Messmer turning former pasta restaurant into community event space

QUINCY — Jacob Messmer hopes to open Quincy’s newest community event space in three phases.

Maverick’s Landing Zone, Lounge and Venue, 500 S. Eighth, will open Sept. 30 with live music during an open house weekend. In the winter, he hopes to have a lounge bar with a one-page menu restaurant. 

“And then by the end of 2024, we hope to integrate both of those into a nice evening and daytime community place that people can enjoy, if it all works out,” Messmer said.

The building was the home of LaGondola Spaghetti House from 1996 until December 2022. Owner Bob Weaver Jr. then moved the restaurant to the corner of 12^th and Jefferson, which recently was where Chompz was located. Hardee’s also was in that location for several years.

Messmer and Shane McDermott have been renovating the interior of the building since May. It has more than 3,600 square feet, with seating space for more than 200 people and a stage area. Messmer believes the building can accommodate receptions, showers, reunions, private parties and fundraisers.

“We’ve totally revamped the inside. It’s completely remodeled,” Messmer said. “There are no leftovers of what the pasta place looked like at all. It’s a totally different. I mean, it’s the same layout when you walk in there, but we modernized it. We painted the walls, we did some drywall work, we did some other stuff, put new flooring in and cleaned up all the grease.”

Messmer’s full-time job is as a customer delivery specialist in the logistics and trucking industry. He hopes to create a space usable for the “common class person.”

“We also want people to utilize it to host fun and creative events like paint parties, workshops, live music shows, gallery exhibitions, studio space, group or club meetings, as well as use for audio and video production and more,” he said.

“Life has kind of taken me everywhere. I’ve experienced a lot of different restaurants or eateries or bar lounges that aren’t necessarily something that is just a bar on the corner. I don’t want to have a place like that. I just want to have a place that will eventually have alcohol, food and a single small menu and possibly even gaming in it. We want it to be welcoming to everyone in a in a way that people can come in, and they don’t feel like it’s your typical bar.”

Maverick’s Landing Zone, Lounge and Venue is leasing the first floor of the building from McDermott Enterprises, LLC. Shane McDermott of McDermott Enterprises and Messmer’s LLC, Maverick Messmer Management, have put the financial investment into the remodeling work while also putting “the elbow grease into it,” Messmer said. 

McDermott leases the upper floors as apartments.

For information about packages, pricing and bookings, email MavericksLandingZone@gmail.com.