Iowa City investors behind Pullman Bar & Diner and St. Burch Tavern purchase Hamburg Inn

IOWA CITY — After months of turmoil with closings and reopenings, the iconic Hamburg Inn No. 2 was purchased last week by a group of local investors and is expected to reopen this fall.

The restaurant at 214 N. Linn St. closed in July for the second time in a year. It will reopen in October under new management.

New owner Gold Cap Hospitality, which owns Pullman Bar & Diner and St. Burch Tavern in Iowa City, hopes to keep the staple’s cultural importance intact “with the intention of stewarding the next generation of this Iowa City institution,” the company said in a news release.

“After almost 90 years, The Burg needs some fixing up. We’re taking stock of the things that are broken along with the things that aren’t,” said Nate Kaeding, founding partner and lead strategist at Gold Cap Hospitality. “The Burg doesn’t need new ideas. At least, we don’t think it does. It just needs to remember who it was.”

Kaeding leads Gold Cap Hospitality with several others who have a hand in well-known establishments around Iowa City, including Big Grove Brewery’s founding partner and Chief Executive Officer Matt Swift, managing partner Doug Goettsch and executive chef Ben Smart.

The new company, introduced to the public Monday with the acquisition of the Hamburg Inn, puts the partners’ efforts to build a collective of Iowa City restaurants under one banner, Kaeding said Monday on LinkedIn.

“The Gold Cap collective of restaurants … aim to be the front porch of downtown Iowa City,” Kaeding said. “We believe in building restaurants with a soul, that enhance neighborhoods, and connect the people in them. A Gold Cap restaurant strives to be quintessential to the Iowa City experience.”

Announcement of the Hamburg Inn’s first closure was made late last year, when local management said it was unable to contact the restaurant’s owner, Michael Lee, for substantial building maintenance and repairs. Staff members also claimed unpaid wages at the end of 2022.

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After its initial closure, the restaurant quietly reopened in February before closing again in July, citing staff issues.

Lee, a University of Iowa graduate who lives in Taiwan, purchased the restaurant from Dave Panther in 2016. Before that, Panther’s family had owned the restaurant since 1948. It first opened in 1935.

Shortly after its second closure in July, Iowa Public Radio noted court records alleging Lee was significantly behind on property taxes and owed nearly $15,000 to the restaurant’s food supplier.

Gold Cap Hospitality purchased the restaurant directly from Lee, according to a representative for the new owner.

Over the past few decades, the restaurant became a landmark for politicians of all stripes visiting the area, particularly during Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses for both major political parties.

“The most important thing about the Hamburg Inn is its place in the community,” said former owner Dave Panther. “I couldn’t be happier that they’re keeping it around.”

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