Sweetwaters, a new waterfront restaurant from the team behind Miami’s Rusty Pelican, is slated to make a big splash this fall in Huizenga Park on the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Construction crews are already at work on the park’s Las Olas corner, where riverfront terraces and a sizable indoor dining room are starting to take shape.
Specialty Restaurants Corporation, the Tallichet family company that opened the Rusty Pelican in 1972, is developing Sweetwaters, and the restaurant’s official site lists an “Opening Fall 2026” target. Construction has already begun inside the reimagined park, and the company describes the project as its first Florida expansion beyond Key Biscayne, according to Sweetwaters.
Design and scale
Renderings and planning materials show Sweetwaters combining roughly 6,140 square feet of interior dining with about 3,500 square feet of riverfront terraces, creating room for up to 291 guests, according to Browardist. The project lists JVB Architect as architect, ICRAVE as interior designer, and RCC Associates as construction manager, per developer materials from CRE Sources.
Park setting and access
Sweetwaters will sit at 32 E. Las Olas Blvd., adjacent to Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale and a short walk from the Brightline station, landing it at a key pedestrian and transit node downtown. Huizenga Park reopened earlier this year after a two-year, $15 million renovation that added seating, play areas and public art, and park officials have said the restaurant will help activate the riverfront.
In a statement to Miami New Times, Specialty Restaurants CEO John Tallichet said, “Sweetwaters will be a place that becomes part of people’s lives here, not just a destination for special occasions.” The company says the venue will open with dinner service first and later add lunch and a café-style morning counter as the operation settles in.
If the timeline holds, Sweetwaters will open this fall and serve as a new anchor for Las Olas and the Riverwalk, bringing day-to-night waterfront dining to a park that city leaders hope will draw residents and visitors year-round. We will be watching renderings and construction permits as the project moves toward opening later in 2026.
