Mills Lounge, LLC has purchased the two land parcels that contain the 67-year-old Wally’s Bar and Liquors at 1001 N. Mills Avenue and the bar’s parking lot for $1.85 million per The Orlando Business Chronicle.
Wally’s Bar and Liquors is a dive bar that is beloved in the community that has been around since 1954. Minesh Patel bought the bar in 2019 after the owner closed it because of his ill health. When What Now Orlando spoke with co-owner Eric Isolica via phone, he stated that while they had just purchased the property, he and his partners in Mills Lounge, LLC, Jamie Feldman, and Pete Downing took over running the bar in October of 2020.
It was an asset deal and in the lease that they negotiated they had first right of refusal to buy the property. Isolica said, “It’s been great. We just own the dirt now.”
He mentioned that they would be making some small improvements like re-doing the parking lot, but that Wally’s Bar and Liquors is in a shape that they are very happy with. He added that it was a great opportunity to “be their own landlord, essentially.”
When What Now Orlando asked Isolica if they had any further plans to add new businesses to the space, he said that the deal had just closed so it was too early for him and his partner, Jaimie Feldman, to be able to say that for sure. However, he did say that their hospitality company owns several other bars and that they mean to continue to grow their company in the future.
