St. Petersburg’s Community Café might have just 24 days to find a new home.
The café — which has been open at 2444 Central Ave. in St. Pete for six years — shared the details of the impending relocation on Facebook.
“Yesterday, we were informed by our landlord that they will not be renewing our lease ending November 30th,” says Community Cafe, which is home to Drag Queen Story Hour.
Public records show that the parcel is owned by RMD Associates.
On Thursday afternoon, Community Café owner Amanda Keyes told CL that her café and RMD Associates LLC were having discussions about expanding into the next door space being vacated by Icon Residential’s sales gallery. Keyes added that RMD Associates, LLC was now working on an extension of the lease and referred additional questions about the lease to lawyers representing RMD Associates.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for that lawyer, Jason Ellison, told CL that Ellison was in conferences and would be unavailable until Monday.
“We've never been shown any indication that our lease would not be renewed until the lawyer's letter. The landlords won't reply, and the lawyer won't tell us why this is happening,” the café wrote on Facebook.
Keyes doesn’t want her 10 employees to have to miss any work.
“We don't know if we're going to survive this. We're terrified… St Pete is neat. Our people are amazing. Our local weirdos are loving and kind. And we need our Community Cafe,” she wrote, adding that she’s coming to grips with the fact that the café will have to move.
“It's so fucking hard. The last two days have been a nightmare,” she added. “But I believe in this community, I have to, I have no choice. I can't give up. But I can't do it alone. I need you.”
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This article appears in Nov 7-14, 2019.