photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Salty Iguana Mexican restaurant location at Sixth and Wakarusa is pictured on Sept. 18, 2025.

News and notes from around town:

Maybe there is something about the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive that makes it simpatico with the desert.

For years it was home to the Salty Iguana Mexican restaurant and now Cactus Grill, a Kansas City-based Tex-Mex restaurant, is set to move into the center.

(Yes, I confirmed iguanas live in the desert. I thought they lived in insurance offices, but that was a gecko, come to find out.)

“We are really excited about it,” Ryan Schulteis, the local commercial real estate agent on the deal, told me. “They are going to do an entire refresh from top to bottom on that building. When people walk in everything will be brand new.”

As for what they will find on their plates: A large and eclectic mix of Tex-Mex options. The menu includes traditional items such as a half-dozen enchilada varieties, chimichangas, tacos and other such dishes. But it also includes steak and goat cheese pinwheels, shrimp mango salad, and a blackened salmon served with cilantro rice and Mexican street corn, according to the restaurant’s online menu.

The Lawrence location will be the first expansion outside of the Kansas City metro for Cactus Grill. It currently has locations in Leawood, Overland Park and Lenexa. However, you might be more familiar with its sister company, Jose Peppers. That Tex-Mex operation has about 10 restaurants in Missouri and Kansas, including in Topeka, Wichita, Salina and throughout the KC metro. Both Cactus Grill and Jose Peppers are owned by area restauranteur Ed Gieselman.

Gieselman told me that he went back and forth between placing a Jose Peppers or a Cactus Grill in the location. Ultimately, he determined that the Cactus Grill concept would stand out in Lawrence more, even though Jose Peppers probably has greater name recognition.

“The Tex-Mex is outstanding, but we offer salmon, more salads and more seafood options compared to Jose Peppers,” he said.

The cocktail menu also is elevated at Cactus Grill. Margaritas, as you would expect, are a big part of the offerings. The menu includes about a half-dozen variations including peach, strawberry, jalapeño, and one called a Mambo Taxi that involves Grand Marnier and sangria.

The ingredient that Cactus Grill includes in every margarita, though, is fresh-squeezed lime juice.

“The margaritas are definitely unique because everything is fresh-squeezed throughout the day,” Gieselman said.

Gieselman said he hopes to have the Lawrence restaurant open in February, but said there is a lot of work to do in the space.

“It is time to freshen it up,” he said of the space. “Everything from the restrooms to the front door, were going to freshen up.”

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photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Einstein Bros. Bagel location in downtown Lawrence is pictured on Sept. 18, 2025.

Your morning routine might have a hole in it. Actually, maybe it will have one less hole — or a dozen. Einstein Bros. Bagels has closed its downtown Lawrence location, which was its only store in the city.

The store at 1026 Massachusetts Street posted a permanently closed sign on the front door in recent days. The closing is notable because Einstein had been open in downtown for at least 20 years, by my memory. However, the closing doesn’t appear to be part of any larger set of closings within the Einstein chain. Rather, the shop seemingly closed based on local conditions.

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photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Renovation work on the Midco building at Seventh and New Hampshire street is shown on Sept. 19, 2025.

There is a bit of construction going on near Seventh and New Hampshire streets in downtown Lawrence. There’s the much reported work to convert a portion of the former Journal-World printing plant into a new restaurant for Q39 barbecue, there’s the historic preservation work underway for a major multi-use project in the former Reuter Organ building, and there are scaffoldings and other signs of large-scale maintenance on the exterior of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas building at the corner.

Now, as you drive through the intersection, you might notice that one building is basically missing its entire front. The small building at the northeast corner of the intersection is being majorly remodeled.

Some of you may remember the building as the former home of 6News, back when the local cable company operated a local news station. Well, that operation isn’t returning to the building, but the cable company is. Although I haven’t seen an official announcement, I’ve been told that Midco plans to move its customer service office to the building later this year. Currently, Midco has its customer service office in leased space near 31st and Iowa streets.

I say this is a return to the building for Midco, but technically, parts of the company never left the building. The company owns the building, and it houses lots of equipment for the company’s broadband internet, cable and telephone services.