A former landmark restaurant, closed for nearly a decade, will reopen at its popular South Tamaqua location sometime this year.

An online announcement Sunday by Leiby's Ice Cream, 116 Mountain Road, Tamaqua, indicated that Leiby's Restaurant, 848 West Penn Pike, could reopen."It's the news everyone has been waiting to hear: We are very proud to announce the reopening of Leiby's Ice Cream House & Restaurant later this year under family ownership," states the announcement, shared on Facebook and other social media."Following over a year of planning, a member of the Leiby family will renovate and then reopen, restoring to the community a family restaurant while satisfying the region's love for the famous local ice cream."You can look forward to the same homestyle cooking and friendly, clean environment that you remember from years past ... will be hiring servers, cooks, and more."A worker at the ice cream plant said early Monday that activity at the former restaurant site is being coordinated by Keith Leiby, currently on vacation in Canada and unavailable for comment.Reports had been circulating since last year about interest in the site, a highly traveled intersection of Route 309 and 443.When contacted last June, site marketer Ron Eichenberg, managing director of commercial sales for the Frederick Group, Allentown, said "There are people interested."But at that time there was no purchase agreement and no plans to develop it, Eichenberg said.As of Monday, the property is still listed in Schuylkill County courthouse records as owned by K-Mar Properties of Bethlehem.Closed in 2007Leiby's Restaurant closed in December 2007, after declining sales.The eatery sold at auction on June 30, 2008, for $1.5 million, a sale conducted by Hassinger & Courtney Auctioneers of Richfield, Snyder County.The auction was ordered by Robert Stillman, whose family bought the restaurant from its founders in 1991.The real estate consists of 7.13 acres and a 9,000-square-foot building with seating for 225 patrons and parking for 200 vehicles.The business was advertised as generating an annual average income of $2.38 million for the previous 10 years.The auction drew an estimated 160 attendees. Of those 20 were registered bidders.At final gavel, the site was purchased by Gary Dell'Alba, Center Valley, of K-Mar Properties, a real estate investment firm associated with Square One Markets.At the time Dell'Alba said plans for the site would keep the community's desires in mind."It'll probably involve food but not necessarily a diner," he said. "We have to look into what would be a good fit here. It'll be something I'd be proud to have in my own community."Dell'Alba, however, passed away one year later.The contents of Leiby's Restaurant were sold at a separate liquidation auction on July 13, 2009.Leiby's traditionLeiby's was founded in 1965 by the Zimmerman brothers Floyd, Kenneth and Ronald who wanted a venue to market homemade ice cream produced at their nearby Walker Township dairy.The name "Leiby's" is said to honor Daniel Leiby, founder of the Walker Township dairy farm which operated for 14 years from 1928-1942, before being acquired by Walter Zimmerman.The Leiby and Zimmerman families were related through marriage.Through their history, Leiby's Ice Cream and Leiby's Ice Cream House and Restaurant have been two separate and distinct businesses with different owners.The ice cream stop eventually grew into a sprawling, full-service restaurant and gift shop that became wildly popular and a local landmark.In addition to hot meals, the restaurant served a variety of ice cream flavors and home-baked pie specialties such as strawberry pie layered inches thick with berries, and dramatic lemon pies featuring meringue topping that towered approximately 7 inches over the pie filling.One of their trademark desserts, the Atomic Sundae, featured 32 ounces of ice cream in three flavors and was a hit with those who enjoy culinary indiscretion. A Leiby's Atomic sold for $7.89.The sale of Leiby's to new owners launched a series of changes.Many said a change in management style took a toll on the popularity of the eatery. Some customers reportedly became dissatisfied with higher prices and a perceived decline in the quality that had made Leiby's special.Others claimed the economy was a strong factor leading to the eatery's closing.The ice cream plant was begun in 1928 by Daniel Leiby, who built a dairy in Lewistown Valley.