Harry and the Natives Up in Smoke
 

Harry and the Natives restaurant is closing after more than 70 years. They HAD broken ground ect. near St James Village and done some foundational work. Does anyone know what the Villages usually does when someone cancels out like that? What restaurant could make its way there? The location is next to the Okahumpka recreational center.

'''Everything’s gone up:''' Harry and the Natives closing after 72 years

According to an article in gulflive.com, the TV location is still a go as there are other partners involved.

Will Harry and the Natives still open in The Villages of Florida as Hobe Sound location closes? - gulflive.com

Every time we drive past Okahumpka Rec we comment about the lack of progress.

Let’s see how it plays out…

Maybe this will be one of the new Hooters sites. ������

Imagine what that would do to property values in the new area of Richmond.

Still unclear if “Harry” just closed down their flagship restaurant or if they are also abandoning their Lake Okahumpka site as well. We’ll see. If they are not going forward with Lake Okahumpka, it will be interesting to see who the Developer turns to, as some of the infrastructure for this new site has already begun to be put in place. Regardless, the future is bright, as we see all the new development on the horizon. I’m looking forward to the years ahead here in The Villages.

If Harry and the Natives goes tilt, I’m sure the Developer will offer it to the FMK Group. That seems to be the growing trend.

I’d be A-OK with that!

Will Harry and the Natives still open in The Villages of Florida as Hobe Sound location closes? - gulflive.com

However, in a phone call to the Hobe Sound location this afternoon, a worker who wished to remain anonymous told GulfLive.com that the new site in The Villages is owned by a different group of partners, and its scheduled opening should not be affected.

In response to an email query, one of those partners, Scott Bianculli, reached out to GulfLive.com to confirm that Harry and the Natives is indeed, still coming The Villages.

“We are 100% moving forward with Harry and The Natives at The Villages. Construction is underway and we can’t wait for it to be concluded,” Bianculli said. “Our exciting, over the water tiki hut —and 100% from scratch food will be an exciting addition to The Villages in ’25.”

The 5,000-square-foot restaurant, featuring a 2,500 square-foot waterfront tiki hut, broke ground in December, between The Village of Richmond and The Village of St. Johns, on the shores of Lake Okahumpka — around four miles away from MacArthur’s own home in The Villages.

At the time, MacArthur said the only place he’d would rather be is The Villages, adding, “The Villages are such a special place, the people are so great, everything is so wonderful here, so it’s the only reason we would expand to do another restaurant.”

I think you are right, it is a great spot for a restaurant, some restaurateur will take it & probably be a big success.

When we moved here 10 years ago the cry was for upscale dining but all we had was Pizza and Burgers. Now that we are starting to see unique facilities and better quality which means their costs get passed on to us the cry has gone the other way. When we went to the keys we always stopped at Harry and the Natives and will be customers here also.

It’s a different group that’s bringing this location to TV.

It’s located by the village of St. John’s not St. James.

Hope not. FMK has too much of a monopoly. Am looking forward to something different

every one of their restaurants are different. They are all great.

Harry and the Natives
 

You missed post #7?

Something is not right though. Broke ground in Dec, and here we are almost 10 months later and we might have footers for a building?
We all know the Villages construction can build quickly.