Then came a long delay. And another developer, Waypoint Residential, purchased the site this past spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n Out of nowhere, the remaining restaurateurs (Voo La Voo Cafe had already moved to New Smyrna Beach) received emails saying they had to vacate the outdoor plaza.<\/p>\n The deconstruction, apparently, is back on.<\/p>\n On Sept. 10, The Alchemist Caf\u00e9 received an emailed order to vacate by Nov. 10. A matching notice was sent to La Mexicana Taco Bar the same day.<\/p>\n The Sun Sentinel\u2019s repeated attempts to reach developers Kaplan Residential and Waypoint Residential have been unsuccessful. However, Aimee Adler Cooke, spokesperson for the City of Wilton Manors, confirmed what the ownership of both restaurants said about the receipt of notification.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city is aware that Waypoint Residential, the new owners of the property, sent notices to the tenants,\u201d she said. \u201cThe city did not receive a copy of the notice, as it is a tenant-landlord matter.\u201d<\/p>\n She added, \u201cThe property owner submitted a demolition permit application on Sept. 17, 2026. The development process proceeding is in accordance with city requirements to date.\u201d<\/p>\n Diva Name, the owner of La Mexicana Taco Bar<\/a>, said she felt blindsided.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew that this was going to happen, that this was going to come to an end. But we were always told that they were going to let us know at least with 60 to 90 days, you know, in advance, and it did not happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Lucia Nunez,\u00a0who co-owns The Alchemist Caf\u00e9<\/a> with her husband, Bruce Brill, and her sister, Elaine Potes, said they had a similar experience, finding out that \u201cwe need to be out Nov. 10,\u201d just four weeks before that deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cIt happened suddenly \u2014 so fast, so fast \u2014 so that\u2019s why everybody\u2019s in shock,\u201d Nunez said. \u201cWe understood we would have three months. So we were relaxed. Then we got the letter. We have people crying. I really don\u2019t know what happened behind the curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Brill chooses to focus on the leeway the developer granted them rather than the sting of the eviction.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still want to be friends with them. They let us go month by month,\u201d Brill said.<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar has received notice it must vacate its space at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors honors victims of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Half Time Sports Bar was a trial activation by The Alchemist Cafe next door. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Half Time Sports Bar was a trial activation by The Alchemist Cafe next door. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n A mural at The Yard in Wilton Manors (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Alchemist Cafe at The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n (left to right) From The Alchemist Cafe at The Yard in Wilton Manors: Juan Manuel Berkley (manager), Bruce Brill (co-owner), Elaine Potes (co-owner\/managing partner), Lucia Nunez (co-owner) and Carlos Martinez (friend and longtime customer) with his dog, Tucker. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 34<\/p>\n The Yard in Wilton Manors. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> Both restaurants have plans for new locations.<\/p>\n The Alchemist Caf\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0closed on Oct. 12, but its website announced a rebirth in a yet-to-be-announced venue: \u201cWe\u2019re taking a brief pause right now to prepare for something truly special: our brand new location. We can\u2019t wait to welcome you back soon in an even more beautiful space where we can continue serving you the same great food and hospitality you know and love.\u201d<\/p>\n Added Nunez: \u201cWe\u2019re sad, but at the same time it\u2019s a new beginning, a new chapter. We\u2019re going to refresh our brand.\u201d<\/p>\n As for La Mexicana Taco Bar, Name would like to stay through year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re telling me that I waited the whole slow season that is summer and \u2026 now you\u2019re not going to let us be in the high season \u2026 when we make our money?\u201d she said. \u201cYou could have told me this at the beginning of the year, that we needed to leave, you know, after summer and then at least I would have had a plan, right? But you did not. I\u2019m very mad about it. I have a lawyer involved because I\u2019m asking [to stay] until the end of December.\u201d<\/p>\n She already has a new home, though. Back when the initial closing announcement was made three years ago, Name found a backup location in Fort Lauderdale and closed the deal. The new address: 925 N. Andrews Ave.