Park Avenue Winter Park: New Shops and Changes in 2026

"This is not a closure," Tuni owner Paige Blackwelder told News 6 in June, after the boutique was given 30 days to leave its Park Avenue storefront. "We're going to close this door but open another one."

That door sat on the corner of Park and New England avenues, where Tuni had been since 1986. The corner is now a Lilly Pulitzer. The change happened in the same summer that the City of Winter Park was working hard to keep every Park Avenue shop reachable during its biggest streetscape project in almost 30 years. The construction plan did its job, and the shops stayed open through it. The storefronts that changed hands this year changed because of leases, and the next round of both is due in January.

Eight Months of Barricades, Block by Block

Phase 1 of the Park Avenue Refresh started on January 20, 2026, funded with $2.5 million in Community Redevelopment Agency money approved in August 2025. The last streetscape restoration ran from 1996 to 1999, and many of the streetlights coming out date from that time.

The work was planned around the merchants. Crews closed one or two blocks at a time, beginning on the west side at Swoope Avenue, heading south toward Garfield and then coming back north on the east side. Pedestrian access stayed open the whole way, and the city added temporary parking on Morse Boulevard between New York and Virginia avenues. Even the smallest jobs went on the calendar by storefront. The last raised planter to be restored sat in front of The Spice & Tea Exchange, with work starting August 25, and the accessible ramp in front of Briarpatch was rebuilt in a single 24-hour window on August 26.

Harrison Files of The Spice & Tea Exchange was upbeat back in January. "Anything to draw people to Park Avenue and bring that kind of magic… I think it's great," he told WFTV.

The city's September 9 bulletin, Update #21, put Phase 1 in its finishing stage. New stone wall caps are on the raised brick beds, which are being planted with Liriope. The new decorative pots are reinforced so they also serve as bollards between cars and pedestrians, and seasonal plantings were scheduled to go into them starting the week of September 14. City communications director Clarissa Howard told The Community Paper the phase will "wrap up on time before the holiday shopping season gets underway." The city hasn't published a specific completion date.

The Change That Came Through a Lease

Tuni opened in 1986, ten years before the last streetscape work started. It made it through that renovation and several economic cycles after it. What ended its run at 301 S. Park Avenue was a change in ownership above the shop.

Benderson Development bought Park Plaza in September 2024. The 25,000-square-foot property at 307 S. Park Avenue includes the 28-room Park Plaza Hotel upstairs and retail at street level, and commercial real estate reports put the price at $16.25 million. Blackwelder said the owner told her it would not renew Tuni's lease because it wanted a national brand in the space. She had expected a move might come eventually. The short notice was what surprised her. "Why not give us 90 days? Why not give us 60 days even?" she said. "And when they redevelop this, I wish that they would keep the local flavor."

The Park Avenue District said in a statement that it was committed to helping Tuni "identify opportunities to remain part of the district they have helped shape for decades." For now, Tuni is running a temporary pop-up at 143 W. Fairbanks Avenue, inside the former Miller's Hardware building, while it decides on a permanent home.

The new tenant is a familiar name on the Avenue. Lilly Pulitzer used to occupy 114-118 N. Park Avenue, a few blocks north. That space is now Brandy Melville, which opened earlier this year. In one year, one national brand moved from the north end of Park Avenue to the south end, and another took its old spot.

Walking the Avenue North to South, as of Late September

Here is how the storefront changes line up along the street, starting near Briarpatch and heading toward Fairbanks:

• 334 N. Park Avenue. Nigel's Bananas, the dessert shop from Seaside, Florida, known for chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, is taking the empty storefront near Briarpatch. Founders Simon Sullivan and Marla Carter launched in Seaside in May 2021, and the company is expanding through franchising. Bungalower heard the shop is aiming for February 2027, but Nigel's hasn't announced a date.
• 214 N. Park Avenue. Louise James Boutique, the European-inspired women's shop with the pink storefront, has announced it will close. Owner Katie Bullivant ran the business online before opening on Park Avenue in 2019. As of late August the store was still open, with everything 50% off, and no final date had been set.
• 114-118 N. Park Avenue. Brandy Melville, in Lilly Pulitzer's former space.
• 301 S. Park Avenue. Lilly Pulitzer, now open on the former Tuni corner at New England Avenue.
• 326 S. Park Avenue. Paradox, a modern steakhouse with a private lounge, was first announced in May for a summer opening. Its website now lists January 2027, with a chef whose work "has earned Michelin distinction" and "reservations forthcoming."

Garp & Fuss had a quieter comeback. The bar closed after a small fire in July. Its website now says it is "officially RE-OPEN," serving drinks and a limited menu with pool tables available while the kitchen gets its finishing touches.

Just off the Avenue, Cocina 214 at 151 E. Welbourne Avenue served its last meal on May 29 after its lease ended, closing out 15 years in Winter Park.

January Brings Barricades and a Steakhouse Together

Phase 2 of the Refresh covers Park Avenue from Garfield to New England, the stretch along Central Park, and it is scheduled for January 2027. Phase 3, from New England to Fairbanks, is expected to start in January 2028. In February, Howard said the city planned to share a Phase 2 concept over the summer, collect community feedback, and finish construction documents by November. Treat that timeline as a spring target.

Put the two calendars side by side and January 2027 is a busy month. Paradox's listed opening month is the same month Phase 2 construction is scheduled to begin. The Lilly Pulitzer corner at New England Avenue is where Phase 2 meets Phase 3, so that intersection will be at the edge of construction twice, a year apart. Nigel's reported February target would put the north end's newest shop on newly finished sidewalks, since that block was completed this fall.

The plan the city used for Phase 1 carries over. At the February briefing, Howard said the city hopes to follow a similar process and schedule for Phase 2, with regular emails to businesses, monthly updates at Park Avenue District meetings and weekly visits during construction.

The Fall Calendar on the Finished Blocks

The rest of the season will bring the new streetscape its first big crowds.

The Autumn Art Festival is the only juried fine art festival that shows Florida artists exclusively. On festival weekend, the Chamber points drivers to side-street parking and to the Truist Parking Garage at 203 E. Lyman Avenue and the Canton Avenue Parking Garage at 150 E. Canton Avenue. Just off the Avenue, the Morse is building its new Jeannette G. and Hugh F. McKean Pavilion at 161 W. Canton Avenue. That project is expected to take at least a year, and the museum stays open throughout.

By early December, the Christmas in the Park crowd will walk under new smart streetlights past the Lilly Pulitzer corner. A short walk away, Tuni's racks will still be inside the old Miller's Hardware on Fairbanks.

I grew up in Winter Park, and I've watched Park Avenue go through a lot of turnover. If you own property near the Avenue and want to talk through what Phase 2 and the new tenants could mean for your block, Drew Henner is glad to share what I'm seeing on the ground. Let's Connect.