August 19, 2020

In Fort Lauderdale, new restaurant-bars to

rise from two historic churches
By BEN CRANDELL SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL |
AUG 19, 2020 AT 7:00 AM

Two historic Fort Lauderdale churches are turning into chic spots for dining, drinking and entertainment.

A pair of Fort Lauderdale churches with histories stretching back nearly 100
years are being transformed into new places to congregate over bread and
wine, finding second lives as restaurant-bars in two downtown neighborhoods
bustling with youthful activity.
Located in the heart of Flagler Village, at 441 NE Third Ave., First
Evangelical Lutheran Church is in the middle of a multi-million
dollar renovation of its interior that will yield a 220-seat restaurant, with
an outdoor bar bracketed by a 3,000-square-foot landscaped terrace.

The most controversial part of the remodel is work that will turn the main
sanctuary of the church into a 5,000-square-foot nightclub. The project, called
The Abbey, is by local hospitality veteran David Cardaci, best known for the
popular Rhythm & Vine — laidback beer garden by day, pumping music venue
by night — as well as the Wilder cocktail lounge and the Whole Enchilada fast-
casual chain.

Just a mile up the street, the Fourth Avenue International Worship Center was
recently purchased by Eduardo Pelaez, who has developed properties in
Miami’s Wynwood and Little River neighborhoods. A resident of Fort
Lauderdale, Pelaez’s vision for his church includes a food-hall scenario
featuring a main restaurant, with several boutique cafes and retail spaces,
perhaps a brewery or distillery, all enclosed by a densely tropical garden.

The church, originally known as the Fourth Avenue Church of God, at 1237 NE
Fourth Ave., sits on the southwest corner of the intersection with Northeast
13th Street, an up-and-coming retail thoroughfare that includes the buzzy
Milk Money restaurant and Gulf Stream Brewing on its eastern end.
Pelaez is 12 to 18 months away from opening his doors and believes COVID-19
social-distancing rules for restaurants and bars will be less restrictive by then.
For better or worse, Cardaci expects to be ready to open by the end of the year
— though it doesn’t mean he will open.

“It’s scary,” Cardaci says, acknowledging that his firm, Knallhart Management
Group, had five projects in various stages of development when the pandemic
hit. “It’s 2 o’clock in the morning, we’re in Vegas and I’m pushing all my chips
into the center of the table right now, hoping to God that things work out for
us.”

David Cardaci is creating a restaurant/bar/nightlife space called the Abbey in the

historic First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Lauderdale's Flagler Village
neighborhood. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Old stones
A glorious Romanesque assemblage of bulky gray stones, in a previous life the
First Evangelical Lutheran Church was the original St. Anthony’s Catholic
Church, Broward County’s first Catholic church, built in 1922 on the northeast
corner of Third Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard.
When the parish decided to build a larger church in its current location (on
Northeast Ninth Avenue, near Broward Boulevard), the original stone
structure was sold to the Lutherans for $1. It was dismantled and moved,
stone by stone, to be reassembled on land eight blocks north, where it was
dedicated in 1949.

In 2016, the dwindling downtown Lutheran congregation sold the property to

developer Taho Investments, which prompted local preservationists to spring
into action. In 2017, Fort Lauderdale city commissioners voted to protect part
of the church, its stone façade, with a historic designation.

The decision frustrated any plans that Taho Investments might have had to
demolish the church, but did not rule out changes to the interior. Cardaci
acknowledges he feels “some responsibility” as the new custodian of the long-
dormant church.

“We’re going to do a great job of transforming it into something the

community can still enjoy,” he says.

The nightlife venue takes up the church’s main worship area, with its
magnificent curved ceiling lined in wooden beams, which will be illuminated
by a $250,000 lighting system. A stage for DJs and, every so often, a live band,
is where the altar once sat.

Sitting over a large bar near the front door on the east side of the building, a
new second-floor mezzanine area will add 2,000 square feet of party space to
the 5,000 square foot room. Tucked just inside the front door will be a
boutique cocktail bar.

Behind the stage, a massive opening in the wall awaits the return of the
church’s largest stained-glass window. Cardaci says Taho Investments’
founder Itay Avital had all of the windows refurbished and that reinstallation
will be one of the final pieces of the project.
The windows will sit behind two panes of hurricane-impact glass, the
soundproof panels separated by a layer of gas to keep music inside the
building. The sound components by Void Acoustics, which has designed
systems for clubs in Ibiza, London and San Francisco, will run $500,000,
according to Cardaci.

