Jan. 12--LAS CRUCES -- Dick's Cafe could reopen its old location at 2305 S. Valley Drive as soon as Monday. Owner Ace Perez said he hopes to welcome customers today at the place where the longtime Las Cruces eatery has resided since the 1970s.

"Everything should be ready," Perez said.

The company suffered a fire at the restaurant in February and has operated at a temporary location at 2265 S. Main St., since March.

Perez said he plans to continue to use the South Main Street facility as a barbecue restaurant -- called Smoky Dick's -- that he hopes to open later.

Dick's Cafe, which will celebrate its 50th year in business this year, is open from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Starbucks location remains open

Last year, Starbucks announced that its store at 2800 N Main St. would close as part of a 616-store closure nationwide. No timetable was given for the closure and the store remains open.

I checked with district manager Javier Gandara, and he said the he has not been informed of a closing date yet.

"As far as I know, it is still on the closing list, but I have not heard a date thus far," he wrote to me in an e-mail.

Pizzeria opens on Solano

A new restaurant called Eddie's Done Deal Pizza has opened its doors at 1103 S. Solano Drive, in the building that used to house Casa de Menudo.

Owner Eddie Farrell said he is from New York City where he used to work in pizzerias and

wanted to run his own place. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., the eatery offers meatball sandwiches and calzones and well as pizza. Farrell said he hopes to soon offer cold cut sandwiches as well.

The phone number for Eddie's Done Deal Pizza is (575) 523-1788.

MMC to start $20M project

Memorial Medical Center held a groundbreaking ceremony last week for three construction projects that are estimated to cost more than $20 million, and will add or renovate more than 25,000 square feet of property at the medical facility, creating about 50 new jobs.

The work will expand the hospital's critical care unit, add a third catheterization laboratory and also bring tomotherapy capability to the Ikard Cancer Treatment Center.

"These projects will allow us to expand our services," said CEO Paul Herzog.

The general contractor for all three projects is Nashville, Tenn.-based MCG and the medical care facility reports it will use as many local subcontractors and workers as possible. Not all subcontractors have been selected yet.

First National Bank will change name

The First National Bank of Artesia, which has locations in Las Cruces, announced that it will change its name to First American Bank effective Jan. 30.

The company reports that the board of directors and executive management of the bank will remain the same.

"This change will be seamless to our customers," Everett Crawford, chairman and CEO, said via a release.

The company reports that First American Bank will be a state chartered bank regulated by the State of New Mexico and the FDIC.

The bank reports that customers should not experience any interruption in service as the bank routing number and all checking, savings and loan account numbers will remain the same.

Additionally the bank Web address and e-mail addresses will remain unchanged.

Brook Stockberger can be reached at bstockberger@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5457

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