Three familiar names on the 200 block of Clematis Street closed between mid-July and late September. During the same months, the new concepts headed for downtown West Palm Beach chose addresses farther from the water, from 301 to 522 Clematis. If you track the street by address instead of by headline, you can see where its weight is moving.
| Address | Business | What changed | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 213 Clematis St. | Grease Burger Bar | Closed after 17 years | July 17, 2026 |
| 218 Clematis St. | Mystic Table | Closed | August 2026 |
| 226 Clematis St. | Starbucks | Closed after more than 20 years | Sept. 26, 2026 |
| 301 Clematis St. | Taquerías Carnalito and Tragos Amargos | Announced for the former Nico's Pizza space | Late 2026 or Q1 2027 |
| 522 Clematis St. | The Hacienda food hall | Expected to open in September | Opening not yet confirmed |
A Quiet Summer On The 200 Block
The first closing came in July. Grease Burger Bar at 213 Clematis served its last day on Friday, July 17, ending a 17-year run, according to The Palm Beach Post's 2026 closures roundup. The restaurant's "Last Call" post on July 11 gave no reason for closing. The same Post coverage mentioned a separately planned Grease Burger location at the airport. As of early October, no replacement tenant for the Clematis space had been reported.
Mystic Table, a few doors down at 218 Clematis, closed in August. Then came the closing most downtown regulars felt. The Starbucks at 226 Clematis shut its doors at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, after more than 20 years on the block. The Post's Eddie Ritz opened his Oct. 3 story on it with the image of a commuter hitting the locked door, coffee order in mind, and feeling "a Mike Tyson-level body shot."
These three storefronts sit within about a dozen street numbers of each other, at the end of Clematis closest to the waterfront and the Great Lawn. None of the coverage connects the closings to one another, so they are best read as three separate decisions that happened to land on one block in one season.
The Coffee Map Already Leans West
The Post's follow-up article listed six independent places to get coffee on Clematis now that the Starbucks is gone. Their addresses tell the same story as the table above:
- Crema Gourmet, 216 Clematis St.
- Carmela Coffee Bar, 319 Clematis St.
- Salento Coffee Shop, 407 Clematis St.
- Subculture Coffee, 505 Clematis St.
- Loco Mikes, 534 Clematis St.
- Blue Mountain Coffee House, 540 Clematis St.
Crema Gourmet keeps the 200 block covered, just a few doors from the old Starbucks. The other five run from the 300 block to the 500 block, and three are in the 500 block alone. A morning coffee on Clematis now usually means walking a few blocks up from the water. That 500 block is also where the street's biggest new project is going in.
A 40-Year Clematis Owner Builds On The 500 Block
Subculture Coffee at 505 Clematis belongs to Rodney Mayo's Subculture Group. The Hacienda, Mayo's new food hall at 522 Clematis, stands next to Respectable Street, the nightclub he bought in his 20s and opened in 1986. Respectable Street marks its 40th anniversary in 2026. Stet News reported on Sept. 11 that the club was closed for renovations "until Halloween," with no specific reopening date.
Mayo bought the 522 Clematis building in November 2024. He estimated he put $2.5 million into the buildout, with about half going toward reinforcing the structure to hold a rooftop bar that looks down on the street.
"I couldn't afford it. I splurged." Rodney Mayo, on The Hacienda's buildout, as quoted by Stet News
Palm Beach Now describes a 13,000-square-foot food hall with rooftop seating, an outdoor patio and room for about 600 guests. Stet's walkthrough adds the details. Ground-floor stalls on both sides of the building are planned for Jamaican jerk, sushi, burgers, pizza, Trinidadian vegan street food and a ramen bar with 30 flavors. Mobile kiosks modeled on French bakery trucks will serve food or sell artwork. A back bar will open onto a patio with four more food trucks, a stage and seating for 130. The Hacienda will also be the first Mayo venue with TVs tuned to sports.
That patio shows what the building is for. A food hall that shares a back patio with a nightclub serves the lunch crowd and the late-night crowd from the same spot. Mayo planted the olive tree that shades it in the early 1980s.
The opening date is still unclear. Palm Beach Now reported a Sept. 16 opening date, and Stet said on Sept. 11 that it was "scheduled to open before the end of September." Both reports came out before that target date, and neither names the individual vendors. Check that it is open before you make a night of it.
Tacos At The Old Nico's Corner
The 300 block has its own project. Danny and Vilexis Cruz, who own Tacos del Cartel at 533 Clematis, plan to open Taquerías Carnalito at 301 Clematis, the former Nico's Pizza space. Tragos Amargos, a speakeasy, will operate inside it. The expected opening is late 2026 or the first quarter of 2027.
These owners already have a restaurant in the 500 block. Their second Clematis project goes into the 300 block, which fills in the stretch between the 200 block and the Mayo cluster near 522.
Why The Middle Blocks Can Carry A Daytime Crowd
Alexandra Clough's Sept. 1 Palm Beach Post piece on the street's history helps explain why owners are willing to build here. Clematis began in 1894, when West Palm Beach's first grocery store and post office opened in a tent at the corner of Clematis and Narcissus. When shopping moved west in the late 20th century, Clematis rebuilt itself as one of South Florida's best-known nightlife streets. Since the pandemic, the Post reports, Clematis has more restaurants than bars. Office workers, residents and visitors now support businesses throughout the day, and more than 250 financial services firms have opened offices in Palm Beach County since 2020, according to the Business Development Board's Kelly Smallridge.
That kind of steady daytime crowd gives a coffee bar at 407 or a 600-seat food hall at 522 a reason to exist. The fall calendar spreads activity along the whole street, and it shows how the blocks share the week:
- Thursday evenings: Clematis by Night runs 6 to 9 p.m. The city's October lineup is The Goodnicks on Oct. 8, 56 Ace on Oct. 15, Dee Dee Wilde Band on Oct. 22, and Clematis by FRIGHT with Uncle Morty's Rhythm Cream on Oct. 29.
- Saturday mornings at the water: The GreenMarket opened its 32nd season Oct. 3 on the Great Lawn at 100 N. Clematis St. It has more than 100 vendors, including newcomers Ba Café, Arya Tea Bar, Macaroner, Sayblee Products and Truffle Smiles. It runs every Saturday through May 22, 2027, except Feb. 6 and March 20.
- Saturday mornings downtown: The West Palm Beach Antique & Flea is on the Downtown Development Authority's calendar every Saturday in October, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Saturday late nights: Duffy's After Dark is a Saturday-night series on Clematis. Its Oct. 3 listing ran from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
The GreenMarket anchors Saturday mornings at the waterfront end, and the coffee list sets the destinations farther up. On a weekend morning this fall, a walk from the Great Lawn to Carmela Coffee Bar at 319, Salento at 407, or Subculture at 505 passes the future Taquerías Carnalito corner and covers most of the street.
Another downtown stop for that walk is Garden Butcher, which opened in a restored former bus station. It had a June 15 soft opening and held its formal grand opening on Aug. 20. Respectable Street is due to reopen around Halloween, Clematis by FRIGHT closes out October on the 29th, and the space at 213 Clematis is still waiting for its next tenant.
Changes in which storefronts are busy and which are empty affect how downtown properties are valued, from Clematis condos to the townhomes a short walk away. If you own near the street and want to see how this fall's changes show up in your home's value, The Brescia Group can run the numbers. Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
