A beloved handcrafted pizza shop that has called Thiensville home since 2017 is relocating to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, making way for Christ Alone Lutheran School and Church to expand.
Downtown Pizza closed its doors at 227 S. Main St. in Thiensville on June 8, according to a Facebook post announcing the closure. It will reopen in Crystal Falls, Michigan, along the Paint River likely by the end of July, the restaurant’s owner Stacy Macholl told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The new restaurant will also have a new name: Paint River Landing.
This is the latest change for a business that’s seen several over the years. Downtown Pizza first opened in Grafton in 2012 under Daryl Kranich. He opened a second location in Thiensville in 2017, closed the Grafton one in 2020 and sold the Thiensville location to Macholl in 2022.
The Thiensville building that Downtown Pizza had leased for eight years is owned by the Christ Alone Lutheran School and Church, which is pursuing village approvals to expand its church and school buildings into the space formerly occupied by Downtown Pizza, according to recent village agendas.
As a result, Macholl started looking for another space to occupy in the area. Her search led her across the state, but she ended up finding the right location in the U.P. in a city called Crystal Falls at 598 U.S. Highway 141. Crystal Falls is about 10 miles north of the Wisconsin border.
“It’s sad to have to leave the area, but I think it’s a gorgeous location that we’re moving to,” Macholl said. “It’s a great way to start over.”
The building her new restaurant will occupy has been vacant for three years and was more of a supper club with a bar area. As a result, she said she’s expanding the menu to offer pasta, burgers, sandwiches, paninis and more appetizers.
The new location includes a stage inside and cabin rentals and an RV campground nearby. She said they plan to have daily specials and host bingo nights, a makers market and other community building events.
According to the plans Christ Alone submitted to the village, the church will be demolishing the building to add a 27,750-square-foot addition to the school building on the west side of the site and a 10,550-square-foot Fellowship Hall to the church building. It will also expand parking as well as build a new 750-square-foot garage.
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Church’s expansion displaces Thiensville restaurant, Downtown Pizza to reopen in U.P.
Reporting by Claudia Levens, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
