The building that used to house the landmark Midtown bar Waterworks will be demolished for additional parking and the expansion of a neighboring business.

Sally Bradshaw, owner of Midtown Reader, confirmed to The Tallahassee Democrat that she bought the land on Thomasville Road to create more parking spaces for her customers and for future development of her bookstore.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said. “This is our eighth year, and I think our customers have shown there is a need for and a demand for a locally owned bookstore.”

In 2019, the city had a proposal to create a parking garage in Midtown Tallahassee, but did not move forward. Business owners in the area have continuously voiced concerns about the lack of parking.

Bradshaw said Midtown Reader is only 2,500 square feet, and the expansion will allow for a event space and increased book inventory. “It’s not a project that will happen overnight, there’s a lot of work that has to be done,” she said.

Waterworks, which first opened downtown in what is now Metro Deli before moving to Midtown, closed abruptly in January after 32 years, shocking Tallahassee locals and loyal patrons of the tiki bar.

In a Facebook post at the time, owner Don Quarello wrote: “We’ve had thirty two years of ridiculously amusing times with Hearty White, Dr. Gorrie, Golden Carrots, Glam, Disco, Prom, Science Salons, Capris, and the best number calling gorilla in the business, Jungo. It’s a good time to wrap it up … Thanks for three fun decades!”

The property sale was first revealed on Facebook by Urban Tallahassee, a local commercial Realtor-backed blog about developments – though they didn’t include that the property would also be used for the bookstore expansion.

“All good things must come to an end,” the post stated, “seems the old Waterworks building is going to be leveled for a new parking lot.”

The news drew disappointment from locals.

“Hard to imagine a worse case for Midtown than this,” wrote Jay Revell, a former Chamber of Commerce leader and one time Leon County Commission candidate. “A destination hospitality turned into a parking lot. What a failure of planning. If you want to kill a sense of place this is a good way to do it.”

But Justin Ghazvini, a developer who owns property in Midtown, countered that “parking is the No. 1 problem in Midtown.” He noted that business owners are threatening to leave if parking problems aren’t resolved and that the current situation leads to accidents and injuries.

Ana Goñi-Lessan can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Waterworks bar to be torn down for new Midtown Tallahassee parking lot