One of Tuscaloosa’s most celebrated restaurants may be getting a second act.

The Cypress Inn, closed since 2019, may be reopening, according to its new owners.

At Tuesday’s Tuscaloosa City Council meeting, Jeffery Harless of Harless and Co. appeared with a request for a restaurant retail liquor license for Black Warrior Events, at 501 and 601 Rice Mine Road.

That address is the location of the former restaurant, as well as the 4,000-square-foot on-site events pavilion.

City Councilman Kip Tyner asked Harless directly, “So you plan to reopen the Cypress Inn or some type of restaurant?”

“As soon as we find the right person,” he replied.

Harless told Tyner he had acquired the property about a month ago with plans to operate the pavilion and “find an operator to come in and take over the restaurant.”

“I think you have made a whole lot of people very, very happy,” Tyner said, adding that he “almost cried” when he saw the Cypress Inn sign during the presentation.

The application was approved.

Located on the edge of the Black Warrior River, the restaurant opened in 1984 and served up Alabama farm-raised catfish, smoked chicken and white barbecue sauce and seafood gumbo, before closing.

Owner Cathy Lunsford told The Tuscaloosa News at the time it was “in anticipation of reopening with a new concept and possibly new ownership” and were even remodeling in preparation for the new operator.