The Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana Bar, one of Islamorada’s signature sunset stops, is now on the market for $18 million. The sale includes the operating restaurant, its waterfront property and enough development potential to make this far more than a simple change of ownership.
The listing became public news Monday after Miami New Times reported that the longtime Florida Keys institution is being offered with the land included. Regulars can exhale for now: Lorelei remains open daily, and there is no indication that the restaurant is closing or changing operations while the Lindback family looks for a buyer.
The commercial offering covers more than five acres, with over 1,000 feet of Florida Bay frontage and roughly 500 feet along U.S. 1. The active Florida Keys property listing says the sale includes the business and real estate, a 250-seat open-air restaurant, a full-service bar with a transferable 5-COP liquor license, a private beach, dockage and a boat ramp.
The Sale Includes Waterfront Land And Expansion Rights
There are also two boat slips in the neighboring Islamorada Yacht Basin and four on-site residential building rights. The Lindback Team, which is marketing the property through Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Keys Real Estate – Islamorada, has presented the offering as a turnkey hospitality business with room for additional dockage, weddings, private events and future expansion.
That combination makes the $18 million price tag a real-estate story as much as a restaurant story. A concrete building added around 2015 or 2016 houses the gift shop, bathrooms, laundry facilities, prep kitchen and storage, while a new parking lot, lighting and drainage were completed in 2020, according to the Lindback Team’s offering details.
Lorelei Remains A Working Keys Institution
For customers, the most important detail is that the mermaid out front is still on duty. Lorelei’s official website says the restaurant is open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with live music, daily happy hour and waterfront seating overlooking Florida Bay.
The restaurant’s roots stretch back to 1952, when it began as a gathering place for anglers. Its identity has since grown around nightly sunsets, sportfishing, open-air dining and the “Cook Your Catch” program, which lets anglers bring fresh fish to the kitchen for preparation, as Miami New Times reported.
For now, the sale raises a question rather than announcing an ending: Will a future owner preserve one of Islamorada’s best-known gathering places, or put more emphasis on the property’s development upside? Until that answer arrives, the sunsets, bands and waterfront dinners continue as usual.
