What will become of Austin's Coffee?
The shop rents space purchased by the city for intersection improvements and the lease runs out later this year
April 24, 2025
By Beth Kassab
A crowd of Austin’s Coffee supporters pleaded with the City Commission this week to do something to save the shop that is slated to be demolished to make way for drainage and intersection improvements, including a turn lane, at Fairbanks Avenue and Denning Drive.
The showing was part of an ongoing campaign to attempt to persuade city officials to provide Austin’s with relocation money or somehow extend its lease on city-owned property that is set to run out at the end of October.
Last year, Winter Park purchased the buildings that houses Austin’s and the Michelin-starred Soseki for $4 million last year, part of a long-planned strategy to improve the intersection and provide additional runoff capacity for Lake Rose and MLK Park, which are prone to flooding.
City officials have said they will honor existing leases on the property and Austin’s will be among the first to expire.
far away as Winter Garden, Ocoee and Apopka traveled to Winter Park City Hall to make the case that Austin’s provides a unique “third place” among artists, poets and musicians who consider the place a home worth preserving.
“Building community without screens or bar culture is really important,” said one speaker.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio thanked the speakers who approached the podium during the public comment section of the commission meeting on Wednesday and spoke privately with several supporters after the meeting.
City Manager Randy Knight said he plans to meet with Austin’s soon and is encouraging the shop to find a new location. He said the city will allow Austin’s to remove anything it would like from the building including walls with permanently affixed art.
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What is Auston’s solution? S Denning and Fairbanks needs addressing and a camera to ticket cars blocking the intersection.
Austin’s. LHPS scene of many good times. RIP
i’ve never seen MLK park flood. Also the state has to OK improvements on a state road and it hasn’t done that.
My husband and I met there in 2006. He’s in AA and it was a nice place to talk with others over coffee and not be hassled by an inebriated crowd. I loved the spoken word and music they had back then, also. We moved away in 2019, but it would break my heart to know it didn’t exist anymore. The coffee was always the best.
Can they move to the old library? It would be perfect in a 1st floor space
They had a good run with their small, eclectic, loyal clientele. I’ll bet 99% of Winter Park residents never set foot in Austin’s. Kind of reminds me of all the fuss over the Winter Park Playhouse. Life goes on.
I’ve never set foot in The Wine Room, so I’m assuming 99% of the Winter Park populous hasn’t either. We should turn it into a parking lot.
Losing Austin’s will only hurt the community. It’s a shame how hard the city is making it for a small business that only brings good.
Austin’s Coffee has had a significant cultural footprint in Winter Park, but because you can’t buy a $25 espresso martini there or book a table on Resy, a bunch of retirees and landlords will bemoan it’s presence. God forbid a Working Class Cultural Establishment exist in their eyeline.
Long live Austin’s. The city shouldn’t close it. So many good performers and memories made here.
I spoke at this meeting! The council seems receptive but the fight isnt over until they assure Austin’s safety. Please get involved by emailing these officials and supporting Austin’s Cofee with business!
it’s funny the city will watch people express how much this place means to them and still swear on their lives it’d be better as a drainage ditch. take the empty lot next door instead of unnecessarily taking what is a safe space for some.
Austin’s has such a beautiful art community and thrives as a much needed third space. Tearing it down in the so-called ‘City of the Arts’ would be hypocritical and detrimental to the community.
Austin’s is a cultural landmark and represents the best of Orlando.
Then move to Orlando. I’m tired of people not realising that Winter Park is a self sufficient municipality (1887) since the day of its founding by New England expats and never has nor will need anything from Orlando to survive.
austin’s jazz night has shaped me a lot as a musician and person. i go to univeristy of toronto for music and playing at austin’s helped me (and still helps) improve my skills as a musician and social skills for networking. it’s a great place for people to learn and hangout. you can’t do that at starbucks. and if it weren’t for the location, many of the connections i made wouldn’t be possible. the city of orlando/winter park should be finding ways to support austin’s. it’s apart of something a lot bigger than a parking lot or whatever the city is tryna knock austin’s down for.
A great win-win would be for the City to align all tenant leases with the longest term lease. This provides continued income to the City while it continues to study and analyze transportation and stormwater improvements. This will allow Austin’s enough time to create the non-profit the City suggested and work alongside the City to build out space nearby in a City owned facility or park.
Nobody is asking for anything for free, just some understanding and patience as small business owners try to determine what is next. And before anyone says that Austin’s should have known, the landlord/tenant relationship isn’t something the City has to consider, so while they negotiated with the landlord, the team at Austin’s was caught by surprise at the urgency of moving without approved infrastructure plans.
Great point about sober gathering places, especially for the late night crowd.
If the Blue Bamboo, The Imperial, Writers Block or Simmon’s Jewlers can find new rented “homes” in the city, so can Austin’s Coffee- if it has an equally devoted clientele. Austin’s has city permission to take even the walls with it. Leases end. It’s a business reality. Devise your business plan, run the numbers, and start looking for your next chapter.
Austins is a home for so many people. Its a place to make connections and to listen to artists express themselves. Taking this place away would make a devastating impact on this community.