Winter Park's Preservation Trap: Tuni's Pushed Out, Miller's Gone, Merrywood Could Be Next

Winter Park calls itself the City of Culture and Heritage. This year, it's losing pieces of that heritage faster than it can decide what to do about it. Tuni's, a 40-year fixture on Park Avenue, was given 30 days to vacate after new landlord Benderson Development declined to renew its lease in favor of a national tenant. The shop isn't closing, it's searching for a new home in the district that built it. Miller's Hardware, an 80-year family-run institution on Fairbanks Avenue, closed for good this spring after the loss of the family's expected fourth-generation successor. And the 1939 Merrywood estate, designed by architect James Gamble Rogers II, now sits one City Commission vote away from demolition. A preservation trap is the quiet culprit: an ordinance that requires two-thirds of property owners to agree before a neighborhood can even apply for historic district protection, the highest bar of any city in Florida with a preservation law. Only two neighborhoods have ever cleared it. This episode follows the threads connecting a boutique, a hardware store, and a lakefront mansion, and asks what "Culture and Heritage" actually means when the rules make it almost impossible to protect either.🌎 Keep Gallivanting With Me If you liked this story, you’ll love what’s waiting on my YouTube channel: youtube.com/@ChadGallivanter See more photos, behind-the-scenes, and upcoming trips on Instagram: instagram.com/ChadGallivanter More travel stories, history deep-dives, and extras live at: ChadGallivanter.com📬 Questions, ideas, or media requests? Email me at [email protected]