{"id":153026,"date":"2026-02-12T14:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/153026\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:33:25","slug":"should-fort-lauderdale-let-this-popular-restaurant-keep-its-artificial-turf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/153026\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Fort Lauderdale let this popular restaurant keep its artificial turf?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who knew a little bit of artificial turf could get a restaurant owner in trouble?<\/p>\n

Not Vincenzo Padula, the owner of Cafe Del Mar, a popular Fort Lauderdale restaurant that sits on a site with a highly coveted historic landmark designation.<\/p>\n

To prettify the restaurant, Padula installed apple green faux turf to cover brick pavers in the outdoor dining area.<\/p>\n

Within weeks he was cited by code enforcement and told the city\u2019s Historic Preservation Board needed to sign off on the very modern new floor covering.<\/p>\n

Padula took his request to the board, but was told his $20,000 investment did not meet historic preservation guidelines and must be removed.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s seeking approval from a higher authority: The City Commission.<\/p>\n

Padula hopes the commission will reverse the ruling. He might just get his wish.<\/p>\n

During a recent City Hall meeting, Padula had to persuade commissioners to agree to review his case.<\/p>\n

After hearing the details from Padula\u2019s attorney, Commissioner Steve Glassman argued the commission should hear the case at an upcoming meeting on March 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you sometimes have to give a little to deal with modern times,\u201d Glassman said. \u201cI think this discussion about what is really a rug over non-historic pavers is a bit of a reach. It\u2019s a bit of a reach because of the fact that this turf is an installation that is temporary. It\u2019s fully removable. And the pavers have nothing to do with the history of the building. There\u2019s no alteration to the historic structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long before Cafe Del Mar came along, there was the Lauderdale Beach Hotel, an Art Deco hotel built in 1936 and designed by renowned Miami Beach architect Roy France.<\/p>\n

In 2001, a developer came to town with plans to demolish the old hotel and put up a condo tower.<\/p>\n

Glassman \u2014 not yet a commissioner but at the time head of the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation \u2014 led the charge<\/a> to turn the hotel into a historic landmark.<\/p>\n

In the end, the hotel was knocked down, but the facade was preserved<\/a>. Behind it rose the 29-story Las Olas Beach Club condo.<\/p>\n

During last week\u2019s meeting, Glassman took the room on a trip down memory lane.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 25 years ago, I actually filed the request for historic designation on this hotel,\u201d Glassman said. \u201cI was upset when I heard that it was going to be demolished. We were able to preserve the facade on all three sides, not just the side that faces A1A. That being said, I do consider myself a historic preservationist but perhaps not as pure as some (historic preservationists) consider themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulling up the artificial turf could prove harmful to the business, Glassman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does make for a cozier area,\u201d he added. \u201cNot as cold as it was before. It just seems more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the owner of the restaurant asked the city\u2019s building department if a permit was required and was told no.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat also has to be factored in,\u201d Glassman said.<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com<\/a>. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who knew a little bit of artificial turf could get a restaurant owner in trouble? Not Vincenzo Padula,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[73827,73830,73828,249,251,250,73829,12585,73831,19722,73826],"class_list":{"0":"post-153026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-artificial-turf","9":"tag-brick-pavers","10":"tag-cafe-del-mar","11":"tag-fort-lauderdale","12":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","13":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","14":"tag-historic-landmark","15":"tag-historic-preservation","16":"tag-historic-preservationist","17":"tag-steve-glassman","18":"tag-vincenzo-padula"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}