A little more than two years after Nicola Pizza moved from downtown Rehoboth Beach to a new location on Route 1 outside Lewes, its second-floor event space, called the Nic Center, is now open.

It’s fantastic, said Nick Caggiano Sr., who co-founded the pizzeria on North First Street in Rehoboth Beach with his late wife Joan in 1971. A second location opened on Rehoboth Avenue in 2010. Both of those locations closed in advance of the new restaurant opening in October 2022.

“There’s been a lot of positive response,” said Caggiano. “We can’t wait to use it.”

The Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce hosted the first event in the recently completed space March 12, when it conducted its monthly membership luncheon there.

Carol Everhart, chamber president and CEO, thanked Nicola for letting them break in the new space. It’s going to be very well used in the future, she said.

The luncheon also marked another first – it was the first speaking engagement for Sara Bluhm, Sussex County Land Trust’s first full-time executive director. She began in January.

The land trust was established in 2001. Up until Bluhm’s hiring, it was guided by a part-time contractual executive director and a board of trustees.

After a brief introduction for the Milford native, Bluhm primarily spent her time reviewing a number of the land trust’s more prominent projects across the county. The land trust has helped preserve more than 6,000 acres, she said.

While Bluhm did answer a few questions, she said her primary purpose for being at the luncheon was to begin to promote more public engagement.

Following her presentation, Bluhm said she thought it was cool to play some small part in the history of Nicola Pizza.

For more information on Nicola Pizza’s new event space, 17323 Ocean One Plaza, go to nicolapizza.com or call 302-227-6211.

For more information on Sussex County Land Trust, go to sclandtrust.org or email contact@sclandtrust.org.