A wall will be constructed to separate the club from the restaurant and bar on
the ground floor of the attached two-story building on the south side of the
church. Cardaci’s corporate offices will be on the second floor.

The right side of the former First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Lauderdale will
be converted into a nightclub, and the section on the left side of the building will
include a restaurant and bar with a large terrace. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun
Sentinel)
The restaurant menu is still being developed, but will be an accessibly priced,
not-just-weekends kind of place, Cardaci says. The large patio will feature a
retractable awning, wood decking and banquettes, trees and tropical plants.
Cardaci had been calling the project The Sanctuary, but decided that wasn’t
welcoming enough.

“It was too dark. Kind of dark and goth, dirty and clubby. We wanted to go
with something brighter and cheerful, so we went with The Abbey,” he says.
Creating a new dining and entertainment venue in a historic church
surrounded by a neighborhood booming with traditional high-rise
development is a unique opportunity, Cardaci admits.

Taho Investments has plans for a residential tower on the south side of the
church property.

“If they get rid of all these things, then it’s not interesting anymore. Even if
you do hospitality in the bottom floor of a brand-new building, it’s not
interesting. There’s nothing fun. It’s like Orlando,” Cardaci says.

Cardaci grew up near Orlando, in Winter Garden, before striking out on an

eclectic entrepreneurial career that included executive positions in Silicon
Valley and Nikki Beach Group, the global nightclub and lifestyle brand.
Cardaci is building a boutique hotel, his first, in Winter Garden.

“This is interesting,” he says of the church. “The architecture’s interesting. The

defects of the building are interesting. The cracks, the doors not closing
perfectly, give it character. I think you need that.”
Garden of eatin'
The Fourth Avenue International Worship Center is a mile north of Cardaci’s
project on the same street — Third Avenue becomes Fourth Avenue near
Sunrise Boulevard. The church also is a mile south of where Fourth Avenue
becomes Wilton Drive.

This link between Flagler Village and Wilton Manors, two of the city’s most
popular entertainment districts, gives the street the potential to become a
unique commercial and residential thoroughfare, says Jaime Sturgis, founder
of Native Realty, a Fort Lauderdale real-estate firm that specializes in
emerging urban neighborhoods.

“As you flow from one neighborhood to the next, they all have their own
unique vibe and vision, but the idea is if we can create some continuity
between all these things, you can have this cool experience, whether it be on
foot or car, bike or skateboard,” Sturgis says.

Being at the center of that activity was part of the attraction for Pelaez when
his family-owned Wellmeaning Investments acquired the 1.2-acre church site
for $2.4 million.

“I was an early investor in Wynwood, and I see it kind of playing out the same
way. The city’s going to grow on that path, no?” Pelaez says.

While the Fourth Avenue International Worship Center may lack outward
physical beauty, its history as a spiritual heart of a diverse community of
whites, Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Brazilians and Haitians stretches back
decades under longtime pastor Rev. Diane Mann, who succeeded her father,
Rev. F.G. Mann.
Eduardo Pelaez has plans to turn the Fourth Avenue Church of God in Fort
Lauderdale into a food hall with a tropical outdoor space, a brewery and other retail
spaces. (Jennifer Lett/Sun Sentinel)

In 2016, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission honored the church’s 90th
anniversary and its “lasting impact on our community.”

The Venezuelan-born Pelaez, who recently moved from Miami to east Fort
Lauderdale, describes himself as a serious “foodie” interested in creating a
stage for fresh culinary ideas. One idea he’s considering is an intimate
omakase space that would host residencies for up-and-coming sushi chefs.

A single-story classroom building that extends south from the church, and a
warehouse on the south property line, will be converted into small individual
spaces, which will open onto a lush garden setting that shields them from
Fourth Avenue traffic.
Pelaez says his focus will be on designing beautiful outdoor spaces — for
dining, drinking coffee or cocktails, yoga sessions and more.

He is about to start work on a similar project in a 7,000-square-foot strip

center just south Miami’s massive Citadel food hall in the Little River
neighborhood. His plans are to divide that property into 1,000-square-foot
spaces that he will reorient away from busy Northeast Second Avenue to face
the rear of the property, where he’ll create a garden.

The grouping of small restaurants and markets in Little River will be called El
Jardin (The Garden).

Pelaez finds something spiritual in nature. He doesn’t do nightclubs.

“I believe in nature, and that God is within nature, more than anything else,”
he says. “By creating a luscious garden, I am bringing in more natural
elements to a concrete city, no? I plan to bring life to that corner, which did
not have much life. I believe the work we’ll be doing will be uplifting.”