The Great Greek is giving Las Vegas Academy of the Arts students a new muse.
The Muse Cafe, that is.
Nick Della Penna, co-founder and co-owner of The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill — which has 11 locations in Southern Nevada and 85 franchisees around the country and the world — is adding a coffee shop to his portfolio.
But The Muse Cafe, at 601 E. Bridger Ave., across the street from LVA, is strictly a passion project. Penna, president of the Friends of LVA Foundation, will donate 100 percent of the profits to the school, where his daughter, Soaren, is a junior majoring in visual arts.
“I don’t want to make a dime out of this. I’m doing well with The Great Greek. This is for the school,” he said. “I want them to feel like this is their coffee shop. I want them to come before school, after school, before performances, after performances. Just for it to be a comfort zone for them. The location makes it absolutely perfect. It’s the LVA coffee shop.
“We’re going to have some super cool comfortable furniture and a bunch of charging jacks where they can plug in their Chromebooks or their laptops and get some work done or study.”
Penna came up with the idea to give back while driving his daughter to school past the space previously occupied by the Brew It Coffee House, which closed in July 2025.
“I would turn this corner every day and I would look at it and go, ‘Maybe I could do something there.’ And the wheels started to turn,” said Penna, 61. “The older I get, the more philanthropic I become. You count your blessings.
“I thought this was a great way to give, to involve the community and build something sustainable.”
LVA production
He also plans on making The Muse Cafe an LVA production. Film students from the school were on hand for the lease signing Wednesday and are making a documentary on the project.
Music, theater and dance students will perform live on stage at the shop. Art students will create the logo and paint murals on the walls, and theater tech students will design the barista uniforms.
DECA students will manage marketing and social media campaigns.
“This is the exact reason why the Muse is here for these students. To give them the opportunity to do something in real time for a real business and not just a school project,” Penna said. “This was the whole vision, to see these students come across the street and work at their craft in a setting that’s safe and comfortable and close.”
Clark County commissioners William McCurdy II and Michael Naft, an LVA graduate, praised the project at the lease signing.
“To see a member of our community step up in a way that is going to not only give financially to the foundation that supports LVA, but in a way that creates opportunity for every single major and discipline at the academy to participate in this coffee shop’s success, I think it’s really cool,” Naft said. “The opportunity is endless to really engage the students to make this part of that student community and student life.”
Said McCurdy, who represents the district: “We oftentimes speak about public-private partnerships and what they do for the community. But none as important as what we’re seeing (at the Muse), with all the proceeds going back to LVA for the students to unleash their untapped potential.”
The downtown Las Vegas cafe, which Penna plans to open in 60 days, will feature an espresso bar, pour-over cold brew, seasonal drinks, breakfast, lunch and catering. It will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“There’s a huge community here,” Penna said. “We’ve got the lawyers upstairs and the federal building across the street. I want it to be welcoming for everyone. But we’ve got 1,750 students across the street and it’s going to be focused on the students.”
Projected profits
Penna projects annual profits of $100,000.
“If it’s run right and I get the business I believe I’m going to get, I think I can donate $100,000 a year to the Friends of LVA,” he said. “I already have some vendor relationships and I’m going to be calling in favors … because every dollar I make is going back to the school.”
LVA Principal Lezlie Koepp said she was “blown away” when Penna pitched the idea to her and that money is always needed at the academy, which was built in 1930 as Las Vegas High School before transitioning in 1993 to the renowned magnet school for music, dance, theater and art education.
“I’m always excited whenever our kids have an opportunity to perform somewhere or be involved in a project,” she said. “It always makes me happy to see our kids not only go out in the community, but to be able to enhance their skills.
“What particularly excites me about this is I do feel like it’s historic. We have a business where every little element of the business is involving students and supporting the students and supporting the school.”
While LVA is in the midst of a decade-long, $350 million campus upgrade, Koepp envisions using the funds raised by The Muse Cafe to help pay for theatrical and film equipment and technology, instruments and more.
“You have no idea how expensive a theater is. A run of the mill microphone is $2,500. We constantly need instruments. I needed a harp and the harp was $10,000,” she said. “It’s just constantly investing into the school. So if we can find the funds to do that part, then I can hire more staff and that gives us smaller class sizes and master artist opportunities and private lessons.
“So just being able to expand opportunities for kids is a very exciting idea and to depend on it on a constant basis.”
Penna said he signed a three-year lease with two three-year options and plans to stay involved in the business after his daughter graduates from LVA next year.
“I’ll run it for nine years and then some. I plan on running this as long as it’s donating money to the Friends of LVA,” he said. “I love this school. I just really found out about it two or three years ago and I’ve just fallen in love with it. Everything about it.
“You walk on that campus, it is an absolutely special place. When my daughter walked on that campus for her first tour of it, she said, ‘These are my people.’ She found home.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
