When Jupiter House Coffee in Denton closed in late 2017 after a nearby fire caused smoke and water damage, owners Joey and Amy Hawkins planned on opening "a couple of weeks" later.

"I'd never really been through anything like that before," Joey says. You can guess where this is going: The family business didn't open in early 2018, or even in early 2019. Their "couple of weeks" stretched to 74 weeks. That time was spent months working with FEMA and gutting the space that once housed a quaint coffee shop on the Denton Square.

The Denton County Courthouse is seen through the window at Jupiter House coffee shop in Denton. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

"What was really difficult was, we'd remodeled Jupiter House four months prior to [the fire]," Joey says. "Financially, that's been probably the hardest thing to accept." He says he and Amy continued to make loan payments toward the remodel while the interior was being demolished. Then, after the delays and complications with construction, he told the Denton Record-Chronicle that project felt "like going to the dentist every day."

"At moments, we asked, Do we even want to do this again?" he says.

The answer, eventually, was yes — and Jupiter House officially reopens on Friday, May 17. Over the past week, the owners have hosted small pop-ups inside the shop to test their new equipment, which now includes a full kitchen and a Gold Cup single-cup brewer for drip coffee.

"Amy and I have finally built the place we have always dreamt of building — and owning," Joey says. They have owned Jupiter House Coffee since 2007 and are also part-owners in two other Denton businesses, Hoochie's seafood restaurant and Sweetwater Grill & Tavern.

The owners of Jupiter House are excited to use their Gold Cup Brewer, a single-cup machine that results in a cup of coffee similar to a pourover. Jupiter House brews with coffee roasted at Distant Lands Coffee in Tyler. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Jupiter House won't keep Coffee in its name, but coffee will remain part of its DNA. The shop will tack on sandwiches, salads and breakfast items to the menu. It'll also sell bagels, which are an extension of their shop Royal's Bagels and Deli, which closed in Denton in 2018. Both Joey and Amy love to bake, so customers will find house-made scones, bars and cinnamon rolls, too.

Jupiter House co-owner Joey Hawkins ices cinnamon rolls on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at the coffee shop in Denton. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Those cinnamon rolls are decades in the making, as Joey first started working for a cinnamon-roll company at 16 years old. He has been collecting posters and ticket stubs from favorite concerts since his teenage years, too, and some of those landed on the walls of the new Jupiter House.

The company will continue to brew Distant Lands Coffee from Tyler, which sources beans from farms in Costa Rica.

As opening day approaches, Joey says he's excited. And nervous.

"It's always fun to get, like, a new pair of jeans or new shoes, but you don't want anybody to throw out your favorite Chucks or your favorite jeans," he says.

"I know some people are going to miss the old Jupiter House, and I do too, at moments, but I'm very proud of what we're doing now. This is so Amy and I."

Jupiter House is located at 106 N. Locust St., Denton.

See more photos of the new Jupiter House: