"We're heartbroken": The Alchemist Café loses garden oasis to redevelopment
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Comments poured in on social media mourning the cafe's closure. Photo: Courtesy of The Alchemist Café
Owners of The Alchemist Café knew that its longtime home would one day be redeveloped. That dreaded day came this week.
Why it matters: The beloved Wilton Manors café captured the laid-back charm of Fort Lauderdale that may slowly disappear with the recent wave of development.
Driving the news: The café officially closed its doors Tuesday to make way for a long-planned apartment complex.
- The other businesses that made up the Yard had already relocated.
What they're saying: "We're heartbroken," owner Lucia Nunez tells Axios. "We call it our slice of heaven."
- The café was a fixture in the community as locals and tourists visited the hidden green oasis just a few miles from downtown.
- Highlights included seven rainbow eucalyptus trees, Freddie Mercury the rooster, several birds and a cat named Cow because of his black and white coat.
- "It was a little botanical garden, a peaceful place far away from all the noise and the nonsense," Nunez tells Axios.
Yes, but: While it'll be impossible to duplicate the eucalyptus gardens, Nunez promises the Alchemist's new location, which she's still in the process of planning, will have the same feel and magic.
Flashback: Nunez and her sister Maria Elaine opened the café in 2014 amid the Instagram and avocado toast craze and it quickly blew up.
- Everyone — myself included — was obsessed with the signature iced coffee made with condensed milk, brown sugar and coffee ice cubes, as well as the "slicers," toasts with a variety of toppings.
- "We never advertised," Nunez says. "It grew organically, mouth to mouth."
Over time, customers felt like family. Nunez says staff would greet everyone with "Welcome home."
Context: She says the relocation had been looming after the property was acquired by Kaplan Residential three years ago.
- In 2024, Wilton Manors approved Kaplan's plans to build a six-story apartment building with 190 units and 8,500 square feet of commercial space.
- Kaplan sold the site to an affiliate of Waypoint Residential in April for $11 million.
- Nunez says they held off looking for a new place, hoping that the complex wouldn't come to fruition.
- "Sadly, it happened," she tells Axios. "We got the letter probably a month ago."
The big picture: As South Florida continues to grow and rapidly redevelop, more local institutions could be at risk.
- Miami has lost longtime neighborhood staples with the influx of affluent transplants and ultra-luxury development.
- "Little by little, these places, we won't be having them," Nunez warns.
The bottom line: "Stay tuned," Nunez tells Axios. "We're not going anywhere."