"Our building has served us well, but after 15 years, she deserves a little love. So this isn't goodbye. It's simply 'we'll see you across the street.'" That is how Nina and Mario Amelio, the brother and sister behind Johnny D's Market & Bistro, announced in September that the South A1A standby would close in October for renovations. Vero Beach 32963 reported the announcement and its October 2027 reopening target.
The closure has happened. The Johnny D's website now says the restaurant is closed for renovations through October 2027. It points customers to Turtle Cove Market across the street, which carries Johnny D's foods, wines and specialty items.
For Seagrove, which Vero Beach 32963 has described as a South Beach community and the work of developer Kenneth Padgett, the timing could look like a lost neighborhood table. It isn't one. The restaurant that closed and the complex that just opened belong to the same owner and share a family and a staff. The two of them sit on either side of the same stretch of South A1A. South Beach is getting a coordinated set of places to eat, built by one owner who holds property on both sides of the road.
One Owner, Both Sides of the Road
Anthony DeChellis owns the Johnny D's building. He also owns the new Turtle Cove complex directly across A1A and the commercial building just south of Johnny D's. He is a Vero Beach native and a Moorings resident, and he retired as president of Credit Suisse private banking in New York. He runs the new venues through his company, Windward Restaurant Concepts.
The Amelios are his cousins. In September, Vero Beach 32963 reported that both were joining the management team of the new venues. All of Johnny D's employees had been invited to apply there, and DeChellis said "about 10 or 12" had already been hired. He told the paper that all of these property moves are meant to give South Beach residents "a series of establishments the community can be proud of."
That makes the closure a hand-off. Familiar faces, the wine selection and the prepared foods have moved across A1A, while the 15-year-old building gets its renovation.
The Room Built for Someone Else
The new restaurant was originally meant for The Tides. DeChellis' 27,000-square-foot office and retail center was first planned as a temporary home for the restaurant while its Cardinal Drive building was demolished and rebuilt. Executive chef Leanne Kelleher would then return to Cardinal and keep a second restaurant running in South Beach.
In the end Kelleher decided that she and her customers were too attached to the Cardinal Drive location to leave. With DeChellis' blessing, she chose to close for repairs during August and September and stay where she was. TCPalm reported in late September that The Tides was scheduled to reopen on Oct. 1.
That left a finished fine-dining room on South A1A with no tenant. DeChellis hired a headhunter and recruited Sebastian La Rocca, an Argentine-born culinary director who has worked in Michelin-rated restaurants in Europe and the Americas. DeChellis moved ahead with a new concept, The Blu Fin, and La Rocca described it to Vero Beach 32963 this way:
"rooted in Mediterranean cuisine with Latin inspiration ... sophisticated without being pretentious."
Hiring for the three venues started with a job fair on Aug. 24 aimed at about 80 positions. By mid-September, La Rocca said roughly 70 percent had been filled, and he credited the "education, training and energy" of the local labor pool.
What's Open on Turtle Cove Lane Now
The complex sits at 916 Turtle Cove Lane, next to the 7-Eleven on South A1A. Trade publication FSR also gives the development's address as 1410 South A1A. The building has three parts, each with a different job.
| Venue | What it is | Where it sits | Status as of late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Blu Fin | Mediterranean fine dining with Latin influence, about 3,000 square feet | Anchors the complex | Open since Tue., Oct. 13; Tuesday to Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Turtle Cove Gourmet Market | House-made pastas, seafood, pastries, coffee, specialty goods | The section closest to A1A | Johnny D's directs its customers here for familiar foods and wines |
| The Motley Cow | Open-air tiki bar under a palapa roof | Between the restaurant and the market | Expected to open shortly after The Blu Fin; planned hours 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
Hometown News covered the Oct. 10 grand opening. It singled out a beef tartare smoked at the table and the "Charlie Steak," a surf-and-turf topped with giant lump crab fricassee and served with custom steak knives. FSR's opening report lists more of the menu: cured snapper, olive-oil-poached lobster, tuna crudo, grouper, Iberian pork and steaks. The Blu Fin recommends reservations. You can book through OpenTable or by calling 772-494-6440. Hometown News also reported that the restaurant is already looking ahead to New Year's Eve.
The market matters more to the daily routine than the dining room does. La Rocca has described it as "fresh, convenient, high-quality and constantly evolving." It sits closest to the highway, which makes it the natural stop for coffee, pastries or fresh pasta on the way home. It is also where the Johnny D's pantry now lives.
The Old Building's Next Act
Johnny D's had its own place in South Beach. It was a family-style restaurant, and Vero Beach 32963 noted its $22 summer specials and $6 glasses of wine. The new complex across the street is built around a fine-dining room, a different kind of evening out.
The building may not come back in the same form. DeChellis told the paper that his family once ran a liquor store there called South Beach Liquors, and he still holds a liquor license. The next version may be a high-end wine and liquor shop. "In a way, it may be back to the future for the liquor store," he said. He also said the plan has not been settled, so the renovation has no cost estimate yet.
Fine dining, a market and an open-air bar are on one side of the road. A possible wine shop is on the other, with another DeChellis commercial building right beside it. The October 2027 date on the Johnny D's site is when that second building is due to reopen.
A South Beach Calendar Through Early December
The Blu Fin's first season lines up with the busiest stretch of the island's calendar. These dates are listed for the coming weeks:
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 5 to 9 p.m. The Beachside Bonfire & Drone Shows feature bonfires, food and music at Waldo's, Costa d'Este, Mulligan's, Vero Beach Hotel & Spa and The Bottle Shop, with drone shows at 7 and 8:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 15, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Vero Beach Art Club's Fall Fine Arts Festival takes place at Wiggins Field, Indian River County Intergenerational Center, 1590 9th Street SW.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Vero Beach Christmas Parade starts at Cardinal Drive and heads north on Ocean Drive.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Christmas Boat Parade begins north of the Barber Bridge and passes Vero Beach City Marina and Riomar Creek on its way to Royal Palm Pointe.
The Blu Fin serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday, so it is closed on Mondays. Once The Motley Cow opens with its planned 11 a.m. start, the complex will cover lunch as well as dinner.
South Beach's stretch of A1A will look different again by October 2027. If you own in Seagrove and want to know how the corridor's changes bear on your property, the O'Dare Boga Dobson Group follows this stretch closely and will talk it through with you in confidence.