INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A soft spot in the beachside commercial real estate world is slated to get a boost in early February when a new 50-seat restaurant and delicatessen- type market called Johnny D’s opens at 1409 A1A, a few blocks south of the 17th Street Causeway.
Construction activity at the address is already generating interest, according to commercial real estate broker Billy Moss, and he believes interest will swell when the restaurant opens.
“A good restaurant always creates a lot energy and excitement and that’s good for surrounding buildings,” Moss says.
Nearby properties can use the help.
Of five commercial buildings clustered along a two-block stretch of A1A between Pirate Cove Lane and Seagull Lane, only the smallest, which contains a 7-Eleven, is fully utilized.
A substantial office building next door to the incoming restaurant is 40 percent leased, according to Moss.
The building directly across the street has been empty for years and is scheduled for the wrecking ball.
Despite adjacent vacancies, the new restaurant has a lot going for it, including a strategic location, high traffic flow on A1A, a lack of nearby competition and an experienced owner who comes from a successful Vero Beach restaurant family.
Johnny D’s co-owner Mario Amelio is the son of Peppy Amelio, proprietor of Pomodoro Grill and nephew of the owners of Bella Napoli and Scampi Grill.
“It is one of the best locations on the beach for a restaurant and market,” says Moss. “Being so close to the 17th Street Bridge, they will draw mainland traffic as well as beachside residents. Looking south, there isn’t another food place until you get to Fort Pierce.”
“Since St. Ed’s moved to South Beach, the traffic past there is unbelievable. That 7-Eleven across the road is one of the highest grossing in state of Florida.”
“It is hard to pull out onto the road, there is so much traffic,” says Amelio. “There are a lot of young families living in the area and lot of people who work on the beach.”
The 4,000-square-foot restaurant building is the newest in the group of five. The shell was built in 2010 for approximately $300,000, according to public records.
Designed and owned by Amelio’s uncle Carlo DeChellis, the Georgian revival structure won an architectural award in September from the Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce for best new small commercial building.
“I think it is an ideal location for a restaurant and market,” says DeChellis, and he should know since he ran a similar business successfully in the same location for many years.
DeChellis has owned the half-acre lot for decades and operated Carlucci’s Gourmet Market on the site until a previous building was damaged in the 2004 hurricanes.
“It was a tear-down,” DeChellis says.
The new building is hardened against storm damage with high-impact windows and storm shutters.
Amelio says he and other family members got the idea of leasing the building from his uncle last spring and made a decision to go ahead with the project in June.
He pulled a permit for a $100,000 interior build-out job in September.
The space is taking shape as Schlitt Construction builds interior partitions and soffits and Amelio begins moving in equipment.
“There will be a bistro-style exhibition kitchen in the restaurant,” Amelio says. “The market will stock basic necessities along with some nice imported things – olive oil, cheese, pasta. There will be rotisserie chicken and fresh hot prepared meals like you find in a Fresh Market, food that people can stop and pick up on their way home from work. There will be cappuccinos and espresso in morning.”
The restaurant is named in honor of Amelio’s cousin and DeChellis’ oldest son, John DeChellis, who passed away from complications due to pneumonia in May.
The empty building across the street that most recently was home to South Beach Grill is owned by DeChellis’ other son, Anthony, who picked up the three-quarter- acre property for a post-boom bargain price of $675,000 in December 2008.
“The owner was motivated,” Moss says.
“Once Johnny D’s is up and running, we will get something going across the road,” says Carlo DeChellis. “Anthony will definitely be tearing down the existing building.”
The building to the north of the teardown, across Turtle Cove Lane, was built as a bank but is now occupied by HRA, a senior living community management company, which makes the drive thru seem a little peculiar.
That building sits on a .89-acre lot. It last changed hands in December 2003 for $1.6 million and is owned by Mooring’s resident Daniel L. Simmons through a lifetime trust.
The office building just south of Johnny D’s on the same side of A1A stands to benefit most from the new restaurant, as the prospect of tasty Italian food, fresh gourmet coffee and take-home meals available right next door make leasing there more appealing.
