FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — The city of Fernandina Beach is expected to decide whether to demolish Brett’s Waterway Cafe, a more than 40-year-old restaurant, during tonight’s city commission meeting.
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City leaders say the building the restaurant is operating out of needs repairs and maintenance that are too costly to keep it standing.
The owners of the restaurant have a lease for the space ending in December, but Action News Jax has learned it may close by the end of the summer.
At least, that’s what we’ve heard from Front & Centre, the store connected to the restaurant now set to close because of the possible demolition.
“We’ve known the end was coming,” Chrisie Russell said, a sales clerk at Front & Centre, “but it’s bittersweet, it’s the end of an era.”
Brett’s Waterway Cafe is well-known among some of the people who’ve been living in Fernandina Beach long enough to see it live on through all the changes the city has seen, like Cathy Wolfla.
“It’s a very popular, very important place. I hate that we’re going to lose it,” Wolfla said, who tells Action News Jax she walks to Brett’s every day with her dog.
The Fernandina Beach Waterfront Advisory Board went over the possible options to redevelop the dock the restaurant and store are sitting on during its meeting on Monday night.
The six options the board went over ranged from simply tearing the building down and clearing up the site to adding a dock extension, a new restaurant, and a pavilion.
“I think most of the town is against [a new restaurant],” Wolfla said.
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The advisory board ended up recommending filling the space between the dock and the land if the building is demolished, turning it into an open space. It’s something the Fernandina Beach city commission will go over when making a decision to demolish the building.
Russell hopes, if the building is demolished, whatever replaces it will keep the charm of the waterfront.
“Unfortunately, this area will probably be an eyesore for quite a while once the building is torn down,” Russell said.
The city commission’s workshop going over the possible demolition starts at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. If you want to watch it live, you can do so by clicking the link here.
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