Stillwater Grille, a popular dining destination off McGregor Boulevard in south Fort Myers, will close May 13 after more than a decade.
Jeff and Julie Meyer bought the business rights to Stillwater Grille, 13451 McGregor Blvd., about 10 years ago, and agreed to sell the rights to their potential successor in February. However, broker Charles Mayhugh of Mayhugh Commercial Advisors, who represents the California-based owner of the 34-unit Cypress Square shopping center, said the landlord, COIS Family Partners, declined to negotiate with the potential future restaurant owner due to a lack of restaurant-running experience, in addition to financials not being to the landlord’s liking.
Mayhugh said the owner of Cypress Square wanted to move in a different direction.
He called Julie Meyer “a good tenant,” but she didn’t meet a March 1 deadline for securing a five-year lease extension that would be effective June 1, Mayhugh said. The last day for the restaurant is set for May 13, with a Kentucky Derby party planned for Saturday and a grand finale a week later. 
“It’s one of those situations where we did have our business for sale,” Julie Meyer said. “It did sell. And then we have been going back and forth with the landlord. They last-minute decided they would rather say no. They’re not going to let this go through.
“The [potential] new [restaurant] owner, who was going to come in, wanted to continue on with the legacy and take it to the next level. Obviously, the landlord and the property owner had different ideas.”
The Meyers said they would be willing to talk to Mayhugh again about renegotiating a lease and continue running Stillwater Grille at the current location. However, they don’t anticipate those talks going anywhere.
Likewise, Mayhugh is showing the property to prospective future tenants.
“There’s just not that many restaurants for sale on the market at this time,” Mayhugh said. “We’ve exhausted the negotiations with them.”
Because the restaurant sale fell through, the Meyers are rethinking their next move, as retirement isn’t possible yet.
“You know, all options are on the table,” Julie Meyer said. “Are we going to go down without a fight? No. We are going to see what our options are. If it does reopen, I just encourage everyone to keep an eye on our Facebook page, so we can let everybody know if we have found a different location for our legacy to continue.
“We fulfilled our dream. We have built a business to what we are all about. If we can find a new location, we will move on. If not, it will have been a good run.”
