Officials said would like answers about the upcoming closure of a restaurant in The Villages.
Amenity Authority Committee member Donna Kempa said she has learned that the Tierra Del Sol Bar & Grill will be shutting down on May 15. She and her fellow AAC members, at Wednesday’s meeting at Savannah Center expressed concern about the future of the restaurant building, which is located next to the AAC-owned Tierra Del Sol Recreation Center. Residents are concerned about the closure of the restaurant and bar, a popular watering hole for golfers.
“People are asking, what is the future of that restaurant?” said AAC member Jim Vaccaro.
AAC member William Williamson said the “scuttlebutt” is that a couple of major restaurant operators in The Villages took a look at taking over Tierra Del Sol Bar & Grill, but ultimately decided to pass. He said those restaurant operators found the kitchen was too small.
Kempa said the air conditioning went out at the restaurant and the Developer opted not to fix it. She said that was an obvious sign that the end was near.
The future of the restaurant was also in doubt in 2013 when The Villages tried to sell it to the Amenity Authority Committee. The offer from the Developer came at a time when the AAC was considering a renovation of the Tierra Del Sol Recreation Center. However, AAC members were feeling the wrath of residents after paying the Developer $350,000 for the El Santiago Club restaurant building. That building was in such poor shape, it had to be torn down at further expense to residents.
The arrival of the Studio Theater at Tierra Del Sol brought a resurgence to the Tierra Del Sol Bar & Grill, as it became the place to go for dinner and drinks before a show. However, the Studio Theater at Tierra Del Sol, which was founded by Mark Morse’s daughter Whitney, has been rebranded as The SigPro Studio and relocated to Lake Sumter Landing. The former theater space at Tierra Del Sol is now vacant.
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