<\/p>\n \u201cIt used to be a Cuban place (925 Nuevos Cubanos<\/a>) very dear to the community. And these three years has been for literally construction and permitting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She maintains it won\u2019t be an easy transition.\u00a0\u201cJust to move my hood system to the other property is $30,000,\u201d Name said. She has started a GoFundMe<\/a> page \u201cin the hopes we can keep the team employed during this transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n La Mexicana Taco Bar owner Diva Name holds her dog, Coco, in front of her restaurant at The Yard at Wilton Manors on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel) Evan Anthony, who started The Yard in 2003 (initially called Eucalyptus Garden), recalls conversations he had with Kaplan Residential about infusing the Generation Wilton Manors apartment buildings with the property\u2019s signature unplugged\/offbeat\/artsy vibe.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were going to keep the essence of The Yard \u2026 marrying it into a new development. There were no promises, but that was what the negotiations were about,\u201d said Anthony, who now lives in Connecticut.<\/p>\n Anthony added that he also asked the developer to try and incorporate a mural at the back end of The Yard that commemorates the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cI want you to see if you can keep this mural \u2026 out of respect for those kids that got killed at Parkland.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cWe were able to use that as a sanctuary for the kids [over] the last five years to come and pay tribute to their fellow students. We were not using it to promote business there at all because it was never announced. It was just there for them. The Rock Garden was there for them. They came and repainted every year to have a place of reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n There may still be hope for the MSD mural.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of the city\u2019s development approval on this project, some existing art elements will be preserved and reinstalled on the property upon project completion,\u201d Wilton Manors\u2019 Adler Cooke said. \u201cIn addition, all new development projects are subject to the city\u2019s public art requirements.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n At The Alchemist Caf\u00e9 in Wilton Manors are, from left, manager Juan Manuel Berkley, co-owners Bruce Brill, Elaine Potes and Lucia Nunez, and longtime customer Carlos Martinez, with his dog, Tucker. (Rod Stafford Hagwood\/South Florida Sun Sentinel) In its heyday, The Yard was a garden of not only restaurants but retail as well, an incubator for emerging businesses.<\/p>\n Among the painted trees, in addition to the cafes and bistros, there were artist pop-up spaces, a clothing boutique in an Airstream trailer, an antique shop, live music on restaurant patios and a palm reader. Just before you wandered along the pathway to the murals emblazoned onto the walls of a roofless building \u2014 there was Lola\u2019s Market.<\/p>\n \u201cLola\u2019s Market was giving women \u2026 a place to sell their goods, do their trade \u2014 jewelry, clothing, whatever their trade was,\u201d said Anthony<\/a>, The Yard\u2019s founder. \u201cIt was a way for us to participate in supporting women in business. And if you look at the actual restaurants, the three of them were women-owned. There was Elaine and Lucia from Alchemist. There was Diva from La Mexicana. And there was Sylvie [Le Nouail] from Voo La Voo Cafe. So there were all women in business there.\u201d<\/p>\n Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n Signage for The Alchemist Caf\u00e9 and La Mexicana Taco Bar in front of The Yard at Wilton Manors on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n The Yard was created out of what was a plant nursery. Anthony purchased the property in 2003 after opening an antique shop in Wilton Manors in the 1990s (he was also a former mayor of the Village of Lazy Lake<\/a>). Around 2009, he acquired a neighboring lumber yard, expanding the complex and changing the name to The Yard.<\/p>\n \u201cIt grew organically through the tenants,\u201d Anthony said.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TFL-L-The-Yard-2.jpg?w=620\")
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\nA new start \u2026 in a new place<\/p>\n![\"La](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/TFL-L-The-Yard-Closing-1-101626.jpg\")
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\nThe early plans<\/p>\n![\"(left](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/TFL-L-The-Yard-The-Alchemist-Cafe-8-01.jpg\")
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\nA one-of-a-kind urban oasis<\/p>\n![\"Signage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/TFL-L-The-Yard-Closing-5-101626.jpg\")
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