LONGTIME ABACOA TOWN CENTER TENANT CLOSES

LONGTIME ABACOA TOWN CENTER TENANT CLOSES

This one caught my eye for many reasons. We just wrote about the new developments coming to the Abacoa Town Center, the new 128 room Courtyard Marrriot, the new residential 300 apartment project Allure slated to open in the fall and the CineBowl & Grille which is scheduled for 2015. So the prospect of this project finally succeeding is a real if not certain possibility. That is part of what is so surprising about the closing of Rooney's Public House. Rooney's has been one of the longest standing tenants in Abacoa, having been in business there for 14 years. They also closed their location that was on Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach recently. Rooney's is owned by the Rooney family, better known for their ownership of the Palm Beach Kennel Club and the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. You also might find the name familiar since there is state Representative Pat Rooney R West Palm Beach and Tom Rooney R Okeechobee. So these people have plenty of money and I am sure that they knew what was coming to the area and they still decided to close. Maybe they tried to sell the business and couldn't find any takers? Or was the cost to hold onto the place until the CineBowl & Grill opens next year too great so as to make it not worth it? We will probably never know but I am very saddened to hear about this. I have been to Rooney's many times before and after spring training baseball games and it was one of 2 area institutions (the other is JJ Muggs). It will be interesting to see how all the empty retail space is absorbed there, or maybe it won't be. I am hoping it will be and that Abacoa soon thrives. I would love to live in a place like that and hopefully I will again at some point. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.