ORO VALLEY, AZ (March 16, 2026)— A new family dining concept has opened this month at the Oro Valley Marketplace, bringing fresh activity to a prominent restaurant building that had been vacant since 2024. Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream has opened at 11695 N. Oracle Road, backfilling the former Red Lobster restaurant space at the regional shopping center owned by Town West Realty. The new restaurant occupies a 7,300-square-foot freestanding building and marks the brand’s first Southern Arizona location.
The site had been vacant since May 2024, when Red Lobster’s Oro Valley restaurant closed during the chain’s nationwide shutdown of dozens of underperforming locations. Oro Valley’s June 2024 executive report listed Red Lobster among the town’s business closures, confirming the end of the prior tenant’s run at the property.
Happy Joe’s announced the Oro Valley restaurant in December 2025, describing it as a new Arizona entry for the Iowa-based pizza and ice cream brand. The company said the location would feature its updated family-entertainment prototype, including dine-in service, a game room, a party space, a patio fire pit, and a golf simulator. QSR Magazine reported that the restaurant opened in March 2026, giving Oro Valley Marketplace a new family-oriented dining-and-entertainment use in a highly visible Oracle Road location…