door. We were already bumping into new friends.

Our intended route included a trip to ACT, but seeing as it was the week of Thanksgiving, we found a mostly empty business complex. Sprinting through the rain, we said hello to these fine gentlemen at Station 4 and then stopped by the new outpatient department of UI Hospital & Clinics. Not only do face masks provide a barrier to germs, but it was an encouraging factor in getting recipients to pose for a photo.

Imagining our new cafe layout is exciting, but we can’t wait to interact with our new surroundings. New regulars with new routines and new favorite drinks. Different names ordering through the Jump Coffee app or faces arriving at the drive-up window. It’s the community connections that make this job worth it at the end of the day, so what we want to know is, are you our neighbor?

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